Most overrated destination you’ve visited?

[Hairbrush123]

For me, it was Paris. Not an AIBU, I know

@ClareAbu

Paris smells overwhelmingly of wee

Well at least it’s hiding the smell of sh*t. But definitely agree.

This is why I just stay at home !
I’ve had all sorts of holidays, but I’ve come to realise that nothing beats my own bed and walking my dog around my home town.

@MissAmbrosia

I wonder what people expect when they go to these places? That they don't suffer from homelessness or grafitti or poverty as these things might offend you whilst on holiday? I've been to many of the cities mentioned and always had a fab time. You just need to do a bit research in advance.

I couldn't agree more.

I've loved loads of these places - NYC, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Berlin, Cornwall, the Lake District, the Grand Canyon.

But a) they are not Disneyland, people actually live there and b) you need to do your research about nice places to stay, eat and visit.

I wasn't impressed with Paris the first time either, shuffling along in a line to see the Mona Lisa and queuing to get lifts up the Eiffel tower. Rip off tourist restaurants...

Subsequent visits, staying in the 5th or 6th, visiting a smaller museum in the morning eg Musee D'Orsay, Monets in the Marmottan or the Rodin Museum, a picnic lunch in Jardins de Luxembourg or Bois de Boulogne and then a mooch around markets or similar, was magical.

Barcelona is stunning.... Las Ramblas is not. NYC has amazing neighbourhoods and museums..... Times Square is awful.

And to get the most out of the Grand Canyon and the Lake District you have to get out and walk.

The only places I haven't liked were Las Vegas and Dubai. Mainly hot, sand and hotels (albeit posh ones).

For me Egypt, Cairo and Sharm el Sheikh were horrendous, dirty and smelly.

Paris is my favourite city and I loved Naples too. I find them both beautiful and charming!

Cornwall is massively overrated to me. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen the sun come out properly there either. I was a bit disappointed with Edinburgh too. I don’t know if we went wrong but found it pretty boring. Went further up North in Scotland and it was beautiful. Loved Glasgow too. Might try Edinburgh again.

Monaco and much of the cote d'azur. Very oppressive, weird, stifling atmosphere.

Cornwall is hugely overrated.
Brighton gives me the total heebie jeebies.

Seattle, felt grubby, and people smoking weed all over the place.

Whistler, granted we went in the summer, but everything was hideously expensive, and all designer stuff. It was raining so couldn't see the mountains. I just thought it was abit 'meh'

These have been mentioned already but Lisbon and Morocco. Both dirty and smelly places. In Morocco we got constantly pestered by young male beggers/ pickpocketers would never return.

Japan. Don't get me wrong, it was nice enough, but I didn't leave with the feeling of absolute adoration that many people seem to have for Japan.

The Peak District. I love the Highlands, I appreciate the postcard-picturesqueness of the Lake District, but I just can't get excited about the Peak District.

Other places like LA, Vegas, the Gold Coast in Australia I probably wouldn't have liked if I hadn't been there with a fun group of friends. I have really good memories of each of these but they're primarily about the people not the places.

Dubai - a ridiculous place
Cornwall
Nairobi Airport - hell on Earth

@SleepingStandingUp

Pisa. Its a bit smaller than expected and compared to what else we'd seen, just a bit underwhelming

Pisa is quite scruffy and the main thing about it is the tower and the cathedral - but worth seeing for those.

And I hated the New Forest. Depressing place.

Edinburgh. Insanely touristy, and DH was assaulted by a beggar along the Royal Mile in broad daylight the last time we were there.

Barcelona

Naples - very unsafe and absolutely filthy. Rubbish everywhere

I went on an epic backpacking trip to China when I was 19. I felt overwhelmed at first and had culture shock I spent 2 weeks in Beijing then moved over to Xian then onto Guilin and Yangshou everyone told me how brilliant Yangshou was. It was apparently as authentic China you could get with the beautiful Li river and rice terraces. It was full of tourists , was a tourist trap and had the worst unsafe hostel I'd stayed in. I went back to the not so popular Guilin which I definitely thought was the more authentic, beautiful China and stayed there. I still saw the rice terraces and light shows.

