Underrated holiday destinations

[WisteriaHysteria22]

So inspired by the current emperor's new clothes holiday thread, where have people been on a holiday that exceeded expectations or is currently underrated/less mainstream?

Olomouç in Czech Republic. Beautiful city. So much nicer than Prague IMO

My main takeaway from the disappointing holidays thread was that you need to think about what you actually like doing on holiday and plan your holiday destination with that in mind.

If you don't like sun, sea, sand and snorkling, don't go to the Maldives. They may look amazing in the brochure but you will be bored by Day 2.

If at home, your idea of a great time is not going around a lot of art galleries and churches, don't go to Florence. That's pretty much all there is to do there.

Make a bit of effort to find out what the local food is and eat it - there is no point complaining you had a terrible pizza in Venice, when pizza isn't a Venetian food and proper pizza ovens are banned there due to the fire risk.

My recommendation would be Trier and the Mosel valley. Amazing Roman sites in Trier, a nice relaxing holiday going from town to town and drinking wine from tiny vineyards, castles galore, lots of hiking if you are in to that sort of thing which we weren't

Anna we had pizza from a proper pizza oven in Venice!

I flew to Inverness and had a wonderful holiday in the Black Isle.

Well I'm in Ceredigion now and it's like pembrokeshire but quieter. Maybe everyone else is sat in an airport waiting to fly to Spain..

@ICanSmellSummerComing

I think there are supposed to be a few places with wood-burning brick pizza ovens, but basically they were banned after the opera fire and new licences aren't given out.

And why would you have pizza (probably bad unless you are super lucky) in Venice when there is loads of really great Venetian food?

We absolutely love Lanzarote. We stay in playa Blanca. It’s clean, friendly, beautiful and fairly cheap to eat/drink compared to Uk and mainland Spain.

Kent - lots of lovely beaches, from sandy to pebbly.

Hong Kong was an amazing holiday and far exceeds our expectations. City with plenty to do as well as beautiful surroundings and amazing hiking.

There are two Greek islands that we’ve visited several times - Tinos and Syros - and we’ve heard hardly any other British voices there.
Stunning beaches, excellent value accommodation and food, interesting things to see.
You have to get a short (under 60mins) ferry to get there which I think puts people off.

Yes
Yes
Yes!

We have been three times. It is the only holiday destination we have been back to more than once.

We had a fantastic holiday in Shropshire one year. There was so much to see and do. I agree with you @BarbaraofSeville about Majorca and Lanzarote.
Another gem of a holiday was in Kos, and last but not least the Makarska Riviera in Croatia.

Absolutely, it’s a lovely little place with a quirky town centre and batting well above its weight in terms of culture. The museum a few miles out of town is one of the best I‘ve ever been to (can’t remember the name but it’s the one with loads of Viking artefacts and Graubullen (sp?) man).

Shh, nobody‘s supposed to know about the north-German beaches on the Baltic coast. I‘ve literally never seen an English-speaking tourist there. And it’s the finest, smoothest sand ever. Lying on one of those Strandkorb beach baskets facing the sun is pure joy. Everybody’s favourite is Hiddensee because it’s car-free, but we have a real weakness for Usedom.
The lakes in Mecklenburg and Brandenburg are wonderful for canoeing holidays.

I had an amazing pizza in venice, probably the best ive ever had

In the summer months the Isle of Man is hard to beat. Nice beaches, especially Port Erin & Peel, and if you like walking it has some great coastal paths and plantations too. Lots of nice places to eat and public transport is good. The only downside is the cost of getting there, if you take the car on the ferry it can be more than return flights to a European destination.

Aero in Denmark, beautiful beaches. Gredos mountains in Spain, lovely natural bathing pools, mountains and really Spanish. I love both Sweden and Finland for lakeside cabins and forests.

@AnnaMagnani Not sure whether your post makes reference to the recent ‘Emperor’s new clothes’ thread or an historic thread, but we actually discovered our ‘Emperor’s new clothes’ destination as part of our journey to our ‘Underrated holiday destination’.

Whilst I wholeheartedly agree that people
need to think about what you actually like doing on holiday and plan your holiday destination with that in mind sometimes people visit places for other reasons.

We fly to Mykokos as it’s an easy way to get to the islands that we love in the Cyclades. The days we spend on the island before and after our flight are ‘endured’, despite many people believing it’ll be a Greek paradise.

I think nowadays most places are not much of a surprise, given all the information available online but Buenos Aires is the one place I felt was so much better than reviews. I thought it a beautiful city and much better than what I was expecting.

it *was

Inland Andalucia. If you are into walking and all that, try the Caminito del Rey. OMG. And all the lovely whitewashed towns and villages far away from the Costas. Then there are the alternative Camino de Santiago routes of De la Plata (Mozarabe) from Seville, and Via Podiensis from Le Puy in France. I am a walker, but am like a snail, I smell the roses/lavendar and take my time. Haven't completed any of them, but slowly I hope to, such amazing adventures, scenery, people, it is just so different. A lifelong journey I think!

nobody‘s supposed to know about the north-German beaches on the Baltic coast. I‘ve literally never seen an English-speaking tourist there

funnily enough I follow a guy on Twitter who travels around various railway lines and he was on Borken today and then went on a a ferry and then new railway line into the Netherlands ending up in Groningen, which is somewhere I'd like to go. Aarhus sounds really nice too, I've only been to Copenhagen and the surrounding area.

For UK city breaks I think Cardiff is under-rated.
I also agree that Kent is underrated - very pretty county.

Well i do now @ItsOnlyWordsInnit and I am going, woweeee 😍, promise I won't tell anyone, I'll post pictures on Instagram and when people ask where it is l'll do that annoying thing and say north Europe or something incredible vague. Thanks @FelicityFlops

How does that work then? Do you have to go to the south side of the dunes to catch the sun - ie not be looking out towards the sea?

But in reality somewhere UK tourists will never be able to visit again

Oh yes, I loved Hong Kong as well. We went in 1996 just before it was handed back to China.