Most overrated destination you’ve visited?

[Rnm62]

Just that really..

Piss and puke stained streets. Rubbish and litter every where.

Bonus was the cheap drinks (hence the general smell of the town centre) and super friendly people. But not a place I'd ever choose to go again.

Venice.

It's a dead, museum of a city that hates the fact it has to depend on tourists for income.

If you’re interested in literature as well as travel, can I recommend “Abroad: British Literary Travelling Between the Wars” by Paul Fussell? Beautifully written and knowledgeable book.

So many writers between the wars lived abroad - D H Lawrence in Sardinia and Mexico, James Joyce in Switzerland and Italy, W H Auden in Brooklyn New York (I accidentally came across a plaque wondering around when I visited). And so on.

Advising a friend on the merits of buying a property abroad, the much travelled D H Lawrence tries to dissuade him: “Don’t have any ideas about places, just because you’re not in them. All places are rough and terrestrial”.

nah, of course I did not! Just winged it with a last moment booking.
I believed the hype about the beauty of the place (stumbled upon prison type servants quarters in the centre), peace (only the sound of the surf; became like a water torture to my ears eventually), and water sports (at Richard Branson prices).
But this thread is merely looking for opinions.
And this, about the Maldives, is mine. However foolish my preconceptions were, and my lack of forward reading.
Another reader might benefit from hearing the reality rather than ‘winging it’ as I did.

And the "peace" was shattered by the Germans next door blasting out U2 from their villa's CD player. But maybe I couldn't afford to go to an expensive enough resort........
It probably doesn't help that the whole idea was ex-DPs - who had expensive tastes that I often ended up funding.

Thanks @Redty10 we’re looking forward to it.

My issue with Rome also involves being parched. I bought 2 bottles of water from a seller outside the collesseum. I paid what I owed & he handed me 2 bottle of frozen water, blocks of ice... I asked him for non frozen water & he started shouting & roaring at me in Italian..
Then 5 minute's later, a man dressed as a gladiator comes up & puts a headdress on my head & put his arm around me telling DH to take a photo, DH did & the next thing he started demanding 10 euro.. We paid him as he was huge & had fellow "gladiators" nearby..
I didn't think the food in Rome was particularly good either..

Have you looked at the size of the Island? Perhaps what you mean is that a particular resort is not to your taste. I’ve been to Magaluf (hen do), and a private tennis estate on Mallorca. I’d not write off an island that is beautiful due to one place. Even if you don’t like tennis.

If you’re interested in literature as well as travel, can I recommend “Abroad: British Literary Travelling Between the Wars” by Paul Fussell? Beautifully written and knowledgeable book.

That sounds interesting. I’d also recommend Sybil Bedford’s books, especially her memoir Quicksands part of which describes living in Sanary in the South of France in the 1930s, her friendship with Aldous and Maria Huxley and some of the German refugees such as Thomas Mann who fled there from Germany.
(Off topic - the book also describes her mother’s tragic descent into morphine addiction and alcoholism in vivid and terrifying detail).

My conclusions reading this thread is that some Mumsnetters have a complete inability to detect humour and/or satire in posts and very closed minds to boot, and that some Mumnetters have a brilliant ability to appreciate and post satirical and humorous stuff and are very open-minded to boot within the context of a thread asking for people's opinions, or 'truths' - as some would have it

I agree!
People literally fly into Pisa, check out the Tower and then leave - generally going onwards to Florence.
We decided to stay there for a couple of days and discovered that there is a lot more to it than the Tower...lots of lovely, pretty little back streets, fab architecture, great restaurants and a fantastic music bar on the river!
People need to dig a bit deeper to see the best of these places.

Agree re Pisa, lovely place. Probably benefits from people thinking it's all about the tower and leaving quickly to rush off to Florence, as you say!
Padua is a beautiful city too, don't hear much about it

@Barbadossunset thanks for the recommendation, a new author for me :).

Agree with this. Was excited to see Albufeiria "old town", was described as having moorish architecture & as an old fishing village... Was just your typical resort strip with neon lights, bars & shops... Nothing old or moorish about it. Huge disappointment.

'Was excited to see Albufeiria "old town", was described as having moorish architecture & as an old fishing village... Was just your typical resort strip with neon lights, bars & shops..'

That sounds like Albufeira new town, specifically 'The Strip', which gets a bad press but I've always found it just fine for drinks and dinner. It's probably less savoury after 10pm! The old town is really lovely - cobbled streets and lovely views out to sea

Athens
Loved Barcelona though

Sorry, is that a dig at me? I was hoping to find satire tbh to counter some of the absolute lunacy and ignorance of the replies- but gave up after 2 or 3 pages of "Rome. Paris. The Pyramids." DP and I were howling. But then gave up.

We went to the Maldives for 4 days as an add on when travelling back from, I think Australia. For that purpose it was lovely. Four days of realxation after a pretty hectic month before. And it was incredibly beautiful. But I think any longer and I'd have gone stir crazy. Would love to go back, but not for the main part of the holiday

Margate. Oh and Dover

Now I know you’re joking as there is LOADS to do in Dover!

In fairness, it is hard to know if people are being ironic… or moronic!

Lanzarote. Cold windy and no greenery just volcanic debris

Dubai - shit covered in glitter.

Manchester, what a dreadfully awful place

I spent two of the happiest years of my life in Rome and Paris. Amazing places.
Also loved Dublin, but my bf was Irish and lived there.

Agree with PP, Maldives, 4 days tops. Baby sharks beautiful though.

Athens was a bit dissapointing. I was working though.

For me, the Lake District.
It is very beautiful, but the mad crush of vehicles and stressed out visitors crammed into tiny streets creates a really hectic, unpleasant atmosphere.
It seems to have become the darling of the UK staycation market, with prices to match.
We often have to visit to see relatives, and have stayed in a few holiday cottages over the years - and these seem to have become more bland, run down and yet ten times more expensive with each year. It isn't somewhere I would choose to go, and can never understand what people see in it, apart from the scenery obvs.