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!

Lots of these are a case of 'it is what it is'. If you don't like run-down, grim, damp British seaside towns, don't go to Morecambe or Blackpool. Don't go to places with high poverty levels and expect that to be invisible. Don't go to the Lake District if you hate rain and don't like long walks!

The ones that really disappoint seem to be the cities famed for their culture. I have to agree about Paris - dirty, smelly and not as good as it's cracked up to be. I'm sorry to hear about Prague - am going there for the first time on Sunday. Where should I avoid?!

Don't worry about Prague Knittink, it's beautiful. No need to avoid anywhere.

The worst thing I would say is that it's very busy (although perhaps a bit less so at this time of year, we went in summer hols) and I wouldn't bother with any of the Czech restaurants unless you like massive hunks of meat and stodgy dumplings. Like much of Central and Eastern Europe, it's no place for vegetarians!

(I've been to Paris loads of times and I bloody love it.)

I wouldn't bother with any of the Czech restaurants unless you like massive hunks of meat and stodgy dumplings

I love that, and the Czechs do it very well Also I seem to remember to very good ice cream near the Charles Bridge and the river cruises with dinner were lovely.

Mind you, the only place a local ever smiled at us in Prague was in a Chinese restaurant!

Warwick Castle.

We got a couple of two day passes as part of a mini break deal so felt obliged to go. We got there mid morning to find we were in an overflow car park 20 minutes walk from the entrance. Boiling hot day, place was rammed and still they let them in.

Once in they were shameless in their ripping off. The only thing I particularly wanted to see (the dungeons) was £9 each to get in. Massive queue anyway so we didn't bother. The shows were solid with over heated, over excited kids so the only thing we did was climb the millions of stairs round the rampart.

Two hours and we were done. Never again.

Cromer and Weston-super-Mare.....shudder...

Capri- absolutely heaving with people, herded on and off the island like cattle, and ripped off in very expensive cafes.

Munich used to be my home town and if you think there's not enough green spaces and nothing going on, you seriously weren't looking hard enough

I’m happy to have read your posts. I’m using Munich as a base for a holiday in April and im looking forward to it even more now.

Capri- absolutely heaving with people, herded on and off the island like cattle, and ripped off in very expensive cafes

I rented a house in Capri two years ago for a week and it was lovely. It’s a very different place once you get up into the residential areas.

@PollyFlinderz

Agree.

Away from the crowds, Capri is truly exquisite. I can’t believe that people get sucked in to sticking around the harbour. We passed two people on the most breathtaking walk.

Marrakesh. The entire holiday was just one long drawn out process of being shaken down for money. I mean maybe underlying it all that’s true of most paid holidays but there was no attempt whatsoever to hide it or be subtle and it made me deeply uncomfortable.

We literally got driven through a village on a day out where the kids ran along side the car shouting “dirhams!”

I’m happy to have read your posts. I’m using Munich as a base for a holiday in April and im looking forward to it even more now.

Yay! It's a great place, but it is BIG so you have to use the U-Bahn to get around, really. Always take the opportunity to head down a weird-looking side street, they can lead to some interesting places! And don't miss the Viktualienmarkt for some delicious food. And the Alter Peter church which has a great view of the city if you can manage all the steps.

Also, you can hop on the S-Bahn and go to beautiful Lake Starnberg, where Mad King Ludwig apparently drowned himself back in the day. There are a zillion other glacial lakes knocking about and they're all fab. And Neuschwanstein if you like baroque wet dreams. Oh, and some Alps too!

Oh but the most memorable person on the trip (besides the tour guide who stung himself with bees) was a taxi driver haggling for more fare saying “come on, it’s not going to make you poor and it’s not going to make me rich” and I just thought, you know what, why am I clinging so tightly to my purse strings, he’s right.

None of the other hagglers I met the whole holiday had that much wit.

LaurieFairyCake, I so agree with you about London. Ok I am probably biased because I was born there and lived there for 40 odd years (so regret leaving but that is a whole other thread).

