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.

Also Brancaster. Apologies Norfolk, I had no idea you had such beautiful places.

Krakow. Love it

Madeira..... lovely....

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

Oh, and also Maiori, on the Amalfi coast. It's a short drive from Amalfi itself, and whilst not quite as picturesque, is still very pretty and a LOT cheaper.

Oh yes Maiori is wonderful. Best place for kids along that coast hands down. It’s really pretty and the restaurants are so cheap. Better food too! Lots of accommodation options, popular with Italians on holiday.

Quite proud to see all the Liverpool love!

But, , please don't ALL decide to move here. The city has changed a LOT in the past decade due to an influx of people from elsewhere in the country wanting to settle here - house prices in the nicer areas are becoming unaffordable. Traffic and crowding on the trains has got a lot worse.

Dubai. It is SO unpopular on mumsnet (with good reason) but we had a fabulous holiday there, as long as you go with reasonable expectations about certain things. The food in local restaurants (not western chains or in the resorts) was incredible and very cheap. There’s also lots to do and look at (while bearing in mind that money doesn’t buy class!).

Warsaw is an amazing city.

Liverpool is the best city IN THE WORLD. And I live in London (but that is second best to Liverpool).

Bratislava is also a great city and beer is cheap! It’s very easy to get to Bratislava from Vienna if you’re ever over that way…

Oooh also to add, Kiev in summer is very green and has a fantastic atmosphere and lots to see. Although currently Advising against all but essential travel…..

Liverpool!!! Sumptuous waterfront, loads of elegant architecture and spacious parks…bonkers nightlife too.
Lake Garda, Spanish cities Seville, Gerona, Granada, warm evenings on the Greek islands…

@DarlingCoffee

Porto.

Porto in Portugal is amazing in every way.

Agree with Lucca, Wellington, well NZ generally, Cuba and St Petersburg.

Well, every day is a school day. I’m so pleased that I tuned into this thread to learn that Venice is beautiful. Who knew??

Liverpool is one of the ugliest and most horrible places I have ever been to. Can't believe people are trying to pretend it's somehow beautiful on here. I even had to cut an overnight stay short because I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible

And St Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities on Earth, but I thought it was common knowledge.

Kiev is also very beautiful.

Porto
Monemvassia, Greece
Granada

@XelaM

Liverpool is one of the ugliest and most horrible places I have ever been to. Can't believe people are trying to pretend it's somehow beautiful on here. I even had to cut an overnight stay short because I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible

I agree. It's truly a shithole. I laughed when it was made the European capital of culture.

Hobart, Australia (food tours, great restaurants, interesting museums)
Hiroshima, Narita and Kobe, Japan (good food esp Kobe obvs, amazing temples and museums)
Liverpool
Belo Horizonte, Brazil (incredible food and art)
Stuttgart, Germany (food is great, easy to get around, surpringly pretty)
Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam (dusty and noisy af but super interesting museums and art and incredible food)

Transylvanian Alps area for skiing
Isle of Man
Isle of Arran - it's got it all.

Portugal Costa Verde - stunning and no motorboats jet skis in the reserve areas. Coastal nature reserves. Gorgeous. Not a long ride from the airport but like another world from touristy places. Go in late Spring.

Northern Scotland in June. Take the road A837 to Lochinver and be stunned.

Istanbul
San Sebastián Spain
Krakow
Montreux
Porto
Lisbon
Malaga
Montonegro Kotor
Slovakia Bratislava and ski slopes
Hamburg

Oh how I miss travelling so much.I had pretty low expectations with these cities but was pleasantly surprised how they had really beautiful features and loads of fun things to do with great food and cultures. The other places I have been where I had high expectations and then felt underwhelmed I should move over to the other thread to share my list for that

Galicia in Spain - cheapest and best holiday I've ever been on. Unbelievably good food and wine, great beaches, culture everywhere. Staying in 5 star hotels for £50-60 per night.

Budapest - so much to see and do, and so cheap! Stunning architecture, great bars and restaurants, spas and friendly people.

Lake Como - the sheer beauty blew my socks off.

Porto is definitely on my list to visit

I lived in Salamanca, op 🥰. It was the most amazing place. I plan to go back one day soon.

This is going to be massively frowned upon here, but you asked for surprisingly good, and most places I've been to that were good I knew would be good before arriving due to my choosing them but... mine was Dubai . I only went due to a familial connection, had put it off for years and dreaded it, but I absolutely loved it. Probably because of the company I was in, we steered clear of all the tackier places and all I experienced was beautiful beaches, a safe and civilised nightlife, and clean and well kept communal spaces such as the shopping malls etc. everyone really friendly. I know there's a terrible undercurrent of unethical treatment and highly questionable women's rights, but as a holiday destination for a week I thoroughly enjoyed it. We even took an overnight trip to Oman where we camped on the beach and went snorkelling and dolphin cruising.

Sorry reading over the thread, I appreciate Lake Como maybe doesn't fit the bill, but I genuinely had no expectations when we arrived and was just like wtf this is incredible!!

More off the beaten track, Garmisch-Partenkirchen during the summer- the scenery is just off the charts and the local town is an absolute gem of beautiful buildings, bavarian cuisine and live music

Bruges- so pretty
Portugal- so green
Benidorm- fab sea and beaches, great shops, felt very safe there.
York - loved the wall and the river.

And Cardiff.

Just seen Bradford on the list.
Yes some absolutely amazing buildings and surprisingly easy to get round.
Great university.

I had low expectations of Stonehenge. People reported being disappointed, it was too crowded and that it ‘was in the middle of a motorway’ (I may have misread that last one to be fair).

I went as part of a small group day tour which also included Bath. It was a grey, cold January day but it turned out to be the perfect day to visit Stonehenge. There were hardly any crowds there and you could linger anywhere as long as you wanted. I even got some pretty good photos.

Realise it’s probably a zoo in summer but can recommend a midwinter visit to anyone.