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Original poster

What is the most overrated destination you have ever been?

809 replies

Meltinthemiddle · 04/09/2023 18:24

Mine is Dubai l.

OP posts:
Escalateandcreate · 05/09/2023 06:32

Paris
and slightly different, Marella Cruises. Butlins at Sea.

pilates · 05/09/2023 06:32

Venice

Middleagedmeangirls · 05/09/2023 06:53

I quite agree about Niagara Falls. What a horrible, horrible place. The Falls were great but other than that the highlight of the visit was seeing a skunk! Luckily we only stayed one night. After that we went to a nearby town, Niagara on the Lake, which was beautiful. We had a great week there.

MiniBossFromAus · 05/09/2023 06:53

Yes, the desert is spectacular. Wadis and Oasis. The coastline is sublime. The culture - is quite mesmerising.

The call to prayer, the perfumed air, the food, it's quite intoxicating. I have been going since I was in my 20s in the 90s. It is so so much more than you think.

The malls and high rises are meh.

MiniBossFromAus · 05/09/2023 06:54

⬆️⬆️⬆️ Dubai / UAE

thishasnotmyweek · 05/09/2023 06:55

Bali - but there are loads of of other islands in Indonesia that are absolutely amazing (although you have to be okay without your creature comforts)

and even within bali there are lots of places off the beaten track that still have the magic people talk about - you just need some insider knowledge !

CoffeeCantata · 05/09/2023 06:59

I know it's that time of year - but, linking this thread to the one about nightmare holidays and the OP saying that her friend was rude about her UK holidays has made me think about the whole subject of tourism. I know this is a lighthearted thread for brief replies so I'll not rant on too long!

It's mass tourism, isn't it? I'm not very well-travelled (only Europe really) and prefer city breaks or remote gites in France, away from the crowded places. I love UK breaks to historical or beautiful places and don't like the fuss of long-haul travel at all.

But mass tourism is spoiling the planet. The only times I've been to places like Venice at high season (not by my choice - work-related) I've been utterly horrified - it's just not sustainable for these places, or the planet.

I think that's 85% of what we are complaining about on this thread, surely? Places look great in the photos, or on telly and then you go there and can't move for the sheer numbers, or hear for the constant rumble of wheelie suitcases being trundled through the streets.

And why people feel they need to go and disturb the last remaining remote places (eg Galapagos) just so they can tick them off and be one up on the neighbours, I just can't understand. Just watch it on the TV or read about it - it doesn't need you to go and bother it!

I'm sorry to be grunty, but the places themselves have been ruined by us humans and we never seem to learn.

clotheshorsegym · 05/09/2023 07:01

Barbados. Non locals greedily buying and building on any bit of beach they can get their grabby hands on. So sad.

Riapia · 05/09/2023 07:01

Blackpool.
It’s just an upmarket Benidorm.

Hollyhead · 05/09/2023 07:06

@CoffeeCantata agree with you 100%.

clotheshorsegym · 05/09/2023 07:07

Oh yes Cornwall too. Strange people.

CherryMaDeara · 05/09/2023 07:08

CoffeeCantata · 05/09/2023 06:59

I know it's that time of year - but, linking this thread to the one about nightmare holidays and the OP saying that her friend was rude about her UK holidays has made me think about the whole subject of tourism. I know this is a lighthearted thread for brief replies so I'll not rant on too long!

It's mass tourism, isn't it? I'm not very well-travelled (only Europe really) and prefer city breaks or remote gites in France, away from the crowded places. I love UK breaks to historical or beautiful places and don't like the fuss of long-haul travel at all.

But mass tourism is spoiling the planet. The only times I've been to places like Venice at high season (not by my choice - work-related) I've been utterly horrified - it's just not sustainable for these places, or the planet.

I think that's 85% of what we are complaining about on this thread, surely? Places look great in the photos, or on telly and then you go there and can't move for the sheer numbers, or hear for the constant rumble of wheelie suitcases being trundled through the streets.

And why people feel they need to go and disturb the last remaining remote places (eg Galapagos) just so they can tick them off and be one up on the neighbours, I just can't understand. Just watch it on the TV or read about it - it doesn't need you to go and bother it!

I'm sorry to be grunty, but the places themselves have been ruined by us humans and we never seem to learn.

I agree. I also think a lot of these ‘must see’ places have been covered so well by other travellers that it’s almost redundant to see them yourself.

I now only go where I know I’ll appreciate it. It would be nice to see the Sistine Chapel, but I think I’d be just as fine watching it on TV.

