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?

I hope you have a wonderful time when you come! I’m sure lots of people think it’s overrated up here as well though 😀

I think most of the world is SHIT compared to this country

Shit because almost everywhere you go there's either grinding poverty and inequality or someone is (understandably) trying to scam or rip you off

There are so much fewer places I want to go: I've ruled out all the touristy places in the States (would happily pick Philadelphia or Austin for example), definitely not New Zealand or Australia or Bali or Indonesia or any of the UAE

In fact the only places I actually want to visit are:
Iceland/Finland/Norway/Ikaria/Crete/Santorini/this country and some cities (Lisbon/Porto/Madrid/Salzburg)

Do you mean salespeople, or those dodgy gangs of guys who catch tourists out by wrapping twine around their wrists as "bracelets" for which they basically want a ransom?

I agree about Dublin. Cold, miserable and expensive.

There’s a lot of love for Dubrovnik, but I didn’t like it. Very crowded and nothing much to recommend it. I preferred Split.

Casablanca. Filthy, filthy, filthy and such poverty, next door to lavish places of worship.

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?

I, too, when I went to Montreal for a three-day conference. The implication was I was trying to work illegally, even when I was only there for a three-day stay.

Then, when I got through passport control, I was stopped by another official and grilled as to where my luggage was (I only had a carry-on).

Apparently the idea of flying transatlantic and only staying for a few days was anathema to these people. As if universities don't hold conferences all the time over the summer that are well-attended by British delegates. In the end I barely got to see anything of the city, although the area surrounding the McGill campus was lovely.

I'm travelling to the states in a couple of months for similar reasons and will probably have to confront more of the same. I'm guessing this is common when you're a lone traveller.

Bangkok - the place I'd wanted to visit all my life, but hated so much I'd have sat on the aircraft's wing to get out (and that was before the ash cloud stuck me there an extra six days)
If I'd seen one more hooker, one more pot bellied Brit dragging some teenager by the hand or met with one more attempted scam I swear I'd have screamed

About Florida, though - can people please, please say Orlando and the parks if that's what they mean, rather than labelling the whole state by the place? Of course some might stay elsewhere and hate that too, but there really is a LOT more to the state than just the Plastic Pal and the corporate manipulation that goes with it

Bali. Kuta is horrendous. Like what I imagine Benidorm to be.

Rest of it is pretty lovely though.

When did you go?

Now it's like walking down any (upmarket) high street in London. Packed with shops like Tiffany and Armani with fancy bars.

I'm not defending it btw - part of the reason I didn't like it was that it felt so British. But it's definitely not full of half-finished buildings now, unless you cound some swanky residential skyscrapers in development.

Love the madness of thread…we are busy writing off something as small as Centre Parks as well as whole countries such as New Zealand or Croatia.

Some hate for Cornwall…should that just be ‘England’….😂

Turkey!! DParents waxed lyrical about how amazing it was... shithole absolute shithole. We even went back thinking we'd maybe just had a bad experience & chose the wrong resort. Second time round it was actually worse!

Tunisia. I'm sensitive to animal issues, and it was my worst nightmare.

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

Good luck BlackandBlueBird; in a lifetime of travel it remains the only place I've found nothing but unremitting rudeness, with the one exception of when I was spending money ... and that includes Paris, where actually I found nothing but charm from the locals

Yes, I was grilled about only having a carry-on as well! Some really stupid, offensive, sexist questions about why I wouldn't want to bring 'more outfits'. I literally never check in luggage, ever, because it's a pain in the arse, and I had a 45 litre backpack, which is absolutely plenty of room for a week's worth of clothes! I had little interest in ever moving to Canada in the first place and I certainly don't have any now. Didn't particularly like the people or anything about it.

I actually had far fewer issues getting into the US.

Me neither.... ok, the theme parks are extraordinarily busy, can be hard work and definitely not everyone's glass of chlorine-y Coke but southern Florida is very laid back and relaxed with lovely beaches and fascinating wild life -- I'd be very interested to know about the weird vibe there?

Brighton. Dirty, seedy and run down.

And Venice for me too! Horrible hotel (plumbing problems all week with toilet on floor above leaking down into our en-suite, door of shower fell off, WiFi only worked by fish tank in Reception.. I could go on), ridiculous prices to eat out and the worst pizza we’ve ever been served near the Rialto Bridge! Of course crowds everywhere.

We went to Rome the previous week and that was wonderful! Wished we’d stayed on there instead.

I love Venice - of course you can have a coffee and not eat?!
I've only ever been in March or September. Avoid it like the plague in the summer months.
It doesn't smell in the cooler months either. I've been 7 times so know it quite well.

God, yes...why do people like it so much?! Every single time I go there, I just think it seems like a shithole.

I suppose I'd be considered an arty, creative type myself, so on paper it should be great, but I just find it so incredibly depressing. So dirty, full of quite aggressive beggars, run down, expensive. Lots of the people seem right up their own arses as well, bleating about capitalism and inequality as they shovel coke up their noses and drink £7 pints of IPA.

Lots of people hating LA, but I've been a few times and love it. However, you really need to be prepared to hire a car. I can see how relying on public transport or walking everywhere could be a problem. Didn't love NYC. Florida was OK but once you've done "the parks" there's nothing else going on (IMO).

At last somebody who can spell Center Parcs correctly😁

Cyprus for me it was a dream holiday , people saying I’ll love it . I thought it was a bit meh , hotel was nice but just not a lot about imo . Didn’t help the weather was shite for 4 days out of 7 apparently never rains like that in may . Typical the week we go .
Also Turkey hotel was beautiful loved it but in could be anywhere in the world can’t say a single thing about Turkey that you must visit . Just nothing about , Turkish not friendly at all . Long way for a holiday imo

Cape Verde, may as well visited the moon, nothing to see, nothing to do, crappy food and boring unless you like fishing. We looked for an earlier flight but there was only one flight a week at the time so we were stuck for a whole week.

This. Overpriced and vile

Salzburg! Has anyone mentioned that yet.
Absolute dump.
Apart from the "old town" (which is rammed full of visitors) the rest of it is run down and grotty and crime-ridden. It's got a lot worse in the last few years.
There's the Mirabell garden steps, famous from Sound of Music, where people seem to have to take 1000 photos for instagram, and that's about it really. Pickpockets enjoy hanging around there.
If it rains everyone drives into the city and then there's a godawful traffic jam and the whole place stinks.
And it's unbelievable how stuck up a lot of the people there are - the "high society" are shocking. Vile.

The countryside around is stunning but the city itself is just a hell-hole.

Really strange…. Can’t imagine why the Irish would hate the English 🙄