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!

A hotel on a posh beach in Kenya. Hotel was very nice, but we had to take a dodgy ferry to get to it which was heavily overloaded with people, then drive through a large shanty town and pass armed guards into the compound. The ferry was so dodgy, our driver warned us not to open the windows, even though it was stiflingly hot in the safari truck. We also couldn't go on the beach without being harrassed by scary looking touts

I find myself in Mombassa often due to family connections and for me that ferry is one of the best things about it. I love being on it. Now ot that my husband and his wee pals used the ferry decades ago. They just used to swim across from one side to the other if they were going on an adventure. They’d also cycle from Mombassa town where they grew up to Malindi for a day out even when they were about 10.

Ooh, great thread.

My husband and I have often found we prefer the 'second cities' in various places - so Turin as opposed to Milan, Washington DC as opposed to New York...etc. So I'd say don't just pick the bucket-list places/go where all your mates have gone and do the same stuff everyone does...actually plan your visits based on places that genuinely interest you, then do stuff you actually want to do when you get there.

But even within a lot of the major tourist hotspots you actually don't need to go that far off the beaten track (literally a side street off a main tourist street will usually do - it's not about visiting so-called dodgy areas) to find nice, reasonably-priced restaurants etc. So I'd say that in some cases people need to do more research.

We therefore had to think really hard to pinpoint a place we've been disappointed by. The best I can come up with is Hay-on-Wye! The bookshops were really overpriced and there wasn't a great deal in the town just generally. Torquay was another disappointment - though I'm guessing we went to the wrong area of town as we felt quite unsafe even just walking down the high street.

My husband and I have been particularly interested in this thread as we lived in the Paris area for 9 years and commuted into the city for work pretty much daily. While several of the remarks on this thread are not untrue, you really need to get out of the touristy areas. The 17th and the 15th districts are picturesque and stuffed with wonderful, good-value restaurants and bars. And not at all dodgy.

Oh, and at least the public transport works and is inexpensive in Paris - unlike in London (a city we also know very well, including its commuter trains).

I am really glad to see a couple of posters here recommending other areas in the Netherlands as this is where we are living currently. We go into Amsterdam only when we have to. Though it is still possible to enjoy good museums and restaurants there, we prefer to go on a weekday as at the weekends the place is just impossible and walking through hazes of marijuana smoke to get basically anywhere is so unpleasant. If you are really coming to Amsterdam for the canals, museums, restaurants etc (as opposed to just being a sheeple) then you can get just the same in the Hague, Leiden, Amersfoort etc. We attended an international film festival in Vlissingen not long ago. Train networks in the Netherlands are indeed excellent so there is no problem reaching any of these places from the airport. (And this is before you even get to university cities such as Maastrict or Utrecht, which I'm sure don't suffer in these departments either.) It's erroneous to only focus on Amsterdam's red-light district - that's like saying you hate London based on your one trip to Soho.

Paris is also a lot smaller than London so you notice these deficiencies more (e.g. shady people)/it is easier to stumble upon them. If you went to the equivalent areas in London (e.g. Hackney) you can see the same problems.

I can say that Ive not been disappointed by many places abroad, but for sheer tack Loch Ness visitors centre has to take the over priced shortbread. The loch itself is lovely, but Lord Ive never seen so much tartan covered gubbins ever. Same holiday, this was a long time ago (and we love Scotland and had a fantastic time) we took the little uns to Santa Land (Father Christmas land, Christmas land?) near Aviemore,it was the biggest load of shite Ive ever been to, really poor rides and no Father Christmas!

In the second week I resorted to vodka and orange for breakfast and slept until it was a more decent time to drink some more alcohol.

DH and I do that on holidays we’re enjoying

I love Cornwall- absolutely adore it- well, Penzance town is a bit crap, but the surrounding areas and everywhere else are stunning. Excpet- I remember a holiday I went on with my family in my teens- we were in the St Austell, mevagissey area, we had been on a lovely campsite and were moving on somewhere else for a couple of nights. We were driving round looking and we stopped off at a huge caravan site- the beach at first sight looked nice, then we saw one end of the beach had a grotty sort of factory and the beach was crowded. It was the only time I had ever gone to abeach in Cornwall and thought "urggh."

We ended up at Penhale Farm near Polkerris which is beautiful. But to the life of me I cannot remember the name of that awful beach. I have googled but no joy. Maybe I dreamed it after too many Strawberry Mivvis or something?

@vorlant

I had relatives in Croydon and loved going and visited a few times a year. The shopping was great, Lloyd Park for walks and they had Greek neighbours who were always up for a party/food.

Florida. Definitely not my thing. I couldn’t wait to come home.

For me I would say that Los Angeles is overrated.

We had a stopover there on our way to my SIL's wedding in Australia (Sydney).

I wanted to do Disneyland and Universal Studios, which we did and thoroughly enjoyed. We had a stroll along Rodeo Drive and saw a few of the stars' homes. That is LA in a nutshell though and I am glad we were only there for two or three days as it got very samey after that. It seems to have and offer very little else apart from theme parks and Hollywood stuff. That gives it the feel of a very, very shallow kind of place.

I've been there. I am glad I can say that I have been, but I have no desire to return.

@OhWhatFuckery Never been to Loch Ness visitors centre but I have read reviews on Trip Advisor and many aren't great. Also heard that in Nessieland there is a really creepy sad atmosphere. I would not want to go near it tbh.

