Destinations that turned out to be surprisingly good

[Pluvia]

Salamanca. On a trip through Spain we randomly stopped there for a night at Salamanca and loved it. Inexpensive bars and restaurants, lots of locals, no tourist hotspots — so much so that we spent the day looking round and stayed a second night.

Cardiff. A lovely, bustling, buzzy city with a beautiful river, park, castle, shopping, cafes and a harbour and history. I'd gone for the weekend to visit an old friend, ended up moving there.

Lucca. So beautiful and lots to do and see.

Malaga city (not the touristy resorts along the coast!). Less touristy, museums/ parks/ great food/ beach and a relaxed vibe

Sicily- felt much poorer than Northern Italy, but great food, friendly people and lots to see and do. Easy enough to get around the whole island with train or bus.

Palma de Mallorca. Really lovely city

Bologna.

We originally intended to go to Florence but left it a bit late and accommodation was really expensive for a short break. We opted for Bologna as we just wanted to get away and could get cheap flights.

It was great, beautiful city and felt non-touristy. It’s the food capital of Italy so great restaurants and bars, a decent 2-3 days of sight seeing stuff to do. It’s also well connected by train to other places if you fancy seeing a nearby town (we did a day trip by train).

Krakow, and Poland in general really. Thought it would be dull, concrete Cold War stuff with just cabbage to eat. How wrong I was. Beautiful old city, really good food.

Derry/Londonderry beautiful city, lovely people. I want to keep it a secret though so it’s not too overrun.

Agree about Cardiff too

Also Cardiff - nice to hear Derry is nice - it's on my to do list - my family are from there.

Belfast.
Galway.

Gloucester - we stayed for a night as a stopping off point for a longer journey and it was a lovely surprise, lots of history, docklands, really well thought through public realm, everything in walking distance, loved it!

Liverpool. An amazing place to visit, what took me so long! And such friendly people who seemed to really want tourists (unlike many places). We are already planning to go back

Tokyo and Lisbon. In the UK, Hereford and Herefordshire, just beautiful.

I came to say Palma de Mallorca too.

Also, Monmouth. Really enjoyed it.

Northern Portugal. Green and mountainous.

Lucca is beautiful - the summer music festival is always worth checking out (saw New Order and Elbow in 2019 - fabulous).

I agree about Salamanca, we've been a couple of times and really enjoyed it.

Lanzarote. The landscape is mad, there are some gorgeous beaches, it's easy driving, clean and safe and there's loads of good snorkelling. It gets slagged because of snobbery I think, by people who have never been there.

Agree with Lucca.
The Isle of Man, benefits from the gulf stream, lots of history and the perfect size to travel around in a week's holiday.

Following . Need a holiday!

Marseille. Has an edge but was cool.

A bit of Cornwall that I'm keeping secret.......

Bradford. So many different restaurants along one road, and I loved the Asian supermarkets.

Aruba. We got a last minute cheap deal and flew without having researched much about it. It was brilliant, and we’ve been searching for another cheap deal since without success!

Totally agree on Liverpool.

Overseas, Thessaloniki in Greece. Short flight, incredible city with so much history you are practically tripping over it wherever you go. I went at xmas and it was picture perfect. Reasonably priced. Beautiful bars and restaurants. Highly recommend

I agree about Lanzarote. We went on a last minute package deal to Playa Blanca some years ago and I had very low expectations - just wanted a cheap getaway after some stressful life events. But I was extremely pleasantly surprised.
And I love Belgium. It's my favourite country in the world. I particularly like Flanders but have never been disappointed by anywhere we've visited in the country.

Trogir in Croatia. Been a few times. Stunning

Definitely Liverpool. I went for a 2 night work trip and had to leave really early. I absolutely loved the little bit I saw. Never mind, I'm going back next week.