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!

Puerto Rica, Gran Canaria. Ugh, vile place.

myron, I agree. There aren’t many places I would travel to in August. It’s busy pretty much everywhere and most places are too hot for me at that time of year.

Having said that, we have visited rural southern Germany in August for the last two years running and it is superb. No crowds or queues anywhere (even at the excellent theme park!), not many Brits, friendly locals, stunning scenery, excellent food, wine and beer, and free local transport!

Was still too hot for me but it was hot in the UK at the same time so..

The best August family holiday we've had was campervanning around Iceland a few years ago imo.

For DH, it was a road trip around Yellowstone which I found way too touristy - even the relatively long day hikes (4+hrs) were well trodden.

I would love to visit Machu Picchu one day but I suspect that the reality is a lot more commercial than I would like.

DH & I went to Thailand one Easter pre DC. We visited Chiang Mai and I arranged a day trekking and rafting which turned out to be one of the most commercial experiences ever! River rafting with kids swimming out to us whilst we're floating down a not so peaceful river try to sell us stuff! Performing elephants at a supposed sanctuary where you go on an elephant trek and the elephant stops every 100 metres when you can buy bananas for them to eat.

We also did a cruise down the Nile many years ago - as soon as you got off the boat to walk to the sites, there was an unbelievable amount of hassle to buy stuff - it was really unpleasant to have men/kids pulling at your clothes to get your attention. You certainly couldn't browse - all I wanted to do was to escape!

@Kismett

This is Europe and we moan! The bloody French are worse, I can tell you (I'm married to a Frenchman). The Swiss aren't much better (live in Switzerland).

I’m surprised too by the number of people who hated Lanzarote. I have been going for 20 years and love the place. It is spotlessly clean. The streets and beaches are well maintained. It is a biosphere reserve too and although it’s lamdscape is volcanic it has a lot of interesting features. I’m a very demanding customer too and find many of the Canarian restaurants serve amazing food.

Have also never seen any trouble of any kind there in all the years I have been visiting.

Wow! I can’t believe some of the places that people hated.
Underwhelming scenery in Lake Garda? Really! Are these images underwhelming? Did you actually get a ferry to other towns on the lake or did you just stay in your resort? Where did you disappointed Lake Garda holidaymakers go? I absolutely love it.
I loved Hong Kong, but we went in 1996, so maybe it has changed a lot since then.
Nothing to see or do in Crete? Nonsense. There is loads to see and do. Couldn’t you have hired a car or done a few bus trips? Although I think you were just unlucky in your choice of hotel, and maybe a tad too optimistic to expect good weather in November.

I really don’t like Blackpool, and was also disappointed at how tacky Cheddar Gorge is. I’m not a fan of Paris, and have felt unsafe both times I have been.
Sorrento was spoiled by the horrifically busy raods and having nowhere nice to go for a proper walk away from the traffic.
Kuta is vile isn’t it. We didn’t stay there, but had a short visit while we were in Bali.
I loved Vienna, and won’t hear a word against it. My experience of Bruges was nothing like yours nomilknosugarplease. It must have changed a lot Notquiteagandt. We felt very safe when we went, but it was 26 years ago.
Agree that Alcudia is a bit like Blackpool.

Lanzarote isn’t boring. There is loads to see and do. If all you do is stay in the resort, and you have picked the wrong resort then it is boring. We were underwhelmed by Costa Teguise which is completely devoid of any character, but found loads of interesting sightseeing and places to visit in other parts of the island.

I like Edinburgh and York MawkishTwaddle, but I agree that they are both spoiled by all the tourist tat. DD looked at York university, but was also put off by the fact that York is just so busy with tourists all the time (and that it is a campus university way from the town).

LaurieFairyCake we also felt very unsafe in New Orleans. It was also very expensive and felt that people were out to fleece us all the time.

“Lanzarote or rather Lanzagrotty”
Parts of it are. Most of it isn’t. Did you bother to see other parts of the island fikel?

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

I agree. I always do a bit of research about where we are going to find interesting places to visit. My ideal holiday is to do a bit of pool, lounging about and explore and do some sightseeing.

I also think that because there are so many cheap flights everywhere is so much more crowded these days.

I really feel that people who disliked their holidays probably only stayed in their resorts and didn’t bother to do any exploration or sightseeing. Lake Garda, Crete, Lanzarote etc all have so much to see and do.

It doesn't really matter where I go, it's the food which makes or breaks it for me!
I like places with loads of history, old architecture ect so wouldn't go somewhere like Vegas or Dubai otherwise they'd end up on this list, same with British seaside towns which I find depressing.

