Places you've been underwhelmed by

[HannaPintura]

I just love going away and have really loved most places. One place in particular really Underwhelmed me...Gibraltar...just like Britain in the sun! I'm sure it has so much to offer, but I couldn't wait to cross the border back to Spain!

Oh dear. We’re off to SF on Friday. It’s a 2 day stopover en route to NZ, so it’s not as though we’re stuck there for long. Very disappointed to read the reports on here though ☹️

Seminyak in Bali was awful after we'd visited central and northern Bali. Overpriced and tacky. Ubud and upwards however was incredible.

Miami was a little disappointing. We tried to make our way Little Havana but couldn't even find the damn place (apparently it's really just a small street).

Agree about San Francisco; even the weather's an abomination. Why would you live in California and choose a place that's cold and foggy so much of the time?

Naples: With every step it seemed more likely I'd be attacked or robbed. Stayed there precisely 20 minutes then got the hell out

Edinburgh: I've travelled the world, but never encountered such gracelessness and unrelenting rudeness anywhere else

But worst of all, Bangkok: the place I'd wanted to visit all my life. Okay so the famous sights are all there, but so is the utter filth, tawdriness, violence, laziness and sullen attitude. The "land of smiles"? I don't think so

Good job there are so many wonderful places and fantastic people to make up for them

The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, it's so small that we walked by it a few times.
The White House, so small and insignificant-looking and the inside isn't impressive, even the Americans were a bit sniffy.
Gibraltar was a great place to live before they opened the border, too many day-trippers now. We went back a couple of years ago and as long as you ignore the Essex-sur Mer new part, it's hardly changed in places.
Hot air ballooning in Egypt was a disappointment, just like standing by an open window.

Beach at Langkawi. Cloudy dirty looking sea water, smelly seaweed strewn beach with coarse sand. The Four Seasons Resort there was also a let down.

Oh, and Hadrian's Wall. I expected a sweeping, majestic sight and got a succession of piles of broken down stone

One pile had a dead cat on top of it too ...

Yes in the 80s I remember Venice Beach as being odd in that there were folk pumping iron in outdoor gyms essentially, but it felt safe. I had a bit of a moment in downtown LA when I turned a wrong corner.

The Getty Museum was more my cup of tea.

I have been to maybe 2/3 of these places & enjoyed them fine. Would go back.

Camden market is the only one that disappointed me (that I can think of). It's a moderate size street market. And...?

I’m taking this as places most other people like, so for me, Bath. Hate the weird way the historic aspect is managed, like it’s not part of the everyday geography of a city where people live and work but something to be managed.

For DH, Venice. I quote, ‘having to lug a pushchair over all those fucking bridges,’

What he really didn’t like is that I’d been there before and was in charge of The Itinerary.

Puzzled you expected Hadrian’s wall to be intact?

Girl I'm not sure what sort of history or beaches you were expecting to get in Melbourne. It's not known for either.

It's the hipster, coffee capital of Australia. Nothing more.

I agree about Monaco. Essentially it's a very, very overcrowded medium sized town by the sea. Nice wasn't a lot better - some OK bits, but what's the deal about the Promenade des Anglais? It's just a great long stretch of road and pavements with a shingle beach on one side and a load of hotels on the other.

treaclesoda RavenWings

Another one here for Dublin. Took my friends for a trip there and was so disappointed at the litter, drug paraphernalia, broken beer bottles, on the walk from Heuston Station to O'Connell Street

We went that way because we were tourists, coming up from the country. I understand that the whole of Co Dublin isn't like this, but it made me feel sad that the powers that be didn't bother to tidy up that particular area for the tourists. Not long after that trip, I heard an Irish radio programme about the very same issue. We didn't visit Temple Bar. We did the city bus tour and had a walk around, as we were only up for the day.

Plymouth Rock. Seriously pissed ourselves laughing when we saw it. This was in the days before google images so was seriously not what we expected or anything like the pic in a book I read as a child!!!

Loved San Fran, loved Florence, loved Barcelona. Suppose it's also about where you stay, what you do, who you're with, time of year - as well as location?

Dublin / Budapest didn't really do anything for me. Both felt shabby.

Niagara Falls was quite tacky I suppose but I just went for a few hours and had a nice time.

As for underwhelming ... well I always think you can find something to do, someone to talk to. Or just eat cake. Now, a place without cake (or nice food) would be a BIG problem ...

San Fran has nice things too. I just have a husband who insists on walking for miles to get "a feel for the city" : in the downtown areas of North America this is a failed strategy.

Marrakech. Wanted to go there for years and it was just such a let down from the hotel to the food to the famous medina where we were offered fake Rolexes and IPhones

Massively disappointed with San Francisco too for the reasons others have mentioned. Only the trip to Alcatraz (which was fascinating) saved it. Only time I felt unsafe in America and freezing cold in July too.

'The centre of Cambridge; although beautiful, it seemed like a sleepy large market town on the surface.' What did you expect? That's exactly what it is but with some beautiful colleges.
The Terracotta Warriors are touristy but what did you expect, you were a tourist. I love people who sneer at the tourist traps in places where they are tourists.
Reading some of these I do think that people expect too much, remember, the photos in the brochures are taken specially and without people.

In terms of hype (and given it was the first disappointment) Camden Market was the biggest letdown for me too.

@Inthedeepdarkwinter i wouldnt ever holiday in Cornwall again either.

Give me Northumberland or Pembrokeshire over Cornwall any day of the week.

you expected Hadrian’s wall to be intact?

No, certainly not intact ... I wasn't expecting nice gatehouses and perhaps some pretty trellis but I didn't expect it to be so utterly ruined either. Apparently there are a few slightly better bits, but god knows where they are

Milan - thought it would be full of really stylish people, but it was just full of people who looked like they wanted to mug me.
Sharm el Sheikh - horrible, mucky, threatening atmosphere.

superbeagle I wasn't expecting anything from the history (point taken!) or beaches really, I was just desperately scrabbling round for something positive to take from a week in Melbourne.

I was a bit worried I had gone OTT in my post, but actually to answer the original question pretty underwhelmed by Australia as a whole.

Love most of the European cities people don't; if only to drink coffee, people watch and have a potter.

I preferred Galway to Dublin, which I found featureless and expensive.

I adored Derbyshire (including Chatsworth!) but was underwhelmed by Bakewell. I thought it would have more character.

I love west Wales but find Tenby quite naff and there's not much to do if the weather is bad.