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!

The place that sticks in my mind for being underwhelming is Filey.
It's perfectly clean and fresh and I know people love it and I understand how lovely it must be to live there etc. I think I was expecting there to be more to do, like other sea side towns.

Alright, it's on now. Leave Filey alone! Lovely, tranquil seaside resort. If you want more " to do" get yourself a few miles down the road to Scarborough - arcades, town centre shopping instead of little shops etc...
although it'd probably "too busy" for some

Marriage.

Geneva. I loved Zurich and thought it was beautiful and expected Geneva to be similar, but it wasn't, it was a lot more austere.

Bali. Full of fat loud Australians and pushy prostitutes. Give it a wide berth, especially if you were thinking exotic elegant Asia.

Hollywood. We were so excited to go and it was awful. Scruffy, full of tacky gift shops and we felt very unsafe. Couldn't wait to leave

I can't believe anyone didn't find the Statue of Liberty amazing - I had a real lump in my throat going past her, thinking of how all the people who made the trip across the Atlantic had made their way past her on their adventure to a new and better life. She was beautiful and majestic, everything I'd thought and more. And colossal!!

Dreamy- I knew I'd offend someone , sorry!
I think you've hit the nail on the head, I thought it would be more line Scarborough or Whitby. Didn't expect it to be small and tranquill.

Most of the UK except some of the big cities - almost impossible to hail a black cab

The Alps - very hilly and not many cinemas

Thorpe Park - mostly just rides

New York - too many traffic lights and the streets are awfully straight

Mount Everest - Just a load of rock

Grand Canyon - just a load of rock with a big hole in it

This is so interesting - I'm so glad that many peoples experiences chime with my own.

Places I have been underwhelmed with are:

Sorrento - people said it would be touristy. Touristy I like, wall to wall frickin vespas making constant noise and the impossibility of crossing the street is different. The town centre reminded me of Tenerife and was stuffed to the gills with classless Americans - one of which decided to have a loud skype conversation with her family at the table beside us.

Pompei was also a bit rubbish too, although I could have been swayed by DS almost getting lost at the train stop and then being sick on the bus down from Vesuvius.

San Francisco was a bit underwhelming, I thought it was just because I didn't like cities, so it's good to know it's not just me.

Las Vegas - allegedly the city that never sleeps. Not so much if you wake up at 4am with jet lag and are looking for coffee, a bite to eat and a hair cut, but probably fine if you want to go to a strip bar or gamble.

Venice - ok for a day, but not a huge amount to see. Ditto Milan

I loved Copenhagen but find it ironic that the one thing it's really famous for - The little mermaid - is so small and non-descript.

Mount Everest - Just a load of rock

Pleeeez tell me you're on the wind up

I lived in Gibraltar for a few years as a child. This was while the border was closed and the only way to get to Spain was to first get a ferry to Morocco and then a ferry from Morocco to Spain.

I have really happy memories of living there. We only had school in the morning during the hotter months. We all learned to swim in an Olympic sized outdoor pool that we walked to from school. I had loads of freedom there. I loved the cable car and St Michael's Caves. My favourite beach was Sandy Bay.

I haven't been there since 1988. I'd like to go back but am a bit scared of doing so in case it spoils all my lovely memories. My brother's been back quite a bit and says it's changed massively and isn't so nice now.

Cape Verde(Boa Vista) full of flies, no trees & very windy.
Sharm, cold food & very scary men in the shops trying to grope you horrible place.
Bangkok, some amazing hotels & shopping is pretty good, street food but as pp the seedy side of the city is horrible & the locals repeatedly trying to rip you off is very annoying, glad we were only visiting for three days.

