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!

Underwhelmed by:

• parts of India (eg Kovalam beach, Taj Mahal)
• New York

Loved:

• Japan (LOVED it)
• The Alps (summer & winter)
• Guatemala
• Beruit (people were amazing, so friendly)
• Jordan
• Singapore (for the food)

So that's nothing to do with Lands End being disappointing is it? More of a bad day and bad planning.

I thought Gibraltar was awful. It was full of leathery faced brits. A man shouted, ‘Alright Nobby!’ to his mate in a cockney accent, as we sat outside a restaurant. I felt like we were extras in an Eastenders spin off.

The first time I visited Paris, I was underwhelmed, but I’ve been since and loved it on both occasions.

I didn’t like Berwick on Tweed. I wasn’t spectacularly struck on Nice either, but DH loved it.

This thread is proper

It just demonstrates that there really is no pleasing some folk.

I'd say our LE experience was due to bad luck. But the amusement arcade was definitely tacky.

The first time I visited Paris, I was underwhelmed, but I’ve been since and loved it on both occasions

Had the same experience with Berlin.

I can't believe someone said Stockholm was boring. There is so much to see and do there. Me and DH spent a week there last year and didn't get to do even half of what we wanted to. Yes it is expensive but the whole of Sweden is expensive not just Stockholm.

I love London. Lived there for about 30 years. We now live in Essex but go back to London either for a day or a weekend at least once every 6 weeks. Never gets boring and always things to do.

There are a couple of places I didn't like. Isle of Wight was one of them. Went for a week, hated it and never been back. The other was Glasgow. We went to see all the Rennie Mackintosh places and weren't disappointed in those but the city is so grey and miserable. The cab drivers are so awful too. Got a cab from the rail station to our accommodation which was opposite Yorkhill Childrens Hospital. Driver had never heard of the road so we said by Yorkhill Hospital. He had never heard of that either! I had heard of it as it is a pretty famous hospital. Asked us to direct him!

We got another cab another day to go to one of the Mackintosh places and again the driver didn't know the way and asked for directions! Now Glasgow is a hell of a lot smaller than London and you don't get London cabbies asking for directions to well known places.

Couldn't wait to leave Glasgow and I never usually want to leave holiday places. When we got to the airport and they said our flight might be cancelled I burst into tears

I also dislike Paris. First time I thought we must have missed the good parts. Second and third times realised there were no good parts

Anywhere that is hyped and I had high expectations of. Any city is just a city and you will be disappointed if you expect to be blow away by it.

With landmarks it is similar, they all look the same as the do on TV.

I've readjusted by expectations now so I'm not disappointed.

Paris.

Versailles was lovely though.

Barcelona. I was only about 12 when I went but I remember walking through a market with live pigeons stuffed into tiny hamster style cages for sale, i don't even want to know why. Made me feel sick to see them flapping mentally in those cages and I still remember it clearly. The rest of it was just filthy

I also dislike Paris. First time I thought we must have missed the good parts. Second and third times realised there were no good parts

Did you not walk along the Seine?
Sit and eat lunch in The Tuileries Gardens?
Enjoy the pavement cafes?
View Paris from the steps of Sacre Coeur?

I honestly haven't been disappointed with anywhere I've been. I do a good bit of research and instinctively know whether the place I'm thinking of will tick my boxes or not.

Anyway, it is natural that some places will not live up to my expectations despite the research. Most cities are working cities, and the natives have to get around too. I bet they are grumpy sometimes!

I agree with others that it can depend on your set up. A child free couple can enjoy certain places off peak, far more than a family with young children can . Hell to me is crowded places in unbearable heat, so I avoid.

And we just cannot expect anything to be as good as our own comfort zone ever. That's what travelling is all about.

Brits abroad. No English breakfast, no going ha ha!

Agree with the poster who said 'what were you expecting from Blackpool?' Nobody could have high expectations for that town surely?!

