Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

I agree Dorset is lovely and loads to do

Favourite places: Berlin, fabulous city with a great vibe; Mallorca, really pretty, lovely clean beaches; London, so much history and culture.

NY was a bit meh. I'd been desperate to go for ages but once I'd got over the fact that all the buildings are really tall, its really just another city. Not sure I'd go back. Paris is another place that I'm not sure I'd do again - dirty, with dog shit everywhere. I did go in November so it was cold and rained a lot. Maybe it would be nicer in the summer.

I didn't feel it for Mallorca even Palma and was surprisingly expensive
Unexpected bonus was Delft - went for a day trip and ended up staying for 10 days
Annecy in the French Alps - stunningly beautiful, hot and with a beach vibe

Agree with Palma, Mallorca too. Fantastic city break and so easy to get around, love the wide tree lined boulevards and if you get off the main streets, there's some fab restaurants in the side streets.

I would love to know what St. Tropez is like now. I was a bit of a rebel and went off there with a guy for a long holiday when I was about 19 (in the 70's!). It was so cool and cutting edge then. Topless on the beach was unheard of anywhere at that time, but St. Tropez had it. Not only topless but some nudity too, I grew up on that holiday. I loved it over there, it was arty and fun and such contrasts with the rich side of life and the yachts and me and my boyfriend camping! I had a blast.

So many posts I agree with, too many to mention. Likewise for disagree!

Going to Dorset later this month, getting a little concerned now. Anything good to do with 2 primary age DCs?

Book onto a fossil hunting guided walk from the visitor centre at Charmouth Beach. Our boys loved it & found some excellent fossils which the guides identified for them. Bring a trowel or some heavy duty garden gloves to save your fingernails.

Monkeyworld is good, though most of the apes are slow risers if you get there just after opening on a misty morning in October half term.

Tiny museum on Lyme Regis sea front is surprisingly good - in a quirky, eclectic way.

The Beehive fish restaurant at the National Trust beach just along the coast from Bridport at Burton Bradstock is not cheap but the food & views are great.

If you can go to Abbotsbury Swannery on a quiet midweek day, it is lovely. Heaving in the hols, though.

Christchurch NZ - FFS just get on with the rebuilding - looks like a bloody war zone in the centre.

Going back a few pages and haven't read to the end of thread yet but this has made me so angry. Shanghai wtaf? Did you actually see what they've been dealing with in Christchurch and how much has to be demolished? People died. My dh worked in the red zone before things started to come down and it was horrendous. Yes there has been a lot of red tape but if you had lived there and seen just what has had to come down or be replaced you might start to get some idea of the scale of devastation. Sorry everyone else for the rant but I know a lot of people who have lost a lot and lived through a lot of earthquakes. I look at built up areas with a bit of fear now, Wellington is amazing but everytime i go there the tall buildings do worry me.

There is a lot going on in Christchurch and I would actually really recommend visiting. But yes, there is a lot of damage from a major natural disaster, but it is still beautiful and the gap filler projects have been great in the city. My Ds used to make us ride the trams every week!

Sorry to everyone else, back to the thread...

Venice - a dead tourist city that rips off tourists.

Dubrovnik - stunning, beautiful. No expectations but it blew me away.

Agree with Dublin.

Belfast/ Northern Ireland - stunning scenery, lively city, coast as far as the eye can see. World class beaches.

Also Venice is stunning and the Italians are entertaining to watch .
Berlin is a must for everyone- it's the best history lesson you'll ever have!

Hated Prague - booze weekend only!

Pisa and Tuscany in the rain is dull and FA to do if you don't drink.

Dubai is totally amazing and so diverse - have tried every season and all locations .

Tenerife is lovely and weather is changeable .

Bermuda - prettiest place on earth and the local people are very friendly.

Majorca - Palma , loved it ,cross between Paris, Rome, bath

really loved reading this - so agree Ibiza is fabulous (8 more sleeps!!! and then I am off), Barcelona - wonderful ....Ko Jum in Thailand is sublime but Florence - isnt my fav .....what a busy, nightmare city!!!! My dad is in St Ives this week - very expensive and it hasnt stopped raining yet ...sadly......poor guy.....

