Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

waterfalls such an inspiring list! We are just starting to travel a bit again, after a long break while dc were little and can't wait to add some destinations to my list! You should definitely return to Canada - recommend Vancouver Island for surfing, hiking, horse riding, bear watching/whale (orca) watching on zodiacs!! And bald eagles are like pigeons! Amazing country with incredibly friendly people.

My favourite ever trip was Vancouver and Vancouver Island (especially Tofino, which is just out of this world rugged and beautiful, plus a very happy surfer husband). I suppose I ended up finding Maldives quite underwhelming - we stayed in an amazing resort but the weather was overcast the whole time we were there and we had just come from amazing, colourful, lively (and much cheaper!) Sri Lanka, so it fell a bit flat. Antigua was nearly a disaster, but we changed hotels and ended up having an incredible holiday. I think that the resort you stay in makes a huge difference in the Caribbean. I recently went to Marbella with some friends and whilst I couldn't stand Puerto Banus and actually felt pretty intimidated while we were there, I adored Old Marbella - it was a completely different experience - we were surrounded by Spaniards, no tourists and a really lovely atmosphere.

Well ill admit i was a bit of a snob and turned my nose up at Tenerife thinking it would just be a load of sunburnt people getting pissed on a beach with a backdrop of generic hotels. But i actually thought it was really beautiful and had a brilliant time. We were stying mostly in Peurto de la Cruz.

Hated Geneva. From the minute I landed. Was with H for an interview. The lake is nice but the rest of it was depressing. Thank Christ we didn't have to move there.
Loved Northern California. Southern California not so much.
Disliked Venice but loved Verona and northern Italy.
Florence nope, thought I'd love, nope, disliked, it's like a oversized historical theme park.
Byron Bay. What an utter shithole. Beautiful beach. The rest was awful.

DD found Cuba very depressing. It's not just the poverty.
India/Cuba are very different.

Oh yes, Niagra falls, what a pile of crap that was. To be fair, we did go in the winter but it was totally underwhelming.

Cuba, depressing place (looks pretty good now though, away from the mega resorts)

I loved Capri when I went there on a day trip years ago. Went up to Anacapri though and did a lot of walking around there , views amazing. great fun to go up on the chair lift, so memorable. Everyone we passed coming back down on it was grinning and I grinned right back at them. Lovely memory.

Ah Squoosh

Wow waterfall, loved reading your post. We used to travel quite a bit before the kids and I can't wait for them to be a bit older so that we could pick it up again.

Anacapri is much nicer than Capri'proper.'Ravello is lovely and much quieter though Amalfi was nice .

Unexpectedly lovely were the Azores but they were more than lovely, they were mind blowing. We initially thought that the islands were a quieter Canary Islands, how wrong! The scenery, the ambience, the whales and dolphins, the hot sulphur under your feet, a live landscape. We will never ever forget it and nor will the DCs, I think they were roughly about twelve years old at the time and it's the family holiday that they still mention.

South West Ireland: magical
Florida: culture free hell & food tastes of nothing. Even a 5 star hotel cannot compensate

Casablanca. Literally a shit hole. Dublin- boring. Monaco, disappointing.
Love florida, Rome, Barcelona, Cadiz & Turkey.

I'd 2nd the nominations for Donegal.

Delft sound interesting JaceLancs. What time of year did you go? How did you get there?
Loved Venice and have been there twice, both times out of season. If you stay on the Lido or mainland it's not so rip offy! and you can still see Venice at night once the day trippers (and cruise ships) have gone.

toadgirl I think I am a bit obsessed though which is not necessarily a good thing! Mortgage will never be paid off whilst others my age have finished paying theirs off and living a more comfortable life financially at least. Still I don't regret one jot of it I have to say.

Oh I forgot, flying over Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe goodness that was fun!

Would love to see Iguazu, did spend some time in the Amazon which was extraordinary - makes you feel extremely insignificant I must say!

Rio de Janeiro, yes quite intimidating but a real experience. Loved the brazilian and argentinian food, beef to die for.
Iguazu Falls - breathtaking. It makes Niagra seem like just a bit of a splash and Iguazu is twice as tall, not as commercialised and is in a national park. Going over them in a helicopter is breathtaking - the sheer size and vastness of them and such fun on a boat, the swell was enormous as we got closer and closer... I will never forget that trip.

I loved Las Vegas, even though I don't drink and we didn't gamble. Restaurants were excellent and the atmosphere was incredible.

Lanzarote was shit. Not going back there in a hurry.

First visit to New York - I was convinced I was going to get mugged on the Subway so was a gibbering wreck the whole time. Have since visited it twice more and love it now.

