Most overrated destination you’ve visited?

[Hairbrush123]

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

@Puffalicious

Belfast is a FABULOUS city: the people, the music, the pubs, the history. Amazing for a weekend trip.

Mmmm, yes a weekend is nice enough, but then you’ve more than done it. It’s very quiet…

London

@JohnBetjeman

Slough

I love Paris, have been about 30 times and never get bored. I find it totally uplifting in every way, even (especially) the gritty, less touristy areas.

Also love Rome. Live in London so no novelty there but I do love if.

Oddly underwhelmed by Venice which I know makes me a philistine.

Most overrated place I've ever been is Cornwall though. I wanted to love it so much and just found it hugely disappointing. Grey weather, crowded towns, I feel I've missed something but I just didn't feel happy there.

In contrast I loved Naples and Milan and found both hugely underrated.

I'm going to say Bali. I found it quite depressing, so much environmental degradation, litter, in certain areas, sex tourism. I wasn't expecting Shangri-La but I found it a bit grotty and sad. Even worse we're the Gilli Islands, they seemed in the grip of rather nasty aggressive families controlling hotels and bars, lots of heavy drug use, the locals, and visitors, making it feel it quite desperate. Couldn't wait to leave.

Sticking to the title of Most Overrated, rather than somewhere I just hated: Lake Garda. We had a perfectly good holiday there, but my goodness the villages round the lake are dull! The lake is beautiful, but give me a couple of nights in Venice/Florence/Naples any day over another week there 😂

St Lucia, beautiful but ultimately boring boring! I was never bored there, the sightseeing is amazing.

@HeronLanyon

Naples is in my top 5 - been going since 60s as a kid. Right now it feels a bit like mid 80s ish Barcelona. Perfect city to my mind. But I love in central London’s and I often think that helps with certain level of chaos and dirt.

@HeronLanyon

This is cheering. Planning a trip this year -any top tips?

@MummyPebble

Will no doubt get backlash but Cornwall. I know people obsessed with the place but to me it’s a shithole 🤷‍♀️

Agreed - I got abuse for being a tourist - fair fucks never going back at least they do it behind your back in France (mostly).

@Stoic123

Another vote for Dublin.

Pisa too but then hopped onto a train to Lucca so all ended well.

My vote was for Pisa - not awful, just a bit dull. And we did what you did and went to Lucca.

Prague. Beautiful city and architecture. All absolutely ruined by tourism and drunks. In fact I nearly cried with disappointment as I'd wanted to go there for years. We spent most of the week holed up in the hotel, which was gorgeous but sadly full of sugar daddies and their silicone enhanced porn dolls. Grim.

Barbados

I went there to lie on a beach because I was knackered, but even in my horizontal state I thought it was dull, my expectations weren’t especially high either.

Rome.
Extremely unfriendly and a complete rip off.

Tenerife. Shit hole. Expensive shit hole full of shits. Most of the shits were our shits. I couldn't find and natives - they were probably in hiding (from the shits who ruined it for them.)

Dublin always ranks highly on these threads, with good reason. Expensive, shit public transport, a bit dirty and not actually a huge amount compared to other capital cities.

I lived there as well for two years, so it wasn’t a case of it being a poorly planned city break either.

Like others I was taken aback by how dirty, ugly and abrasive Athens was. The old bits are nice and all but there's shit like that all over the place in Greece. Much more sensible to go to one of the islands with a fairly fucking similar looking ruin but that also has nice beaches and is pleasant to be in.

I agree about NYC. Just made me love London more. It's just straight streets of high grey buildings everywhere. I missed London's winding alleyways and massive parks. Though I did fall for Bryant Park and the library. I could live round there.

Prague isn't THAT bad now! It used to be better admittedly, but being holed up in your hotel is a bit extreme. It's still easy enough to get away from the crowds.

Nice and Milan for me. Love Italy but outside of the main square in Milan it was down town tacky and normally Italians don’t do tacky.

In Nice I went to the most horrible public toilets ever....

I love these threads as Paris always comes up. Paris is lovely of you know where to go

I'd say LA but the surrounding areas such as Santa Monica etc are lovely.

Madrid
LA

@Mambles

Dubai - all style and no substance, we've been a couple of times and I find it tacky.

Are there people who DON’T think Dubai is tacky?

Anyone who thinks Rome is overrated just isn't trying.

Barcelona. Nice city, sure, but something of a tourist Disneyland.

Scotland. Wet, cold miserable and midge-ridden.