Most UNDERRATED destination you've visited

[YankeeDad]

I thought it would be just as interesting to hear about places visited where you had very low expectations, and were pleasantly surprised by how much these were exceeded.

I will start with three:
Turin, Italy
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Portsmouth, England

@catin8oots I had a dear friend who lived in Spokane who would always bring me some peanut butter brittle from Bruttles. It was incredible!

Loved Derry.

Much nicer than Dublin or Belfast.

Sounds lovely!

Yeah Krakow is not underrated. It's old town is a UNESCO world heritage site

Another vote for Germany. We went on holiday there first about 15 years ago and enjoyed it so much we have been going back every year since.

We go somewhere different every year and have never been disappointed. All of the cities are interesting in different ways. If you like Prague, Krakow etc then you will find Dresden stunning. There is also so much diverse scenery: beautiful beaches, lakes, mountains. It is also not expensive to eat, drink, travel and find good accommodation.

I don’t know why more people don’t go there.

Swindon is a shithole

Ghent, Belgium. Every bit as stunning as Bruges but with more to offer.

That may be true, but the question was places that I had low expectations of.

@bellsbuss hasn't changed since I worked there about 30 years ago then.

Agree about Ghent as underrated.

@BillyNighysWife because sadly there is still a lot of prejudice amongst some . It's a fantastic country - we have to go a lot with work and all over and at the moment it's cheaper than Uk too- with higher standards.

Duss itself- Big tower to go up, good food, great for shopping, everyone speaks English. Nice river to walk along. Boat trips on the Rhine. Which is enough for a long weekend.

Any longer then some great places nearby for day trips - Schlossberg, Koln, Baldeneysee lake etc.

Slovenia is massively underrated

@1dayatatime I like Düsseldorf a lot.

Bosnia (Love Sarajevo)
Eastern Turkey - especially around Lake Van and the Georgian border
Georgia! Gorgeous country, great food, amazing history and lovely people

Mumbai (every other Western tourist I spoke to hated it and rushed through as quickly as possible to get to Goa. I loved it!)
Naples
Romania
Plymouth
Nantes
Genoa

I really enjoyed both Sofia and Zagreb. I was also really pleasantly surprised by Sunny Beach in Bulgaria and particularly it's proximity to Nessebar which is absolutely stunning.

Whitehaven. I had to spend a day and night there for work once and so many people told me what a rundown dump it was. It was exquisitely pretty with lots of white terraces, a pretty theatre, a harbour. I just walked around in a daze wondering where the rundown dump was.

I agree Leicester is apparently great: I went to university there many years ago but my DC have all been there for city breaks over the last few years and really rate it for fun things to do, good restaurants and a lovely vibe.
For us: Lille, Brussels, Middlesbrough, Chepstow, Nottingham (the caves saved it fir me), Seville.
We've had 'low expectation-great trip' visits to all of them.

We have been lucky as we haven't had many trips that we haven't enjoyed, but those have been surprisingly good.

Benidorm. Yes, it’s a touristy cliche. Yes, there are loads of skyscraper hotels and noisy nightclubby bits you might need to stay away from if you need your sleep. But it’s kept clean and tidy, there’s plenty to do, lots of good bars and restaurants. And the Old Town is worth a visit for a more ‘authentically’ Spanish feel. We went to a brilliant tapas bar there one lunchtime that was packed with locals.

@CountingMareep it also has fantastic beaches. My grandparents lived just outside for many years so I used to go a lot- and I'm a holiday snob!! Always had a great time. Wondering now if the old town karaoke bar run by the 2 drag queens is still there!!

Sardinia
Canada
Nepal
Whitby

Warsaw

Also Moscow

K...

But I wouldn't go out of my way to visit somewhere just for its traffic roundabout.

Does it have anything else?

Great thread!

I also thought Venice would be overrated but loved it and have been back several times (it doesn't stink!)

I thought Bruges was nice but I had high expectations (how can anyone say it's underrated?!) but thought Ghent was lovely and much nicer than I expected.