Most overrated destination you’ve visited?

[Hairbrush123]

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

Dirt seems to feature a lot on this thread.

@CovidCurious

Benidorm!

Also, Athens and Goa.

I love Athens, but I’ve been there loads of times (DH regularly went there for work pre Covid and we hope to go again). You can eat well reasonably. Also the area around Acropolis Hill is lovely on a Saturday night and feels very safe, full of families, couples of all ages, groups of young men and groups of girls having a lovely time walking around or sitting in outside bars with candles on the tables under a floodlit Acropolis. We always go for a meal in a restaurant with a great view of the Acropolis which is reasonably priced, you would have to pay a fortune for a comparable view anywhere else.

Buckingham palace

@Jimjamjong

I guess it depends on your expectations. Mine was Cambridge.

Same. What a horrible place. A university build on an isolated rancid bog, a horrible climate and a rough looking town. I was shocked and glad to be gone after really looking forward to a three day conference there.

Cornwall - when we were there in 2015 there were UKIP posters everywhere and one local made a comment about 'the blacks' in my home city when I told him where I was from. It seemed a very insular place. That aside, I know so many people rave about it, but it's such an effort to get there, crowded and sitting in traffic jams once you do and it rains so much. I don't get the fuss and why holidaying there is such a middle class fetish.

Connecticut - I love New England but there is so little to do there compared to the other NE states. Basically an affluent area that's commuting distance to New York - rather like what Surrey is to London.

@CounsellorTroi That is one of my best memories of Athens. Also climbing the hill on a sunny day with a really good guide who brought it all alive and really made us feel like we were back in the days of Socrates and Plato.

Cam ride looks out of this world when you see it in films e.g The Theory of Everything. Disappointed it’s not actually like that.

*Cambridge.

@CounsellorTroi

Cam ride looks out of this world when you see it in films e.g The Theory of Everything. Disappointed it’s not actually like that.

To be fair, it’s pretty nice. It’s absolute paradise compared with some places.

@vesperlindor

Barbados. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, the hotel was lovely, the people were lovely, the beach was lovely, but I just expected....more. Had no vibe for me at all.

I agree! We stayed in a pretty expensive hotel on the West Coast and just weren’t blown away. (Beaches were better in Bali IMO).

Also for me, sorry to say, South Sri Lanka and Petra.

I am desperate to go to India...i know its poor but the colour and vibrant life excites me and yes the spirituality.Many Indians are Hindu and it facinates me although i find the caste system and subjugation of women abhorrent.
I went to Nepal as a teen and adored it. Yes it was poor, yes the locals lived desperately but the spirituality was there...literally everywhere. From the incense pujas on every doorstep to the prayer flags halfway up the Himalaya...just magical.
Obviously the modern youth are rebelling and want to be westernised.
Sorry...supposed to be moaning about shit places!

Most cities I've been to: Paris, Rome, Havana and San Francisco in particular didn't do much for me at all. I loved Amsterdam and Madrid though.

I love most places I've been to, it's nice to see somewhere different. The only place I haven't liked was Sharm, as I didn't feel safe there.
Paris, Edinburgh, Naples, Cambridge, Cornwall - all lovely in their own way!

Japan. Fucking awful - Followed by leering men everywhere and felt really bloody unsafe.

@Infinitemoon

Whitby. I really wanted to love it but it’s just vampires and chips.

Quote of the day!

What else could you possibly want from a Yorkshire seaside town?? 😂😂

Los Angeles.

A truly dangerous place that feels like a third world city. Tent cities, dangerous men in hair nets walking around in gangs. it is like a giant industrial estate the size of a small country.
Neglected ferocious dogs and high chain link fences and the back of every building. You feel like you cannot find the centre, because there is no centre. No pavements to walk on. Beverley Hills - a lot of tasteless mansions on a hill and a rather nice hotel that's good for lunch.
Stayed in various areas. At a nice hotel near Redondo Beach we were told not to go out after dark as it was not safe. (And there is no "Beach" but I didn't know that "beach" in USA doesn't mean the same as we use it.)