Central Munich. The city is very "bike-friendly", oh great, I thought (I like cycling and regularly moan about the lack of cycle paths etc in UK). But the cyclists were seriously scary, all over the pavements at top speed, on and off the kerbs, paying no heed to the DC (who are not tiny but are still a bit unpredictable & veer off in random directions occasionally). I spent most of the day shouting at the DC to keep left, watch out, BIKE BIKE BIKE! Not very relaxing. Also the Deutches Museum was mostly underwhelming, almost too huge to be able to take anything in and many of the exhibits were very old & dated - the DCs lost interest quickly even in the areas where there were things for them to do. Public transport was very expensive I thought (unless in a bigger family group, as there is a fixed fee for family groups - for me and 2 DCs I paid the same as a group of 3 adults & 4 children would have I think??) We were there in autumn which might not have been the best time to wander around as it was a bit damp & chilly. The outer suburbs pleased the DCs more as they liked the lovely playgrounds and the bakeries with beautiful cakes & a café attached :)

Not remotely aimed at the op, but I can't help but be reminded of my favourite thread ever by some subsequent posts...

Paris I have been there several times, but very underwhelmed by it, mediocre food, love Lyon and Bordeaux and some of the smaller provincial French cities.
San Diego, we were told by several people we would prefer it to Los Angeles, we didn't and went back to LA after a couple of days.
Lots of places on the Costas, including Marbella and Puerto Banus. Horrible! Torramelinos, really, really horrible, so bad I had to drive back and look it again to see if I had missed any good bits, I hadn't.
Mauritius, lovely beaches, but it rained and rained and rained and rained. Don't go in Januay
Singapore, souless, humid and permanent cloud.
Haverfordwest, arrived middle of the day and everything appeared to be closed had to drive to Milford Haven to find a restaurant.
New York loved the first time, the 2nd time I went, I'd had enough of it after a couple of days. Dirty subways and their green spaces are nothing compared to London parks.
Conversely went to Rome and Venice when I was late teens and hated them but went back when properly grown up and fell in love with both cities. Keep away from St Mark's Square in Venice though it does it no favours.
Aldborough Suffolk, went in the summer cold and dismal there are far more charming seaside places down in the West Country imo. West Wittering told the latter was like New England, it isn't, well not the part of New England I visited anyway.
Brighton, dirty and seedy.

That thread is comedy gold biscuit

A good friend of mine responds to complaint letters for a very naice holiday company and we meet up for lunch and near wet ourselves laughing over the things customers complain about.

My personal favourite was a woman who booked a safari in South Africa and allegedly had PTSD after seeing a giraffe The letter was one of the funniest things you can imagine, and she gets shit like that all the time.

Back to this thread......

LA, everyone appeared to be on drugs, I felt most unsafe.
Cannes, no soul. Nice is much, erm, naicer.
Tokyo, I worked there. The I met had no respect whatsoever for Western women and there were sinister undertones at every meeting and every conversation. It was really weird. The women I met were mostly insipid, giggly and vacuous, with "finding a husband" their sole topic of conversation. I would refused to go back, I have never hated anywhere more.

Kenya is my favourite country, have travelled extensively sometimes alone, and people are so welcoming and friendly, it is breathtakingly beautiful and I always felt safe. And of course they have very well behaved giraffes!!!!

I see none has mention Maldives.

Maldives good then?

Haverfordwest

Hilarious! I have never heard of ANYONE having any expectations of Haverfordwest! It's just a town.

Melton Mowbrey! Awful! Never going back! So disappointed! :o

Depends where in New Zealand - Auckland is no better than Birmingham tbh.
For those who hated Lanzarote, Gran Canaria is worse.

Hester, I didn't have expectations of Haverfordwest, other than maybe between midday and 2 pm, there would be somewhere open to get something to eat. It was all a bit Royston Vazey insomuch as possibly it was a town for "local people" and as we weren't local, there was nothing for us there

I love that people had an expectation of Gloucester.

definitely Oxford. Cambridge is far far lovelier.
I was also underwhelmed by San Francisco. My husband jokes about our honeymoon there where he kept pulling up in the car near interesting restaurants and I kept saying nope, it feels dodgy, drive on. I didn’t feel safe apart from the busiest touristy parts in the daytime.

Venice - I was so disappointed.
New York - I just couldn’t see the appeal. Noisy and rude and built up.

Amsterdam. Beautiful city, but so small - saw everything we wanted to in 2 and a half days!
(Plus lots of people were only there for the drugs, and that doesn’t make for the most interesting company!)