As for European cities, I could go into my city with fresh eyes on separate days and get different experiences. It all depends on so much. If I was a tourist trying to get a taste of 'the real Paris' I could end up in certain banlieues and might be shocked at how dangerous it is, it would certainly colour my view of the whole place.
With that in mind, I thought Naples was a shocker.
I've never really liked York. I see the minster mentioned many a time on threads where people have been blown away by the beauty of it but I find it very underwhelming.

whyispeppa are they surprised? Or are they just voicing an opinion?

For what it's worth, I have been to most of the shite seaside towns mentioned here and loved them, Morecambe, Scarborough, Skegness, Bridlington. The English (and it truly is the English, we have nothing approaching those places in Scotland) do a cheesy seaside town better than anyone in the world. If there is a light misting of rain and you have to eat your sandwiches in the car, so much the better.

Venice. Dirty, overpriced, and had a really weird vibe.

@DeltaG nothing wrong with that! I just don’t want people to think that all Americans are fake when they are enthusiastic and optimistic.

kismett well no.1 I wasn't directing it at Americans so much as I was directing it at Brits who put on that attitude.

And no.2 I find it quite unhealthy to pretend everything is fine all the time when it isn't.

And also, I hate people insisting that I SHOULD be happy/not moan/be optimistic. I don't go around insisting that other people moan or be pessimistic, so not sure why the reverse is acceptable. It's very stifling.

Sydney, wasn’t impressed, apart from the local beaches which were great!

This thread has made me laugh so much. Sorry obviously wasn't funny for people at the time. Made me realise that my disasters of D and V, bed bugs and rubbish weather are pretty low key compared to some.

kismett OK I won't write off Paris, then.. It's one of the easier places to get to from the UK, too!

If I had more money, I'd spend it travelling across the USA by long-distance train. I've done it a few times now and you get to see so much of that amazing country that way. Or I'd retire to a small villa with a pool and an ocean view in Portugal. Or both.

But then again I also have happy memories of Weston-Super-Mare. Oh crikey. Has that had a mention yet? goes to look

Love New York - particularly at Christmas because it is just so, well Christmassy!

Also love Dubai - no matter what people say, it is a clean, exciting place to be. Restaurants are fab.

Hated Cannes - thought it would be so glamorous but it wasn't. Hotel over-priced, food awful, only decent thing was the little train to Monaco - great day out.

Love, love Vienna - so clean, interesting, lovely people, everything within walking distance. So want to go back there.

Mawkish we went to Epcot this year and loved it!

I found Vancouver underwhelming. We visited Victoria first which I loved. Also didn't help matters that we had managed to book a hotel on East Hastings Street and were alarmed to find that we had taken our elderly grandmother to stay in the worst drug and homeless affected area I have ever seen.

Sausmarez Manor on Guernsey - very run down and not much there

Gower Heritage centre - we only went into it because we wanted to go to the coffee shop, it was very run down

Alnwick Castle - full of screaming kids on a bank holiday weekend. I was pregnant at the time and remember wondering what the heck I had let myself in for

I've remembered a few more. I love a moan, me...

I paid a fortune to take my two DSes to Bedruthan Steps family hotel near Newquay. We all came down with D and V. The place was full of families who only wanted to dump their kids in one of the various clubs so you ended up getting the hairy eyeball if you kept yours with you and they made a peep.

Also the prevailing culture was to keep your kids in the hotel room at dinner and use the listening service. This was pre-Madeleine McCann and I was a young and very stupid mum. I remember early on in the holiday suddenly saying 'Erm...what if there was a fire?' And that was the end of that. I still have cold sweats about it now, and both my kids are six foot adults.

And Newquay itself was a filthy shithole.

I used to work in Cannes - the famous part of the town (ie the croisette and a couple of streets back) depresses me beyond belief but the old town is lovely. Behind the frontage is just a very normal town, where lots of people live who keep it all going - and some of the food is awesome if you know where to go.

Sorrento. I was gutted by the inaccessibility of the beaches, the fact that what little beach there was was divided up and you had to hire beds, etc, and the horrendous traffic.

Some beautiful parts, but you had to fight or pay to get to them.

And it was pretty dirty too.

Ayers rock/Uluru, and that was back when you could climb it or walk round the base, Apparently you can't do either now.

You can still walk around the base, and always will be able to, and you can still climb it (this will be prohibited from late-2019). There are simply signs around the base stating the significance of Uluru and asking people not to climb it for that reason.

People saying Naples is threatening etc. For me that is part of its appeal.

“Lanzarote or rather Lanzagrotty”
Parts of it are. Most of it isn’t. Did you bother to see other parts of the island fikel?
Hi yes hired a jeep, found it all v uninspiring!

Interesting about york
I’ve been going for decades now and I don’t think it was the place it was either
Seems like quite a few businesses are closing down especially on the Main Street next to the river , hasn t been the same since bhs left .
It definitely has a run down feel there and it’s surprising because york is busy or busier than ever
So something is going very wrong
Even Betty’s was a grimy let down the other month and definitely needs a refurb