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?

@CorvusPurpureus

You're all doing Cairo wrong.

I live here, it's fabulous, & frankly even the obvious tourist traps like the Pyramids are cool if you a) go on your own & just mooch about or b) go with a local.

If you turn up with a coach party, yes, hawkers will zero in on you. They are seriously struggling financially, so don't be horrible - they're going home to their families. Do not buy tatt. Buy a (slightly) overpriced soft drink, & get one for your driver whilst you're at it. Don't get on any camels. Don't buy anything at all from children: they should be in school, & the government is working on this.

Not sure I agree about the Pyramids I'm afraid!

My DH is from Cairo and his family is there, so I've visited lots. As a whole I like the city now that I know it better. But the Pyramids are absolutely not my favourite part. I've been there twice, bought no tat and studiously avoided anyone with a camel. We have still been followed around by people hustling for tips and insisting on giving us "tours" that we don't want. A group of kids/teens hassled me to let them take a picture of me because I was a (female) tourist. We took my Mum and a guy yelled at her and demanded money because she took a photo that had a camel in it. It's exhausting and stressful.

Most of the other touristy parts of Cairo are not like that at all. The Religions Complex, the museums, the Citadel, Zamalek -- all great. At Khan El Khalili people offer you (overpriced) stuff, but I've never been followed around or shouted at. But the Pyramids really stand out as a place where you are hassled as a tourist and then treated aggressively for not doing the expected tourist thing.

I'm genuinely surprised by all the posters saying that they were sneered at for speaking imperfect French in Paris. My French is definitely imperfect, but I've never encountered any sneering or anyone saying 'Speak in English if you don't speak fluent French', and I've been (just counting up) seven times. Going again in July, so will report back if anyone criticises my French!

I can safely confirm that Malta is indeed shit for all the reasons mentioned

however the Orlando experience is truly the most underwhelming of all time. Disney world is run down and shabby, Epcot hasn’t been updated for the last 30 years. And the crowds and overpriced everything made it anything but magical. My kids were seriously underwhelmed and we ended up not using all our days. I have to say universal was impressive but even Orlando itself of awful. Great swathes of horrible freeways, and tacky horrible restaurants. We booked to eat in some of the supposedly best restaurants to get a decent meal but they were mediocre at best

having said that I loved Florida the state. Loved Miami, the keys, Sarasota, Anna Maria all fabulous

Our expectations are so high.

These places are people's homes and workplaces or have historical significance rather than being playgrounds or Instagram backgrounds for entitled tourists.

Apart from the likes of manufactured holiday destinations like Center Parcs and Disneyland.

Yes, parts of Cardiff and indeed much of Wales are shit. It's an economically deprived country with a clueless local authority and government who value political dogma over improving the general environment.

The same goes for so many parts of the world and on the whole tourism isn't the main industry, so don't expect everything to centre around you as a tourist, especially where the locals struggle to get by.

I had to remind myself of this on my last holiday, Mauritius. Outside the hotel (which was overpriced with so-so food), conditions were terrible. Gorgeous beaches can't make up for it being a third world African country which has been hard hit by the pandemic and we privileged visitors need to lower our expectations.

.

Well yes, that's what this whole thread is about @Cardiffborn - people going with high expectations for a place, based on the way others and popular culture rave about it - and then being utterly disappointed.

You can go here: www.teaandsympathy.com/menu#kDyBNz
And pay nearly $10 (plus tax and tip) for beans on toast 😂Plus $3 for a glass of ribena!
I often think that I should go to NYC and open such a cafe as even I have the culinary skills to make beans on toast and a glass of ribena.

Having just returned from Orlando this Friday, I can confirm that Disneyworld is underwhelming in every way. The place has lost it’s sparkle and is in need of a good dose of pixie dust.

If your username refers to your age, I'm guessing that 20 years ago you were young and gorgeous and attracted weirdos wherever you went - as did I - back int he day. I went to SF last summer and wandered around to my heart's content with no one hassling me. There are one or two distinct advantages to being middle-aged!

And yes, I liked SF more this time, probably because I went with such low expectations. I was expecting wall-to-wall homeless people, drug addicts, filthy streets, etc, and was pleasantly surprised. The sun shone the entire time we were there too, which helped.

I read those reviews of small hotels with a more jaundiced eye after a couple of corkingly bad choices. Convivial host is a give away for nosey and or drunk and potential sex pest.

informal/family style….sharing breakfast tables with other guests, the dog, the cat…

out of the way….a long long way from a pub. .

I have always wondered about centre parks, never seen why people pay so much to go there as it looks like my idea of hell.

We stayed in a lodge in Wales, had good reviews online, pretty log cabins, pub site which also had great reviews.The weather was awful when we got there, everything in are lodge seemed to be broken (light fittings, toilet set, tv remote), dd slipped on the decking outside and I thought she had broken her leg, she was unable to walk for a few days. We decided to eat a meal in the pub but there were only 4 things on the menu and 2 of them were steak, nothing the kids would eat and we were the only people in there (pub only seemed to open a couple times a week). It was just the most awful place we had stayed in nd we have stayed in a lot of places.