The Amalfi Coast was absolutely breathtaking and fun for me but I have loved everywhere I have been in Italy. Chicago is a fantastic city and Miami Beach is one of my all time favourite holiday destinations. I love NYC too.
Places I have found disappointing are Cancun which is horrible and touristy and ridiculously hot and Thailand in general. I met so many fake and fraudulent locals in Thailand who tried to trick me into parting with my money. Plus the smells made me nauseous all the time.
I liked Australia personally as the scenery was spectacular and there was so much to see and do.
Person worried about Copenhagen now, I found it very fun and cool and perfect for a city break.
Finally, I love Butlins for 2-3 days but by day 5 I am dreaming of escaping and sick to death of it. Have been twice now and probably won't go again. It is amazing for kids though. My daughter enjoyed it as much as Disneyland (weirdly!) Disneyland is a million times better but she has been to Florida and California and she still said she loved Butlins more!

We loved Cambodia and were not expecting to as we didn't really enjoy Thailand (and we have family living in Bangkok to show us around). Cambodians were so warm and friendly, Thai's were hostile and taxi drivers tried to cheat us at every opportunity bar one when we didn't have family with us. We were so grateful to that one who didn't that we gave him a huge tip that probably exceeded the amount he would have tried had he been dishonest so he was very happy. Cambodia was totally different, haven't enough nice words to say about the place.

Liked the U.S but didn't like New York or Washington - avaricious, uptight, cold and a veneer of high culture which gives you the underlying impression it's all been nicked or ill-gotten. Both places gave me the creeps and that was even before 9/11.

Mexico was gorgeous but bit dangerous. Loved Malaysia when we weren't expecting to. LOVED China and Taiwan and outer areas of Hong Kong (island itself is a bit meh). India - total love/hate relationship

Labruja beautiful city. Love lunch by the beach, perusing the markets, walking along the river bed and visiting all the places round and about. Would move there in a heartbeat.

I also disliked Malta. Beautiful history but what has built up around it is tacky. Gozo is amazing though.

Good thread.

We're off to Mallorca next week for the first time so I hope I agree with the Mallorca lovers!

I've enjoyed most places we've been to but was really disappointed with Sorrento and the Amalfi coast. For a start it was unexpectedly cold for April (locals kept saying how unusually cold it was) and I had nothing warm to wear. I thought it was far too built up, like a continuous town all the way from Naples and not at all beautiful. Capri was boring and expensive. Only bit I enjoyed was visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum (which is what we'd gone for) which were both fascinating. Naples was nice but our courier scared us witless by saying how dangerous it was.

Went to Jamaica and Cuba early this year; loved Cuba; such an interesting place, I felt that the locals were really looking forward to the future (and being able to buy new cars!) Met hardly any Brits there but loads of Canadians in the coastal resort of Varraderro. They've been holidaying there for years.

Jamaica is a very ramshackle place; I think to really enjoy it you have to hire a car, drive round the North & East coasts (and to Treasure Beach and the Blue Mountains) and avoid the big resorts like the plague; that's where you'll really be hassled.

We went backpacking to some Greek islands in 1980 with a toddler. Loved Santorini, hardly any traffic then and no cruise ships. Went back on a nostalgia trip a couple of years ago and found it quite different; still enjoyed it though. You either love it or hate it, I'm told.

Really loved Croatia. Been to Split and Dubrovnik but best of all was a week's small boat cruise round the islands, which are idyllic.

Also really enjoyed Grenada in the Carribean.

Didn't like Morocco - felt uncomfortable the whole time in Marrakech. Natives unfriendly & keen to rip you off, maps horribly unhelpful. Essaouira a bit nicer but still uncomfortable.

Love Amsterdam, much of Corfu & much of southern Spain. "Costa del Sol" puts people off I think - call it Andalucia instead & it suddenly sounds much better! Granada, Cordoba, Seville & Malaga all lovely cities & lots of the coastal resorts are surprisingly nice too. Even Marbella has a beautiful beach & promenade, & the old town is lovely; Puerto Banus is great for an early evening stroll spotting ostentatious cars & yachts (we bagged a Hummer & a Pagani Zonda last time)

Loved Tuscany (apart from Pisa, & didn't bother with Florence, assuming it would be rammed).

Languedoc/Roussillon has some fabulous scenery & sights. We had a few great camping & gite holidays in Normandy when the kids were small & last year (without kids) really enjoyed a short break in the Loire visiting the chateaux.

I'd avoid many of these in July & August though - too hot, too crowded. Tricky when tied to school hols I know but we've had several family holidays in hot places around May half term. Amsterdam & N France bearable heatwise in high season.

Copenhagen ok (only there one day) & Danish Legoland was fab in August - quite quiet as their kids were back at school - but Denmark as a whole was pretty meh - flat & boring.

The Ardennes in Belgium are so beautiful. I loved it there.

Places I was completely underwhelmed by; Auckland NZ, Detroit, Orlando, Perth Australia, Rome, Fuerteventura and Ghent.

