Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

Unexpectedly loved Las Vegas - kids loved it too - great vibe, good food, super hotels, fantastic customer service and entertainment.

Disappointed in LA - boring, sprawling car-filled city - just one big traffic jam, though a couple of good places to go - Griffith Park observatory and J Paul Getty museum: both above the urban sprawl - good view of LA from both these places - it's best seen at a distance :)

Prauge - SO overrun with tourists and rip-offery and disappointing, strange food - I seem to recall going to a restaurant and being amused that most of the food on offer came served with melted cheese on top as standard (steak + cheese, chicken escalopes + cheese, sausages + cheese...the list went on and on)

France - sorry. Didn't like. Couldn't get used to the fact that the French stuck to a strict lunchtime and dinnertime opening hours, so we could just wander into a restaurant whenever.

Krakow - loved this city (10 years ago) relaxed, friendly vibe, excellent food, lots to see and do - hoping it hasn't changed too much when we visit later this month :)

Unimpressed with Bali, also hate Cuba (have had to go several times for work) horrible apartheid between tourists and locals with myth they are all cheery, salsa-loving dudes. New York I can live without, much prefer LA.

Love the Greek islands, Turkey, South Africa, Hong Kong and Australia esp Melbourne, my favourite city.

In Florence's defence - it IS horribly crowded, hot, humid and overwhelmed with tourists from Easter to Oct and it stinks of Vespa fumes. Its also full of substandard restaurants that can survive, because so many people just come for the day and don't really care what they eat. However, if you go out of season and accept that its going to be cold and damp you can have a lovely time in the wonderful museums, which are nice and quiet, and if you read restaurant reviews and seek out the good places you can eat very well. Its hard to make a real connection with the locals, because they're jaded by the tourist-hellhole they live/work in, but Florence itself is still a lovely place that's packed with amazing treasures. Just don't go in the summer months.

Loved Iceland, Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh and up to Hanoi), Lao, Barcelona.
Really disliked Chengdu (been several times to China through work and always try and extend a little).

Oddly though, my biggest surprise and possibly favourite break was to a static caravan at Crimdon Dene campsite, on the coast near Hartlepool between a colliery and a power station. DH was doing a bungee jump locally and as we had too many DCs under 12 at that point to book travellodge or similar I booked the caravan thinking we'd only stay one night, then go off to the jump and head home. The van was basic but very clean. The beach allowed campfires. We collected driftwood and sat around singing until really late at night, staring into the coloured flames then had to carry the two youngest back up the boardwalk to the top of the cliff. It was really magical. we ended up staying all 3 nights.

Fuerteventura. Grey, lifeless and miserable. Like something out of a JG Ballard novel. There is nothing nice about Fuerteventura.

We love Lanzarote and I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as we did. Playa Blanca is lovely especially the marina rubicon part. So much more reasonable for car hire and eating/drinking than Costa del sol.
I found Miami very very underwhelming and had a very cold/unfriendly vibe.

Poor old Florence and Paris. I could happily spend weeks and weeks in both those cities.

This is a really interesting read!
Really agree with Berlin being a fantastic place to visit. I was surprised how much I loved it.
Washington is stunning- so clean and there is a real atmosphere there of it being somewhere special.
Sam Francisco is just amazing and Alcatraz is just the most fascinating place.
Kraków is a must for a short break- beautiful and a trip to Auschwitz is easily done from there. Truly the most sobering and terrifying place I have ever visited but an absolute must for anyone to gain some perspective and grasp the realities of mistakes the world still hasn't learned from. I will never forget it.
Also agree with the comments about Sidari- hideous place. Albufeira is nearly as bad.
I'm also not a lover of Paris- filthy, seedy place with the most rude people I've ever encountered and I've been a few times and not changed my view. My OH hates it as well.

And I have been to Dublin many many times and there is nothing to do (book of Kells excepted) that doesn't involve booze. Never got the vibe there at all. Galway is fabulous though

Budapest - scruffy, rude people, awful food - it was just grim.
Berlin on the other hand, great, super restaurants, friendly people, lots to see, amazing food etc. It's a great destination for a short break.