Agree with this, Luxor was the only place I felt uncomfortable AND I was with my husband... and I am used to travelling alone/1

I live by the sea, in an area where at high tide there's no beach and at low tide there's acres of golden sand. I've witnessed visitors turning up at high tide and standing there perplexed, asking locals where the beach went: 'I was here at lunchtime this time last year and there was a massive beach.' No idea about tides.

Like PPs I'm an obsessive pre-planner so rarely surprised or disappointed by actual holidays. The places I've been disappointed have been the places I've been going for work or some other purpose. So for example we stopped at a nice B&B in Keswick for a night on the way up to Scotland and I was shocked by how madly crowded the town was. If I'd been going for an actual holiday aid have researched properly and gone elsewhere.

Quite surprised by the comments about Amsterdam. We were there for a week last month. We were never offered drugs and never spotted a plastic urinal in the street. #Disappointed.

We did avoid all the seedy red light areas and coffee shops though. the Jordaan area is lovely.

I can't think of any one place I've been - and we have travelled lots in Europe and further afield - which was ALL crap. You just have to do your homework before travelling and avoid the crap bits. And don't go at peak times of year when of course it's going to be busy.

Everything about Santorini was awful. Yes it has some impressive views across the caldera but everything else was such a massive let down. Luckily I was only there for 2 days.
Mykonos is similarly overcrowded but much nicer

I felt the same about the filth. Also not being able to move for people trying to sell you tat and not taking "No thankyou" in Arabic for an answer. I was actually on a Saga Singles holiday, and we had a very very very posh 85 year old lady with us. We were discussing it one evening, and she said "Actually, I find 'Fuck off' works rather well!"

You did, I’m afraid. This is you, upthread:

My point is that the 'danger' in Barcelona is largely concentrated on one relatively small area which is generally full of tourists. This makes the city seem much dodgier to tourists than it actually is. This area is easily avoided, and is generally avoided by people who actually live in the city.

If only those tourists would avoid the areas full of tourists!

Here you are again, never once advising that tourists should avoid tourist areas in Barcelona:

I'm saying it's well known for being a pickpocket paradise and a tourist trap, and I don't know any locals who walk down it. Perhaps your perception of Barcelona being unsafe has a lot to do with choosing to repeatedly put yourself in an unsafe area? Just a thought

But now you are part of the problem!
You’ve just told everyone how fab Dublin is and so much to do. So “ going with an open mind” is less likely because you’ve raved about it.
And someone is more likely to turn up on a wet grey day, find it’s just a slightly above average looking city with lots of pubs and wonder why everyone raves about it.

'I was actually on a Saga Singles holiday, and we had a very very very posh 85 year old lady with us. We were discussing it one evening, and she said "Actually, I find 'Fuck off' works rather well!" '

Yea; it's always hilarious when privileged visitors are unpleasant to desperate ones in their own country . . . 🙄

Bali - there are loads of beautiful places in Indonesia, but Bali is not one of them.

Dublin - like Glasgow 20 years ago (and I'm from Glasgow), but more expensive and even wetter.

Cambodia - Angkor Wat is phenomenal, but on the whole, pretty depressing, corrupt and dangerous (especially Phnom Penh).

Weird, been to Moscow many times, absolutely love the place, as for not speaking, I don't chat to Russian speaking tourists when I am out in my local city either!

Loved NZ so much we moved there - I find it so laid back and beautiful. And so very glad we have been here during the craziness of the last two+ years.

Anyway - my overrated place: Turkey. Admittedly I've only seen parts of the south coast.

Hay on Wye was an armpit. Wasn't there at festival time, just holidaying nearby and decided to go for the day.
Ugly streets, scruffy, nothing much was open, just one cafe, which was understandably rammed, and a shit pub where we had to have lunch (a very depressing 'roast') as that was the only other option.

Marrakech I find very seedy, the hassle is aggressive and threatening, and there's not much to do or see. Essaouira is much nicer, laid-back and generally friendly, no hassle.

Venice: I generally found people rather ungracious, sometimes abrupt and rude, and our hotel, although expensive, had shit service: our shower/bath wasn't working properly and they sent someone up to look at it, who fumbled a bit and then went away without changing anything. Staff didn't really care. Also found nowhere nice to eat – olives out of tins, food that had clearly been microwaved etc.
I had a good time though as I was there for the Biennale, so always had something to do. And as a place it is beautiful and strange and melancholy.

I like Paris; been a few times and tend to find people at worst professionally civil and often actively helpful and warm. Sure, some of it is gritty and scruffy, but it's a big city.

Was underwhelmed by Sydney (it seemed quite provincial to me) but really liked Melbourne.

My French is definitely imperfect, but I've never encountered any sneering or anyone saying 'Speak in English if you don't speak fluent French', and I've been (just counting up) seven times. Going again in July, so will report back if anyone criticises my French!

I have! But the look of pain on their face clearly said that they were agonised by my massacring of their language so I did rather feel for them.

Re Barcelona - it wasn't the pickpockets that concerned me. I just thought it was boring.