Places I was pleasantly surprised by; Brussels, Toronto, New York, Santander and Bruges.

Places that met expectations; Portugal(Algarve), Barcelona, Singapore, Brest, Dublin. Other parts of Florida.

Places I love; Cheddar Gorge, Raratonga in the Cook Islands, Crete, Dorset, Oxford(Not the shopping area), Lanzarote, Tulum in Mexico, Cape Point South Africa, Jersey, St Michaels Mount, Fistral beach, The Gower peninsula. Oh and Northern Ireland wowed me.

My favourite places are Dorset(I am not from here but live here now) and Lanzarote. I have learnt that you have to give a lot of places a second chance, and in towns and cities there are of course nice areas and not so nice areas.

Scotland for stunning scenery and amazing beaches and proper mountains.
New Zealand for much of the same!

Went to the Highlands and Islands in Scotland. Absolutely beutiful. Glorious quite beaches, stunning scenery and the weather was brilliant. Don't always beleive weather forecast about Scotland, I was dreading it. Came back with a gorgeous tan and no midgie bites!!

I felt the same about Malta.

And found Gibraltar to be very similar. With the unwelcome addition of some flea-bitten monkeys who would kill you given half a chance by the look of them.

Nancy75: I just read your post to DH who said, 'that's exactly what Malta's like; you go once, you don't want to go back'.

I hope your holiday improves.

Also really don't get the poor views on here of Stockholm and Copenhagen - both were (ime) lovely, friendly cities with great food and architecture, even if a bit expensive for a Brit. Helsinki less easy to get into - I was there for a week with work and found it hard to fall in love with the city but fun to hang out in for a week. Found the Finns a bit taciturn but really nice once they warmed up a bit.

Loved the Amalfi Coast, Dubrovnik, Nice, Kalkan in Turkey, Mallorca, most a Greek Islands but you have to pick your resort carefully, Jamaica, Cuba, Rome, Brussels, New York

Meh: the Canary Islands, Marbella, Paris, Chicago

Hated: Sharma el sheik, Cancun, Naples

Places I thought I would love but didn't:

Sydney - beyond the harbour could've been any city, big disappointment at the end of my 4 month trip (prob didn't help that I stayed in a rough area and wanted to get home to my then bf)
Melbourne - just another city (loved Brisbane and Darwin though)
Staying on an island in the Whitsundays - I've realised that I don't like staying on small islands, feel too hemmed in. Had the same feeling staying on Brownsea island, had to come back early!
San Francisco - as pp said, stayed in a rough area and was given a safe walking route, so many homeless people (also didn't help that I'd arrived from beautiful New Zealand and was also at the end of a round the world trip and wanted to get back to my now dh)
Tobago - felt hassled and unsafe to leave the hotel, got scammed by someone who got in our car and offered to show us the island, and then demanded money
Dominican republic - bad food poisoning

Places I've loved:
Turkey (great food, lovely weather, great scenery,enjoyed Turkish baths) but was quite a while ago.
Norway- Oslo, Bergen, around Tromso particularly beautiful in winter
Singapore, Madagascar, Peru, Cuba, Costa Rica (still dream about Manuel Antonio), all of NZ (maybe not Queenstown), most of Oz.
I loved Tobermory and Mull, was really upset when we had to leave. This was pre DD though so no Balamory preconceptions.
We also had a great holiday staying in a caravan in Brean Sands in May. Thought it wouldn't be my cup of tea but really suited us now we have a toddler.

Ergonomically, Valencia? Have a great time. Hope it's not too hot...

Cathedral and Plaza de la Virgen (Our Lady Square), Plaza de la Reina
Cripta de San Vicente, La Almoina Museum
El Micalet
Drink horchata (tigernut milk) with fartons (elongated cakes) at any of the horchaterias in Plaza de Santa Catalina. Or head to Alboraya and go to Daniel.
Palacio del Marques de Dos Aguas
Lonja de la Seda
Mercado Central
The medieval gates, Torres de Serranos,, de Quart...
Barrio del Carmen
So many places...

You can also go to the beach, la Malvarrosa, Cabanyal
Or go to the Albufera, a natural park

The "modern" Valencia, Oceanografic, Arts and Science City (not very keen on this... I left Valencia such a long time ago that these places are not "mine", iynwim)

Shopping: Calle Jorge Juan, Calle Colon, Calle Pintor Sorolla, Gran Via Marques del Turia, Calle Sorni, Calle Marques de Dos Aguas, etc.

Pop into the mainline train station, Valencia Nord; it is stunning.