Underwhelmed by:

• Florence: subsumed by traffic, grubby, crowded
• Paris - architecturally samey, covered in graffitti and dog shit
• Cairo: chaotic, grubby, uncomfortable

In contrast to places I had no expectations of but loved:

• Lisbon: gorgeous, unspoiled, great food
• Bordeaux: packed with history, friendly locals, great coutrside surrounding

Unexpected gems for me were Antwerp and Ghent in Belgium. Bruges is also lovely but I had expected that. Also most Eastern European capitals, with the notable exception of Bucharest. Didn't get a good vibe there at all. Prague is lovely, as is Budapest and Warsaw. I love the mittel-European history of these places.
Sardinia is gorgeous, but it helps if you have a local friend who can take you to all the secluded unfrequented beaches.
Love Istanbul and Bodrum in Turkey.
Rome is my fave city in the world
Love HK but I used to live there
Cuba, it was grotty in parts and run down, but I had the best time ever. We weren't restricted to the compound (cheaper area) so visited loads of places and met a lot of Cubans.
Moscow in the Soviet period was intriguing, Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad) was crumbling splendour from afar. Foul drinking water though.
In the UK I did the Pennine trail and enjoyed it immensely despite the inclement weather.

Dislikes
Switzerland is a little too twee and dull for me.
Frankfurt reminds me of sweaty pork, the overriding smell in the evenings was of boiled lard. I'm veggie so cannot bear the smell of bacon or anything porky as it is, but all those boiled sausages came together in one memorable big stinky cloud. Disclaimer, I was pg at the time. Still haven't been back though.
Tenerife - got a cheap holiday in I can't remember what part, hotel was full of drunken toothless louts (and those were just the women!), the beaches were next to the port and disappointing and the water was freezing. Am enticed by the favourable reports of Lanzarote though.
Great Yarmouth is a hellhole. Norwich is lovely though.
Dublin was a disappointment

Other than that I've liked most places I've visited, but then I do try and research before going, so as to avoid the most common tourist pitfalls, eg. India during monsoon season, Milan in August etc...

Hated Barbados, kept getting pestered by drug dealers in the clubs and tbh it was quite boring.
Dubai, it was sooo hot and full of rich wannabes.
Loved the Maldives, it was utterly beautiful.

Australia - distinctly underwhelmed. Sydney was meh. Melbourne was dreary.

Barcelona - Saw two violent muggings on our first night. Lots of sleazy men. Over priced food. You'd have to pay me to go back (although Sitges was lovely).

The Algarve and Majorca - both package holidays to touristy resorts. Not my thing at all. Amazing beaches, friendly locals, food in Portugal was fab.

I think some of the posters who say Dublin is awful are talking about temple bar. You'd be hard pushed to find an Irish person there

I'm really interested to hear other posters' POV on Australia. I found Sydney to be great - interesting, safe and vibrant. However, I disliked WA: racism and sexism seemed rife.

I wasn't overwhelmed by Venice - yes, it is an interesting and unusual city, but too touristy. I still went back, though, so I clearly wasn't TOO put off it!

Wheatchief - it's true what you say about how you gather friends that reflect what you like. In my earlier comment I didn't mean to say that everyone in Australia is anti-intellectual, far from it. I know many wonderful, switched on Aussies, and I do wonder what my life would be like now if I stayed, if I would have found my people, like I found my people in here. My comment was more about the mainstream culture, the media, the god awful opinions that get spread around and accepted as truths to be apathetically lived with and unchallenged. Oh man, the news over there, I though UK news had it's problems but at least it wears it's biases openly.

I think the Australian identity carries a lot of internalised guilt and unhealed wounds from our very recent history. Modern Australia has such a short history and a brutal one at that. I almost think of it as a young adult with a violent upbringing who carries itself with a confident swagger, will deny any problem, probably get into a fist fight with you if you mention it's past. To grow into it's full potential it has to honestly face it's past traumas and heal from them through truth, reflection and forgiveness. Might take a while.

It is a beautiful, varied country. I'd love to make it to Tasmania, and Arnhem land one day too.

I've been to Brussels twice - once in summer and once in winter and both times just had a really nice vibe from it which I wasn't expecting.

Found Gran Canaria a bit "meh". The weather is fantastic for a winter break but it's very arid looking (unsurprisingly).

Also, not really a holiday, but I've never taken to the Peak District. I've been for a few days out there as we only live up in the M1 in Yorkshire. I don't know why but I just find it a bit depressing and I'm used to windswept moors!

Thanks Juneau.
I like green but also like the desert. I know Lanzarote is volcanic; I was just giving a picture of Corfu as someone asked.