What is the most overrated destination you have ever been?

[Meltinthemiddle]

Mine is Dubai l.

Vegas

@Splishsplashsplooshsplosh absolutely. My son lives in a flat share in Belsize Park- honestly if anyone goes to Hampstead I defy them to think London is horrible- same with places like chiswick or Greenwich.

I think that's one of the reasons I find many other places underwhelming- I remember going to Didsbury (Manchester) apparently the area the better off all flock to to live - and remember thinking is this it? In London that would be average at best and price wise it wasn't far off . I did like the Wirral though and the villages in Saddleworth.

What an ignorant and narrowminded view. It's pretty much known that Turkey as a nation loves cats.

https://www.thetravel.com/why-are-there-so-many-cats-in-istanbul/

What an ignorant and narrowminded view. It's pretty much known that Turkey as a nation loves cats.

The Topkapi Palace was overrun with kittens when we visited. I was in heaven!

I also wonder if Turkey's dissenters are unenamoured with the culture of the place in general, or just the resorts. Ephesus is an amazing place to visit. Likewise Istabnul and the Bosphorus. I once visited Istanbul during Ramadan and it had a fantastic atmosphere: beautiful, pink-orange sunsets overlaid with calls for prayer and people running into the streets drinking water and pouring it over themselves. And the colours, of the whole city in general, were just gorgeous.

Maybe it is a narrowminded view - I did not know that about Istanbul. All I can do is speak from experience when I have been to poorer countries such as some Caribbean islands and Thailand the sheer number of stray animals in really poor health left me distraught.

I have been warned about Turkey from people who've been. A recent MN chat springs to mind when someone found an abandoned new-born kitten in the grounds of her hotel and wanted to smuggle it home in her bra!

I'd also really like to tour Egypt but am completely put off by the reports of how animals are treated there 😥

I do understand about it being upsetting seeing animals in distress, sorry if I was harsh

I noticed this in Costa Rica. Dogs looked quite happy wandering around the towns. Looked healthy. Boy did they have good road sense too. Unlike my silly dog. They all just walk themselves! Quite like the idea.

Me too, I've only been to Istanbul so far but would love to travel further afield next time.

london, dubai, venice, miami. miami is horrible, dubai is fake plastic tat, london is just rude and venice is filthy

@Splishsplashsplooshsplosh I think you've actually illustrated perfectly why some of these cities / countries are brinh listed. Surely the same could be said of Paris, Dublin, New York etc - if you know the areas to avoid & the best places to visit you're far more likely to have a good experience....

Being

New York!

we left five days early and flew somewhere else.

-Rude people

-So many depressed people on drugs, living in poverty, it made me so sad.

-Broadway full of scaffolding, independent shops which were there in 2012 gone. Now generic The Body Shop, Starbucks, Joe and Juice, etc, all that remains.

-Times Square was like hell on earth in my opinion with advertising and people dressed as naked cowboys walking around, as if it’s meant to be amusing or funny. It’s where culture went to die.

even a local who worked in JFK airport WH Smith’s told us she hated it and she was born there. Said “people used to mug you because they needed money. Now they do it just to push you down and trample on you”.
Says it all really.

I've danced with a man, who's danced with a girl, who's danced with the Prince of Wales, NB: They said he was in a rural pub and was aghast and rather short when served from the 'wrong side'. Of course, it must be true...

When I first went to Marrakesh, I hated it. It was mainly the constant hassle from vendors and the taxi driver who tried to charge us an enormously inflated price, only to tell us that the city centre was closed, so they’d take us to their uncle’s carpet shop instead… No thanks.

In the city centre, I lost my wallet and thought it had been stolen. I retraced my steps and got it back with the money still inside it. Apparently, I’d dropped it outside a shop and a boy had handed it in.

Later, my boyfriend and I were walking out of the city and an old man called us over. My heart sank, what was he trying to sell us? But we went over anyway. He just wanted to tell us to look up at the roofs as we walked out of the city, so we’d see the storks nesting. And I realised I’d been rather hard on Marrakesh.

Wrong thread!

They are protected by law in Turkey and they have really good initiatives for dealing with it. We didn’t see any on our first 3 trips but did on the last one and they were really healthy looking

-Times Square was like hell on earth in my opinion with advertising and people dressed as naked cowboys walking around, as if it’s meant to be amusing or funny. It’s where culture went to die.

I love NYC. Love it. But even I have to agree with this.

And the low point even in Times Square is the Port Authority Bus Terminal. It's not for nothing it's earned its reputation as the armpit of the universe ...

Dubai, Florida, Santorini and I might have to agree with Bali as well tbf!

3 favourite countries that I would always return to though are Sri Lanka, Thailand and Greece ❤️

Also want to add Berlin which was the pits. Grimy, grey, dirty. A few rude people, crap food and boring. Completely overrated.

I’m not surprised PPs have mentioned St Ives. It looks lovely, but we didn’t really enjoy our last visit there. It was overcrowded and the locals seemed fed up with tourists.

We wanted drinks and chose a particular cafe solely because it had a good view of the beach. It was about 3.30pm, so not really a meal time.

Most of the staff ignored us as we walked in, but eventually a waitress seated us at a table by the window. However, when she found out we weren’t ordering food, she made us move to a table at the back of the cafe, with no view. We sat there and waited in vain for our drinks. After more than half an hour, we gave up and left. At least we got to use their toilets.

Luckily, there are many places in Cornwall with a nicer vibe.

Interesting thread. But one which, given people are posting places without any explanation, raises more questions than it answers. I mean, wtf is overrated about the Grand Canyon? I get that the heat could be an issue, maybe you had a badly managed tour experience or something, but the canyon itself??

Some of the most often mentioned places are ones at the bottom of my go to list (Dubai, Vegas) because they sound awful. I wonder what people were disappointed by about Vegas? Not tacky enough maybe?

Some posts are descending into nastiness. Egypt and Tunisia both total shitholes? The whole countries? That claim needs some justifying!

Ok I didn't know that! And am pleasantly surprised! Thank you.

I agree, this thread is really fascinating me but I really wished posters would elaborate rather than just naming a place!

Tripadvisor Review

“Grand Canyon? More like Mediocre Canyon. It’s just a big hole in the ground. BORING”