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?

Wow at reading about all these places I loved visiting but were apparently total shit.

I absolutely did that all that though, greeting everyone like you’ve mentioned. That wasn’t something I learnt but just comes from having family in Europe and always doing this when visited.

Once I heard a waiter quietly mumble ‘…. anglaise….’ to his colleague didn’t catch the rest but didn’t sound positive. Not sure what else I could’ve done?

Like I said I lived in Berlin straight after
and it was a breath of fresh air in comparison.

I don’t want to go into this too much but it wasn’t just the hospitality, I was also followed, surrounded, cat called and also verbally abused in the street in Paris (by men) many times, saved once by an American tourist, this didn’t happen once in Berlin. Not once.

Pretty much every city I've been to I've not understood the hype. I think I'm probably just not a city person though.

For people saying Cornwall or Devon, they are big counties so a bit unfair to write them off.

Devon especially is huge with a massive variety of beaches and places to visit.

The worst thing about Cornwall is getting there on the one piddly road that goes in and out of Cornwall!!

Yes, the harassment in Paris is very, very bad. It's of the main reasons I don't go there more often as a solo woman. I imagine it might be slightly better now I'm a bit older but in my twenties I literally couldn't sit on a train in peace, or on a park bench.

I agree about the people, too. A lot of them are just unfriendly and unpleasant. I also worked there for a while and it was one of the toughest times of my life. It wasn't just me, either (the only foreigner) - they seem to treat each other very badly. I couldn't get over how people talked to each other at my workplace. I learned to give it back and fit in better but I never really enjoyed living there much.

It is still a gorgeous city, though, and nothing quite beats strolling around Montmartre or finding a cosy little bistro down a side street. I just try to take it as it is and not get too upset if someone is mean!

I've never been to half of these places but enjoyed reading the thread and it's interesting to hear people's different experience.

One of my favourite places is Edinburgh and handy that it's only a short flight away.

While I've never thought of this as being an expression of liberte, egalite, fraternite, I totally agree there is a certain formality to French culture in this sense. I rather like it; once you've grasped it, you can relax knowing that you will basically be able to rub along with everyone.

There you go again. Hoist by your own petard and you turn nasty. It’s not a good look.

Have I hit a raw nerve?!!

Centre Parcs was irredeemably shit.
Whitby was underwhelming.
Byron Bay in Aus left me cold and I was only 22 at the time. We ended up camping on the beach about four miles up the coast instead and that was glorious.
Bangkok is hard work, but if you pick where you stay (riverside for me) and avoid the grim sois around Nana and parts of Sukhumvit then it can be a brilliant stay.

How the pp can say Bali is not beautiful is beyond me. The south of the island is pretty unedifying but once you get north of Ubud it’s just glorious.

San Francisco. Run down, grubby, and felt dangerous. And full of coach loads of American tourists. I just didn't get it. And so expensive! Fortunately we were only there a couple of nights. But I'd have been might peeved if I'd centres my holiday around the city's 'charms'

No, it just never fails to amuse me how you manage to turn a factual statement of "most of the petty crime happens in one very touristy area that's easily avoided" (corroborated by several other PP who have lived in Barcelona) into "you're not allowed to walk there".

Funny little brain you have.

The more spiteful you become, the more you show yourself up. Keep it up!

Tokyo,Japan.

I didn’t hate it but didn’t love it too.A bit…meh. Yes, it was crazy with all the lights/sounds/people but I didn’t catch that vibe properly I guess. Maybe because we went in August when it was bloody boiling hot so that ruined everything a bit. Maybe I should Tokyo a second chance.

Also Malta wasn’t anything special.

Melbourne also didn’t impress me much.

But Sydney…oh gosh. Fell in love instantly and would move there in a heartbeat if that would be easy to do!

I never thought of the greetings that way either @poetryandwine but it’s rather a lovely way to think of it, and actually one of my favourite things about France. I lived in France for a while and I always felt incredibly welcome, and on reflection part of immediately feeling part of the community was that everywhere I went, I could give and receive genuine greetings. And everyone who helped me get settled in from the teller who set up my bank account to the man who installed my internet was so, so hospitable.

@Iamthewombat Genuinely, what is the point? You are derailing an interesting thread with your petty, pathetic, pointless sniping. I made a valid point, that others had also made, that Barcelona isn't actually that unsafe outside of petty crime in tourist hotspots, and you turned it into some sort of argument you imagined in your own head about how I was telling you where you were allowed to go. You said that you'd seen multiple bag snatches in an area and I questioned why you'd keep going there if you perceived it as so dangerous - a perfectly obvious, valid thing to ask.

