Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

Lanzarote. My mum persuaded me to go years ago as her and my step dad like it. I expected it to be tacky, but its a beautiful island. I love it and have been back several times.
I liked Dusseldorf, Germany, a lot too. I expected an industrial, dull town (guy at work said he'd been and it was crap), but it was really lovely and had a nice, friendly feel. Id like to go back there.
Hated Santorini, I cant really explain why, it just seemed unfriendly and boring. I love Greece and have since been to other islands and the mainland and loved it, but would not go back to Santorini.
Wasnt over keen on Switzerland, expensive and unfriendly (though Zurich was nice).

I also did Dublin in December and loved it! It was just a hostel with 4 friends. We had a 6 bed dorm. Father Christmas arrived at 1am, left his boots in the shower and left again early morning

I loved Majorca last year and am going again in a few weeks. Ds and I don't get out much but we went to Alcudia market, beach and port and found it clean and the locals friendly.

Hated Almeria - wasn't much to do there at all.

Also loved Benalmadena. Easy to catch bus and train around and plenty to do whatever the weather. In fact I was glad of my extra free days there due to the ash cloud!

Well if you like it that's fine
I thought it was boring and expensive

Oh, we accidentally spent a day in Aachen/Aix-la-Chapelle (my stuff up with train tickets), and it was lovely. I liked Cologne, too. Unfortunately, the bit around th Grand Place in Bruxelles is really the only good bit (in my opinion).

Puglia. Been to Italy so many times and never disappointed. From landing at Bari and being told by the car hire company we needed to up our insurance by around £150 - we soon found out why. The roads were pot holed, dirty, destitute towns where we didn't like to park up. Brindisi was dreadful. Such a shame as heard it was beautiful. Even the UNESCO sites were totally underwhelming.

I don't know hiw uou can write off the whole of Dorset! My sister lives in Bridport and it's a lovely little town with a weekly antiques market, loads of cultural events and a real sense of community.

Yeah, Paris does have piss-smelling spots (not everywhere), and especially in summer.
What other things didn't people like about Paris?

Some people are just talking about disappointment though cardibach. Cannes isn't objectively horrible by comparison with, say, Canning Town in the rain, but if you went there naively expecting the experience sold to you by Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant films then you're going to be horribly disappointed.

And some people just accidentally ended up in the wrong place. I went on a minibreak to Brussels on Eurostar and one of our neighbours on the train home was complaining bitterly about her day trip and how awful Brussels was. Turns out she'd just got out at the train station and wandered around randomly, without realising that the beautiful city centre is a brisk twenty minutes walk to the north. It's as if a Belgian had got off at Waterloo and set off walking south into Kennington. I love Brussels but I can well believe that she'd had a shit day.

Gibraltar! Loved it

Bit sad at the Australia hate! I think racism and sexism varies quite a lot from state to state. I lived in Melbourne for ten years and it's the only city in the world I'd ever consider leaving country life for! For me, there's nowhere I've really hated (well, the only criticism I have thus far is Paris smells of wee)

Disappointed with St Helier in Jersey with a dual carriageway along the coast, was expecting more pretty coastal resort vibe.

Had no ideal that St Andrews was so lovely until I arrived in town a few years back.

I love Copenhagen - we go every other year. I'd happily move there.

I hate Paris. I've been several times, I even stayed with a friend who lived there. Don't like it at all. Hope I never have to go back.

Other places I've enjoyed: Auckland, Aswan, Block Island, Chania, Dublin, Graz, La Rochelle, Maine, Malmo, New York, Okavango Delta, Rhodes, Rotterdam, Zurich

Other places I dislike: Amsterdam, Algarve, Boston (MA - I've not been to the town in Lincolnshire), Cairo, Edinburgh, Geneva, Harare, Iraklion, Limerick, Munich, Sydney

Awful:
Norfolk
Skegness
Lanzarote
Dorset

Amazing;
New York
Northumberland
Pembrokeshire
North Yorkshire

I would never EVER go back to either of the first four

Just got back from lovely week in North Yorkshire

Hope to take the DC to New York when they are older

A second for Rhodes. We were massively disappointed with it. Lots of big parties of drunk people, nowhere decent to eat and the resort was so close to the airport we could have waved at the people on every single flight that landed.

Edinburgh is one of my favourite ever places and I loved Liverpool when I went for the first time earlier this year. Lovely buildings, nice people, easy to get around.

Sadly hated London - found Londoners rude beyond comprehension. Completely different once we got out of London.
Loved Paris so much we moved here.

Sauze douxe .....Been to dozens of ski resorts but hated this one ! No idea why!

Excuse typos

I'm amazed by much of this thread - many posters seem to dislike places in a really unreasonable way e.g. Oxford too full of students! Isn't that he point of Oxford?
Loads of places I love others seem to hate for reasons I can't understand. I don't think I've been anywhere I've really hated except a Hacen park in Devon. I've been to a variety of up and win market, touristy and non-touristy places across 4 continents. It's about research and positivity I think.

Love: Arran off the west coast of Scotland, Prague, Rome, Florence, Barcelona, Madrid, Lanzarote, Vancouver and trail up west of Canada to the ski resorts, Oslo, Copenhagen, Nanitaal (sp? In India), langkawi in Malaysia, San Francisco, New York, Essouoaira (sp?) in Morocco, Heidelberg

Ok: Paris, Brussels, Fukuoka, Mumbai, Munich, Leiden, The Hague, Washington DC

Dislike: Delhi, Marrakech

The one I unexpectedly loved was Ibiza. Went for a girls' holiday but loved the vibe and I would certainly go back for a family holiday.

The one I unexpectedly hated was Kalami in Corfu. Generally we love Greece and thought it looked so unspoilt there. Alas, our hotel was not relaxing with loud pool music, the food was dreadful in all but one of the tavernas (never thought I would say that about Greek food) and it just lacked the atmosphere. Wouldn't ever go back.

Not expecting much but enjoyed:
Valencia - had the best time there in early October, no tourists, beautiful weather, beaches and city centre.
Bologna - fabulous food
Las Vegas - yes it's tacky but good fun and loads to do (I don't gamble)
Tokyo - really interesting city

Underwhelming:
Sorrento - claustrophobic and dog poo everywhere
Hong Kong - Kowloon was crowded, hot and dirty. Nothing much to do on the island itself.
Fuerta Ventura - worst weather in 30 years when we visited and there was very little to do in the pissing cold rain. Probably lovely in the sun though.

Hated Monte Carlo. Imagined that it would be glamourous but it just felt utterly devoid of any soul. Horrible place.

I was hugely surprised by how nice Copenhagen was. I can see it is dividing opinion here but I went on a business trip in a very cross frame of mind (was filling in for a colleague) and had a really nice time. Every single Danish person I met was really nice (and a high proportion of them were v attractive).

Love Tokyo.

Might have to whisper this, but am always underwhelmed by both Paris and Parisians.

Las Vegas is my absolute favourite city in the world. Talked DH into going for our honeymoon, he was skeptical but loved it too. I had been when I was 16 with a church group and loved it then. Edinburgh is second.

I hated Manchester.