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!

The other Scottish disappointment is Culloden. Twenty quid to look at a field.

I felt there was quite an eerie vibe in Stirling
The black pyramid doesn’t help
And the story about the poor girl they drowned..over her refusing to change her religion I believe

Lots of places mentioned on here that I really loved! But I'm easily pleased when I travel, I even liked Benidorm!

Bridgetown in Barbados was a bit odd, too many dead cats

Melbourne I liked but found spectacularly unfriendly and up its own arse compared to the rest of Australia.

Lands End and the Needles are incredibly tacky, Portland Bill is a much better version.

I hated Dubai; I went under sufferance with an ex, he had business there so we did it as a 4 day stop en route to Thailand. It couldn't end fast enough for me, I'm not mad keen on Bangkok either but couldn't wait to get there after Dubai.

I've travelled all over the world, often alone, and Zimbabwe is the only place I have really felt unsafe. The actual Victoria Falls are beautiful, Victoria Falls town not so much. I felt uneasy the whole time I was there and left for Botswana earlier than planned. By contrast neighbouring Zambia and Botswana were both amazing.

In the UK, I went to Bath with a friend and found it hugely overrated. We had thought we'd spend the whole day there but were back at the park and ride after a few hours.

The other Scottish disappointment is Culloden. Twenty quid to look at a field. angry

That's the problem with battle fields isn't it? Once the battles done... Your left with a field. I saw an episode of "Holiday Showdown" once where some two K of a husband dragged two families around "historic battlefields" aka Just-bloody-fields for an entire week. I was rooting for the other family and their "tacky beach holiday" all the way!

I'm angry about the Culloden thing because for me the 'field' was a deeply moving experience.

Well not all of us have the imagination to be deeply moved by something that happened in the 16th century. Prefer a nice castle meself. Luckily you can’t turn round a corner in Scotland without seeing one.

For me, too, Culloden was deeply moving, with many relatives buried on the field. So much bloodshed for an ideal, and a weak, gutless one at that.

Come to Yorkshire. We have battlefields you can look at for free.

Eg Stamford Bridge, 1066 and all that, depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry or Towton from the War of the Roses. SB is a nice village with plaques, tearooms etc and Towton has a signed battlefield trail.

Gibraltar. Bit of a dump.

Also Las Vegas. I went there in the early 80s when it hadn’t been developed to the extent it has now and there was nothing to see except the casinos. Utterly depressing shithole of a place.

Another vote for Paris - smelly, dirty, seedy. (Expensive) hotel was crap. Overpriced, rubbish food. Maybe we were unlucky (last minute break, not much time for proper research + shit weather) and too disappointed to enjoy the sights properly, so I’d consider a second trip. Well I did consider it, till I read this thread.
Hated Dubai too.
On the other hand, I loved both Naples and Bangkok.

Truly baffled as to how I walked round Paris not noticing any bad smells or any of the other things people have mentioned. The only grotty bit I saw was at the Gard du Nord which just looks terrible when you've come from the swish Eurostar terminal in London. I went to the art galleries, Rue St Honore area, the Marais and Ile Saint Louise. All lovely. Finding this thread very interesting.

That's awful explodingid

Truly baffled as to how I walked round Paris not noticing any bad smells or any of the other things people have mentioned

I said the same earlier in the thread. I've been numerous times. Never noticed a smell. Never felt unsafe. Walked all over the city and in general it's clean and pretty. 🤷

Rhyl - filthy streets, rundown, the most unhelpful tourist information I have ever come across. In fact it was total misinformation and I felt it was deliberate.
Florence. Yes it was beautiful, but the crowds of pushing shoving people were awful. Probably best to go in the winter.
Barcelona, but because of a childhood horror. We were on a long stay in that part of Spain in the 60's and my dad lost the family passport (children used just to be added to their parents passport). We had to make many trips to Barcelona to the consulate to get new papers. It was a long drive and I was car sick on every one. I remember how bad the lorry fumes were, which made me feel worse. We had seen all the sights of Barcelona many times over, just to kill time. I never want to go back.

Oh, and the smell of piss in France. My father was very keen on France, we used to spend a lot of time travelling round. Everywhere we went that was an interesting or beautiful sight was always accompanied by "the smell of a frenchman" as my father put it. Even now, when ever I smell stale piss, which you get in some places in this country (uk) too, I am transported back to my childhood holidays. Happy days!

Splendid China in Orlando.
Most random theme park ever!

He refuses to wear budgie smugglers, board style shorts are not allowed in quite a lot of french swimming pools.

There's another option, which is what most people wear. (Relatively) Close-fitting trunks, like these (Link is to Decathlon.fr)

I do wonder where all the Paris-haters went. The horrible bits are the Champs Elysees, and quite a bit of Bd St Germain. Just very, very touristy. But use the rule of thumb of going one (at least) street back from the main drag, and that's where the at least half decent places will be.
Also, don't come over here in August, it's crap.
I actually love our armed police/gendarmes/soldiers, but I live in the arrondissement that had all the attacks, so I see them in a very positive way. They protected us.

I visited Bath in 2005, loved it. The history was wonderful. The horrible B and B the first night wasn't, but the one for the next two nights was lovely. This despite going round the Roman baths shivering and shaking with some kind of horrible snot plague.

I'm also amused at the characterisation of Parisiens as being rude. In pretty much every instance, I've found that those who find us rude have fairly awful manners. Even the first time I came here, before we moved here, I spoke about fifteen words of French, but never saw the rudeness. London, on the other hand...

Yes, the Champs Elysees is dreadful (though still non urine smelling). After living in London for 3 years I was surprised to find Paris more friendly and personal. It was undoubtedly rude when I first went there 20 years ago but this seems to have changed. Every time I was struggling with something somebody came up to help (always men funnily enough). I don't find Londoners rude, just indifferent. There were armed guards everywhere in Paris but I found them reassuring.

Did you miss the Englischer Garten, one of the world's largest urban public parks?

No, saw that (OK not all of it) and also the Old Botanic Gardens - which I liked, but I'm sorry, the whole place left me seriously underwhelmed.

I really enjoyed the Needles - and with a teenager and tweenager!

We loved going on the chair lift - it was spectacularly un health & safety, so it was far scarier than any fancy theme park ride. And we had great fun in the arcades.

I think a lot of people go to places with a "So, entertain me, then" mindset. No wonder there are so many disgruntled holidaymakers on this thread.

Sorrento is profoundly disappointing, very glad I didn’t stay there,merely passed through en route to Positano.

Naples I saw two sides of. Stayed on the waterfront near Castle D’ovo. That was lovely. Got a private taxi to the coast. Got the train back to Naples though. Wow. If we had stayed anywhere near the central train station I wouldn’t have left hotel for fear of being murdered. Unsafe, unpleasant and an absolute no. So Naples is, I think, a city where you need to be careful where you stay and do your research before going.

Barcelona has some great places to visit but the pickpocketing is so legendary that NOT getting my purse stolen became number one priority.

Maybe I'll go back on a day trip from the countryside or coast when they've finished the Sagrada Familia.