I did go to Pembrokeshire this year and generally loved it but found Mumbles overrated. That morning had gone to Worms Head and Rhosili Bay on the Gower and to see Mumbles afterwards was a bit deflating. The town is pleasant enough but the beach urgggh and many places to eat overpriced. I did like the Love Spoon Museum though.

Sounds like Par beach Mozartvanbeethoven

Some of these make me a little sad! PPs didn't like Melbourne? Vancouver? Some I totally get -San Francisco used to be amazing but it has radically changed in the last decade and now the city is literally overrun by homeless people and housing is insanely expensive! Ten years ago I would have done anything to live in SF but when I was there a few months ago I couldn't wait to leave and I felt less safe even in crowded business areas.

I do think there's a certain random luck to how you experience a place. It always helps if you know someone there who can point you to the best places/experiences. I've lived in London and I adore it but my American friend hated it, it turned out that she went on a European package tour that put people in cheap out of the way hotels (in her case she was stuck in a dodgy hotel in the East End) and so she ended up not feeling safe and not experiencing the best parts of London. Same story with a different friend who hated Tokyo, another place I have lived in and love but I totally understand that Tokyo's the kind of place that a local resident who can show you the cool stuff is so much better than relying on a guidebook.

Personally I love, love love Vancouver! I think it's beautiful. I have many friends there through so when I visit I get to experience the best/newest/coolest restaurants and bars. If you love good food, Vancouver is heaven! I would live there in a heartbeat if I could but sadly it's another place where housing has become absolutely insane! I have a friend there who owns a modest house in the suburbs and she regularly has real estate type people showing up to offer millions for her house which a just a regular house, the land is worth it to them.

Salou. Full of shops selling tat. Wish we’d stayed in Tarragona instead - it was lovely.

Blackpool. I had such happy memories of a holiday there as a child, but when I went back? Horrid. I was quite upset about it, actually...

Marrakech. Intimidating, and full of tourists who don't think they are tourists - they think they are having this cool unique experience. They aren't.

Montenegro. Awful, dark, forbidding place with dreadful food.

Southern Galicia is the place to go.It’s got its own microclimate (not always raining as people would have you believe) Excellent seafood, Albariño wine, lots of interesting history, sun, sea, woodland walks and easy access to Northern Portugal. Not crowded either

mozartvanbeethoven did you mean Par Sands beach - the one with the big china clay factory next to it?

Blackpool-couldn't agree more with everyone
Land's End - serious disappointment and super tacky
Pismo Beach-the Blue Lagoon Motel. Seriously doubt it's still there but just think Bates Motel with a door that didn't reach the floor at the front and another through to an adjoining kitchen with a cooker on its side . Left pdq the following day after not sleeping a wink that night. Bizarrely a v naice Best Western about half a mile away (if only...)
Tangiers-what everyone else has about Morocco.
Amsterdam-ditto everyone else. Was mugged as well...
Golden Sands, Bulgaria-went in October. Everything shrink-wrapped as it was the end of the season. Never been so bloody freezing and had the same food every night in the hotel. There was even frost on the beach in the morning.
Paris-meh...

Brussels - total and utter kip. Grey, grim, full of rude Eurocrats and I definitely never felt safe there (pre-terror attacks)

Sao Paolo - most humid place on earth, so much pollution and the WORST traffic I've ever encountered

Venice - the hotel we booked put us in their "sister hotel", which was a rundown hostel and we got eaten alive by bed bugs. It rained the entire time, the gondola guys went on strike and everything closed at 10pm because of the weather. It was easily the worst holiday I've ever been on

Bangalore - was there with work for three months and Christ on a bike, it was horrific. The pollution, poverty, traffic, roaming packs of wild dogs, etc, etc

On the other hand, I adore Paris (easily my favourite city), SF, NY, Vancouver and Vegas.

The only place I couldn't wait to leave was India.
I didn't go holiday, though. Maybe if I had gone for leisure it would have been better.

But my main problem was the food. Every fucking thing was spicy, except the excessively sugary sweets/desserts.

I was disappointed by Paphos, we hired a car in the end so that we could go in to the mountains and escape it. Too many tacky British bars. The Eden project I thought was massively overrated and expensive.

Some of the replies on here are really rude, some people seem to take it personally that others don’t like the same resorts as them. Everyone is different.

@Dowser Funny to see Maubuisson mentioned! I've been going there, or in that area, almost every year for the last 20 years. The nearby ocean beaches are so gorgeous, Carcan plage is my favourite place on earth, great for surfing or body boarding. Hourtin plage, just north, is lovely too and the 10+km in between them that are only accessible by bicycle or foot are insanely beautiful and wild. The forest is lovely for cycling, there are 100s of km of cycle paths. The lake has loads of activities, sailing, wind surfing. Finally for such a small place there are quite a few nice places to eat and drink in the evening. There's a real party feel on the main street. I've never been off season, so maybe that was the problem.

@PuzzledandPissedoff I think it might have been Par. Will have a google.

While several of the remarks on this thread are not untrue, you really need to get out of the touristy areas

I hope you take your own advice when you visit those number one cities that keep letting you down!

My favourite way of doing this is to walk everywhere. We rarely use public transport on city breaks except at night, for safety. I've walked all over Paris and New York (as well as many other major cities) and both have some really interesting and beautiful areas away from the tourist traps. Berlin is another city that is super interesting to explore by foot.