Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

Another one very underwhelmed with St Lucia. Not much to do, no real local culture to speak of, very resort focussed.
Also found Sorrento a relative disappointment

Japan and Iceland both exceeded expectations as did Florida including Disney (another one here who was expecting to grin and bear it). Chicago way better than I anticipated too.

Cairo was absolutely awful. I never ever want to go anywhere near it again. I love being in the centre of cities and eat in local places outside the big hotel chains. Not there. Hated even leaving the hotel premises and refused a free return ticket to the museum because I couldn't bear the thought of the traffic.

We loved St Lucia - but we went over 15 years ago. We had some lovely trips out from the resort, and botanic gardens were fantastic.
We weren't hassled and the locals were lovely (esp a driver who took me to find a pharmacy for my bites).
My friend had gone to the Dominican Republic the same year and had been harrassed non stop and had hated it.
I didn't like the people in the resort - put me off all inclusive for life.

St Lucia, lovely hotel up in the hills but the island itself was not what I had expected, Scenery apart from the Pitons somewhat bland. People everywhere hassling you to buy things OR look at you and stare in a most aggressive fashion. Worst of all in the resort areas whthere seemed to be the bad examples of the American nation who acted very spoilt and threw money around expecting to be first with everything as well as being very rude, it was as if everyone should get out of their way. Hated Thailand but always love Malaysia :) Worst hotel experience was in Mtubatuba, South Africa, bed bugs, power cuts, filthy dirty pool and disgusting food, we cut that visit short and eventually got a refund. Love Savoie area of France and the Languedoc, always places with views, lovely food and such friendly people, to be onest never had a bad holiday in france yet.

Am really surprised at the comments on Barbados, the beaches are stunningly beautiful, the Caribbean Sea is so perfect, clear and warm, if you like beach holidays and going in the sea what's not to like!!
Whereas Belfast, it always rains!

Dizzy da and I went to club Mac last year! We loved the hotel. Loads to do and plenty of pools plus free entry to hydroparc. However we found the walk into town and town disappointing. Beach was nice tho! We liked riding the train and going to the port and also the market was in a lovely town.

We are going to Santa Ponca in 2 weeks. Hoping the area is better as the hotel isn't as entertaining!

And for those that didn't like Dorset
There's loads to do but often you have to drive.

Tower parks in pool, swan age railway and beachfront, Jurassic coast, west bay etc.

Forgot Maastricht too. Gorgeous place.

Favourite cities. Seattle, Cape Town, Copenhagen and I have a soft spot for Madison,Wisconsin. Went several times with work and it was lovely. Least favourite places was Cape Verde. God it was boring and I'm not exactly a party person.

I adore Herefordshire too minipie.

Was underwhelmed with Barbados. Food wasn't great and beaches and snorkelling not a patch on the Maldives

Didn't enjoy Florence. Freezing in winter and there's a limit on how many Madonna and Childs I can feign interest in.

Santorini - been ruined by overdevelopment, ridiculous prices and day tripper crowds.

Loved unexpectedly:

India, I booked on a whim (Thailand flights were full ) and it was hard work (especially as 2 young blonde women on a tight student budget) but we had a fab time and I went back and would love to go again.

Marrakech, we lucked out with great accommodation and weather and a lovely day in the Atlas mountains.

Herefordshire, so uncrowded and green, went in May so lots of frolicking lambs, great food.

Maldives, I had never been on a fly and flop holiday before but DH and I had been up to our eyeballs at work and it was WONDERFUL.

Went to Tunisia years ago and loved it! Travelled around the country, camel ride in the Sahara, train ride in the Atlas Mountains, went to where they filmed the original Star Wars films, stayed in a desert oasis, and lots of other wonderful places.
The country was just starting to embrace tourism and large hotel developments were being built. I'm not sure if I would ever go back, but glad I went.

Love The Netherlands. Have family over there.

Love Paris.

Was disappointed with New York, which really upset me as I had always wanted to go.

Am off to Singapore and Vietnam next year and really looking forward to that.

