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.

Split in Croatia.

Ooh another- Sidmouth. I was looking forward to it anyway but wasn't expecting it to be so beautiful.

This is more like it, thank you for starting this thread!! I've too many to list them all but I suppose I should start with Barcelona, as I went there for a weekend and stayed 20 years!

Most recently, Segovia. I had been there before and knew all about the aqueduct cutting through the town centre but it still took my breath away and the city itself is pure fairy tale!!

Slovenia - went to a small film and wine festival and could not get over the enthusiastic friendliness of the locals and the crisp, freeflowing white wine.

Salvador da Bahía - I had been told to expect a dangerous, dirty city but found it to be colourful, vibrant and celebratory.

Aigüestortes National Park in the Pyrenees. Again, I knew it was going to be gorgeous but I wasn't ready for how gorgeous it is.

There are so many more!

Port Douglas, Australia. Went with my mum on a work jolly and loved it so much I went back on my own dime.

[quote AgentProvocateur]@Sausagesausagesausage the best tapas bar I’ve ever been to was in a side street in Malaga too. It is called El Tapeo de Cervantes. Maybe it’s the same one you went to?[/quote]
No, just checked and it's not - looks excellent though.

Boston. We went to Boston and New York and Boston was so much more than we were expecting.

We also loved LA like the poster above- such a friendly, laid back culture

Kefalonia
Aruba

Both stunning.

Can’t believe I’ve seen Blackpool on here.

Oslo in December. Lovely city, so easy to get around, and cafés so welcoming and cosy.

Good to know about Liverpool, my sister has suggested a trip there, must do it this year!

Antwerp, Trier and Maastricht all stand out as places that were not on my radar but which immediately won me over. And all on the same trip

Very pleased at the Malaga love on this thread. It’s great and is often passed by. I think Alicante is a very similar type of place and well worth a visit. Tarragona too.

Came on to say Malaga!

Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia all good but so long ago I couldn't give details on where we went and what we did. Slovenia in particular was a cracking holiday.

Warsaw. We went on a cheap flight, got a bargain hotel, totally randomly.And it was brilliant. Dd was 9, but everywhere welcomed her, no crap children’s menus, just smaller adult portions. We are keen in history so we actually found the soviet brutalist architecture interesting. We were there in august, red hot, and it was the national holiday for the uprising, fascinating and sad to see the little candles around the manhole covers. But like most places in the world, seeing how the poor live is heartbreaking.

Second Lake Ohrid in Macedonia/ Albania - stunning huge lake with some wonderful history.

Haven in Devon

I had very low expectations but the kids really wanted to do a caravan holiday. We’ve now been several times and I’m a convert!

Cadiz - narrow streets full of shops and cafes and cool and shaded from the sun.

Also Athens - I saw it on the underwhelming list on the other thread. But I really liked it. For a European capital city it seemed real and not gussied up (other people may say scruffy )

Agree with Lanzarote. Loads to see and do. I loved all the Cesar Manrique stuff.
Venice. Everyone said it was dirty and smelly. It wasn't.
Majorca away from the main resorts is beautiful.
Hong Kong
Lisbon
Vienna
New England

In the UK Lincoln and Carlisle are brilliant cities for a short break. Shropshire has so many places to visit and things to do. On a week's holiday we struggled to fit everything in.

@Chocaholic9

Cardiff is a terrible shithole, or at least it was when I visited.

Sometime in the 1930s, I presume?

Mexico City and Bratislava

Ljubljana in Slovenia is very pretty and has a lovely atmosphere. Also only an hour to Lake Bled which is stunning

Lviv in Ukraine. It's right over on the western side so closer to Poland/Hungary and Slovakia than Kyiv. Very attractive old centre, very cheap hotels and food of an amazing standard

The centre of Birmingham will surprise a lot of people. The areas around the museum and the canal are really nice.

Also enjoyed Lanzarote. For us the volcanic park was a huge hit as well as the architecture (not so much the busy restaurant there but the numbers were well managed and another interesting building). I'm a very big fan of dodging the sun being massively pale, i was very worried about heading there but there was loads of ways to stay out of the sun when out and about from our villa and the wind keeps things easily bearable. I definitely felt more uncomfortable with the heat in other countries.

Helsinki. We had no real expectations but thought we'd give it a try. Very surprisingly good. Lots of history (mostly re Russian wars). Very clean and tidy city. Friendly locals. Zoo on an island. Sea front. Architecture. Lovely islands. One of safest cities in Europe apparently.

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!

Padua
Nice
Konstanz
Athens
Bayeux
Lucca

Malta.
The Netherlands.

In the UK. Chester, Portsmouth, most of Yorkshire and the South Hams area of Devon.