Most overrated destination you’ve visited?

[Rnm62]

Just that really..

Rome. Dirty, expensive and everyone seemingly out to rip you off.

Pisa

Dubai

I don’t know what the solution is
Zipidydodah

I agree. Does mass tourism do more harm than good? I don’t know. Also the locals both hate but need tourists which I completely understand.

Venice often smells because around 50% of the buildings there aren’t connected to the sewage drains, so all of their waste water (including from toilets 🤮) goes into the canals instead.

We we’re told this by a tour guide in St Marks Square when it was a bit flooded, and some tourists were splashing around in the flood water 🤮🤮🤮

Ahhhh ok thanks for clearing that up! I did wonder if that was the case.

Hyderabad, India

Had to work there for a while. Hated every single second. It was like the worlds call centre meets Slumdog. Workers were treated like shit, shocking levels of deprivation.

Johannesburg in the late 90's, truly fucking scary.

Durban

Berlin, I too only saw grime and graffiti and none of the edginess that seems to attract people.

For NY and LA, they are places you need to live in rather than visit to enjoy in my experience. You never saw Carrie anywhere near the tourist spots, but if you go to the south end of Manhattan or Brooklyn you get a completely different experience. Then again, as I've said in other threads, the tone is set at JFK.

To be fair to Hyderabad though, it wasn't a rated destination to begin with

@Kathyshome San Francisco is just the city part. Like a lot of cities it's got bad parts, but also good. Alcatraz is a memorable trip (done it twice), go up to Haight, chill in bookshops and coffee shops. Get great clam chowder at the seafront.

I absolutely love Berkeley, take a trip to Muir Woods, drive out to Napa.

If like to go back in time and be the person that got the contract for the casino carpets in Vegas.

Love the comment about slot machines earlier. If you're expecting high rollers in black tie and evening gowns, you'll be sadly disappointed.

Other hand, for a reasonable hotel rate you can see some amazing shows in much smaller theatres. Would love to see Barry Manilow there!

I will expand on why we hated Majorca:

We stayed in Alcudia, it was like Blackpool, the beach had a power station across from it, hardly scenic.

We are used to Fig Tree Bay in Cyprus, absolutely no comparison, Fig Tree Bay is just beautiful.

Majorca- we travelled the island, it was overcast the whole week, (in August) the scenery looked just like the UK, nothing special at all. It rained so heavily no-one could use the pool, we just sat in the room watching crap TV.

Cost £5000 total waste of money and lesson learned, we now go back to Fig Tree Bay every summer, no contest, beautiful sea, beach and clear blue skies guaranteed.

I must be easily pleased... been to many of the places that have been mentioned and loved most of them.
Only place I didn't like was Dubai. But I ended up there by accident - we were just meant to change planes but there was an emergency and we found ourselves stuck there for a day.
But then I never wanted to visit it and feel I sort of made up my mind about it before we were there.

Alcudia itself isn’t very nice I agree. But the old town of alcudia is stunning, as is the old town of pollensa. Soller has the lovely train and marina and palma is truly a very beautiful city. I’m sorry you didn’t like mallorca bug even in bad weather overall it’s really the most wonderful place on every level

yeah its a shame but I would not go back if you paid me!

Forgot to mention the airport too, it was disgusting, there was sick and poo everywhere, I know it was busy and it was full of kids as it was holiday season, but they could have had cleaners.

I will have to be a wooden box before I stop going to Cyprus

@TheSillyPeach
I can understand your comparison of Alcudia with Blackpool, if you stayed in the area where most of the tourist hotels were. I wouldn't have wanted to stay there either . I loved Alcudia old town though, and there is some stunning scenery along the coast to the north and west of Pollensa. But nothing looks it's best in the rain .

Dubai.

I love Italy too and agree with you regarding Venice and Rome .

I can understand people's comments about Pisa though.

I was underwhelmed with both Paris and Barcelona . However, both are places that I visited as part of another trip and only spent a day there so I think they deserve another chance!

Nashville.

Pyramids of Giza, basically urban fringe of Cairo full of people trying to sell you tacky souvenirs.

Belgium. Boring landscape and mean spirited cafes and restaurants, they steadfastly refuse to supply water free of charge.

Another vote for Philadelphia. Nothing distinctive about the place at all.

@Chchchchchangesss I found that hilarious.
Imagine if your country was a touristic country. Imagine people basically slagging one area off because they say is tacky, not nice enough for their holiday.

Because basically we have allowed really bad behavior in Spain from tourists, drunkpfrom when they arrive, displaying anti social behaviour, and as you know, we offer all inclusive at low price in some resorts. Some people show very poor behaviour that would never be allowed in their own country and feel is ok abroad (ie.UK) And those people will never any interest in actually see Mallorca/ Ibiza/ Tererife etc. outside a hotel. Then they criticise your country.

You find whatever you want to find in any country. But please don't say Mallorca is shit. Its not the place, its (some) people who visit it. And they are normally cheap tourism. That's a fact.

I did read that there was a correlation between new build 3 bed, hot tub and bar in the garden, audi on finance, white Nike ankle socks and Dubai.

I don't know about the stereotype as a whole - but anything that has a correlation with a garden tiki bar immediately puts me off 😂

Snobby!

China, both under and overrated for me. Underrated because it is stunning, super interesting, cheap, and great food. Overrated because even though I knew how populous it is I was still surprised by and hated the sheer amount of people! Visited Beijing , Shanghai, and Xi'an.

I enjoyed Rome except for the men thrusting bottles of water at you... I learnt to say Go Away in Italian fairly quickly!!

Another one for New York. I’d wanted to go all my life. And I travelled to several parts of it. It was pretty dull and lacking in charm ascetic beauty. I’m sure once New York was authentic and interesting. Little Italy is now just restaurants for tourists. China town was tiny and sketchy and mostly closed. The food was generally poor and expensive. Everyone dressed in basic clothes t-shirt and shorts - even around Wall Street I saw maybe 3 well dressed people in 5 days! Not even a suggestion of Carrie Bradshaw or Real Housewives of NY. So disappointing from that point of view. The many new skyscraper buildings are ugly and plain and clearly thrown up on a dime. Only the old brownstone buildings charmed. Quite a lot of mentally ill on the streets. There were a few highlights - some rappers on the ugly, basic underground (makes London tube lines look palatial), going across the water on old fashioned ferry, but it just seems very little public care for. MOMI (Museum of modern art) was wonderful at least!

Venice - away from the centre and the crowds - even ordinary neighbourhoods I found truly beautiful. Just civilised, charming, I felt as if in a different, old-fashioned world.

Coming back to my Brit council estate was a come down let me tell you :-((.

Florence - packed with tourists, dirty, loads of tat for sale everywhere and queues for everything (you have to book well in advance for the museums etc). Food delish though!

What's wrong with Leeds?!