I loved Northern Ireland. Some absolutely stunning scenery. I am surprised it is not marketed more to tourists.
Dublin is dull. Seemed a nice enough place, and probably a good place to live. But not a good tourist destination.
Iceland is stunning. But you need to get outside of the capital. That is merely a bit quaint, but there is not much to see there. The further you travel, the more stunning it gets.

Another vote for lanzarote. I heard it being referred to as lanzagrotty before I went and was regretting it but it was brilliant. Beautiful beaches, restraunts and just generally lovely. Ibiza is fab for families to, we stayed in Cala Gració and the beaches were fabulous. We got a water taxi to San antonio for a change and enjoyed that to. Las Vegas is great. So much more to it than gambling.

Hated sharm el sheik. Got stared at constantly by men and felt so uncomfortable. Hassled where ever we went. Would never go back. I was tempted to try Dublin but I've never heard anyone say they like it.

I wasn't expecting to dislike Lanzarote, but I hadn't imagined it would be at all charming. We just wanted sunshine in Spring without having to go too far, so went for it. I suppose I'd imagined it would be like the Spanish costas, but warmer in May.

I find some of the comments on here rather amusing. How can you form a definitive opinion on a place from a snapshot holiday? Ludicrous to say you hate the whole of Spain or Mexico, or anywhere for that matter!

There's very few places i wouldn't go back too, but i wouldn't rush to return to Milan. found it a little dull, and mostly closed,- even in the height of Summer.
I found Gibraltar (sp) grim and really run down. Romania was interesting, and Bucharest fascinating, but the food wasn't great.
Hurghada in Egypt was not somewhere i would rush back to either.

Love Dublin. It's a fantastic city teaming with culture, and great restaurants. Loads of great live music as well. Ditto Galway, and fond of Belfast for a weekend break,

For those of you who go to tourist traps like Temple Bar in Dublin, well you deserve to have a rubbish time. It's full of Drunken Brits on Stag parties!

Love Glasgow, and much prefer it to Edinburgh.
Don't like Cornwall, but like Devon.
Not that keen on North Yorkshire, but love the Lake district.

Love Portugal Spain and and Lake Garda in Italy, and want to explore more of Italy..
Love love Amsterdam, Barcelona, Gerona and Berlin.
Love the US and have mainly visited the East coast.

I expected to hate Madeira and actually refused to go...but love the place and visit most years.

Hated Tenerife - the person I went with probably made me hate it more than the pestering, people and place itself.

Love Lake Balaton in Hungary ....not commercialised, lovely people, simple way of life. Loved Lisbon and Split in Croatia.

Hated Bodrum and Gumbet in Turkey . Never ever been so ill in my life

Yes, a lot of people expecting to hate their holiday destination! Maybe they're devout Catholics and hoped to undertake these holidays as penance or something.

Lanzarote is probably hated due to the 'hilarious' Lanzagrote' nickname that probably only applies to a couple of resorts.

I'm more confused about the number of people who went there expecting not to like it. Why choose to go there in the first place?

Despite holidaying in a lot of popular places (Tenerife, Costa del Sol, Lanzarote, Malta, Mallorca etc) we have never been approached by time share sales people, and haven't really ever noticed any around. I often joke with DP that we must look like we can't afford a timeshare .

[dorisdog] That was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek comment about the Welsh - obviously not everyone is a rampant racist. Some of my best friends etc! It's just that sort of treatment doesn't make you want to rush back to a place (and Pembrokeshire wasn't the only place to be blatantly racist, I'm afraid!)

I don't think anything could put me off Rome! Magical place.

I wonder why everyone expected to hate Lanzarote. I thought it was renowned for having rejected the type of development that has ruined much of coastal Spain.

We were hassled all the time in Tunisia and Bali. The selfie stick sellers in Rome last year were a PITA, but it didn't put me off Rome.

Time share sales people were a nuisance the first time we went to Lanzarote, but it didn't spoil the holiday.

Went to Lanzarote years ago pre DC. Expected to hate it but really liked it.
Hated Tunisia