Places you have been to that have exceeded expectations

[Ginfordinner]

On the back of another thread, where have you been to that you didn't expect to enjoy as much, or where you had no expectations?

When we went to Venice everyone said it was smelly and dirty. It wasn't and we loved it.
Our last holiday abroad was in Kos in 2019. Again, we loved it.
A couple of UK city breaks to Lincoln and to Carlisle made us think that both cities were underrated.

Shetland. My mum and dad lived there and had told me it was dramatic but bleak and depressing. It was absolutely beautiful, I'd move there in a heartbeat.

I didn't expect to, but loved
Gran Canaria
Lanzarote
Malaga
Gloucester
Santander

Oh I also loved
Venice
Salzburg
Calais

Yosemite national park was amazingly beautiful! I also loved San Francisco, Nappa Valley and Lake Tahoe. Most spectacular has been Scotland though.

We liked Yosemite, but our drive through was spoiled by lack of sleep the night before due to an earthquake. We then hit a deer that ran out in front of the car

It got up and ran away, but the front of the car sustained quite a lot of damage. We had to drive miles to find a park ranger to report the accident as we were worried about the deer. She said the deer was probably fine, but wrote out an accident report for us to give to the hire car company, who were absolutely brilliant about the damaged car as we had CDW.

I would love to go back and see it properly.

Belfast. Went for work with no expectations and loved it. Such beautiful architecture, gorgeous people, some great food

Lanzarote. I booked it for cheap winter sunshine and was blown away. It’s just stunning and laid back with some of the most fabulous scenery, food and wonderfully clean, strict planing rules so if it’s all aesthetically pleasing.

Mongolia. Went on the Trans-Siberia/ Trans-Mongolian. Did a 3 day tour of the Gobi Desert, and a couple of days in Ulan Bataar. Went ba k 2 years later with DH because I knew he'd love it. The lady at the hostel was somewhat surprised to have a return customer. Did a 9 day tour with the same driver. Amazing expanse of wilderness and unique culture.

I agree with the Alhalambra. It totally won me over despite a ridiculously early start for tickets, eyes just begining to reopen after an allergic reaction and feeling generally lousy. I'd forgotten that.

Agra for the Taj Mahal was less aggro than I expected, we kept it brief. Orcha was a fellow touist tip. We had a hard intro to India, walking in from Nepal, buses, jeeps, cattle class on the train, 15 hours of travel into Varanasi, and a dump of a hostel, a couple of days with a better hostel, then Kajhero (sic) which would have been great without constant harassment, but Orcha was much more relaxed and very friendly and it was there that I began to enjoy India. Rajhastan and Kerala were also great. I'd enjoy another trip to south India, as that stage was marred by food poisoning.

Bratislava was a lovely gem.
Zakopane in Poland was great too.

I love a random, make it up as you go along approach to travelling. Little anticipation, lots of surprises, pick up tips as you go along.

I'd definitely choose Belfast over Dublin.

Enjoyed Manchester last Feb. A last minute change of plan instead of London. The weather was shocking, but the kids loved the museums and China Town.

@AllAroundTheWrekin

Venice.

Absolutely beautiful - like a fairytale.

This. I went there in August, when it was crowded, hot and it should have been at its most charmless, and I adored it. And having been expecting rude, offhand service from locals sick of crowds and cruise ships, I found the area where we were staying very friendly and neighbourly, and people were lovely to my six year old.

Berlin. Was there for a conference, wasn't expecting much but thought it was a fantastic city, so vibrant.

Romania, didn’t know what to expect and just fell head over heels in love with it. Fantastic trip.

Venice, we lucked out with a beautifully warm long weekend in October. Spent a lot of time wandering the streets away from the main tourist areas.

Glasgow, didn’t have great expectations but really enjoyed it.

Leeds is fab and not somewhere I think people think of going if they don’t know it but I used to go quite a bit for work and liked it a lot.

Broadstairs is my other one. Lovely English seaside resort that I knew nothing about until I went for work. Have been three times now and I’d happily live there

Flying over The Alps. I had no idea of their vastness. Would love a holiday with those views. Speaking of which, have been watching Around The World in 80 Gardens - Chile one has some awesome views.

Venice too- I just loved being there
Norfoll, my favourite UK holiday destination. So peaceful.
NYC - I knew I'd love it but I just loved every second of our holiday
Mauritius. Such an wonderful climate, great food -been twice and would go back in a heartbeat.

I'd love to go to the Maldives.

