Where in the world have you been that was very different to what you’d expected?

[Davespecifico]

For me it was a journey through Montenegro to Kotor. I couldn’t believe the fjords, steep cliffs and cruise ships.

Bad: Aruba. Went for work and thought it would be cool South American/Caribbean vibe.

Nope. Americans - lots of them and very built up. Posh spring break vibe and lovely scenery ruined by over tourism.

Gretna Green - I was expecting a tiny village, an old blacksmith’s forge and not much else. Instead, it was a shopping centre with a big canteen full of coach-trippers.

Isle of Lewis - it’s beautiful and there’s a lot more to see and do here than you might expect. But I certainly wasn’t expecting to get sunburnt.

Reykjavik. Iceland has many, many stunning natural attractions. However, Reykjavik on a rainy day in March was a bit meh. It’s quite small, very expensive and every shop seemed to sell either wooden handicrafts, woolly jumpers, jewellery or sheepskin rugs.

Venice was every bit as beautiful as I’d hoped it would be, but I was expecting more canals and far fewer streets.

Good - Colorado ..Fort Collins. Toured the USA with DD2 in 2017. Fort Collins is beautiful, nestled at the foot of the Rockies, leafy tree lines streets , people cycling everywhere and amazing weather.. went from 90 degrees at the bottom of the mountains to snow on the top..in one day!

Bad- SanFransisco... never seen anything like it..the drugged homeless along the piers, eveything in the local supermarket behind locked cabinets (we stayed in a lovely airbnb) It was the only place we felt unsafe.

LA... underwhelming and Venice Beach was just vile... weed everywhere and tacky gift shops

Waikikii... exepcted it to be tourist hell, yet it was beautiful,, so clean . The sea so blue...

Rome... mad drivers but loved every second of it, which I didn't expect!

Los Angeles. Grim, dirty, ordinary. Santa Monica pier was like a mini Blackpool. No class, unless you go to Beverley Hills and Rodeo Drive. Other than that it's very ordinary. Best to go to San Francisco and Santa Barbara if you want to see beautiful California

Bulgaria...beautiful unspoiled countryside....lots of wild flowers & birdsong, kind people

Bangkok - horrible (& lots of stray dogs in very poor condition)

Another one saying Kraków. Possibly one of my favourite cities. Also Valencia blew me away.

Didn't like Melbourne, Paris or Munich.

Disliked: north wales. I had a friend who was from the area we visited and she used to drone on about how much she hated tourists. Visited once and won't ever visit again. Didn't feel welcome. Cold, wet, dark cottages and the beaches weren't a patch on Cornwall. No idea why everyone raves about abersoch or the surrounding area. I did quite like Anglesey though.

Some parts of Mauritius are underwhelming

South Korea was average. Interesting but not much to see really. Enjoyed the food though. Was there for business so maybe I didn't see the best bits.

Loved: LA, San Fran. Paris is my favourite city in the world! I lived in the 5th arrondissement for a few years and totally fell head over heels for everything there. Nice is a lovely city break, as was Strasbourg. Montenegro also a surprise for its beautiful scenery.

Japan was utterly fabulous and SO welcoming. Would recommend to anyone- there's so much variety in what you could see in a fortnight

Liked -

Washington DC. I found it to be clean, interesting, with loads to see and the few people I spoke to were very friendly (was only here for a couple of days though).

Turkey. Marmaris is your bog standard brits abroad resort could be anywhere place. We drove to meet my friend's friends a few hours away and it was a different world, so beautiful with incredible food. Was depressed to go back to Marmaris.

Another thumbs up for Liverpool! Everyone was so friendly, loads to see, I stayed down by the dock and it was just a fantastic weekend all round.

Paris. My favourite place. I can see why some people don't like it though.

NYC. Second favourite.

Meh -

Adelaide. Wasn't there for long but I wasn't overwhelmed by the place. Felt a bit uneasy walking alone at night.

Philadelphia. A day was enough for me to tick all the sightseeing boxes but Eastern State Penitentiary was pretty cool.

Tenerife. Was overcast when I went but found it boring regardless.

Most places tbh. Paris was particularly memorable as I hadn't expected the overbearing presence of the street sellers when I should have anticipated it really.

Hong Kong. Depressing, grey, like one giant 80s shopping precinct. Nothing much to do or see. Not even good shopping. Really didn't like it, apart from a day when we got the ferry to an island with a huge Buddha statue you clamber up a billion steps to get to, which was much nicer.

Oslo. I thought it was an armpit. Everything was closed on a summer Sunday. Offensively expensive. Again, oddly enough, the nice bit was getting a ferry to an island and then a tiny boat to a tiny island (was there for a wedding on said tiny island). Beautiful and quite Tove Jansson's The Summer Book but with a massive BBQ and singing and dancing

Sydney was underwhelming for me too: a smallish and quite provincial place that's somehow convinced the world it's a glitzy and buzzing international metropolis. I liked Melbourne a lot though; characterful and handsome, lively culture, friendly people.

