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!

ineedwine99 I live in Pocklington, and it's so nice.

I'm back towards York but go into Pocklington at least once a month, it is a lovely town :-) my hairdresser is there too

For me places i disliked are:
San Francisco - smells of weed and some areas piss
Paphos - meh

I definitely think it’s what you make it as some of the places listed here I’ve really enjoyed. Places I’ve hated though

Tunisia - felt threatened and was filthy dirty
Bude, Cornwall - Hate the place, has a horrible vibe

Loved Vietnam, Singapore, Crete, Venice, Lakes Garda

North Devon, unfortunately I have to visit regularly as I have family there but it must be one of the wettest places in the UK.

lonicerajaponica your reply made me laugh. To be fair to Lake Garda, I went there when I was about 15 - if I revisited now I might have a very different impression. It was on a tour of Italy. My family are sea-lovers and the lake seemed a bit boring and dull in comparison. We laughed at the guidebook's gushing description of the 'splendidly faded grandeur' of buildings around Lake Garda. I would say maybe I'm not a lake and mountain person (for example Lake Annecy also left me cold) but I have enjoyed holidays by German lakes.

In Italy the nicest places were Sienna, Florence and Verona. Coming from northern Ireland, where we have gorgeous scenery, my family were underwhelmed by the hills of Tuscany too. sorry

Paris: dirty and rude
Rome: hot and rude
Brittany: cold, rainy and rude (especially uncaring to special needs child, no consideration at all)
Mombasa: fab town but the beaches are full of predators (of the two-legged type)

Koh samui - so many men buying young women and children. Mind I might prefer it 20 years on with a need for prescription lenses.

Going against the grain - I'm from the Highlands and I adored LA - didn't think it'd be me at all.

Think the worst holiday was Gran Canaria. It was so built up, the beaches were dirty and the water smelt strongly of bleach
Ugh. The best day was when we hired a car and drove miles to try and find some authenticity. But I'd never go back there.

I do sort of wonder whether people look up anything about where they're going before they go there...some of these have cracked me up...

Iceland's Blue Lagoon was full of tourists in murky water...well, it's a tourist spot where you go and bathe in natural clay waters...so...

Amsterdam has a seedy red light district...how does anyone go to Amsterdam without expecting that?

The Eden Project is boring if you're not into wildlife and gardens...well, yeah, of course?!

I think the point about Amsterdam is that the whole city feels a bit sleezy, not just the red light district.

I agree that some of the comments are funny though. Especially the shock one poster expressed that Hong Kong was 'built-up'.

Mykonos. A fake, Disneyfied version of Greece for the super rich. We drove all around the island and didn’t find anywhere we liked.

I didn't see Amsterdam as sleezy. Yes there is a red light district but you can avoid it. If you hang around Dam Square where there's loads of people wasted and stag dos and so on you are getting a very one sided view of the place. There is so much more to it. Still failing to see how anyone can dislike New York or New Orleans. Horses for courses I suppose.

I have always read these threads with a sense of amazement, being the type of person who can see the good in every situation etc. etc.

This year I had to spend two days in Bangalore. It was my fifth time in India, and the stay was at the end of a month long trip and now I can see why people might write off a whole country based on a couple of nights somewhere unpleasant. Even my super luxurious hotel didn't really make up for what a dump it was 😂I really want somebody to come on and explain the good parts, because, apart from a micro brewery and an OK garden, I couldn't find them myself...

Op can i ask which town you visited near Gainsborough? Sorry not sure how to tag.

The lake district. Bloody awful few days there.
I don't intend to revisit any of the Greek Islands I've been to either.

Plans for next year do include Lake garda though and possibly malta as it's supposedly good for scuba diving.

I love the Atlantic ocean and the climates surrounding it. I spend many happy weeks in tenerife during winter but I stay away from the tourist traps and the people are lovely.

Just back from Madeira and that was OK too but I didn't feel too well so the constant walking up big hills was tiring.

Pocklinton. must get there before the end of the season
Heard it’s nice

There is nothing good about Bangalore. The OKish garden doesnt make up for the polluted rest of the city. And I was sexually assaulted walking down the street.

But India as a whole is pretty amazing. Filthy, smelly, noisy, overwhelming, exasperating, yet amazing.

Me and DH loved the Eden Project. A day there was no where near enough time so we would love to go back.

We both love France and have visited quite a bit of it. Not keen on Paris though. We have been 3 times because we kept thinking we had been to the wrong bits! Avignon is lovely though and we both love Mont St Michel. Driving to it, its looks like a fairytale castle.

Amsterdam is ok but much prefer other places in Holland. The Hague, Delft, Utrecht, Haarlem are all nice and we both absolutely love Leiden. We both say we would love to live there. Visited about 5 times so far.

Really like Belgium. The coast is nice and the tram, as another poster said, is great. Means you can travel all along the coast without needing to use the car. Very cheap too.

Went to Brussels for the first time this year and was wondering if we would like it due to the negative comments it gets on mn. We both loved it. Spent 3 days there but nowhere near long enough so will be going back. Ghent is great too.

Loved Stockholm and Sweden in general. Would love to go back but so expensive so not sure we will.

We went to Prague in 1995 and absolutely loved it. Went back in 2004 and it was nowhere near as nice.

Haven't been to Blackpool for years but used to like it. Yes it was tacky but we expected that.

Only place we have been that we were not keen on was Glasgow. That was probably due to the horrendous weather - 3 days of non stop torrential rain - and the rude, useless taxi drivers though. When we got to the airport to come home they said our flight might be cancelled because it was so windy. I burst into tears at the thought of having to stay longer. Thankfully the flight did go ahead but 4 hours late

Finally visited Edinburgh for the first time last April. Dreadful place. Dreary and touristy as hell, and grim and seedy at night. Lost count of the number of sick piles deposited in and around our hotel each morning in Grassmarket. No thanks!

The Jura was a disappointment

@PierreBezukov God I love the rest of it. Proper adore it, and go every year.

Just not Bangalore 😂

We have done a lot of travelling. There are only two places I would never go back to - Tunisia and Bali.

Honestly, i could not be paid to return to either of them. Worked in Amsterdam, so love it there, but i do think think it is a marmite place - rather like Malta, people either love it or hate it.
Everywhere else I have been, i loved. Dirty, smelly, busy - the experience is fabulous.

Hong Kong was depressing, grubby, horrid 80s buildings, shit shopping. So relieved when we took a day trip to a nice island with a big Buddha statue.

Venice is utterly breathtakingly beautiful IMO, but there's nowhere nice to eat and I found a lot of people ungracious and rude.

Not a holiday, but I used to work in Edinburgh, spent a fair bit of time there going out to the bars/restaurants/cinemas etc after work and never got to like it. Overwhelming feeling of people thinking they were better than anyone else.

I found Marrakech dull, not culturally interesting or very pleasant to be in. Main square just like Leicester Square but warmer. I like Essaouira though.

I liked Blackpool! Went to an arty ghost train performance/installation (sadly no longer there), a gallery with a good show about puppetry in art, the comedian carpet thing and LOVED the ballroom in the Tower with the wonderful decor and gorgeous sprung floor.

Have to say Devon, been a few times & every time we’ve been it’s pissed it down!

Port Merion. Never been more disappointed!