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?

Me too. Everyone takes about it but I didn't think there was anything special about it. Went to visit friends who live there so they took us to the supposedly nicest places and they were awful. Had gone off fish in a restaurant, rude waiters, people unfriendly in the streets and pushing into you, smells polluted, no charm at all.

So it’s OK for you to speak GCSE French, which let’s face it is not exactly high on the bilingual scale, but not for French people to speak “broken English” ……..

Vancouver. Best city in the world my arse. The same deeply unpleasant underground vibe as LA but without the sun-shining gloss.

Same. Was so shocked by the drugs and homelessness. Much preferred Montreal, although neither made me think Canada was the paradise on earth people rave about.

Also share the loathing for CP - was made to go about 20 years ago for MIL’s landmark birthday. Good lord it was awful.

Agree. Even 20 years ago it was overcrowded with tourists (i know, the irony) . The gangs of pickpockets, shysters on the Ramblas and generally unsafe vibe did it for me. The Gaudi stuff and Sagrada Familia was great but that was the best of it.
Even the food was quite mediocre for Spain.

I was given a key code number with my food order to use the ladies in a KFC fast food place in Margate once. Only place I've ever encountered this to use the facilities.
Dh went to Shanghai on a work trip and he hated it. He couldn't wait to come home.

See, I loved Marrakech but it is a very different culture. I travelled around the city a lot on my own including the souks and public transport, and didn't get seriously hassled once, but I think you have to roll with the men trying to get your attention and not see it as harassment. I just said hello back and carried on walking, or told the ones trying to get me to buy something that I was just looking, thank you. You do need to be confident enough to shrug it off, or deal with everyone staring at you if you walk into a cafe by yourself. I think my resting bitch face helps Marrakech generally is a bit bonkers, and you'll either love it or hate it.

I travelled around Istanbul alone too and only once did I have an issue, which was an older man saying something that clearly wasn't very nice. My Turkish wasn't good enough to understand insults so I just walked on. I've generally found Arabic/Middle Eastern countries to be very friendly and hospitable.

Much as it shouldn't have to be this way, dressing conservatively helps. I saw girls dressed in 'Western' clothing (shorts with low-ish cut tops etc) and they definitely encountered unwanted attention.

We went in 2018. Still brilliant.

So funny reading these! I think NY is something else and I lived there as a student in the early 80s when it was still a bit rough around the edges, I loved Sydney but went with my husband who used to live there (thought Perth a waste of time),. San Francisco was a real disappointment but I did go in January. Loved Rome even though I stupidly went in July when it was hot and crowded but we prebooked some really good tours and lucked out with our restaurant choices and hotel. Brussels was lovely if busy busy. A friend said Honfluer was one of her favourite places but it was just a nice town to me.
I guess it helps to have local contacts. Luckily people like different things!

We stayed at an hotel in Egypt, lots of good reviews. Was not nice at all when we got there and to use a phrase used above full of Sun readers. Wrote a review when I got back and was slated by others as being someone who couldn't appreciate high standards!

I've always wanted to go to Scotland. When ds is older it will definitely be somewhere we will venture too.

It's a while since I went. But on landing in Miami there were warnings everywhere about not being seen consulting maps, or appearing to be lost, and there were orange suns to guide you through the major road networks (we'd hired a car and driven down to the Keys). We were also warned that if we were flagged down by anyone for any reason, not to stop, to be very careful at red lights, and that even if the police stopped us we were to go to the nearest well-lit public service station and alert someone's attention there until we could verify it was legit.

These warnings were everywhere.

Outside Miami it wasn't so bad although the humidity was horrendous, but the state also has some funny attitudes: there was open racism of a kind that would likely have got you chucked out of a pub if you'd voiced it in Britain and this was well over a decade ago.

I felt okay at Miami beach but elsewhere the constant reminders about protecting yourself made me nervous.

Much preferred Montreal, although neither made me think Canada was the paradise on earth people rave about.

I’ve declined to return to Canada ever since Border Patrol refused DP and I entry seemingly apparently because they didn’t think we had a good enough reason for entry (being a couple of miles away in Detroit and thinking it would be nice to cross through the tunnel and grab some lunch in Windsor for the experience of doing so - perfectly legal for a US citizen and a UK citizen with a US visa) and told us to clear off in more or less as many words and a much ruder tone. Every experience I’ve had of US Border Patrol in comparison, supposedly unanimously rude, has been perfectly civil.

I kind of liked Barcelona but I get the criticisms of the place. It’s insanely overcrowded (which obviously I was contributing to), can be really overpriced for Spain, and many places feel quite unfriendly. But I’m glad I got to see the Sagrada and the big sightseeing stuff. Prefer Seville which is much less touristy, cheaper, and everyone was really friendly and lovely.

