Have you ever been anywhere on holiday that was like the emperors new clothes?

[Cheeseandlobster]

I did. Last year I went to a very small hotel in Greece. 16 rooms only with pages and pages of great reviews.

When I arrived all the tables were pushed together and everyone was sat together pissed as farts getting louder and louder. One woman was drunker and swearier than the rest and it turned out she was the owner.

It was expected that you socialise and drink at the hotel even though the entire pool had no sun from 1pm and the surrounding area was beautiful. The owner would bark at you if you asked for food from the menu and would openly slate other guests for making reasonable requests. And the interrogation you got if you went out of the hotel was crazy.

Luckily I met another lovely solo traveller who felt the same as me so we paired up and left the hotel at the same time each day to share the interrogation. I will never stay at another small hotel again because of this.

Anyone else?

I'm starting to think I got lucky the times I've been to Paris. Always had a lovely time and most people were charming and helpful. They were especially good at making solo female diners feel welcome. I did once have a bad experience at Montmartre when a man grabbed my arm really hard and wouldn't let go, and Montmartre left me cold in general. But I love the galleries, food, markets and general atmosphere.

Malta!

aLSO, agree about New York, although I understood that I wasn't 'getting'' it, finding it, living inside it, whatever. I was ambling in to restaurants and waitresses were yelling ''whaddya want'' angrily. Felt a bit baffled by it. Then went to Boston where the people couldn't have been more different. It was lovely. Glad we did it that way round.

Malta...just a not very attractive place. IN the water was.. so clear, beautiful fish...and the blue lagoon is stunning...but the island is ugly and bare looking.
I thought the fishing villages would be better but just so much litter everywhere...
LA is not attractive either, no redeeming features but I love Catalina Island
The Cotswolds..pretty yes, but oh so dull! What is there to do but wander admiring people's houses... and going in overpriced pubs...There is just no life and character. But I'm someone that likes places like Brick Lane, Brighton etc...as well as natural beauty

Like many places, it probably has its nicer suburbs. Wouldn't take a special trip out to the suburbs though (I know the bridge is there, I've seen it once)

Genuinely very pleased others have had happier times in Scotland - just goes to show the variety of experiences (and for the PP who asked, mine were in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and parts of the west coast)

Really surprised so many have felt unsafe in LA though. I agree it's better staying in a community - which I usually do - and it's true there are areas to avoid, but TBH I found San Francisco, Seattle and especially Philadelphia much worse

Loved Manhattan too; I went expecting the famous NY rudness/abruptness and it was as if they'd all been to charm school. I considered getting a cab just to experience the real thing (because they're really famous for being rude aren't they?) but was too afraid I'd be disappointed

Paris - fully expected locals to be rude but found them to be great. Even had a woman on the metro come up and massage my neck when she noticed me rubbing it.

That's just downright creepy! Can't believe this poster thinks this is a positive! More likely the woman was a decoy for a pickpocket attempt but where in the world is a stranger massaging your neck on public transport considered acceptable?!

@Puzzledandpissedoff I love New Yorkers too. No idea why people think they are so rude...I find them delightful! I love how straightforward they are. I always have great chats with people when I'm there, striking up convos on the subway and in diners. I find it way easier to interact with people there than here in London.

I adore Paris but find it stressful to get around,you can't hail cabs like on London and many times I felt unsafe but couldn't quickly get myself oit of trouble via transport.

Yes, you CAN hail a cab in Paris. The only time you can't is if you're within 50 metres of a taxi rank. And obviously the cab needs to have its light on i.e. be available. (I used to live in Paris)

I lived in Sydney for a while and it seemed really small to me. Good fun to live in but the city centre itself can be explored in a long weekend to be honest! I'm clearly used to big cities I guess.

I liked San Francisco for the shops, and Alcatraz, but it really has everywhere else's share of odd bods, and I attracted them every where I went. I felt very unsafe - far worse than LA. This was 20 years ago though - I'd likely be ignored now, and have a better time.

I really disliked Antigua. Resentful, surly people. I have liked most of the other places most disliked on this thread, but you couldn't pay me enough to go on another holiday to the Caribbean.