Liverpool was great; went for a day to visit the Tate, which was fab, but found so much else to do as well. Loved walking by the water.

Unlike a lot of people, I don't find Paris grubby and I've always (four visits) found the people usually friendly and helpful, at worst polite. Have found myself in lots of charming areas, shops and cafes purely by chance.

Madrid. Didn't expect to dislike it per se, but was pleasantly surprised by how warm people were and what an easy city it was to spend time in –a nice caff or restaurant round every corner, amazing flea and antique markets, lots of galleries and museums. Loads to do and very accessible all in all.

Bali...absolute dump.

Locals dumping rubbish in rivers, leaving rubbish on the beaches, suspect milky effluent flowing in to the sea, filthy sea water, offered drugs everywhere we went.

Wouldnt go back if you paid me.

Cuba - went on a travel industry educational and expected the official guide to give us a wholly biased communist manifesto. He was very down to earth, introduced us to lots of local people and showed me a very balanced image. It was 24 years ago and things have opened up a lot more since but I absolute loved it. Apart from the food. Not the best place in which to be vegetarian!

To all those LA haters, your points are valid but we stayed a week in Redondo Beach and it was fab. Very family orientated, not particularly touristy and felt very clean and safe. We cycled to Venice Beach and were very glad to cycle back again!

Agree with DoctorMarten - Belfast. A perfectly sized little city, oozing with character (and great bars and restaurants and shops) surrounded by outstanding natural beauty.

Malta - had never considered visiting but came up as a cheap winter deal from our local airport. Beautiful place with lots of history and shop/bars/restuarants and a lovely 20 degrees in mid march

South Africa - We were expecting it to be a bit dodgy in places but we absolutely loved every second of it. Incredible food, wine, people, scenery and wildlife ...It's got it all.

San Francisco - we stayed in the Tenderloin and were a little concerned. Yes there were a lot of homeless people around and they were smoking crack, but they took no notice of us at all, the hotel was lovely and other parts of San Francisco are stunningly beautiful. We went in August and it was chilly in the evenings and anywhere near the Golden Gate but we loved it much more than we thought we would

Cyprus... is like 2 very different countries in one. The Greek side and the Turkish side. There is a border to cross from one side to the other and passports were checked. We walked from Greek side to the Turkish side. Greek side was very boring and people not very friendly but as we crossed on the Turkish side everything changed. Everyone was smiling there, colours and culture were amazing. So definitely prefer the Turkish side.

The Bahamas. Ashamed to admit I didn’t know the Bahamian islands are flat. Having visited beautiful Jamaica many times with the stunning Blue Mountains, I thought the Bahamas would be like that but no, flat as a pancake!

@Letsnotargue - totally agree re Newcastle. Stunning city and a fantastic train journey up there. The view across Durham as the train pulls in to the station is lovely. I stayed at the Copthorne hotel on the side of the river in Newcastle and it was fabulous.

Love Naples - crazy, crazy but so much to see and do. Easy to get graffiti covered train to Herculaneum and Sorrento. Archeological Museum v good. Shops too. Went to NYC last year - Statue of Liberty smaller than I thought it would be and VanGogh’s The Starry Night in MoMA didn’t wow me as I wanted it to. Biggest load of shite was at St Catherine’s Monastery at Mt Sinai - rushed round and wanted to look properly at the orthodox icons and then taken to “the burning bush”. It was covered in bits of paper with messages on it.

Hollywood boulevard. Grotty as fuck. And dirty. Best time to go is 8am when the sun is coming up, and its just workers walking to work

@FarquarKumquatsmama

@RowenaRavenclawTheSecond

I'm with you guys 1000000%

Mine will all day be Albania, thought before going there that I wouldn't enjoy at all.

Loved it all, south is beautiful with amazing scenery, beautiful unspoiled beaches and lots of sunshine.

north is amazing, so many green mountains and valleys, people are so amazing, polite and kind.

I will all day sell the idea of Albania to people asking me where to go on holidays. I keep telling everyone how amazing it is.

I'm so happy that I married an albanian man so we go back regularly to visit family :D
I go there any day over my own country (iceland) which many people have a hard time to understand, but I love it!

can't wait for the day that we have time to travel to all the neighbouring countries. Can't wait to see montenegro, bosnia, kosovo, greece and macedonia :D

Ethiopia - was not sure what to expect. Fabulous, scenery, people, best adventure ever.

*Feelinghistoric - yeah the famous tzars' palaces, but drive (very) little out of tourist centre, and it's all old grubby soviet blocks and poverty. In Moscow ther are a bit further out, at least.

*they are

Rome all the sites seem to be very close together in a small area really .. and also quite dirty and very expensive..