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!

Dominican Republic trapped in the complex as not safe to leave guards patrolling complex with machine guns. Rained for 5days solid in dry seasoon.

Oh and on be of the trips we did on a bus with an armed guard saw 3dead dogs on side of the road

Las Vegas- went with very low expectations wasn’t disappointed. Rest of the holiday around the southwest US National Parks was magnificent

Dungeness. A wasteland of shingle and apparently post-apocalyptic huts, with a miniature railway running through it - all the way to the power station. Lovely, it was not.

Was also wondering which town nr Gainsborough. Also thought Retford maybe but then you'd just say Retford surely. Please say where it was!

Deadbudgie that would upset me so much. I really struggle going to places with poor animal welfare (and human).

The two places that stand out for me that I would never in a million years ever revisit are Bangkok (dirty, seedy and full of fat Western men buying young girls - it made my skin crawl) and Sharm el Sheikh (went about 15 years ago on my own and felt so hassled/threatened when I left the hotel that I spent most of the holiday by the pool - it wasn't a great pool, either).

@PuzzledandPissedOff Yes! yeah, google confirms it was Park Leisure Holiday Park on Par Sands. Looking at it now on Google it doesn;t seem that bad now, but I had been spoiled by going to some really super beaches all over Cornwalll prior to that and it seemed so naff in comparison.

@FurryDog yeah, Dungeness is bleurghhh. The Isle of Sheppey is also bleurghhh. Some really nice places on the Kent coast though.

I live in Blackpool but tend to avoid the centre like the plague.
I hated Limassol in Cyprus (tacky) Sharm el Sheik ( dirty and feels unsafe) and Jamaica ( hotel was amazing but the rest just felt grotty and dangerous).
I love Hisaronu and Olu Deniz in Turkey and South Beach in Miami.

I found South Beach in Miami sleazy at night but fine in the daytime. I loved Fort Lauderdale, half hour up the coast.

Paris circa now, was lovely 30 yrs ago.
Now it is rip off and feels unsafe.
Sorrento and the coast road - full of coaches trying to pass each other.

Oh, I love Dungeness, but it is a love-or-hate-it kind of place.

Loved Amsterdam (not Dam Square) until we visited the rest of Holland. Love, love love ...Utrecht, Edam, Gouda, Amersfoort and some of the small villages and beaches near to Rotterdam. Beautiful country and lovely people.

Edinburgh a mixed bag. Really like Stockbridge, the New Town and Marchmont. HATE the Royal Mile and the Grassmarket. Tartan tat!

Hate Salou but love Reus and Tarragona. Hate Benalmadena (beach) but love Benalmadena Peublo and the working village/small town of Arroyo De La Miel. Enjoyed Malaga for the sites, didn't like the people.

I iove Venice.. Went every year with my husband at different seasons. Never tired of exploring. Had best sticky toffee pudding ever years ago in Grange over Sands !!

It honestly does grieve me to see all those nominating Florida - fair enough if folk have travelled away from Orlando and still hate it, but so few do and they miss such a lot

In no particular order, Sarasota and Siesta Key, Clearwater and St Petersburg, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, Naples, Sanibel and Captiva, the Space Coast, the Everglades and of course the Keys are all brilliant places to visit ... they can even be part of a two centre holiday which includes the theme parks too

I have a long list but top of it Pattaya - don’t ask how we ended up there but absolutely vile filthy place full of peadophiles, Florida - nearbthe theme parks is grim, Naples Florida is too posh and expensive loved Key West though like a posh Blackpool with good weather. Marrakesh- just don’t go there, I was with my husband but got ripped off, felt up and had some bloke nearly attack me because I had cross earrings.

St Ives can do one - horribly overcrowded; couldn't move. Much preferred Falmouth.
Loved Tunisia - did it 'Rough Guide' style on our honeymoon :) Avoided places that were crammed with Brits.
Love Amsterdam; went BC (before children) for a rainy long weekend and had a brilliant time. But that was years ago, before it became such a popular Hen / Stag venue.

Llandudno - used to get dragged there every October half term. Arrived the week the tram stopped so were route marched up the Orme. The beach was too wet and windy to do anything but walk along, no cafe was open in the evening so used to have to eat fish & chips on the windy beach, and my Dad used to take us on long walks where the most interesting thing was how many (wet & miserable) sheep you could count.

Blackpool. Ghastly place!

My friend and I were on holiday to Algarve and went on an excursion to 'worlds end' not entirely sure what we expected but a big cliff overlooking the sea with nothing else to see or do isn't anything new to Scots lol x

Rainbunny Vancouver was full of druggies and homeless people - it's one of my outstanding memories of the place. Drug addicts were wandering about all over the place and had clearly taken over entire areas and streets.

The river was nice enough but just another river really, Stanley Park a nice enough park but not outstanding, there was very little history and there was no real centre or soul to the city. We went to Vancouver Island - a nice memory, and did the Sea to Sky drive, but I've seen far superior scenery a 20 mins drive from where I live. What was slightly irritating was that the Canadians were all raving about how beautiful and wonderful everything was. It's not. Maybe it's nicer than the plains of Ontario but it's not a patch on hundreds of places in Europe.

@StoneofDestiny

India - the blatant inequality between rich and very very poor was difficult to handle, lack of basic hygiene (even in major cities) and resultant stench, corruption of law officers. It was still very evident there were 'untouchables' in their eyes, even though they say that is now outlawed

Did this come as a surprise to you?

Blackpool - stickiest place on earth.
Prague - loved it in the 90s, went back a few years ago and my, hasn't it been ruined! The rudest locals I have ever come across (apparently very different in other Czech cities).
Tintagel - feared for my life when venturing into the 'Camelot Hotel' and accosted by Scientologists. C R E E P Y!

OTOH - I bloody love NYC, Garda, Madrid, Amsterdam, Venice and Budva (though it may well have changed since I was there in 96!).

wonderandwander of course not. I was there with work and very much behind the tourist veil. I have also visited as a tourist. So, no surprise to me, but the thread wasn't about what 'surprises' we've had in tourist resorts.

Myanmar was positively medieval. (No surprise either)