Dublin itself is a boring and uninspiring city to visit as a tourist unless you’ve done your homework. If you have then you can easily have a great one/two week family holiday around the whole of Co.Dublin.
Couple of days in Dublin city itself =
whole day bike riding and deer encounters in huge Phoenix park, with stop off at a couple of beautiful pubs, playgrounds, and great cafes. Strolling around south Dublin which is mostly quite pleasant (don’t bother going north of the Liffey)

Rest of the holiday =

unlimited interesting, scenic day trips exploring coastal locations around Co.Dublin including Malahide, Skerries, Howth, Dun Laoghaire. Also Bray, Greystones, and Wicklow (Glendalough). Also Bru na Boinne and Tayto Park (smallish but excellent theme park). Not in Dublin City, but all great spots within a geographical roughly the size of London.

There’s not much Center Parcs love on this thread! I’ve never been to a UK one, but I’m currently in one in the Netherlands and it’s great! The cottage has been recently refurbished and is nice and clean (in the past, they have had a bit of a nasty smell admittedly).

There are some free activities for the kids, the ones you have to pay for can be pricey (but apparently not as bad as in the UK) but are well organised. There’s no leisure centre vibe at all!

The food is a bit shit, but we hit a local supermarket on the way here and stocked up, so we’ve saved a few quid that way. Perhaps Center Parcs UK puts people off, but the European ones are worth a try, especially if you have young kids

Brisbane! Small town made good (on steroids) (literally)

Center Parcs is decent enough if you want A) a super lazy family holiday B) in a reasonably pleasant environment C) with literally zero planning and D) don’t mind splashing loadsa cash to achieve that. It is what it is.

I do confess I really like LA and have been a few times with work and always had a fun time but it helps that we stay in a lovely hotel on sunset, get a car, we know a few people and we know the areas we like to pop too and where not to bother with at all. We took our son at15 and he totally loved it it's false yes but a different kind of false to say Dubai - and far more things to do and see i felt like Santa Barbara up the coast even more

I don’t think I’ve been anywhere I haven’t ended up loving. It’s always just something a bit different from home so, regardless of what it’s actually like, I find I love living a bit of a different life for a while.

Maybe Marrakesh circa 2004, though - but that was more to do with the boyfriend I was with, walking off with every con merchant out there which was a NIGHTMARE. Ended up lost in the kasbah, unable to get out for hours, with a hideously overpriced rug, top and meal I neither wanted or needed (but each grifter told my other half if we got, they’d take us out of the kasbah before ditching us again) and was so desperate for the loo without being able to find one, I gave myself my first UTI. Finally got scalped by some enterprising 7yo who negotiated for the rest of our money just to deposit us at the docks. If it had just been me, I’d have done a bit of exploring in the main city, found somewhere with some nice food and soaked up the vibe before heading back on the ferry 😂.

Whoops, I believe it was Tangiers, not Marrakesh 🤦‍♀️ Must’ve blocked it out in the trauma 😂

there is more than one beach in Devon some are even sandy@Stillfunny

Varanasi in India. I felt very claustrophobic there. I came back and started CBT urgently as it sort of tipped my stress levels over the edge! 🤣

Santorini . Unless you can afford to stay on the caldera itself the actual resorts are horrible poky places with coal yard beaches . Vegas hideous and so much hassle. Barcelona for feeling the most unsafe I've ever felt abroad .

To add to my last post, I have travelled extensively in India, including to some very touristy spots but I just found Varanasi oppressive. I don’t think the pollution from the burning corpses helped tbf!

No it was not creepy, it was very kind. We talked and she was a masseur and could see I had strained my neck. I was with my husband who is English and she plus most other Parisian’s were curt with him because clearly they dislike the English. But they loved my accent and were very friendly to me. My husband and I laughed about it a lot. In England my accent is derided, in France it is adores. We all get our turns. And she made my neck better 💜

You and me both. Been there lots of times and always treated well. I had to go to the hospital once and the doctors clustered around me wanting to practise their English.

To be fair so much of what we are complaining about is what these places are really like . My MIL nearly had a heart attack when she saw a naked person run from an outside toilet to their house in the Caribbean. Most Caribbean islands are the same - some nice resorts but the rest is iffy. Many Caribbean people are surly and resentful working in the tourist trade . Go anywhere in the Arab world, North Africa, Turkey, India etc and you will get stared at by men. That's life.