Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

Costa del sol was always my idea of hell, especially the thought of marbella after towie etc bil moved there 5 years ago so we visit often. LOVE it!!

Worst place, probably hersonissos... even malia was more er interesting

withdraw the word stunning!!

I am surprised London is seen as a big bland shopping centre. I think the history is amazingly all around but we don't have the lovely huge boulevards that they do in Paris

Bahamas a truly stunning scary place if you aren't an American on a 5* resort! At dusk men would appear out of nowhere carrying machetes hitting the dirt and eye you up. I asked the British Embassy to get me a flight the hell outta there after a week early!

Hamburg, went to meet a friend who was working there wasn't expecting to like it, how wrong could I be it was great freindly people, great food, shopping and stunning buildings.
Marmaris, a few tears ago now hated it hassle from the moment you left the hotel room very unfriendly locals everyone just after your money, came home early and vowed never to return to Turkey.

Awful was Turkey and Egypt, harassed so much that we stayed in hotel complex most of our holiday and once you've seen one tomb you've seen them all,
Loved and still love lanzarote, went in a cheap break there one year and was so surprised at how clean peaceful and beautiful the island is. Loved Budapest too, wasn't expecting it to be quite so lovely!

Goa. Full of pretentious wannabe hippies pretending to be really poor I didn't think much of the beaches, food was ok. Southern Goa was much nicer and I loved Keral and people far more welcoming

Cuba. I found it very depressing. Havana is an interesting city but behind the vibrancy in the clubs and bars there was an air of defet and a sadness. I have been to counties where the people are poorer but there felt to be no hope in Cuba I guess that what communism does to you

I didn't like Dubai much, nice hotels and beachs, great restaurants
and shopping but it is soulless and i found the way they treat their workers is modern day slavery. When seeing the conditions they worked in against the extreme wealth it's sickening

Sumet an island in Thailand. Strange place (though beautiful) with a very strange vibe couldn't wait to leave.

Pattaya again in Thailand which is the vilest place on earth the explotation of women is horrendous and you feel you are never to far away from groups of men looking for children

I love the rest of Thailand it's such a shame they have such an issue with sex tourism in certain resorts that are best avoided

DH and I also liked Marrakech a lot, but our heathen kids weren't so keen and preferred being out of town, in the hotel pool.

To be fair, all three did manage to contract E Coli 0157 from an ice cream parlour whilst we were there, so I understand their reluctance to go back...

City breaks are my favourite type of holidays so favourite places in no order are Barcelona, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Prague. I would never step foot in either Budapest or Lisbon ever again.

I also loved Florida for all the Disney stuff and will happily go back to Majorca.

Barcelona, just felt dirty and the food was awful, although DH loves it and has been back twice without me so I may have to give it a second chance.
Madeira, very pretty but the weather was crap, people were rude and there was nothing to do.
Only 2 holidays I was glad to come home from.

Exceeded expectations: Vienna, Budapest, Singapore, Copenhagen, Berlin, Madrid
Did not meet expectations: Barcelona, Cannes
Lovely: Costa Smeralda, Corsica, provence, ardeche, parts of Malaysia
Lovely once the day trippers have gone home: Capri, parts of the amalfi coast

Just wanted to add London as an unexpected love. I went as a child many times on a five hour coach journey shopping and stopping in a shit hotel in Wembley and back the next day. Usually went in November, cold and grey.

Went a few years ago, drove down, parked at great expense, stayed in a wonderful Mayfair hotel, went to a show, ate in nice but reasonable restaurants, stayed in July and the weather was baking. I was in total awe and so proud to be British.

What an absolutely amazing city we have, fabulous and for me up there with New York, Las Vegas and Rome for me. P*** all over Sydney and Melbourne IMHO.

Paris, beautiful Paris, will always be one of my favourite cities. I just love it. There seems to be such a wonderful sense of living history there - unlike London, which has largely been bulldozed into a bland, giant shopping centre in the last few decades.