Another vote for Dublin. Just awful. It's unclean, pick-pockets everywhere, no nice buzz at all, grey and miserable.
The centre of Dublin is good for a day of mooching, shopping, drinking with perhaps a couple of small white in. It’s a fun day if you do it right. The mistake tourists make is staying in the city centre more than one day. There’s not enough tourist stuff to occupy people there. The best bits of Dublin/Co.Dublin for tourists are all along the coast - ie the picturesque small towns and communities north east and south east of the city centre. All accessible within 20-30 mins by car or train from the centre, and all give a much nicer and more authentic feel of what Ireland’s about - without even needing a 4 hour hike to Cork/Galway/Kerry etc.

Cornwall. There are nice bits but in general it’s not a patch on Pembrokeshire or Cardigan Bay.

@Darbs76

Dubai. Open your eyes and get off your sunbed and see how the workers are treated. Such an undercurrent there, speak to a few staff and they will tell you their story. It still affects me now those conversations we had, made worse when our hotel driver came bumper to bumper with another car so someone needed to reverse - driver got out and said ‘you’re a service worker, so you need to reverse’, and he did.

I really really judge people who go to Dubai, it’s not as if what it’s built on isn’t common knowledge.

Paris for me. I was last there 30 years ago and nothing has made me want to go back

^ small white in? edit > “Museums thrown in”

@Lookforwardtosummer

Ankara

Interesting. I wouldn’t describe Ankara as overrated - no one ever really talks about it, let alone raves about it. Not really a tourist hotspot. I’m interested as to why you went and what you didn’t like about it (I love it myself)

[quote AutomaticMoon]@SportsMother What’s the matter with Bali? Please tell me and spare me wasting years trying to save money to go there, beaches look lovely in pictures 😃[/quote]
Kuta is like Benidorm but for Australians, really grim I thought, I just remember a monkey chained up in one of the restaurants. The sea is very choppy so not great for swimming/snorkelling (IME).

@Refrosty

Olive Garden 😹

Hahahaah this is one of the restaurants I was so excited about visiting when I first went to the US. I remember sitting at the table, the wrong food being delivered. I said that isn't ours, they took it straight to another table. Then they finally gave us the right food that we did order, and I just remember thinking how shit the quality of food was, all the while there was an American kid very loudly stoked to be at his favourite restaurant. Repeating loudly how much he loved Olive Garden.

Will never return there, such poor quality food, and people RAVED about it on the US Facebook groups I belong to.

a bit meh about Machu Pichu- it didn't feel worth the walk and was very touristy and covered in mosquitos!

What? Machu Picchu is one of the most stunning Inca sites in fact one of the most stunning ancient sites anywhere in the world! It's absolutely huge and built over two mountain peaks and the valley inbetween so move away from the popular photo opportunity spots and it's peaceful and awe inspiring, especially if you read up on its history.

As for mosquitos, well they're everywhere in the world, I didn't find them a particular problem and they usually love me. In fact I'm getting bitten more now in my London garden since my neighbour installed a fish pond!

Love Barcelona - Been so many times and would move here tomorrow

Hated Miami - Horrible airport, nothing but a ribbon of hotels and couldn't find nice food

Nice - A women i worked with raved so much about it, went twice a year but I was like is this it? Didn't help that it was a holiday that everything went wrong with the finale being both if us got food poising
Naples - Again another filthy dirty city, would be walking the street and you would come across just mounds of rubbish piled up on the street

As an Irish person would agree to some extent about Dublin, but i do like taking day trips up there and doing things we don't have in my home town, certain parts are fab. But please have a look at Galway, Cork , Kerry and the South East - These are beautiful parts of Ireland