Worst 'tourist' places you've visited

[ThunderOnlyHappens]

A little inspired by the school trips thread but I have been thinking about the worst places I've visited in pursuit of leisure. Disclaimer-sorry if you live there/love it. These are not anything other than my experience on that day/time.

There was the time I took a group of patients for a nice country stroll, which turned out to be a lay-by off an A-Road.

Or going on holiday to a small town near Gainsborough and realising that there was nothing to do, at all. We were there for a week!

Another vote for Kuta, Bali. Hell on earth. Other areas were lovely.
Danang, Vietnam also a huge disappointment. Never visit Vietnam at Christmas. The weather was beyond miserable. Cold and very wet. TBF though, the food was very good.

A few people I know have also sneered at Koh Samui. True there's not much to see once you've day tripped round the island, but we loved it for a total rest and relaxation holiday.

I didnt like Eastbourne much...

I'm agahst at the dislike for Hong Kong!
It's our home at the moment.
So much to do! Don't come in summer months...far too hot. And rainy.
Come in the winter months. It's fabulous!

( You need a local/ expat to show you all the best parts so you don't get ripped off)

@wizzywig

Absolutely perfect description of Dubai!! Costa del Milton Keynes!

Rubbish place. Too hot, nothing to do, hostile locals. Couldn't wait to leave. And I’ve visited half the planet and have been an ex-pat for years.

We loved Koh Samui. The beaches were clean and the sea wasn’t dirty.
Chawang is what it is but who stays in a hotel there.
The people were so lovely on the island.
Great food.

New York was amazing apart from the grown men openly leering at my 13 year old dd.
It got so bad she would cry. It was so blatant. Ruined the holiday for her.

Now. Who said they disliked Key West?
Yes it’s hot but we loved it.
Cuban cafes, great houses to dream about owning. Lots to take in.
I will definitely return for a longer visit one day.

Blackpool - it's just grim
Las Vegas - it's built on other people's misery
Dubai - tacky

Florence - dirty, choked with traffic and so many people

Paris: dirty. All looks the same. Give me the architectural quirkiness of London any day

Florence is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen! And wasn’t that busy either !

I actually liked Las Vegas, I didn’t expect too so maybe that’s why. I thought the food & mix of cuisines were good & I enjoyed the people watching. Plus we took a trip to the Canyon & saw Hoover dam which was my fave part.

Paris is marmite, I’ve never actually done any sightseeing there just met up with family or passed through. I love France though.

Uluru, we were dropped off just before sunrise, we watched the sunrise over the rock... stunning, the driver said he would come and pick us up three hours later and off he went.
Within 20 mins of the sunrise the flies came out, thousands and thousands of them they land all over you, you’re face, your hands anywhere where they can.
We ended up sitting in the toilets the only place ironically the flies didn’t go, for two hours.
The driver was pissing himself laughing when he came back.
We went to the sounds of silence dinner, ( in the desert, you eat lovely food and see the stars ), it was cloudy and no one told the Japanese group it was the time to be quiet, an American lady got angry and shouted at them, it was awful.
The next day I thought I would lie by the pool and relax, it rained.
Thinking of going there, don’t bother, stand in the shower with a photo of it and get a friend to shout in you right ear whilst throwing your money down the drain😀

This is really interesting!

Surprised to see so many mentions of Amsterdam. I love it, but then I like the coffee shops so maybe that clouds my view 😬

NY for me. We went in August and I found the heat unbearable. I was just constantly soaked in sweat and it’s really difficult to find an open air pool in the city! It was overcrowded and dirty and expensive.

Having said that, we found the locals much friendlier than we had expected, and I loved Brooklyn so wouldn’t rule out going again. But definitely not in the summer!

I’ve just returned from a long weekend in Oia, Santorini, which I see has been mentioned. We absolutely loved it but I can imagine it’s hellish in high season.

Puerto Banus in Andalusia is somewhere I wouldn’t bother visiting again. It’s just one big ostentatious bragfest, full of massive yachts and overdressed WAG types with too much cosmetic surgery, who get driven around in their husband’s sports cars. Naff.

Yes! To Epcot mentioned upstream. Hadn’t changed much in the 30 years between visits and was cringing LY embarrassing to make my family go there thanks to my happy memories. Future world? Did you see those computer monitors?! Huge old things.
We were actually disappointed by Magic Kingdom too though. Shabby and not worth the money in our opinion. Magical for Disney lovers of course but overpriced and needed updating in that particular park.

Our last trip to Paris, it's so busy now, crazy busy queues two hours long despite having the "skip the queue" passes, aggressive begging everywhere and police with huge guns. Dd went more recently with Cadets and their French counterparts who were hosting were armed because the threat of terrorism was so high - glad she didn't tell me until after they returned!

Fantastic thread, laughing my socks off

I LOVE Lanzarote and often go there for winter sun.