San Francisco is horrendous. Cool architecture and all but would not go back. I can’t believe how much people pay to live there.

Me too! I love it there. Everything about it, especially the temperatures.

Not quite the Emperor's New Clothes but I did find Venice to be somewhat over-rated. I was there for 3 nights, which probably was the problem - it got boring after the 2nd day. And I went to Murano on one of those days, just to find something else to do! Had a very snooty waiter as well in one restaurant - disdained my attempts at Italian and just gave me an English menu. That didn't happen in any other Italian city I've been to!

Sure you can, just go off-season, @MsTSwift !

It was absolutely brilliant in February and March. No crowds, no queues, so smell.

Ditto Rome - I’ve been in January and in March and it’s been gorgeous and not overcrowded at all.

It's very different when you live there, tbh. I thought all of this until I actually lived there, and then I loved it. Was in a gorgeous little neighbourhood with friendly locals, lots of little bars and restaurants with terraces. Went to get fresh bread every morning and it almost felt like living in a movie. Never had an issue on the metro. I just avoided the Ramblas (no locals ever go there) and the obvious tourist sites, and overall it was one of the best experiences I've ever had living anywhere.

The good news is they are going to tear it down soon and turn it into DubaiMed * but with huge docks so the cruise ships can sail really close, so you will probably love it , shame about the thousands of years of maritime history, and art legacy, but it will be so much better once it is sanitised and the few remaining Venetians persuaded to leave. I mean, if people can’t keep their cities Mrs Hinch clean and shiny they don’t deserve to live in them do they.

• not really, just amazed that the problem with Venice is that it is “old and tatty”.

Cape Town. Capetonians go on about it like its the centre of the universe and in reality its just a crime ridden city with a few beaches (most of which aren't that nice to go on because its windy and the sea is freezing) and a mountain that's usually shrouded in cloud. There's nothing particularly enjoyable about the place at all.

I've seen a few ppl mention Dublin. Whilst it is not my favourite place in Ireland by a long shot. There is way way more to do there than just drink! Trinity college, book of kells, Temple bar (yes have a vastly over priced pint here). Kilmainham Gaol, Guinness Storehouse, either St Patricks Cathedral or Christchurch Cathedral, Grafton street and a walk around St Stephens Green, O'Connell St is a kip but the GPO is a very important part of Irelands history and gaining independence. National museum of Ireland. Phoenix park (biggest city park in Europe) also where our President lives Áras an Uachtaráin.

Anti-English sentiment, some ppl are just arse holes, a lot are prob ripping the piss! We all know English people, a lot have English relatives, a lot have lived in England.

Anyway, please don't be put off Ireland we are not all bigots and realise history is in the past!

I shan't rush back to Venice, but love Rome and Florence. Venetians are known in Italy anyway as the biggest rip-off merchants for tourists yet are forever pleading poverty on Italian TV news which endears them no end to other Italians. Sorrento has become Brits abroad too, just older not getting pissed Brits abroad. My mum went there for her honeymoon and raved about it, so living just 2 hours away I went over. All "live Arsenal match tonight" and menus with photos of your dinner. This was 1997 and I haven't been back.

More recently I went to Exeter for the first time in 20 years (worked there in 1997) and was horrified at what it's become. Pound shops and slot machines and cheap chain stores. Awful.

I've had horrible experiences with Canadian border control as well, when I went there for an industry event. Absolutely grilled me about why I wanted to get in and how I could afford my stay, which felt borderline sexist and ageist. Why would a 32-year-old professional working full time with no dependents not be able to fund a trip to Canada?

It's so weird the way they think everyone is dying to move there. I felt like saying 'don't flatter yourself, love'. Toronto was one of the most mediocre cities I've ever been to. Went up the CN Tower, wandered round Kensington Market, got a Tim Hortons and then struggled to fill my spare time there. Really made me giggle that they thought I'd rather be there than the beautiful Spanish city I was living in at the time. The delusion.

I agree about Venice, vastly overrated. It was just so old and tatty.

How old did you expect Venice to be?

Dublin - cheap shops over the river with security guards - why?
Cape Town - bars on doors and windows and expensive and too windy 😂
Mauritius - like a Caribbean island but without the Caribbean fun
LA - just a big sprawl of a place, hideous traffic
Lapland - just bitterly freezing crap
Goa in India - full of beggars and people trying to suck bad spirits out of your ears
Lake Titicaca - another shithole, freezing and no decent food. Couldn't wait to get back on the train for a cheese sandwich.

New York - was very overrated and rude people; Vienna - I felt scared / oppressed and I never feel that way even when in some remote countries ; Cyprus - just a dump when I visited. Sexist men too