Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

Prague - meh!

Cancun and places near it. Angry vibe towards tourists, bad food, polluted, really built up.

Seville. I expected to like it but I didn't expect to love it that much. My favourite city in Europe.

Too hot in summer but a great out of season choice.

Pissouri in Cyprus. Or Pissed off ori as we renamed it.
Just nothing. And windy as fuck.

Anice - I liked bits of it but I didn't like some of the attitudes which seemed to be quite widespread; racism, sexism. It was for that reason (and the attitudes / laws around refugees) that I didn't emigrate there when we had the chance.

Really disappointed with Hong Kong. Dirty and grey. Concrete depressing high-rise shopping centres with windy dusty precincts that reminded me of Milton Keynes in my childhood.

Not much culture (we found one exhibition at an art school but fuck all else). Bugger all to do generally, in the daytime at least, although TBF it came to life a bit at night; there were a few atmospheric narrow streets with lanterns strung up and stalls cooking lovely steaming food, people sitting at shared tables chatting etc.

Worried about Copenhagen now; I'm going soon, for a few days including a weekend!

Holiday park in Great Yarmouth. Wish I could remember the name of it . Booked it as staying in Yarmouth elsewhere and the day we should have travelled major rail strike. So booked an extra few days in this dump.
Was marketed at sleeping 8. There was 5 of us and we was cramped. Tv hanging onto the wall by a screw, crapping myself that at any minute it would fall. There was fuck all to do despite being sold with loads of attractions.. Nearest shop was aparantly 5 minutes max away, we walked for 40 minutes. The place stank and was dirty. No staff around. Emailed complaint - wish I had kept it, was told basically what do you expect from a budget chalet when I got a reply weeks later.
contacted holiday park we were heading to, to see if they had any cancellations, once they heard where we were bent over backwards to help us. Even sorted transport to come and pick us up.

What did people not like about Australia?

Florescent underwhelmed me. Don't get me wrong, there are some incredibly beautiful things there, it was just so hideously crowed it was ruined. I went round things and barely saw them, there were so many people between me and the stuff to see. I think it would be better in grey February on a rainy day.

Menorca was a surprise for me. Amazing archaeological sites to see

Absolutely loved Lanzarote, we booked a cheap winter week away thinking that anything would be better than January in rainy Britain and were blown away. We hir d a car and drove around the island. It's just beautiful, development is very restricted and the food was fabulous

Disliked Orlando intensely. We booked a Disney trip for the kids, endured the parks for their sake and were just astonished by what a horrible place it is. Bad traffic, terrible food, crowds and tack everywhere. Elsewhere in Florida though, even 20 minutes out of Orlando was very nice. The gulf coast and Sarasota area is fabulous and just breathtaking. Anyone who thinks Florida is all about Orlando is seriously missing out

Closer to home.

Hated Brighton it was raining, busy and just loads of shops and bars and even the eye was boring. Really don't get the vibe that everyone talks about.

Loved London even though it was busy. So much history and quirkiness so much to do despite all the people.

Agree with Cannes, the way how the hotels charge you to use the beach is a disgrace. There is also nothing to do there. Just don't get the hype.

I loved Mallorca, I really wasn't expecting to enjoy it but it's a gorgeous island. We stayed in Puerto de Soller and Valldemossa.

Didn't take to Barbados. Didn't realise how small the island was. Dh and I saw all the sights in 4 days and were at a bit of a loss of what to do with the other 3.
Clearly others love it. We met loads of couple who go every year. Just a bit small for us.

Really enjoyed New York even though I thought I'd hate it (don't do city breaks normally). Loads of fun and really hectic.

San Sebastian. DH & I were living in Barcelona and everyone there told us over and over again how lovely it was. So we took an overnight train there. I was 3 month pg and couldn't walk into any of the restaurants without wanting to throw up. One of the days there was a general strike and everything was closed. We didn't eat all day. And to top it all off, it looked like Scarborough. So not any different to what we would have seen at home.

Hated Australia, Bulgaria, Thailand.
Loved Bologna, Corsica, Las Vegas.

Cannes... My sister adores it there so I flew down to stay with her for a weekend while my DDs were with their Grandma last summer. Wish I hadn't bothered. Seriously. There is a beautiful shore line but I cannot understand the "hype". Nice is so much nicer (lol), and more interesting too!

New York City - I have terrible anxiety about being in built up places where I feel there are too many people around (I HATE London for longer than a day), but just didn't feel that way in NYC. I was only supposed to stay a couple of nights en route to Canada but ended up staying a week. THE SHOPPING

Loved Koh Phangan in Thailand. Beautiful island, golden sandy beaches, delicious and cheap food and calm friendly pp. Was in July so not v many tourists.

Sicily. Can't remember name of town but it was awful. Went with a large group. The house looked like it was a secluded villa but was on a new build estate. Beaches were dirty brown sand. Nothing to do locally. Went into the town one evening ( was in May ). Nothing was open except a horrid pizza takeaway place. The islands were quite nice as was Taomina but our shitty little town was crap. The only holiday where I was glad to get back to work!

Expected to hate Las Vegas but had the best fun there. Was surprised by how many fabulous restaurants there were and the quality of the hotel. Wouldn't stay for a fortnight but for four or five days it's fantastic.

Cannot bear Dublin. Expected to love it, found it a ridiculously expensive dump full of drunken stag parties and with nothing I actually wanted to do. Sorry Dubliners.

Oh, and Disney Paris was fun, but hated the rudeness of other people visiting the park -shoving to get on rides and buses, pushing children out of the way to watch fireworks, open smoking in lines for rides and round the park (I got burnt twice!).

I went to st Petersburg once for a conference and tagged a few days' holiday onto the end. I was on my own. Everyone consequently thought I was a prostitute and the hotel shamelessly tried to rip me off (eg the receptionist trying to charge me £50 to use the hotel gym open to all guests).

I booked a taxi to the centre through he hotel and the driver locked the door and made me give him all my money.

I came home early

I loved Malaga. I'd always thought of it as just being the gateway to the Costa del Hell Sol, but stopped there on a cruise. Absolutely loved the city. It had an amazing feel and reminded us of Barcelona. We went back the following year for a holiday.

I don't get Mallorca. Everyone raves about it but I've been twice and just don't see it. There are some beautiful places on the island but I just can't pick up the vibe.

Oh and Cannes, which I went to for a work do and was really excited about. Hugely disappointing. It's the fact that the whole beach is divided into tiny segments belonging to each hotel that annoyed me most.

Dominican Republic -couldn't wait to go home. Had to stay on the resort as it wasn't safe to venture out. If you wanted to walk on the beach at night/evening the arned guard accompanied you . Got a dicky tummy from the food, pestered by people selling stuff ALL DAY every day, including travel reps trying to sell excursions. They were persistent to the point of aggression. Was boring. Spent a lot of time watching films in our room.
Best has been Florida. Such good fun. Holland was beautiful too.