Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

Mitzy I want to go to Bratislava next

I loved Verona , we had our honeymoon there
Place that took my breath away when I first saw it was The Lake District , stunning scenery

Norfolk coast & Northumberland for amazing beaches

I felt underwhelmed by Playa Blanca but loved Corralejo in Fuerteventura! Don't think weather helped tbh both were winter hols. Tenerife not so great but good for winter sun. Loved Akumul in Mexico but disliked Tulum ..love Kefalonia here now. Love Bruges and Prague. Santorini is great if you go prepared for the sand and the climbing of hills. guess the key is to do.lots of research before you go.

I went to corfu in the late 70's when it was a fairly new destination- most went to salou or benidorm if they went abroad at all.

It was gorgeous, brilliant to explore, we went on donkeys or vespas! We went shopping in town and the shopkeepers pulled us into their houses for a cold drink when it was hot.

Sounds like it's awful now, and im willing to bet if you cleared the tourists out again you'd find that beautiful island and lovely people still underneath.

Dislikes
Dublin bored me.
Fuerteventura - Actually was too windy and had to hire a car to drive to the sun.
Playa De Ingles Gran Canaria - horrid, horrid place. Full of concrete shopping centres.
Liked
Liverpool for a day/ night out
Lincoln as above
Bath
Bodrum, Turkey a surprise like but alas will not return due to the troubles.
Prague
Karlovy Vary also Czech Republic. A lovely spa town.

Closer to home...
Detest Blackpool. Every time I've been I've tried to see the nice bits but can't....
Hate Brean...a mini Blackpool!
Love Brighton and York

Also want to add Lanzarote as a lovely surprise. We booked a last minute to Playa Blanca and it massively exceeded expectations.... although having been to Gran Canaria, Tenerife and F'ventura over the years my expectations weren't all that high to begin with!!! I love the Canaries for the weather / cheapness but other than Playa Blanca I've always been a bit underwhelmed.

MrsRabbitsTwin do you only go to places starting with B?

Brittany is okay in my book for those gorgeous Breton biscuits if nothing else! And for the stones at Carnac.

We've been back a month from Ibiza - booked by my partner and our friends as we went on a joint trip. I was expecting to have to grin and bear it, but it was lovely and I'd go back again in a heartbeat!
A few years ago my partner and I went to Marmaris in Turkey, after being recommended it by so many people it was ridiculous! I hated every second and cried when a couple of girls we met over there (who turned out to live in the same town as us) were coming home the week before us, because they were actually coming back to our crappy town and we had to stay for another whole week. We've both said we wouldn't go back again if you paid us...

Loved Rome, Barcelona, Vegas

Hated Majorca (have been 3 times, definitely don't like it at all... it wasn't just the company the first two times ). Corfu was nasty as was Kos yet Kefalonia - part of the same group of isands - is my favourite European destination!!

I loved Zanzibar, am not into beaches, but went 15 years ago. Wonderful place, rich in culture, gorgeous people.

Have only ever had really great experiences in Cairo and Barcelona too.

Was surprised how much I liked Lisbon, Lake Garda, Isle D'Oleron and the North Norfolk coast.

Had dreadful holidays in the Isle of Wight (shit all to do pg in bad weather with grizzly toddler) and New York - just didn't do it for me. Adore Boston tho.

I didn't like...

Brittany - Our gite landlady in Brittany was a nightmare and kept poking her nose into the house, we were pretty sure she went through our stuff when we weren't there. Everything was either expensive or shut.

Ile de Rei - even more expensive than Brittany, locals were rude.

Poiana Brasov - we loved the rest of Romania and stayed in Poiana Brasov to go hiking. We'd picked what looked like a nice hotel and then discovered they had all sorts of charges to do everything from borrowing a pack of playing cards to going in the jacuzzi, and it was very boring. We abandoned it to stay in Brasov instead.

I loved...

Brasov - Full of good pubs and restaurants, loved the Hollywood style sign, and there was a music festival on.

Bucharest - loads of parks

Budapest - loved the thermal baths and the food

I felt very let down by Zanzibar. It doesn't help that I don't like Indian or spicy food so I had very little to eat while I was there. I waited till the evening and ate grilled seafood from the markets. And the giant tortoises were fabulous. But I'm not fussed about beaches so they were a bit meh for me. It's not worth a special trip imo.

Surprisingly loved; Cairns, Belfast, Cardiff, Boston, Tampa and Manchester. In each case it was the people who made it feel lovely and welcoming
Tolerated; San Francisco (desperately was red to love it), Orlando and Torremolinos
Really dislike; Bangkok, Luxor and Atlanta. In each case rude or grabby/greedy people wall to wall.

