Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

Dominican Republic for me too. Hated it and couldn't wait to get home. Was warned to not go off the resort and constantly harassed by the holiday reps to make charitable donations. I also got heat stroke, a water infection and Tummy bug whilst there.

I'm loving this thread. I have a solo trip to Thailand planned at the end of this year, not finalised which areas/islands in the south to visit yet so good to see a few of those on the hate lists for feeling unsafe as I'm already nervous enough to there alone.

UK loves for me: York, London, Edinburgh, Liverpool: all have a similar good vibe with lots to see and do.
UK hates: Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Lincoln: very dull. The cathedral area of Lincoln is beautiful but the people are just not visitor-friendly, in my experience.

Stately aren't most of the places of interest in Istanbul on the European side?

They were when we went - Topkapi palace, various mosques, the market etc. They are all on the western side of the Bosphorous, which I believe to be part of Europe.

I loved Istanbul as well and am glad we went in better and safer times.

Hate Paris. Love Berlin.

MadHatter that is so sad

We loved Daylesford, Australia - visited a few times before we had kids but years later we returned with a couple of 5 year olds and it became very clear to us that Daylesford was an adult's playground where children were not welcome.
Planning another trip to Australia soon - heading to the west coast this time - any recommendations on where we should go - we like bushwalking so would be happy to do an overnight hike?

Unexpectedly good places where we visit
Again and again are:
East Dorset (Lyme Bay region) - lovely atmosphere and villages.
Northumberland and Cumbria
Loire Valley
Edinburgh and most parts of Scotland
South west coast of Ireland

Oh god! Unfortunately my lasting memory of LA is the stench of a dead and decomposing chihuahua in a handbag outside the hotel

Was only there one day. Wouldn't bother going back.

North Cornwall: took hours to get there, full of tourists, pissing down with rain, beaches meh. Much prefer Devon.

Marrakech: a big steaming dump. Felt slightly threatened, hated the treatment of their animals, rubbish everywhere, dirty, full of rip-off merchants. Stupidly hot. The resort we stayed at was ok until a coach load of British holiday makers rocked up. Then the whole place turned into a ghastly 18-30 style booze camp. I felt awkward being on an all-you-can-eat-and-drink holiday during Ramadan too...

And loved Istanbul - streets were so alive, glad we stayed in the European side away from the major tourist attractions, glad we went a few years ago.

Love Australia - been three times, each time in a campervan travelling miles for 3 weeks at a time - some of our best holidays.

Was very disappointed in New York - it was a long time ago but it was awful, rude, aggressive locals, too many 'no-go' areas. I know it has changed dramatically since I went, but just can't bring myself to return. OTOH LOVED San Fransisco and California.

Lived in Dubai for 15 years - kids grew up there - and if you get away from the glitz and 'look at how much money I -probably don't- have' it is an interesting place with an amazing history of how it got to what it is today.

Was pleasantly surprised with Fuertaventura - last minute bargain holiday and loved the place.

I loved Madrid - we spent 4 glorious days there without the kids. We were completely besotted with the Tapas Bars, the atmosphere, the people, visited a few art gallerys in the morning - Prado was amazing, spent the afternoon eating and drinking, went back to our hotel to sleep off the lunch time drinking and then continued doing more of the same to the small hours.

LA - hated it. Filthy and very average aesthetically.

Love love love Lindos in Rhodes, Greece. We went for a wedding and I heard it was very hilly and old fashioned - both are true but it has the most wonderful rustic charm, little narrow alleyways for restaurants and and market stalls and the most magnificent beach. We've been back a lot and I would happily go every year for the rest of my life.

I was underwhelmed by Sorrento. We stayed just outside it and the lack of places to go for a walk and the very busy and noisy traffic reduced its charm considerably. Fortunately the hotel was lovely and being able to visit Pompeii and other places of interest made for a good holiday.

LA is a horrible sprawl City.
To those saying they can have fun anywhere, we still enjoyed ourselves in the places we didn't like, but we still won't go back to those places.

Hated Mendocino, California - very dull, full of restaurants flogging overpriced 1990's style gourmet fusion crap, the town needed some serious investment, things looked really run down. We struggled to find good restaurants for family eating, no American diners - ended up eating mediocre pizza and driving to the next town along in the hope of find good interesting food.

LA is essentially a working city, rather than a tourist one.

Better to stay in Santa Monica (preferably in the Loewes or Shutters) and hire a car to see the Hollywood sign, the Chinese Theatre, the Getty (utterly fab).

The beach is wonderful and very quiet mid week. The pier is a great place to eat and drink in the evenings.

A love a couple of days in Santa Monica .

Ukraine was awful.

Exactly Stately- I visited these places and thought that they were dull

The other place I was seriously underwhelmed by was Portugal. It was very windy, the sea was freezing and we didn't find any of the places we went to had any soul. People rave about Alvor, Carvoiero, Lagos, Villamoura and we just came away thinking that we'd missed something as they all left us cold. They were slightly tacky and full of loud Brits.

Loved Bangkok, everything about it but booked a private tour guide which probably helped.

Oh just thought of another one - fecking Tobermory! No I didn't expect it to be full of dancing bus drivers and a bright pink castle, but SOME recognition that lots of families might want to visit and part with their cash might have been nice... like a child-friendly restaurant, a touristy toy shop or visitor centre or even you know, a smile? It was just grim, badly planned seafront with cars zooming by, barely any shops, several scary dark pubs where people glared at you if you walked in, and general atmosphere of misery.

Luckily we didn't actually go there for a holiday, just a day trip but never again.

Paris is an absolute shithole. Smelly, dirty, pretentious and full of rude people.

Love Tenerife, despite its 'boozy brits abroad' reputation. Lots to see and do, lovely beaches, friendly people etc.

Those saying Berlin, have you got any tips for best things to do?

The KaDeWe is the biggest shop in Europe, you can't get over the size until you've been. The whole of the top floor is a restaurant. And it makes a change from curry wurst.

Hated Amsterdam. We have family over there and were really disappointed with it. We did a loop through the red light district and I've never felt as uncomfortable in my life, Dutch friends don't go there after dark and this was early evening. I found the city pretty soulless.

Nothing to do on LA!!!
Universal studios
Disneyland
Other theme parks
Hollywood
Beaches

Nothing on that list appeals - that's why we drove straight past LA!