I also love, love, love Stockholm. Interesting to hear the negatives about Copenhagen because I'd been hoping to go there next!

Tokyo - yes. Also wonderful. Interestingly, I vastly prefer Tokyo to Kyoto, which I know many people wouldn't agree with.

Have been to Madeira - not keen. Also Jamaica...wouldn't go back.

I loved Capri! Yes the bit straight off the ferry is very touristy and silly expensive shops, but you only have to walk for 15 minutes and you are alone in the most magical scenery. I've never been anywhere more beautiful except Croatia. I'd love to stay there overnight one day and see it without the day trippers. Not all the shops are designer either - I have a pair of gorgeous earrings from there I paid about £20 for which I treasure.

Elvira Weirdly, I had pretty much the opposite in Copenhagen. Went went in winter which may have made a difference, but didn't see any crowds of half naked men, drunk or otherwise and although our hotel was opposite a sex shop, it just seemed to be full of inflatable sheep. We found some good things to do around the city centre but everything was scarily expensive. Saw a sex shop but it was flanked by a cafe and a sewing shop, so seemed pretty innocuous. The people however, were horrible to us. Crap service, patronising, bumped out of the way walking on the streets. I'd go back though

Tangier, agree, worse place I've ever been. I'm quite well travelled and have always liked most places (low standards though). Switzerland is beautiful, if I win the lottery, I'm moving there!

Awful - Southern Spanish coast. One great big long long massive rickety building site, nasty smelly hotels, nasty beaches, horribly windy, full of English cooked breakfast cafes, and red-faced shouty Brits who looked like they did some kind of illegal trading, driving was a nightmare, got food poisoning, just awful. Why people go to live there I have no clue!

Lovely - St Andrews. Thought it was just a poxy Scottish town with not much going on. It's beautiful, with loads of fab shopping and cafes, castle, beaches, culture, just love it.

Expected to find Paris a bit meh, and well...not totally our thing (DH especially is not into city breaks as much as he is being wind whipped and rain pelted, clinging onto the face of some mountain somewhere)

LOVED IT. Both of us, absolutely loved it.

Oh and yy to Krakow being a pleasant surprise, as were most cities in Poland (lived there for a year)

On the positive side - Sarajevo. Amazing east meets west city. Stunning Turkish quarter with artisans working metal, wood etc in front of their shops, friendly people, fascinating cultural mix and recent history (the tours and museums are harrowing, you have to be ok with that to appreciate it). The food is among the best I've had anywhere. Several hours from the sea though, hence hot as blazes (44 degrees one day but we were there in August which probably wasn't very clever).

Really disappointed by: Prague (far too touristy, a rip off), Cannes (went when I was small and loved it, went recently and it really is a hole), Dublin, Koh Samui, Auckland (that was 20 years ago though not sure it counts), LA. Salcombe in Cornwall was scenically stunning bur completely spoilt by the Chelsea set.

Pleasantly surprised by: Washington DC, fascinating clean friendly place; Croatia.
In the UK: South Wales coast around Tenby, Northumberland.

I also found Brussels to be fun, with a nicer vibe than Paris.

Hated Menorca - not entirely the island's fault that the husband of the married couple who ran the hotel had died only a couple of weeks before and his widow had decided to carry on regardless, but she was definitely struggling, and the staff were taking advantage. Chickens left out to defrost by an open window and covered with flies, filthy swimming pool, food very meh, and when we went to a beach and the kids started digging they uncovered a brownish-black layer about six inches down that stank...

Loved Krakow. Love the Polish anyway, but they are so warm and welcoming, couldn't do enough for us, the city was clean, friendly and fascinating, and I LOVE Polish food - just as well I don't live there (we did consider it) or I'd be the size of a bus!

Copenhagen. Loved it. Went for the weekend to see a band on the Friday night and an exhibition on Saturday,. Didn't want to come home on Sunday.

I'd love to see more of the country and we planned to go back for an extended meander by car this summer, but was upset to discover they'd stopped the Harwich-Esbjerg ferry.