Sydney. Specifically the city centre. Felt like a claustrophobic business district with the harbour bridge and opera house tacked on to the edge. Everyone else i know who has been has loved it (including DH). I was very unimpressed.

Bondi Beach was also a bit grubby. Felt like Largs with extra vegetarian cafes and expensive surf shops.

I was very impressed with Melbourne and Manly though!

@malificent7

I am desperate to go to India...i know its poor but the colour and vibrant life excites me and yes the spirituality.Many Indians are Hindu and it facinates me although i find the caste system and subjugation of women abhorrent. I went to Nepal as a teen and adored it. Yes it was poor, yes the locals lived desperately but the spirituality was there...literally everywhere. From the incense pujas on every doorstep to the prayer flags halfway up the Himalaya...just magical. Obviously the modern youth are rebelling and want to be westernised. Sorry...supposed to be moaning about shit places!

Oh for crying out loud. How dare the modern youth want to be westernised and escape a life of poverty.

You will be disappointed in modern India. Nobody is interested in being spiritual any more. They are more interested in building tech startups which employ people.

@PrincessNutella

After reading this thread I feel depressed and disgusted. How sad that so much money and so much jetfuel has been wasted on giving lucky people so much to bitch about.

Depressed AND disgusted

That’s quite a toxic combo!

@2022success

Japan. Fucking awful - Followed by leering men everywhere and felt really bloody unsafe.

Was that all of Japan or just Tokyo?

Kyoto is fabulous. Just so beautiful.

Crawley.

I don't know what I was expecting.

You will be disappointed in modern India. Nobody is interested in being spiritual any more. They are more interested in building tech startups which employ people.

Surely that depends where? It’s a massive country and it seems unlikely that thousands of years of culture has changed in a couple of decades.

Have been lucky to not have had any terrible trips, but for me:

Las Vegas - didn't like the sleaze, on honeymoon and DH was stopped by sex workers offering their cards. Didn't get the appeal of the casinos either. But we did enjoy a few nice shows and exploring the hotels.
Grand Canyon - was impressing but after a minute, it was a bit 'what now then?'.
Tunisia - enjoyed some coach trips to other areas, remember a camel ride through the Sahara, seeing the salt lakes and an amazing sunrise but the harrassment I receieved from the local men is enough to stop me returning.

Agree about Marmaris too although I'm not sure it is overrated, so didn't have particularly high expectations!
Have to laugh at PPs who said Blackpool too - I would love to know what you were expecting!

I have travelled to many of the places listed here, lived in some of them, and have been multiple times to quite a few and I have never been disappointed by any place.

I travel to see and experience difference. I research before I go and I go with an open mind, there's always something to enjoy!

I just don't understand some of the views on here as they are so utterly opposing to my own experiences.

We have been to so many of the places slated here and adored them - Dublin, Venice, Paris, Lisbon, Budapest, Toronto, Sydney, New York, Florence, Rome, Berlin, Prague, London, Amsterdam etc etc

They each have their own distinct characteristics and there is so much to see and do in each place.

While some of the comments have inadvertently made me laugh 'Paris a stinking shithole'; 'Bruges distinctly average'; 'every Dublin pun smelling of bleach'; and so on, it is also a bit depressing to read all of this and it sort of makes me wonder about the people who travel to these places and why they choose to go there in the first place?

I see lots of references to cities being too crowded and hot - I would rarely (if ever) choose to go on a city break in the height of summer as it stands to reason that it will be hot and crowded. Spring or Autumn are usually far more comfortable times to visit, so it seems unfair to blame the destination for poor holiday planning.

In each of the places we've been to I could recommend 10 amazing things to experience / visit that will make you realise you're not at home. In some cities you have to travel further between things but that's surely all part of being in a large city...

Gutted by what I've heard of San Francisco (not just from this thread). I was there twenty five years ago before the internet boom and it was the loveliest city - the only place in the USA I wanted to live - though I'm sure it had its problems even then