I hate Paris, I see it's been mentioned lots. I spent a year in Lyon which I loved so my heart is there! Paris pales in comparison. No soul.

Love New York. Had low expectations of LA, so much LA hate. I visit a friend often and love it, you can hike in the mountains then go to the beach, food is amazing. Some areas are shit obviously but I really like the parts we go to.

My husband has an irrational hatred for Florence. I love it.

"Any city is just a city"

So no difference between Stockholm, where you can go swimming in the middle of the city, and Rome, which is steeped in millennia of history and where you can literally walk down a couple of staircases and find yourself in an ancient Roman alleyway? No difference between London, which has some of the most vibrant theatres in the world, and Oslo, which doesn't (though they do have Viking ships)? You wouldn't notice which one you were in?

It's like saying "all food tastes the same".

Not at all the same as saying "I dislike sprouts and liver.

I agree Marie. DH and I went to Cinque Terre at the end of the season and it was stunning. I’d imagine it would be hell mid season though.

Sad to hear thoughts on SF. We did a few days there as part of our honeymoon back in 2010 and loved it. Didn't feel unsafe or weird at all.

New York on the other hand I couldn't wait to leave. Overwhelmingly big and people were so bloody rude.

Thanks again Spartacus, between your help and Puzzled's beautiful description I can't wait to go!

The London Eye - looked out of the pod and saw London. Dull this can't be real

Loving this thread - full of moany cynics - I've found my people.

But, to those who say they were underwhelmed by the Grand Canyon, Taj Mahal and pyramids of Giza, just no, no, no! Please have your posts deleted immediately.

The Sistine Chapel - yes it’s beautiful and the history is amazing but completely spoilt by Vatican guards shushing everyone over a microphone as it’s used for for holy services when the hundred and thousands of tourists trooping through it every day.

Strangely this is not an issue in any other part of the Vatican

New Zealand. So dull. So smug.

That's great Inspector! I hope that you have a fantastic time! We loved it, even the touristy bits, because it really was just so different. A good tactic is to blend days, so touristy bit here and then a wander into the side streets. As well as Murano and Burano, Torcello is worth a look too.

Glencoe makes me reach for the Prozac.

I agree on Pompeii. Not as interesting as Herculaneum, crowded and you are herded round. Very disappointed...but i guess thats my own fault!

I prefer Herculaneum but the secret of Pompeii is to go when they've opened up some of the ruins not normally open to the public. They can be breathtaking.

I'm surprised Gloucester on here. I really like the city - though was under whelmed by the recent Victorian fare - but I've been hearing about Victorian fare's since childhood and never been so my expectations were perhaps too high.

I was under whelmed by Red wood forests somewhere few hours’ drive out of San Francisco.

Free day on a work trip and I got no say in where we went. There were a few minutes of wow that a big tree followed by now what – we were there for hours.

I think with different company it could have been okay - but one of the more senior guys was bating others and while I stayed out of that it was a bad atmosphere.

Same guy was driving me and another young low level grunt back to airport last day there – so instead of doing fun things round the bay area or trip on a boat he instead instisted we find the town centre bit – so we got dragged round city block full of nail bars and deli’s to increasingly seedier looking streets before we had to get to airport.

If other colleagues hadn’t taken us to the bay area and on the trams first day there before working week and to china town for lunch another I’d have come away think whole place was a dump.

DH went few months before with his then workplace and had a great time but his colleagues were first more friends and while they worked hard they were up for all the touristy bits as much as him. So he thinks it's great place.

LA. Massive let down.

I'm shocked at all those listing San Francisco; it's hands down the best place I've ever visited. To those who say it was it was dirty; we must have visited different parts because I couldn't get over how clean everywhere was. My flip flop broke and I had to walk around with no shoes in the centre until I found somewhere to buy another pair for a good 10 mins and no joke, my feet weren't even dirty at the bottom. If I did that in my city, I'd have stood in glass, fag ends and they'd be black.