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?

In order, Marbella, Milan, Madrid, Barce. Dubai too but on another level. Boston. Antigua. I’m also surprised Mykonos didn’t get mentioned earlier! (Although it’s great for a couple of days if you’re island hopping.)

I can’t believe some of these though - can’t even get my head around anyone not loving Paris or SF. Also really loved Malta! Except the freezing spooky scuba diving (retired from diving the Med after this). I did get bored of NYC after a few visits but it’s still an incredible city.

Amsterdam was a total let down. Me and sister were massively ripped off in a taxi as soon as we arrived, so that put a downer on the whole trip. Then being offered drugs constantly on the street, and random men trying to sit with us in cafes, attempting to sell us drugs, or asking us to go elsewhere with them. It was totally grim and put me off ever going back.

I haven't been but this is how I imagine it

Loved those bagel shops. Everyone passed by on their way home from a rave back in the 80s and 90s. Probably still do!

Yes! You can’t beat an East end bagel. Mmm. Making me think up a reason to get up there again soon.

To be fair I haven’t tried a New York bagel though. The delis look awesome

Venice. I found it very claustrophobic. Literally not open spaces. It was also totally soulless. Just full of tourists. No one actually lives there. The restaurants were dull and had no ambiance. Again the lack of locals I think was to blame. And the food was mediocre. They don’t have to worry about repeat customers.

Er... doesn't everyone know the sea is tidal??

I went in the winter, too, just after Christmas one year, and it was fantastic. Apart from St Marks, nowhere was crowded, you could dawdle round all the museums and churches, the public transport was amazingly efficient and very reasonably priced and it was a real novelty to be in a city without cars.

We watched incredible fireworks at midnight on NYE, against the backdrop of Santa Maria della Salute, and went to Burano on New Year's Day - so pretty and the people were really friendly and welcoming.

I loved it, but wouldn't go in peak season, or for carnival.

See this is why I like cruising.... you get to see small snippets of the world and if you like somewhere you can go back for longer, if you dislike it then it's ticked off the list and don't bother going back.

We also like dressing up for dinner so we enjoy the opportunity to wear nice clothes every evening. (But you can always go to the buffet in casual clothes)

NOOOOOOO! We just stopped arguing about Barcelona . Please don’t set them off on cruising.

😂😂😂😂

Same, rude, overpriced tourist trap.
I much prefer Belfast or Derry.

Crickey! Sure you didn’t accidentally sign up for some abuse themed holiday experience lol ?

🤣🤣🤣

London is very over hyped, I’ve lived there too so it’s not just from a tourist point of view.
Love Paris, so many beautiful buildings, don’t get the whole rude Parisians, a bus driver gave us great advice about buses to take later that day and staff at hotels have been lovely.

I’ve reading on here about Canadian border control being awful, but we found the opposite, crossing from Toronto into the USA the American officials were so rude, barked instructions at everyone, you took a ticket and waited on your number being called.
Staff then shouted through an intercom to tell you when to come into their office, there were loads of families waiting, one shouted Mr x when the man took a few seconds longer to gather up his family, the man shouted again MR X WAKE UP AND BRING YOUR PEOPLE NOW! It was just so overtly racist, we got grilled and we were only going to a wedding, I wanted to say don’t worry no intention of staying here, I much prefer Toronto , lovely city and no worries about guns unlike your country!
On the return journey, the Canadian border staff said were so nice, one look passport said I love Scotland the golf is amazing! Have a good journey home and that was it!

Madeira.

For me, in the UK, it's London. I know it has absolutely amazing museums, theatre, culture, so much to see and do. I know it's an amazing place - for some people. I hate crowds too and don't like being around tonnes of people. It felt like everything was packed to the rafters - get on a bus it's completely full, the tube is rammed, every bar was rammed, going out to eat it's rammed, every seat is taken, etc. It is actually very overwhelming if you were brought up rurally and live in a very quiet place where there's about four people on the high street after 5:30pm. It got to the point where I can't manage the tube so had to get busses and sit by the window but kept wanting to get off them, one of the last times I was there I gave up and ended up getting taxis to places which cost a lot of money. I just felt like I couldn't breathe there. It also took longer to get there than to Spain.

Walk to bus stop - 10 min
Bus to city centre - 1 hour
Walk to train station - 15 mins
Train to Euston - 1 hour 24 (fast train)
Bus from Euston to friend's flat - 1 hour
Walk from bus stop to friend's flat - 5 min.

The problem was the train was cancelled and replaced with a bus that went to every stop. So that took 4 hours. And then I had to wait about 40 minutes for a bus on the way back. The timetable above is without waits!

I used to do this journey when I was healthy and I just treated it as a holiday, tried to relax and enjoy myself, would have food and drink in the train station to try to break it up a bit. But it is a monster journey.

So that is the journey but not the city itself, so you can't blame the city for that at all (although for me it's obviously associated with it as it's part of the holiday). But the issue was when I was there I just found everything difficult and busy. But, I will also say I had some amazing times in London, so maybe it's more a reflection on me, and when I started to find walking difficult/was in pain, it made things so much harder and my patience for the journey went. Also, if you can't walk without pain, London is tricky, as people are often on their feet the entire day.

Abroad, the worst I heard of but haven't been (family went) is Luxor in Egypt, because they couldn't leave the hotel grounds in the evening, to go on a walk or anything like that, and they said in the day they were hassled a huge amount. Also had a friend go to North Korea which I thought was bonkers!

I did not like Brooklyn, New York. The place I stayed had cockroaches.

I can't think of anywhere I really hated. Loved New York and Barcelona, but I visited years ago before New York got gentrified and Barcelona got Air BNB.

Hearing about how crap Cyprus is, if anyone has booked a holiday there by mistake, I recommend hiring a car and going up into the Troodos mountains. It's all very pretty with pine forests and traditional villages and much cooler than the unrelenting heat of most or Cyprus in the summer.

Have I hit a raw nerve?!!

No, @Slinkymalinky03 you haven't. However, as a pp said you're a weirdo. You can't possibly have visited every place in NZ and yet you write the whole country off simply because of your strange expectations.

Also, when I got a taxi to where I was staying, the taxi driver didn't want to let me out there (literally) as he said it wasn't safe. I was staying with a friend so couldn't change the accommodation. I will say it did seem relatively safe and I didn't witness any problems, although did hear gun shots a lot in the evening.

I had a nice time in Cyprus but it was extremely hot. I went with a friend and it broke the temperature record when I was there! But we went to a very quiet part of it, and it was really lovely.

Disagree with so much of this!

❤️Center Parcs - loved it, chalet was always clean and loads of free playgrounds/ soft play/walks/cycling/beach for young kids. Totally relaxing not to have to drive anywhere or spend hours in an airport trying to keep toddlers entertained. Wouldn’t go now the kids are older though. Butlins was vile - filthy and people shrieking at their kids.

❤️Florida - totally expected it to be consumerist, plastic and overpriced but the parks were amazing.

❤️ Berlin, Sorrento, Rome and to a lesser degree Paris. Met DH in Barcelona - but even so didn’t love it the same.

❤️Sydney, Melbourne, Blue Mountains, but hated Adelaide - quiet and boring and Gold Coast - tacky.

Dubai. Chav central. With a shocking human rights record.

This is stupid. If someone has lived somewhere for a significant amount of time and travelled around it, I think it's absolutely fine for them to say they don't like the country.

That may be right, but as that particular poster has not given even one reason as to why she doesn't like the whole country I don't think her views are worth a dime.