Most overrated destination you’ve visited?

[Hairbrush123]

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

Cairo and the Giza pyramids the whole place is just a dirty hole.

If you think Marseille will be a dump you will be pleasantly surprised. If you think it will be Paris or Lyon, you will be disappointed.

@merryhouse

People have been talking about the constant sexual harassment in places like Tunisia and Turkey ever since tourists started to go there.

Why do women still go there on holiday? It can't be a surprise. Do they genuinely think they're somehow special so it won't happen to them? Or are they so desperate for sunshine they think they'll put up with anything?

Or they have been before and never encountered But have encountered in their home country - the UK in my case

Dublin and Paris - underwhelming

Gibraltar - I know many people who live there and have business there, find them all really friendly, great community feel, much better weather than the UK and some interesting history. Booze and fags are cheap too, although I don't smoke or drink. However, I wouldn't pick it as a holiday destination.

@merryhouse

People have been talking about the constant sexual harassment in places like Tunisia and Turkey ever since tourists started to go there.

Why do women still go there on holiday? It can't be a surprise. Do they genuinely think they're somehow special so it won't happen to them? Or are they so desperate for sunshine they think they'll put up with anything?

I had heard about it but tour operators and friends were very much "as long as you dress respectfully out of the hotel you will be fine" kept being told what a lovely country it is.

The hotel was gorgeous, amazing water park, great food. DS1 cut his chin open on two days and the staff called an ambulance. I went with him but in my panic at all the blood I was wearing a strappy sundress. The amount of abuse I got outside the hospital was just...

Then went shopping to a big shopping centre near the hotel, dressed respectfully again. We got chased out of a shop because we were English.

Then on the last night I was pinned up against a wall and sexually assaulted by a male cleaner in the ladies toilets. He was sacked after my husband went to the hotel manager absolutely apoplectic with anger.

Couldn't wait to go home and I will never ever visit again.

DS1 cut his chin open on two days and the staff called an ambulance.

Sorry that should have read day 2!

Tenerife was so disappointing. We stayed with friends, away from the touristy bits, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere that had any real charm. Impossible to find a quiet spot away from the crowds to swim and no pretty villages or stunning architecture.

@SunflowerSmith

Eden Project - an expensive way to walk around two greenhouses.

Scottish Highlands - miles and miles and miles of bleak nothingness with hardly anywhere to park up and walk the dog. Arisaig beach however is stunning.

I agree on the Eden project and it didn't cost us anything, thank you Tesco, and we stayed with family so a cheap break all round. Stratford upon Avon would be my contribution, an awful 60s shopping area with a pseudo and expensive tourist trap for the Shakespeare fans, the theatres are the only reason to go.

Auckland city centre, boring, poorly laid out, no interesting shops…. Should hold the festival of yawning

I love this thread. It’s making me feel so much better about not being able to afford a holiday.

I'm Irish and I was underwhelmed by Dublin. It struck me as very similar to many other Metropolitan cities. It didn't have as much character as I expected.

Also very expensive!

@merryhouse

People have been talking about the constant sexual harassment in places like Tunisia and Turkey ever since tourists started to go there.

Why do women still go there on holiday? It can't be a surprise. Do they genuinely think they're somehow special so it won't happen to them? Or are they so desperate for sunshine they think they'll put up with anything?

I have lived in Turkey. That aside, I am not going to allow any man to keep me from enjoying travelling and go to only 'safe' places given Sabina Nessa was killed 20 minutes from me. I will try to keep safe but I am not going to stop travelling as a woman.

@BaconMassive

Grand Canyon.

Just a big hole.

The North Rim is much quieter and impressive, the trouble is it's about 300 miles from the South Rim!

@Mamette

Niagra Falls.

Yes... Like Blackpool. My son preferred the aquarium on the US side of the falls.

Margate and Whitstable

@annabell22

Dublin and Paris - underwhelming

Gibraltar - I know many people who live there and have business there, find them all really friendly, great community feel, much better weather than the UK and some interesting history. Booze and fags are cheap too, although I don't smoke or drink. However, I wouldn't pick it as a holiday destination.

We lived in Gib for a few years, luckily it was when the border was still closed and the awful Essex-sur-Mer development hadn't happened, we loved it but being with MOD meant we did have a ready-made social life.

Legoland Windsor. Wouldn't go back if you paid me...

I absolutely love Paris, Nice, Lisbon and Venice. Last went to Paris about three years ago and it did seem to have been cleaned up a bit.

How can someone dislike the WHOLE of Spain. Its a fabulous country if you steer clear of the worst of the costas and I won't hear a word against London

Barcelona is over rated, there are better cities. Fiji is supposed to be paradise but was dirty, unfriendly and threatening in places.

I hated Paris the first time I visited, when I was 18. I went on a tour and the guide kept going on about things happening to young girls, so I spent the whole time petrified I was going to be abducted.

I went back with work many years later and loved it. I have returned a few times since. Damn that tour guide.

I didn't like Dublin much either - it's expensive and not very exciting. I think Belfast is much nicer.

And being Scottish I would agree with comments on Edinburgh. It is a very pretty city but I am so over it as I have to travel there a lot for work. It's too touristy and is hell on earth during the Festival.

Santa Monica, LA - stayed a couple of nights on lay over. Dirty, unsafe, offered loads of drugs, loads of homeless people living with shopping trolleys in the park, and full of wannabe film stars all working in restaurants and bars. Was truly shocked by the gulf between the have and have-nots

Oh yes agree with PP re Legoland windsor. Went last summer was awful. Meant to be restricted entry cause of Covid, constant queuing, nowhere to actually sit down without buying anything near all main bits, lego models tired looking and in need of replacement. Felt absolutely fleeced.

Edinburgh is fabulous if you know where to go to avoid tacky tourists.

I think that applies everywhere, we used to know some great places to eat in Gib where we never saw a tourist!

Paris and Barcelona, theatrical setups
Milan, soulless as soon as you venture out of the centre
Cologne, so disappointed I nearly cried

Paris for me as well. Very hostile, rude people and very dirty.

Venice. Boring and crowded