Hated Dublin expensive and not a lot to do. Have no desire to return.
Expected to hate Ibiza but loved it we stayed in Santa Eualia it was beautiful, fab beach. We took a little boat trip from there to Ibiza Town it was amazing sight to arrive by boat into the Harbour.

Out of season is the time to go to Florence and Venice. Managed to just stroll into the big tourist attractions with no lining up at all. Going to Rome next year in February so hoping for similar there.

Love love love London and Paris. When you live in the blandness that is suburban Australia they're magical places.

Love this thread. Disappointed to see the comments on Dublin - I think perhaps people need to step away from the typical tourist attractions and areas?

I have recently been to 2 family holiday home accommodations (I'd rather not give the exact exact locations in case I'm identified and offend or appear ungrateful). One was the Algarve and the other was the south east coast of Spain. Found both extremely ugly, just didn't appeal to me at all; over crowded, over developed, no nice scenery, run down, I could go on... I imagine that people go for the beaches, pools and heat?

Loved
The black Forrest Germany
Northern Lake Garda (in September)
Brittany
Edinburgh
Venice, but only for one day.

Switzerland is next on our list

Paris - been 3 times and nope still can't stand the place
Barcelona - FAB, FAB, FAB can't wait to go back
Ibiza - just come back from my 5th or 6th visit and yep still fantastic
Florida - I adore Florida but we are particular on how we do it. Orlando is fantastic but if you stay in a great resort and don't do Disney (we only do Seaworld and Universal at a push and only at specific times of the year where very few queues) Also the west coastline of Anna Maria Island, Sarasota, Naples, Clearwater are stunning. The Keys are amazing, Tampa airport much much nicer to fly in and out of than very busy Orlando airport.
Prague - I absolutely loved it when I went but only popped in for a couple of days for business during the week, I suspect if I had gone on a full on stag/hen party weekend I would hate it.
Dublin - been 4 times and experienced it once as my own hen, once as a couple, once visiting a friend and once on a work social and every time was amazing, loved it.
Thailand - loved
Malaysia - loved
Las Vegas...hmmmm it was okay and there are some cool things to see and experience but couldn't handle longer than 2 days.
Dubai - Urrrrgghhhh can't bear the place, struggle to find many redeeming features to be honest. Most of the British colleagues I came across had this sanctimonious air about them as if the had truly "made it". Horrible place
Budapest - loved but didn't like graffiti but you get that a lot I suppose
Greece - been many times and to many different parts and always love it, the people, the food, the scenery is beautiful.

I wasn't that keen on Bruges.

It was pretty but it lacked soul. There was no sense of any real life going on there, just chocolate box tourist stuff.

I've been lucky enough to travel a lot and have some new favourites and not so favourites this year!

Loved: Uganda, the most beautiful country I've ever been to. The wildlife, the people, the landscapes - I have a craving to go back.

Another country I fell in love with was Nicaragua, we combined the trip with Costa Rica and while Costa Rica was more tourist orientated, Nicaragua still felt wild and unspoilt and I felt like I was properly exploring!

Unexpectedly loved Mallorca, went for a long weekend with girlfriends and it was perfect for us, lots of lovely restaurants and great scenery.

Dubai was soulless but fascinating (loved the hot Milton Keynes description)

Off to Crete next week to see the family, Chania is truly one of the most gorgeous places I know and I would recommend the area to anyone having been visiting for over 20 years.

We have booked to go to the Dominican Republic for Christmas, but I plan to lay by a pool in the sun for a week without moving so hopefully it will be okay!

My aims next year are Croatia and Canada, but after reading this thread I'm also going to try to fit in a break to Kraków, and visit Auschwitz. What a great thread, I'm going to go back and read it again from the beginning and make a list!

Hated Albufeira and Sidari. Was a bit disappointed with halkidiki

Absolutely love Rhodes, kos, fuerteventura and crete

Loved- Kraków. We went to visit Auschwitz to pay respects to ancestors who died there, but didn't expect Kraków to be so fabulous. Lovely people, very honest and eager to help, cheap, lovely town square with tons of restaurants, loads to see and do. I would happily move there!

Hated- Los Angeles. So much traffic, ugly buildings, superficial people. Not for me.

Oh and love Florence

Hate Iceland.

New York was not nice, what's so wonderful about a load of high rise buildings? The food was piles and piles of shite, apart from Eatalie which was great but very crowded.

Los Angeles is not a town . Beverley Hills was ok though. San Diego was lovely, Don't get me started on Mexico (admittedly it was tourist Mexico that we saw) Ponies painted to look like zebras fgs. Universal and Disney were fun.