Tenerife rubbish, tried a few resorts but not for me.

We loved Cheddar Gorge, we did have a gorgeous sunny day, so that did help.

And how dare someone say they didn’t like Eastbourne much! Outrageous, don’t they know what’s good? millions of elderly holidaymakers on coaches trips would beg to differ!

Yes and your right Epcot is dire these days.

I’m really surprised by these places - surely everywhere is what you make of it? All this hate for Blackpool yes it is grim but most people no that ?? We went there last week and it was fine never felt unsafe but it is what it is I wasn’t expecting the Maldives - just a break away with family, kids enjoyed paddling in the sea and generally just getting the fresh air.

Hong Kong went as a child a loved ( we were there for a ranked 7 monsoon (not sure if that’s right) ) but never the less we enjoyed it - remember one of the days the weather was awful but it was the maids day off and they all meet up so they all went out so even though the weather was awful everywhere you went you saw all the maids going out getting on with there life.

Grand canaria will always be special as that’s where dh proposed and the views were great.

Cuba again really enjoyed and will be special as it was my last holiday before being diagnosed with a medical condition and losing a family member.

Epcot not my favourite out the Disney parks but when we go back🤞I would still do it again.

Point being you can normally find something enjoyable and surely it what you make of it even if you have to alter your expectations

I liked Santorini, extremely hot when we were there - too hot for me

Hated - Monaco a mass of vast skyscrapers where multi millionaires - like Philip Green pay millions of £ for a flat to avoid paying tax. Ugly, weird and hideously expensive

I’m really surprised by these places - surely everywhere is what you make of it

I think a lot of people go there determined to hate it as a demonstration of how much better they are than the common people who like that sort of thing.

They also seem to be describing the very worst mass market touristy bits and if they had bothered to go further out into the various places they would have had a totally different experience. We mostly holiday in the Canaries or Malta and don't recognise any of the descriptions of nasty food, drunk people or dirty beaches. It's like writing off London because Madam Tussards is overpriced and a bit shit.

The Blue Lagoon on Comino is utterly stunning with great snorkeling, loads of beautiful golden sandy beaches on Lanzarote and caves etc and we've scuba dived with turtles and rays in Tenerife. Popeye world on Malta is still open and was quite busy when we looked at it from the cliff top above and swam in the beautiful bay it is set in.

New York, went in 88, hated it never been back, drug dealers everywhere and sense of unease, I was staying with relatives in New Jersey, they were amazed I didn't like it and took me back to better places.

Puerto Rica in Grand Canaria, dire.

Blackpool, shit hole, Scarborough is going the same way.

I think a lot of people go there determined to hate it as a demonstration of how much better they are than the common people who like that sort of thing

Yes that’s definitely what it is.

Or could it be that sometimes people just don’t like things?? Not everyone has a fake, sunny ‘everything is lovely if you look at it right!!!’ personality where we have to like everything in case people think we’re not lovely cuddlebunnies.

Sometimes things are shit and that’s ok.

I don’t like some stuff about Thailand, doesn’t mean it’s a terrible country, it doesn’t even mean I had a terrible time there, it’s just not for me.

Honestly you can see the thread title so if you’re not the person who rnjoys a moan, why even come on here? We could equally say that it’s because you love to feel superior to people who like to complain about stuff sometimes.

This American style super glossy everything is great all the time fake nonsense really gets on my tits. People moan. It’s fine.

Most places in August unfortunately. We were in Lake Garda this August and the main towns were heaving. I think that you need to be off season to avoid crowds AND to go somewhere that's inconvenient to access.

The world is a smaller place as living standards rise and people are richer and can afford to travel more which is why I recognise that it's completely hypocritical of me to deride touristy places as too crowded when I am visiting as a tourist myself.

May half term week is a good week for a holiday because no other European country seem to have a school holiday then therefore it's cheaper and less crowded but still hot (relative to the UK) especially in southern Europe.

As an American, I can assure you my happiness and general enthusiasm isn’t fake! It’s really how I feel and has taken me a while to adjust to the culture of moaning here.

kismett that’s lovely

I went to Epcot with my DCs as older teenagers and theyfound it hilarious. The house of the future. The little rides in Mexico and Norway. The film about Norway made firmly in the 1980s. Sadly gone now. They loved it but laughed themselves silly all the way round. But yes, it was a massive shopping centre,

I loved NY and found the people really friendly and helpful!

Blackpool was a bit grim but I never want to go to Disneyland Paris again.

rhisis the first step I think the point how people are surprised by some of they don’t like the places when quite often they no what it’s Like - for example you why would you stay at a seaside town in the uk and complain about the weather that sort of thing ?

Also Hong Kong was amazing, we easily filled 2 weeks, there's the peak, Kowloon, beaches, other islands and hundreds of places to eat.

How could you run out of things to see?