Ever visited somewhere for the day and been really disappointed?

[Summerhouse2013]

We travelled to Yeovil in Somerset yesterday for the day, wow, we were so disappointed.

It was like a ghost town. Most of the shops were shut, only a handful were open. And towards the bottom area of the town most of the shops were completely closed down.

I'd always got the impression there was a lot more to Yeovil.

We left after an hour as there was nothing to do.

I'm disappointed by how many people are mentioning Bath. It's on my list of places I'd really like to visit.

On thinking about it though, I suspect that I travel with fairly low expectations because I can't think of anywhere that has been a huge let down.

Birmingham. Went last Monday to take my DS for an appointment and planned to wander around the shops (hello, selfridges) and find somewhere nice to drink tea, eat cake and read my book for three hours. It was a dirty, unkempt shithole, litter everywhere, dirty pavements and very few open shops. Underpasses felt unsafe and stunk of piss. Selfridges was nice but I can’t afford anything in there and everywhere else was tat or closed. I ended up in the cinema where I was joined by two couples who wandered in as the film was starting and sat having a chat. Who does that ffs?
Film was good though - Air.

I think it's easy enough to avoid the crowds, given the size of it (well, maybe not at peak hours at peak tourist season), but it's pretty enormous, and the ticketed exhibitions are much quieter, apart from the giant blockbusters. I no longer live in the UK. but when I was last in London for the weekend, I went twice, and saw the Cézanne a couple of days before it closed (by going early on Sunday am), but the Magdalena Abakanowicz and Maria Bartuszova shows twice. And a temporary Aboriginal art exhibition which was free but very quiet.

The closest I get to irritated with it is how busy the members' bar/café gets when I fancy a quiet drink.

Warwick Castle - completely agree. Awful what they've been allowed to do to it.

Land's End - awful awful that they've allowed such tourist tat around it. I've got a picture of my Nan and Gramp there in the 70s and wanted to recreate the photo - that sign is that only decent bit of it and the views. Made me so sad.

Bath - you're all going to the wrong bits, we live in Gloucestershire and it's our go to destination for shopping. There are some amazing places tucked off the tourist path. Bristol in comparison is a complete dump and heaven only knows why Harvey Nicks wanted to open a store there - it's completely random.

They are channeling their inner French person, most French people are just as dismissive of Paris and don't get them started on Parisians.

@daffodilandtulip omg Morcambe! Stopped in for a look and it was just.... grim. Highlight was going to the public loo and someone had shat their pants and left them there. DH and I still occasionally refer to that wonderingly.

I do love Edinburgh, Bath, Paris and Amsterdam but I understand people sometimes don't gel with a place or have a bad incident that colours a trip.

I was very underwhelmed with Cirencester and in fact the Cotswolds in general. They were... okay?

Hate Dublin. Dirty, ugly, unfriendly, dull and overpriced.

Saxmundham- and it wasn't even on a Sunday.

The guides made it sound so worth visiting so we got a bus in from several miles away where we were holidaying.

Amongst other things, the 'great' market we'd been lead to expect urned out to be just two stalls. After a coffee, we got a bus straight out of there again.

Amsterdam, Warwick Castle, Brighton, Cambridge.

Oh god isn't it just, we went with friends they adore it , me and he were bored rigid and isn't it £40 to get in

I don't know if they still do it, but when we went, they always stressed that the entrance fee was for the whole year, not just one day. Wonderful if you live within a reasonable distance and you like gigantic testicles with plants in them, but the nature of where it's located means that the vast majority of people in the country don't live anywhere near it.

Another vote for Portmeirion, though it's some years since I've visited. At the time a lot of the 'buildings' were just facades, the whole place was scruffy with peeling paint, the cafe was hugely overpriced, there was nowhere to sit down... All in all an expensive disappointment.

On the other hand, I love Bath, Paris and Dublin.

The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth - it's worth visiting. As is Titanic town - Belfast. I think those American tourists were confused.

Also The Hague.

Surprised at some of these, just goes to show that beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Love Brighton and Edinburgh.

Didn't like New York, will never understand the hype .... not a patch on London.

