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?

The Grand Canyon.

I know, I know. It was amazing, but not THAT amazing. I think I built it up in my head too much.

My father says that he once stayed at a place in London many years ago that could be described as wearing the Emperor's New Clothes.

He said that in the 'suite' next door apparently a woman called Margaret lived. Anyway, when he woke up the next day, she had died while living in the hotel. I thought it was quite bizarre. Who goes to a hotel to die? Not nice at all.

On top of this, the price of the hotel was VERY expensive. Doormen wear silly outfits, so what do you expect?

The hotel, still to this day, gets great reviews on Traveladvisor (won't name it due to libel).

Barcelona and Dubai. Barcelona because you can watch the pickpocket gangs in action on La Rambla. Dubai was just hateful - went for work, had low expectations but it was even worse, though I can see why WAGs go there.

Hated Paris - felt really unsafe after 3 incidents on different trips.
Dublin was filthy and overpriced.
Manchester has nothing to recommend about it - awful place.

Neatly got my bag stolen in Lanzarote and a friend had hers snatched

This is very sad.

You’ll never get to see some of the most beautiful coastline in the world, like Big Sur.
And you’ll miss seeing the stunning mountains of Yosemite and the majestic Giant Sequoias in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

There is such incredible beauty in California, and you saw the very worst the state had to offer.
I feel bad for you.

"I just didn’t really like the red light district, marijuana cafes etc."

Why did you go to those places then? Why not go on a trip down the canal or to the Anne Frank house or the Van Gogh museum?

Your keyboard seems a bit broken.

I liked Amsterdam. I saw very little seedy stuff and travelled outside the city too.
someone was going to try and pickpocket me but I spotted him and walked into a shop.

I also hated Manchester City centre for visiting.

I’ve been unfortunate enough to go to both of those places and totally agree!

Maldives. To be fair, it wasn't my idea and I don't really like excessive heat as it makes me ill. But there isn't anything to do really and I couldn't go outside much. It was bad value for me.

Melbourne - we expected to love it having heard so much about it, but we didn't get it at all and we're glad to leave. Sydney on the other hand was amazing.

No, I'm atmosphere orientated. Those are just examples of things I might do. I go to places to soak up the vibe and live like a local and see what the place is about. I don't understand why else you'd travel. What did you hope to get out of NYC?

This ^

It’s interesting reading people’s take on somewhere but find it pretty surprising that people can dislike a whole city/country after a visit.

I have found some hotels, restaurants, beaches, monuments (talking about you Statue of Liberty) etc. that were meant to be great a disappointment but haven’t disliked the whole place because of it as I’ve always found something I’ve liked. I’ve never come back from a holiday having hated it. Maybe I’m just easy to please or have no taste 🤣

Centerparcs for me too. We'd been to a cheap Haven camp a couple of times (Duporth in Cornwall) and loved it, and my friend was like, "Ooh Centerparcs! Ooh lovely big chalets! Ooh bikes and no cars! Ooh forest! Ooh swimming pool! Ooh kids' club!" I fell for it and booked a week in the school holidays at an eyewatering price and found ... pretty much what previous posters have described. I rolled my eyes at the replacement price list for lost and damaged kitchen equipment, £20 for a teaspoon etc. We booked the two youngest children into the kids' club and after the first day they said, "Don't make us go back there again, Mummy, we'll be good." Recently, though, my youngest daughter told me that one of her favourite childhood holiday memories is of her and all her siblings spending hours at a time dancing around the Centerparcs chalet living room to a CD of "hits of the 1980s".

Also, Lanzarote. I love the other Canary Islands, but Lanzarote is all ugly black lumps of rock and ugly squat white buildings and ugly aloe vera and it's always blowing a gale.

I've never met a city I didn't like apart from pre-revolution Bucharest, and I wasn't expecting it to be anything other than dismal so it isn't in the spirit of this thread. If there's a pedestrian walkway and a place to get a cup of coffee, I'm happy.

Venice, baking hot, packed with cruise ship passengers, expensive, rude waiters and queues

I've been around most of western Europe and some of eastern Europe and north america. Big cities, rural areas, and everything in between. 3 places I don't fancy visiting again as I found them boring and had spent enough to discover:

• Ljubljana (2 days was enough)


• Oslo (4*a week or so) - more than enough for a lifetime


• Kosice (4 days) - lovely town, worth about an hour or so, not more.


• Arcachon - dunes were great


• Barcelona - loved the wibe


• Sofia - it is a timetravel trip to late 80s socialist world, but still quite nice. And I did grow up in the 80s, partially in a now ex-socialist state close by. Kind of was expecting a lot of what I found

These threads always crack me up. They're unintentionally hilarious.

Why oh why do people travel & expect the destination to be like where they're from? I never ever understand that!
I have travelled extensively & I've never once been sorry to have spent time in any of the places I've been to.
Having said that I was in London in Feb & literally couldn't get over the sheer filth of the city. We stayed in the Covent Garden area & I was shocked at how dirty the city felt in many places
We also experienced a tube strike & an early morning rain deluge making it incredibly difficult to get to Gatwick to go home. When we finally got to the station & made our train with about 6 mins to spare & then it was announced that train was cancelled & we all had to disembark & run to another platform. We made our flight with literally 10 mins to spare despite leaving in LOADS of time

It felt dirty, chaotic & expensive. But we hadn't been since 2019 & we still had a good time overall

We've been to pretty much most of the places listed here (never Butlins/ centreparcs) & found things to love & enjoy in all of them.

Marrakesh absolutely horrid place. I won a holiday here in a four seasons hotel so should not moan but Marrakesh was dreadful. Dirty stinking place. Men just riding motorbikes so close to you, pick pocketing everywhere, The medina still haunts me. the poor animals there, monkeys on chains stressed and grabbing people walking by , so many dodgy people trying to lure you down alleyways, hated it

What the actual.. How on Earth could anyone visit those places and be bored? Some people just shouldn't leave their home towns!

@KohlaParasaurus 20 odd years on, my kids still talk more fondly about their cheap shitey Haven holiday than the Center Parcs one 😅

Ah yes Barcelona. Been numerous times. Never felt unsafe. I think there are a lot of nervous nellys on mumsnet

I've travelled to over 40 countries, some on the 'don't go' lists, lived in a few, travelled a lot in dodgy places. Barcelona is a bit of a dive and the only place I've been properly ripped off. And I've spent time in Naples, Istanbul and Cambodia.

I’ll walk where I please, if that’s OK with you. I’ve never had my bag nicked and despite your sniffy observation that ‘the locals’ would never walk down la Rambla, it is one of the main pedestrian streets in Barcelona, leading to the sea.

Since, according to you, the Barcelona locals think that there are too many pickpockets and muggers in that area, are you suggesting that nobody at all should go there? Or that the pesky tourists somehow deserve to be robbed? Not sure what your point is.

Exactly my feelings.

Turkey, such a dump and I felt uneasy all the time. We cut out trip short because it was just a horrible holiday - and we stayed at supposedly one of the best hotels.