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!

Oh man yes. Mont St Michel. Remembered it as magical from.when.i was a child. But It's been disneyfied Yuk..we stayed 15 mins last time we went & turned round & left! So disappointing.

Star City in Birmingham. A simply horrible place to visit.
Ko pha ngan in Thailand. Such a beautiful place treated so badly over the years. Glorious white sand beaches with broken glass and piles of rubbish. Full of traveler stereotypes who like tie dye and a pseudo alternative lifestyle.

Oh and Niagara Falls.

What. A. Shithole.

Oh my God, Venice is utterly glorious. Most beautiful place ever.

I went in early April though. We stayed away from.St Marks Square, had fabulous food and lots of apperativo.

@BlackFingers
Puerto Angel in Mexico - made the mistake of trusting the Lonely Planet

Please tell me you carried on along the coast? Puerto Angel was always just a town the bus went through on the way to Zipolite, one of my favourite places in the world . Fondly nicknamed it 'Hippy Zippy' when we were backpacking and living/working in Mexico. I badly want to go back there and take the kids but fear it may have changed too much/isn't safe any more. We went in '98/99 and 2003.

Didn't like:
Madrid
Brussels - worked there for 3 weeks, very boring
LA/Hollywood

Ibiza in the 90’s - fucked up place and i guess it’s 10 times worse now.

Blackpool -speaks for itself.

Woolacombe Bay -awful camp site. Full of people i dont mix with.

Im not one for going abroad.

Hastings !!!! very very grim

Gibraltar. Queues of cars to get in. Horrible 60s and 70s apartment blocks. A tiny overcrowded beach. Grim scary monkeys.

Naples nasty horrid got my two suitcases stolen right under my noise in the hotel foyer.Police men corrupt unhelpful rascist nah what a horrid place never ever again

It's sad to read how awful Santorini is now. I went over 30 years ago and you flew into a tiny military airport. There were hardly any tourists at all and we had an incredible time. We became friendly with lots of locals, some of whom we kept in touch with by letter for years. Sometimes restaurant owners wouldnt even let us pay for our food. There was nowhere to wait inside at the airport coming home - we stood outside in a pen

So glad I went then, it was truly magical and probably the most beautiful place I've ever been. Reading this thread, I wont be returning!

Onegiftedgirl
We loved florida disney land we really did but once was enough

London - cold rainy full of rude miserable looking people, too expensive.

Bloody hell, dont venture any further North or West if you think London is cold and rainy!

*In the UK...Bridlington...sorry but it looked so run down.

Ha ha yes it’s a shit hole!! I live there!! No decent shops, unless you like charity shops or Kurdish barbers!! nothing at all to do, Sewerby Park is lovely but it costs a small fortune to get in. The new one way system they’ve put in place around the town centre is utterly ridiculous. I will give us one positive though and that is our gorgeous beaches!! South side is the best one for the stretches of golden sand, North side is more of a shingle beach. Recently whilst driving to my house calls the calmness of the sea, seeing the sun rise/set over it and listening to the waves crashing against the shore when all else is quiet during the night has been pretty spectacular this last month or so

Greece. I went three years ago and I had really bad constipation there one day during the vacation. I was only there for two weeks. But the pool was lovely. We stayed in a hotel room.

I agree with San Francisco.
It felt very run down and tatty.

Oh and Niagara Falls.

What. A. Shithole.

We went down to the Falls at sunrise and were quite literally the only people there. It was magical.

Oia is hideous in high season (although the place itself is stunning) but Akrotiri at the other end of the island is charming and you still get the sunsets and Caldera views.

Loved Brussels.

I think Blackpool is the worst place I've ever been. Now that's a shithole.

April2020mom

Where were you staying? Some bits (e.g. Faliraki in Rhodes) are a bit iffy but other parts - most other parts actually - are beautiful with loads to see and do.

Bali. What a dump. Horrid beaches compared to Thailand and sellers just done leave u alone

disny paris is nothing like orlando but if u think people dr4essed up as characters is weird its not for you

First did the 4-month backpacking experience all over Europe, Turkey and UK well as the Middle-East nearly 50 years ago. It was one of the Young Antipodeans' rites of passage to travel to Southampton on a Greek liner, taking 4 weeks and going via the Panama Canal. We camped out in forests, on deserted beaches, this being before the package holiday boom. It was wonderful. But I've been back several times since then and there's no way I would let my own kids do the same - it was so innocent back then, and so safe. Naples has become a threatening, dangerous place, Egypt is totally off limits, as is Syria (obviously). Back then, tourist sites such as Ephesus were almost deserted. We were so lucky to see it all back then.

MargaretDribble Both have trams, lots of bars, lots of shops, and historic bits in the middle. Croydon (my home town BTW) has more green spaces and parks. But Croydon is a not-very important provincial town whereas Munich's the capital of Bavaria. I just expected something bigger and better.

Abeautifulpeagreenboat my DH spent 3 months each summer for 4 years on Santorini back in the 80s. He loved it. He won't go back now because of what he reads in the media about how it has changed.

Bethlehem....v tacky.

going back to skeggy when I was older.

Agree about Bath - soulless and empty feel, full of noisy cars driving around the centre at night, felt like a mini London

New York - didn't hate it but very smelly, noisy and lacking in charm. The subway is terrible - unbearably hot, cockroaches etc. You can feel the lack of state investment and help. I saw things I'd never seen in London eg an old lady screaming and screaming in barnes and noble and banging on the walls. Realised she'd probably be in a mental health ward or home here. Ate some amazing food though and genuinely started to feel cheered by the positive american spirit and civic mindedness. Real feeling of being in a melting pot too. Such a bizarre mix of contradictions that country.

Lake District - always found it underwhelming, grey and oppressive

Amsterdam - Yes the red light area is depressing. Felt quite angry about it being laughed off as a tourist destination. Crowds of men buying access to girls from poor North African countries. At least they're safer than on the streets. On the plus side we found some lovely food (apple cake, mmmm) and I liked the cosy cafes with the 'hygge' feel and candles in the windows. The Resistance Museum was brilliant. Not in a hurry to go back to the place overall.

I keep trying with Edinburgh but it's either dark with grim weather or unbearably crowded during the festival.

Unless your are dying to see the Sistine Chapel or a devout Catholic I wouldn't recommend Rome.

Feel like I've dodged a lot of potential holiday disasters thanks to this thread .