Heights of Abraham
Took forever to find a car park space,the shops just flogged cheap hippy tat,the cable cars where crap and not much to see at the top

Peterborough-it just smelled of farts

The deep in hull-utter crap
I think you'd have to live and breath fish to enjoy it
And it was filthy

Cadbury world-we walked in and where handed 3 flakes
A few vintage posters and some woman barking at us not to touch anything and to queue-we where 2 of about 6 visitors so couldn't queue as there was nothing to queue at!
Where out in less than an hour

Warwick castle-no history to see or read,just a lot of howling kids and some horrible history thing going on,but we refused to pay the extra so didn't see any of that

Clifford's tower in york
It's just bricks and history on a huge hill-the story of the Jews is horrifying but there's nothing to see apart from bricks

How could you not find anything to do in Dublin??? You must not have tried very hard!

So interesting to read this. Agree with most, especially Paris. No desire to be ignored by waiters who pretend they can't understand my A level French (perfectly acceptable elsewhere in France). Overcrowded, spread out and before you know it, you're in a really sketchy area.

But Amsterdam! If you avoid the tourist hell that is Centraal Station, it's an absolutely stunning city, with vistas on every corner. Loads of great bars, restaurants and a place to sit and watch the world (and bikes) go by. And the art galleries and museums plus the parks. Love it.

Durham, Brighton, Cambridge, Stratford - meh. But I love Bath every time I go.

And as for London - I used to love it. But post Covid I have London fatigue and could quite happily avoid it - too crowded, too touristy, overpriced. I hope to fall back in love with it one day.

National Indian Zoo in Delhi. Crowded, scammers, handsy men, loos with shit all on the floors and up the walls, and zookeepers hitting and poking the animals with metal sticks to make them wake up and amuse the punters.

Empire State Building. Lots of queuing for nothing much.

Paris - Parisians are snobs, that's my take on it.

Oxford - loved my years there at uni, went back for a day trip and it seemed so faded and raddled.

Camden Market - crowded and commercialised, used to be genuinely offbeat and fun.

Best days out ever: Edinburgh Vaults; Bankska Bystrice (Slovakia); Tiraspol (Transnsitria); Brompton Cemetary, Tokyo Harajuku District, Brecon Beacons, Chios Mastic Villages.

Really? I loved Ludlow.

@rookiemere. Can I say, I love Northern Ireland. The Causeway Coast is beautiful, but the actual Causeway itself ... I think we had built it up in our minds and expected it to be much bigger than it was. Result, a vague sense of disappointment.

You can please some of the people etc etc.

I had the same feeling when I went there. It's not really like being in a rainforest. But then I realised that if you accept it for what it is, it's not bad. If you like garden centres, restaurants, cafes and gift shops you might like it.

I was disappointed in Cornwall for the first few days. I stayed in Penzance which is a nice enough town but the sea was grey as was the beach and the sky. Then I got a bus to Porthcurno and it was like heaven. The sea was clear and blue, the sand was golden. Pedn Vounder beach was also wonderful.

Peterborough-it just smelled of farts

😂😂😂

Hyde Park, Winter Wonderland. So awful.

I live in a city not far from Hebden Bridge, and yep, your experience doesn't surprise me at all. I've always found it oddly hostile and unwelcoming. Shops and cafes with odd opening hours that don't seem to sync with each other at all so half the town always seems closed whenever you go. Very "white", which might be controversial to say, but I mean, I'm not surprised you were racially abused sadly. It always strikes me as a very sheltered, insular kind of place, also expensive. Sort of the worst stereotypes of hippies 😂
I saw a documentary about Hebden once, that went into the gentrification of it, and how it has (at least at the time) one of the highest rates of youth suicide due to a rapid shift in the social and economic situation of the town. Really fascinating documentary and very sad.

Now, I love musty second hand bookshops and can happily spend ages in them, and if you lay on loads of buzzy author signings and talks I probably won't be going to them unless they happen to involve one of my favourite authors. One of my most enjoyable breaks was based around Wigtown, Scotland's equivalent - basically we aimed to spend time in a different bookshop each day, how long depending on how good the shop was, and then head out to do other things in the area. Perfect! Though DH wasn't too keen on the number of books we ended up taking back home.

I agree with Carcassone. A hugely-congested tourist trap, the castle itself so badly restored as to be almost comical. It’s such a lovely part of France, give it a miss and visit some of the Cathar castles instead.
Some of the towns around Lake Garda too, eg Malcesine and Limone. Completely hollowed out, endless parades of gelateria, pizzeria, shops selling the ugliest bags you’ve ever seen, and gut-rot limoncello. Just depressing.