I really like cities but, for me, London is the best and probably always will be.

I agree about so much being free. Me and DH try and go to London at least every 6 weeks. Sometimes just for a day, sometimes we get an Airbnb. We love visiting museums and art galleries, our favourites being the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, National Gallery, Tate Gallery. All completely free.

It cost us a fortune in Stockholm to visit some of the museums and art galleries and, again, this year in Holland it was quite expensive to go to museums and galleries.

There is always so much to see and do in London. Always something going on and often it's free. We never ever run out of things to do

With an oyster card we can travel on the tube from Essex to Central London for just over £5 return. The bus from home into our nearest town (all of a mile and a half away) costs £5 return!

Also agree about food. So much more choice of food - we are vegetarian and in London it is so much easier to find lovely veggie food which is no dearer, often cheaper, than some of the distinctly average veggie meals offered in local restaurants.

Don'tcallmeCharlotte, although I agree that Prague is beautiful it, sadly, was much much nicer years ago. As I said, I have been twice and the first time me and DH loved it. We went back in 2004 and were just saddened at how much it had changed. McDonalds, M&S etc. It had just become so commercialised and so crowded with tourists.

We won't be going back and will keep our memories of how it was the first time we went

Dubrovnik - heaving with tourists, Game of Thrones themed...not interested.

Blackpool. Never been anywhere as depressing!

Agree heartily that London is excellent if you don't want to spend much. Much more difficult to be poor miles from anywhere!

And if one more person says "boring" on this thread I shall burst through the internet and throttle them. Have you no more descriptive adjectives than that? As the saying goes, "Boring people are bored." I have always told my dcs that "boring" is a swear word .

Forgot Capri. Very expensive designer shops and cafes. We went a walk away from the main parts and it was pretty, but nothing amazing. Was fine for a day, but really you wouldn't miss anything if you didn't go there.

South Africa. We went over in their Summer and spent time at our friends who had moved out there a few years previously.
Don't get me wrong, the weather and countryside is amazing, but the poverty of the coloureds was disgusting.
There seemed to be no equality. At the top of the hill, there was a compound for the richest whites and they have massive mansions and luxury cars and over the road there was a massive shanty town.
How they could live with themselves I never knew!
All I could see was deep poverty and ridiculous wealth side by side
The only time I was truly happy on our trip was when we were far away from any towns.
We did go back a few years later, but got lost in Cape Town flats.
Scariest thing ever trying to find your way out of a shanty town with no maps and kids, chickens, goats and angry locals.
It was getting dark as well and we managed to get on the motorway slipway to the airport (once junction away), but had to scatter men trying to play football on it!
Be careful out in South Africa, it's got even worse now, our friends moved back to the UK and are much happier now.

NZ = 'longwayaway Dorset'. Jesus H Christ. Yes of course the Southern Alps, the fijords, the wine countries, the glaciers, the cultural impact of the Maori, the subtropical islands, the dolphins, the orca... of Dorset. Give me fucking strength.

Did you visit Dubbo recently and claim that 'it rains all the time in Australia'?

We went to NZ for a month and although we enjoyed it, we were disappointed. Scotland has more stunning scenery, and the food on the south island was like eating out in the 1950s.

NZ is stunningly beautiful and varied. It's amazing. But when I was there it was exactly like living in the 1950s, down to the casual racism over breakfast.

Granted it was pre 'internet for everything' days so it's probably changed.

I always say that too @abacucat. Anything to keep the uk tourists away from our most beautiful and quiet spots. 🤫

prune We went about 10 years ago, and on the south island there was plenty of racism.
Although I expect lots of white people will now come on this thread and say they never encountered racism there.

Abucacat what we heard came from a couple, she was white and he was Maori!

We didn't know where to look.

(I typed my post and then thought, here in the UK I bet there's plenty more casual racism nowadays than there used to be.)

That sounds awful Prune.

Yes there is plenty of racism in Britain, but it less IME than in NZ South Island.