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?

@mbosnz I absolutely loved NZ! We travelled South and North Island over 7 weeks still missed large parts off and want to go back at some point to do them. Yes food was expensive but air bnbs weren't and the coffee culture is fantastic!

We loved the little towns especially in the South but we enjoyed walking to amazing beaches, beauty spots and waterfalls.

With respect, I know you didn’t mean it to come across the way it has, but the intimidation I received by men in Paris says nothing about me but everything about them. All the girls I lived with at the time had the same, all different nationalities, confidence levels and backgrounds. The only thing we had in common was that we are women, that’s enough for these men.

I need to go back to Berlin, the culture, the history, the quirkiness. The difference still apparent in the old East and West, I loved it.

Tangier, Morocco. Massive shithole for the most part, rats everywhere, bloody awful food was the same every night, hassled everywhere we went and our hotel, although not too bad, was “ the “ place for fat old German blokes to pick up young, Arab rent boys. Didn’t dare go outside the hotel on my own and even when we went out as a family some arse tried to shove his hand up my skirt. Such a shame. On the upside, I did get to sit at The Café de Paris where one of the Bond films was shot and when one of the Bourne films came out (think it was the second or third one) a couple places were familiar 😁 I would consider going back to Morocco but I’d go to Marrakech which is much more westernised.

Barcelona- used to have to go regularly for work & it did get better the more I got to know it, but take away the sunshine & half its appeal has gone.
New York & Venice - love them both, I don’t remember a smell in Venice at all but one of the people I was with the first time only remembers that! I conclude that all experiences are unique to the individual, e.g. friend went to Tintagel, thought it was a complete shithole, I think it’s one of the most incredible places that I’ve ever been to! I felt a spiritual connection to ‘something’ there and I’m not a woowoo person at all.

I was there last weekend and found plenty of places happy to let you just drink and some cheap places too. Stay away from St marks and Rialto and you’ll have a very different experience.

Yes

Agree with New York, Christmas time, expensive and everyone went out if their way to be unhelpful and rude. Also thought Orlando was overrated.
Malta- food was good but everything else was mediocre at best, loud nightlife and rubbish beaches, went on a boat trip to the amazing blue lagoon which was like a car park for another million boats. Not worth the flight length or the money .
I loved Paris though, no one was rude to me even though I tried my rubbish French first, I think it depends what area you go to. I didn't bother with the Eiffel Tower and just wondered around soaking up the smaller non touristy areas.

I’ve always had drinks without food in St Marks square in Venice.

Dh went to Venice for work just before Covid and he saw some people deliberately bumping into people, on one occasion knocking someone over.
He presumed this was locals fed up with with the huge number of tourists and he felt uncomfortable as he was adding to the crowds.
Dh and I can’t criticise as we like travelling and discovering new places but one can hardly blame locals getting fed up with vast numbers of visitors.
On the other hand a lot of places depend on tourism for income.
I don’t know what the answer is

Detroit Michigan? Never.

I’m obviously in a minority here but I absolutely LOVED Rome, Venice, New York and Vegas 😀

I also got sneered at for having mediocre French when I went to Paris.

I love center parcs though. I'm not even sporty either. I'm surprised how many people are disappointed with it.

So much enthusiasm for New York, but DH and I were very underwhelmed. Like previous poster, we didn’t hate it, but we have no desire to go back. I have had the misfortune to stay in Las Vegas 3 times (used as a hub to travel to the Grand Canyon, Death Valley and Utah). Horrible, soulless place.

My 'picks' are:

Isle of Wight - I just didn't get the appeal and the ferry was expensive.

Perth, Australia - just bland and full of self important men and their stepford wives.

I think when you go to a place you get a gut reaction about whether it is your sort of place or not.

Sounds like an episode of ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ OP. Glad you found someone to pal up with.

I hated Gibraltar. Everyone I had spoken to told me how wonderful it was. It was the most money grabbing place I’ve visited. I loved the caves & the monkeys but I’m afraid I didn’t like the people in the shops, some short changed me & I was sold fake aftershave (never had that problem anywhere else). People raved about it having an M&S but I can visit one in my own high street. Food was pretty dire too.

Totally agree. I was there for two months. It’s not cheap and full of Drunken reckless Australians

Another one for Dublin here. My expectations were high. But It was boring and unimpressive and I experienced obvious racism from club bouncers. They checked my passport. Every time. No one else's (I was with a group of non black people). This was years ago. I don't go clubbing anymore but I won't be back.

Hated London and Dublin, but absolutely loved Berlin.

My FIL was in the siege of Malta in WW2. (Lived on corned beef for weeks until the ships got through!). Sounds like it hasn't changed much.

DH and I haven't had a holiday for 8 years now but live in a nice part of the country so don't really feel in need of one. Especially reading these stories....

No I don't either. Been to Florida loads and never ever had a weird vibe there.

Naples. Explored from top to bottom convinced I was missing the good part - there is none - dirty crime-ridden shithole

Paris was not a great experience. we went to a playground with our friends who are expats there and a number of men were hovering ogling the children. I have never seen anything like that anywhere else, it was beyond creepy and the local moms did not seem to register it all. also, the food was only just ok - though I know that’s more of a subjective observation.

Spot on. Naples is the pits.

My FIL was in the siege of Malta in WW2. (Lived on corned beef for weeks until the ships got through!). Sounds like it hasn't changed much

It’s changed massively, especially with an influx of EU money. Your fil wouldn’t recognise it.

I don't get the hate for Paris, I really don't, I've been there 20-30 times, and I don't speak brilliant French, but then I don't go up to people and ask them questions in English (a particular bugbear of theirs). There's so much to see and do there, and if you eat/drink off the main drag, it's not even that expensive.

I would never go to Barcelona again, not because it's horrible (it absolutely isn't) but the place has now become completely soulless and hollowed out now that so much of it has been let as AirBnBs, with most of the shops and restaurants now catering solely for the tourist trade and myriad variations on the "lost gold ring"/"I've had my wallet stolen"/"a bird has crapped on your shoulder"/pickpocketing scams.