Why waterfall you have travelled I'm so jealous I wish I done half of that travelling that's probably my biggest regret not travelling as much as I should've done

A few years back, we went to an all-inclusive in St Lucia for a wedding. Never again.

Firstly, I prefer self catering. An aparthotel is a good compromise for me-has benefits of both. Self catering to me means freedom to get up when I want and still have breakfast and being able to eat when and where I want. This resort had 4 restaurants which you had to book in the morning so no room for spontaneity. They were supposedly all different but really were very samey.

The resort was off the beaten track, when you'd eaten it was too late to go anywhere else except the hotel bar, and you needed taxis anyway. We only went out in the evening once. The resident band were boring once you'd seen them 5 nights on the trot.

The accommodation had ants. One of our party had money stolen, the cleaners were suspected.

We had unseasonable torrential rain. Now I can't blame the resort for that, but it was badly designed for rain. The drainage round the pool was shit, so the puddles were nearly up to our ankles. 3 of the 4 restaurants were open to the elements so not great. All the activities were all dependant on sunny weather-at least the UK/Ireland is geared for rain so there is more to do on wet days.

The wedding itself was nothing special, there was about 8 of us including the B&G and afterwards we all sat round in the bar area thinking ''is that it?'' My own wedding in suburban London was far better . The couple themselves got divorced a few years later. (He was my husband's best mate, though me and him don't get on.)

I was soooo happy to touch down in Gatwick.

The following year we went to St Ives in Cornwall, which we enjoyed so much it started an everlasting luurrve for the area.

Didn't like Scottish Highlands, we went for the 2nd part of our honeymoon and stayed on Loch Awe, I love the Lakes and expected it to be a bigger version of that but found it vast and bleak, it was impossible to find anywhere to pull over to walk the dogs because there were hardly any pull ins or car parks and when we did find one it was miles of boggy marshland.

Loved Edinburgh, we went thinking it'd be just another city but found it fascinating with lovely people.

Cornwall: overcrowded with Johnny Boden types, expensive, and the locals hate tourists- South Wales same scenery with less of the above.
Rome, archaeological sites great but the pollution and traffic meh
Florence - Rome without the archeology
Copenhagen- dirty, bad weather, touristy shops
Boston : not old, locals grumpy

I have absolutely loved reading this thread over the last few days. Not going away this year and it is killing me as I live for travelling.

I don't think I have ever been massively disappointed by anywhere I have been but there are definitely places I wouldn't rush back to.

Australia - loved the Northern Territories - Cape Tribulation, Daintree and Kakadu are just stunning. Cities are ok. Racism yep.

New Zealand is extraordinarily beautiful esp if you love hiking and stunning scenery. It felt like Eden to me, places like the Milford Track oh boy what a feast for the eye.

Indonesia - fascinating just loved Lombok, Bali and the Gilli Islands. Balinese people are so unbelievably lovely - I want to retire there and sit in a bar on Nusatengarra.

Thailand - loved it but then I am a sucker for any of those gorgeous South East Asian cultures. The rainforest and beaches were just something else. OP we loved Krabi sad that you didn't like it.

Singapore - bored the first time I went there really liked it the second time.

Malaysia - Cameron Highlands are lovely - Tioman gorgeous.

Nepal - my favourite people on earth along with the Balinese. Scenery and hiking is just incredible. Would love to trek the Annapurna Circuit one day.

India - spent months there and it is exhausting but fascinating. Glad I went when I was younger as not sure my digestive system would cope anymore! Definitely preferred Kerala and the south.

Africa - loved Zimbabwe but this was 20 years ago, Malawi - the loveliest people, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya mmmm not so keen.

Egypt - I go against the general grain on here. Have been twice but again a long time ago and loved it both times. How someone can say it is man-made and that the Pyramids disappointed I cannot imagine.

South America - Peru - Oh I loved it! Trekked the Inca Trail and oh wow. Some of those mountain cities were just incredible. Macchu Picchu one of the few places that I have been to which was much more beautiful than even the pictures depicted.

Mexico - loved the whole Indiana Jones feeling to it all that jungle and temples! Wonderful.

America - the National Parks are incredible - Zion, Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, loved all of them for very different reasons. Loathed Las Vegas and LA but then I am not a city person so didn't expect to like them. New York fun, San Francisco nice enough.

Canada - only been to Vancouver in the winter, nice enough and skied at Lake Louise which was out of this world, would love to go back in the summer and hike.

Europe - Austria is gorgeous as is Switzerland but yes a bit sterile, Italy - love the people and their way of life, I am also saving France for when I can't go further afield as really prefer an exotic location - the more long haul the better!

So no-where I've been massively disappointed in except perhaps Niagara Falls - surrounded by industrial area and really didn't know that before I went.

I am obsessed with travel and have soooo enjoyed this thread.

Never stop exploring