TheLadyofShalott1 · 05/09/2023 07:09

A tiny bit of Paris - the Louvre, particularly the Mona Lisa. You would have to pay me a lot of money to have that painting hanging on my walls, I found it very drab and boring.

However, the other day whilst in the car, it me to me quite suddenly why her smile is as it is, and now I have thought of it, I am sure that I am right!

'She had terrible teeth, well what was left of them anyway, and she was trying to smile beautifully, but while also concentrating on keeping her lips tightly shut'!

FormerlySpeckledyHen · 05/09/2023 07:10

Venice. More f*cling gondolas. Well said John Cleese.

sandgrown · 05/09/2023 07:10

@Riapia I live in Blackpool. It’s good to see we are a benchmark for the rest of the world😂. Very few places I hate but not keen on Paris or Venice. Loved New York and Iceland and particularly the geyser we went to . I could have watched it all day. Most overrated place was The Blue Lagoon in Malta . So crowded we couldn’t even sit down.

MinimogMum · 05/09/2023 07:13

Futuroscope, France.

I went there when it first opened and it was just a whole lot of nothing.

Tatslookawful · 05/09/2023 07:25

Endlesssummerof76 · 04/09/2023 19:18

New Zealand. Even after living there and travelling extensively.

Why? Parts of it, Coatesville to live etc, seem idyllic (?) Stunning scenery.

Phos · 05/09/2023 07:31

BirdiePlantaganet · 04/09/2023 21:39

Bali is OK if you get away from Kuta. But it’s still not all that.

We stayed in Sanur and it was still crap.

Bowbobobo · 05/09/2023 07:45

I find Bath (except the rooftop outdoor pool) very, very dull, same for Dublin. I hated everything about New York except the Met Museum - best museum I’ve ever visited! - and the Staten Island ferry. New Yorkers are so rude, and the metro is absolute rubbish.

MikeRafone · 05/09/2023 07:53

Does the place have to be highly rated in the first place?

Ive never heard that the whole of France was highly rated, so struggle with the concept the whole of France is overrated?

I can understand someone thinking UAE is over rated as many famous people travel there and its supposed to be filled with mega rich

Matchinglipsandfingertips · 05/09/2023 07:54

I worked in Paris last year. The food was awful. I have worked there many times but last year was a new low. Also no help for disabled people. I had to stand for four hours at the Eurostar.

New York City was fab in the noughties, I hope its OK in November but I have been told it smells of weed. I am going before they vote Trump back in.

Sadly I agree on Brighton. I worked there for a year. Dirty, smells of weed with no BAME people. They only have two curry houses. Car parks unsafe and used as toilets. Take a clothes peg for your nose.

However a big vote for Florence, I loved it as did the DH. Expensive but worth it. We went in November.

Orquid · 05/09/2023 07:59

Amazed at some of the responses. I love Rome and Lisbon.

For me maybe Egypt and Los Angeles

Squirrelsnut · 05/09/2023 08:03

I'm sad to read a lot of these as I visited a fair few of them in the 90s and they were lovely - Sydney and San Francisco in particular. I even enjoyed Las Vegas' tawdry bluster. Pamukkale in Turkey was stunning, too.
The place I was most unimpressed with was Windermere - it was absolutely heaving and expensive.

bluebell34567 · 05/09/2023 08:05

TheLadyofShalott1 · 05/09/2023 07:09

A tiny bit of Paris - the Louvre, particularly the Mona Lisa. You would have to pay me a lot of money to have that painting hanging on my walls, I found it very drab and boring.

However, the other day whilst in the car, it me to me quite suddenly why her smile is as it is, and now I have thought of it, I am sure that I am right!

'She had terrible teeth, well what was left of them anyway, and she was trying to smile beautifully, but while also concentrating on keeping her lips tightly shut'!

i so agree.
went to see it with great excitement.
only to find something small.
i dont see the fuss about it and agree what you say. so overrated.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 05/09/2023 08:09

We did like Bali, but I can’t say we were wowed. However we’d avoided the areas which a dd had told us was like Blackpool for Aussies - ‘Don’t go there, Mum, you’ll hate it.’

Used to love Barbados once, but it’s not the same now. Lovely chilled beach bars, where the kids could have flying fish and chips in their swimmies at lunchtime, replaced by hideously expensive fancy restaurants - and the beaches have been badly eroded, at least in the W Coast areas we used to love. Formerly lovely relaxed hotels, where you could only be in Barbados, tarted right up so you could be anywhere, with fucking Cartier shops in the foyer. 😩