Seems like you can't handle anyone questioning you...bit of a controlling bully.

Gutted to hear all this. I've always wanted to go to Malta because of the archeological and historical sites, but everyone on MN always says it's shit, and you're clearly speaking from a position of knowledge. Still slightly tempted to go in February, stay in the best hotel in Valetta, swim in the pool and book guided trips to the sites

Do it, although March would be better. Stay at the Phoenicia and walk round Valletta, visit the Upper and Lower Barracca Gardens - the view of Grand Harbour is mind blowing, eat street food in the old meat market, visit St John’s cathedral and have coffee and pastizzi at the Cordina. Mdina is amazing with a 180 degree view of the island, have amazing cake at the Fontanelle with the view at your feet, visit the Roman duomo while you’re there. Go to Sliema on the ferry and take the harbour tour, sitting on the right of the boat. The temples at Hagar Qim are really interesting, best followed by a visit to the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

I lived there as a child 1959-61. It used to be as a pp described, it isn’t any more. I’ve been 20+ times in the last 20 years and it’s my second home. It’s nothing like Blackpool but it is Marmite and equal numbers of people seem to love it as hate it. We recently passed our love of it to a third generation and some of my parents’ ashes are now in the beautiful San Anton gardens.

I haven't been there but I was absolutely gobsmacked to see how expensive land of legends is and can almost feel the disappointment through the computer screen. If anyone has been could you tell me ?

Byron Bay - absolutely beautiful beach but like @HeyDelRey I really disliked Byron Bay. I couldn't bear the 'pretending it was still the 1960s' vibe. I also got robbed -passport, money, credit cards, the lot. Broke into my room one night. Yeah, not so much peace and love.

Florence - yy it's a stunning city with the most fabulous stuff to see, but heavens above, it's like an historical themepark, an historical Disneyland. We were there the end of October and it was still heaving. I can't bear to think what it's like in high summer. We did try to get off the beaten track but still struggled to hear an Italian accent in a restaurant.

So true! I was told when I was a child to start every interraction with Bonjour/Bonsoir and end each interraction with Merci, au revoir, and it's amazing how those little social niceties grease the wheels of international communication, even if you then blunder your way through the intervening exchange.

I think it's a bit unfair to blame places for being busy.
Upthread someone has mentioned Keswick and Bowness on Windermere. Well yes if you go in the Summer holidays they will be absolutely rammed, but we used to visit between Christmas and NY when you could get cheap Twixmas breaks and Bowness was gorgeous then with winter sun and empty shops and restaurants.

If you loved it that’s all that matters. Ffs there’s someone on this thread who hated Devon because she didn’t realise the beach she went to was tidal. We all have our reasons for liking some things and disliking others. Some of those reasons are absolutely mental and I guess that’s fine too.

And again with the insults. Keep the bile flowing. The more vitriol you pour out, the less credible you look.

As for the ‘multiple bag snatches’ area, ie La Rambla in Barcelona: there is a reason why tourists go there. What do you think that reason is? It’s because it’s a beautiful, historic part for Barcelona that tourists want to see: the main pedestrianised thoroughfare leading from the city to the sea. However, according to you, anybody who doesn’t want to risk being robbed, or see robberies taking place, shouldn’t go there at all. You tell us that the Barcelona locals never go there, and acknowledge that it is considered an unsafe area. So any crime must be the tourists’ fault for visiting the most popular part of Barcelona: “if you don’t like it, don’t go there”

What you don’t tell us is who, in your opinion, should be permitted to walk in what you describe as a ‘tourist trap’ and a ‘pickpockets’ paradise’. This is where you run out of logic. Would you prefer it if the area were deserted?

Where do you think that tourists should visit, if not that area? The car dealerships on the outskirts of the city? The business district? You do realise that wherever the tourists go, the pickpockets will follow, right?

The only place we were hugely disappointed by has been Jamaica. Laid back happy vibe it is not.

One of my favourite places is Edinburgh and handy that it's only a short flight away.

My favorite city in the world is Edinburgh. And because I have been so many times, and have lived there, I don't go there for the usual tourist things. We book a self-catering flat in the New Town, and just pretend we live there for a bit. Sadly, it's quite a long way from where I live in the States. But it will be my first post-covid trip outside the US as soon as we can manage it.

@Seniorandjunior I don't know where you went in Florence, but it stands to reason you didn't hear many Italians out and about if they were, say, working when you were visiting the sights? When I went there with a friend we ate lunch in places patronised by people obviously on their lunch breaks and it was dinner where it was mainly tourists. It's going to be like that in many places though during the working week and at weekends if it's a busy time of year for tourism.