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.

Marseille
Berlin
Venice - I was and remain utterly bewitched by Venice.

Sweden, in particular the countryside around Dalarna. I was expecting it to be good, but it exceeded my expectations. Beautiful place and quiet even in July. I wish I could do that holiday all over again.

Went to Mombasa and the Kenyan coast once. Mombasa was amazing and I had not expected it to be. The spice and fabric markets especially. And the most bizarre casino I have ever been in, like something out of a Somerset Maugham short story or something. Russian tycoons, Chinese ladies of the night...Loved it.

(The beach resorts not so much, but that would have been for the other thread, which is now closed!)

Lebanon - especially Beirut and Byblos.

Amazing food, hospitality , culture and lots of historical sites from the Bible to visit.

Nightlife is great....they really know how to party and are so happy to have tourists. Also some interesting shopping if you have a local to show you the good places.

Highly recommend anyone to go once the current situation stabilises there .

@2020in2020

Tallin, Estonia. My husband booked it as a surprise for my 30th on a recommendation from a well-travelled friend. I was totally WTF and on arrival to the hotel it was very Soviet, concrete, grey. But we found the Old Town and it was absolutely gorgeous, we went in November and the Christmas Markets were on. People so friendly and amazing old buildings and food. Wonderful free museums and art/sculptures everywhere. Honestly one of the best holidays! Would love to go back.

Tallinn is my answer too; I hadn't hear anything about it before we went and it's honestly one of my favourite European cities now. We were staying very central, and with the trams and whatnot it was super easy to get around. Food was brilliant. We even took a day trip to Helsinki in the ferry. I've recommended it to so many people now!

@Pluvia

No, Janis, this is specifically a thread for people to give others recommendations for lesser-known but lovely places. Not for listing all the world-famous places they (and millions of others) have been to.

I think you are being a bit unfair. As I said further up, just because "everyone" says something is good doesn't mean that you will find it so!

Also your title is "destinations that turned out to be surprisingly good"

Not "off the beaten track places nobody else has been to which you thought were amazing".

Maybe start another thread?

Seville by a mile.
Have travelled a fair bit including the Caribbean, Maldives, Iceland etc and it's still one of my favourite places.

@jennytheonionslayer

Essex,

It has the longest coast line of any County, is packed full of timeless,prosperous and picturesque old villages and towns and has diverse and rugged landscapes.

Judging Essex by tv programmes like Towie is like judging France by Calais!

I agree. It’s a shame it’s been given that reputation

Every place I've been in America! Always exceeds expectations, and I think I've just been lucky based on some of the responses on the 'surprisingly shit' thread. Haven't been to NYC or LA so maybe that it

I'd also say Cardiff. Stopped there for 2 nights as part of a larger Welsh holiday and both DH and I said we would happily move there. Not happened yet though!

Isle of Wight. People can be quite snobby about it but we absolutely loved it and there was do much for the children to do.

Lincoln. It's got a beautiful centre, the cathedral is gorgeous and there's loads of lovely places to eat.

Brussels. Cool city, loads to do and felt safe. The people were lovely too.

Washington DC- really interesting, loads of museums, was so clean, so much to see and do! much preferred it to NYC. I wasn’t fussed about visiting San Francisco either but it’s my favourite place! Have been twice and always eager to go back.

In the UK, I agree with Liverpool- great city!

Alice Springs. I was expecting very little to be honest so was pleasantly surprised to find it had everything I needed....

I think on some level I wasn't even expecting 24 hour electricity (apologies to any Alice Springs residents on here..)

Liverpool - so vibrant, amazing architecture.
Aberdeen -same as above.
Belgrade - very laid back and charming.

Sending happy vibes to the PPs who mentioned my hometown of Lisbon!

For me it was Tel Aviv, didn't expect to love it as much as I did.

South Korean was also a lovely surprise.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

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

Aw, my hometown, thank you.

Judging Essex by tv programmes like Towie is like judging France by Calais!

Or Majorca by Magaluf. I used to watch Lovejoy, which was set in Essex, and it has lots of beautiful little villages, but I already knew that.

Girona, Malaga city, Porec, Warsaw, Lincoln and Palma de Mallorca.

Agree with Malaga and Palma. I would also add Pula in Croatia. Small city, often missed by tourists. History- a Roman Amphitheatre, a small castle and a square with what I thought was a medieval church, but it turned out to be a Roman temple to Apollo. Really enjoyed a day trip there from Porec.

Porto.

Not that I'm surprised because I've been going there since e I was a baby - Mallorca, especially soller and pollensa.
And yes to Porec too!

Alicante, Lanzarote and Carrick on Shannon. Westport.

Romania. Ok a few bits were hair raising (like driving) but its actually a very beautiful place. Cseky Krumlov in Czechia is also a lovely place that I'm not sure why more British people don't visit. Lots of other places around Europe too but a lot more of Eastern Europe stands out to me, possibly because you are conditioned to think Eastern Europe is made up of Soviet concrete housing blocks when actually there are lots of fairy tale castles, magnificent opera houses and unspoiled countryside.

Pamploma (not when bull running)
Costa de Almeria
Malaga
Berlin
Havana
Lourdes
Milan
Frankfurt
Nairobi

Havana is amazing

I was in Brazil two years ago when things started shutting down for Covid. Belo Horizonte was still fairly open so I went there for a week (yes, yes, I know I should have accepted that all fun had officially stopped and locked myself in a cellar to keep granny alive)

It's surprisingly attractive for a modern city, the setting is nice, less touristy so you get better service, and there are easy bus options to superb colonial hill towns for a day trip. I will go back again to see the stuff I missed.