@MeepleMe

Japan- was expecting all bright lights and city life as in the films and it was of course but in a great way. Then get on a bullet train and out into countryside and it's like you're in a different country, green and lush with rivers, lakes, off the beaten track temples, pretty little towns, historic buildings. Totally unexpected from the usual view we get of Japan!

That just gave me an unexpected homesick pang. Lived in Japan for 2 years, in the countryside, loved the hidden Woodside temples, the sound of bamboo forests, the sea ...was supposed to go back this year.

We went to Ethiopia to visit a friend, it was an amazing holiday. So much to see, a history and culture I’d never heard of, an older church than Rome.

Went to Moscow which we loved, and paid to do an evening river cruise, which we were a bit sniffy about and were all thinking would be a bit pants. It was an absolute highlight of an amazing trip. The backs wre lit up, all the buildings looked amazing, the food was great and the other guests endlessly watchable.

Northern Ireland too, the food was great, proper home cooked food, no microwave ping nonesense. Fantastic countryside and so friendly.

Tenerife was a lot better than I expected. Teide was beautiful. We did quite a bit of walking on different trails at other places round the island as well. There’s so much more to the island than the tourist resorts.

The Maldives. Was very mixed about going. Thought it was more ‘naff’ than it was. Obvs depends on where you stay. I was absolutely blown away by marine life, reef diversity, environmental projects, etc. I’d kind of lumped Maldives in with Dubai and Las Vegas etc in my mind. Silly anyway when so many thousands of islands and differing types of islands etc. Unlike Andaman Islands which I found lovely but underwhelming overall.

Some places in India - Mahabalipuram for sure.

Parts of inland Greece.

Seville and Naples. Always.

@Sandsnake

Ljubljana, Slovenia. I went with work and had no idea what to expect. I wrongly assumed it might be a bit drab with ex-USSR vibes. What I found was a beautiful, friendly and exceedingly safe feeling European city. Would go back in a heartbeat!

I love Ljubljana! Slovenia is my happy place.

As for the ex-Soviet thing, I was expecting this when I went to Tallin in 2000. I didn't know anyone else who'd been. Jawdroppingly beautiful as is so much of that part of the world.

But Venice exceeded all my expectations and my expectations had been stratospheric to begin with!

Oh dear lots of recommendations for Antwerp and I really disliked it.

Maybe because we went on a Monday and everything was shut. A wet and cold Monday.

Top travel tip: Never go anywhere on a Monday if you want to go to museums.

Ljubljana another vote, loved itFriendly beautiful, so many trees, fascinating history, great food and bars. Friends went on our recommendation and hated it, run down, graffiti, no vibe.

The slightly run down graffiti bits had added to it for us...hey ho.

Tallin beautiful and great food. In laws stopped there on a cruise and where ambivalent. But if they had been there longer they’d have loved it as they like good food and Soviet era history.

And Mallorca, I had a fairly fixed view and thought I’d hate it. Loved it. Beautiful scenery, great walking.

Top travel tip: Never go anywhere on a Monday if you want to go to museums.

It's really irritating isn't it. So many great cities where you can visit for a long weekend, and so many places closed on a Monday.

My tip if you are holidaying in the UK is to visit places of interest on a Saturday. We visited Morwhellham Key one Saturday in July several years ago, and it was practically empty. One of the members of staff said it was because it was changeover day and Saturdays were the quietest day of the week.

Tromso, Norway. We went just because we were taking a 3 day trip on the Hurtigruten (all Michael Palin’s fault) and absolutely loved it.

Orlando theme parks - went under sufferance but unaccountably loved it all.

Las Vegas - as above. Although I wouldn’t want to spend more than a couple of nights there.

Alcatraz. We went because that’s what you do in San Francisco. Absolutely awesome.

The Otago Peninsula in NZ. Went as DH had lived in Dunedin briefly many years ago. Everyone says it’s a bit meh in comparison to the rest of NZ, but I want to live in Portabello.

Northumberland. Had never been until last summer. It’s beautiful.

A few have said it already, but Jordan surpassed expectations. A stunning country. In the space of a few hours drive, you go from lush green rolling countryside, to ancient Roman ruins, to dessert, to the Dead Sea, to the Red Sea.

Northumberland. Had never been until last summer. It’s beautiful.

Everyone says that once they have been. DH is from Northumberland so we visit several times a year (in normal times). It is still possible to find quiet roads once you stray away from the A1 and A697.