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.

Who are these people who are shocked that Madrid, Seville, Bilbao, Lake Garda, Croatia, Cuba etc are nice?

I wasn't shocked because I expected to like the places I went to, but I was overwhelmed at just how much I loved them, especially Lake Garda. We took the ferry all over the lake, and it is so stunningly beautiful - even more beautiful than the photos suggested.

Also the ambience of a place and the friendliness of the people is something you don't know about until you get there. We were struck by how friendly the people were in Lisbon for example, just how safe we felt in Hong Kong and Vienna, just how pretty and interesting the old quarter in Carlisle was etc.

I think also when a place is a well known holiday destination like Lanzarote I had lower expectations of just how much cultural stuff and places of interest there was to visit beyond a winter holiday in the sun.

I can't think of surprisingly good places so I'll just put places I liked
Cape Town
Galway
Scottish Highlands
York
Yorkshire Dales
Mountain bits of Wales (was a kid, can't remember which bits)
Devon
Dorset
Bordeaux
Angouleme
Nantes
St Malo
Rheinland

County Wicklow/Avoca sort of area

Vilnuis in Lithuania - friends booked a surprise trip for mine and another friends 21st birthday and I really didn't know what to expect but I loved it. There's so much to do and not many tourists so you could get round everything really easily. I'd love to go back one day!

Just remembered isle of Wight. Much nicer than I imagined

Cork, Singapore and Marseilles. Exceeded expectations.

Edinburgh, Cork City and Talinn.

We had a surprisingly excellent holiday in Aberystwyth in a fourth floor apartment overlooking the bay facing due West so we could watch the sunset over the sea every evening. Grubby-looking town in parts but it had everything you need and great food on offer, and we had loads of day trips out to see wildlife and go on countryside walks and steam trains.

Washington DC was more varied than I expected. I knew I'd find the Capitol and some of the other politics-related stuff interesting, but was pleasantly suprised to find enough interesting things to keep me busy for a few days: the museum of African American history is possibly the best museum I've ever been to, neighbourhoods like Georgetown, Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights have a nice vibe, the zoo is pretty good (and free!), and nearby Alexandria was a nice day trip. Also the best Ethiopian food I've ever had.

Otherwise, Slovenia and Montenegro. I love the combination of beatiful coastal villages and mountains for hiking all within a single small country. And good/cheap food and drink in both countries as well. Slovenia was also so much more varied then expected. Of course there's Ljubljana and Lake Bled, but Triglav National Park is amazing, and there are some incredibly impressive cave systems to visit in the south too.

Skegness!

It’s not somewhere I’d usually go but we had a UK break in a nearby area so took the kids out for a day at the beach - well I was super impressed. Clean, lots of shops and amusements and parks and things. Beach was beautiful too.

Much nicer than other seaside resorts I’ve been to (looking at you Blackpool and Southend )
Probably wouldn’t have a whole holiday there but would have no problem going back for a day trip, kids loved it and I felt it was perfect combination of tacky seaside fun and lovely beach.
I was really surprised and impressed!

Isle of man, combine with Liverpool. Its a fascinating place, very hilly, great walking, beautiful Glens and beaches, castles, steam trains.

Mallorca, i wont lue, i was snobbish about it. Its beautifuland palma is lovely.

Zagreb, had the best weekendthere! History, food , friendly...

@NotTheGrinchAgain - Plaswijkpark is one of the best places I've ever taken the DC too - they LOVED it and keep asking when we can go back. I do love the Netherlands and Belgium. Very friendly and not overly touristy.

Croatia was also an amazing holiday place. So cheap, nice people and amazing scenery.

Madeira and Kiev (pribably best avoiding that one currently mind)

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.

I know plenty of people who came to Cardiff for university and never left!

YesThisIsMe I also was surprised by Aberystwyth. We stayed nearby at Devil's Bridge and had a fantastic week. The countryside is stunning, almost Nordic - really beautiful walks. Hordes of Red Kites. Aber is run down in places but it had a nice, old fashioned feel. There are some glorious sandy beaches nearby such as Borth.

Delft in Holland
Was just passing through on a touring holiday - booked 1 night in a hotel - then ended up staying a week

Liverpool and Birmingham

I would go for Tenerife. Much nicer than I had anticipated it would be and great for winter sun. In the UK Belfast and Northern Ireland in general is a great place to visit (Amtrim cost is fabulous).

Rotterdam.

I thought it would be a boring port city we’d drive through in the way to our actual destination, but it was fantastic! The architecture is incredible, the market was full of delicious things, we just loved it.

@Iamthewombat I'm thinking the exact same

So many of those already mentioned - I think it just shows that the really lovely places are those that often fly under the radar, probably because mass tourism hasn’t managed to ruin them yet!

To Salamanca (did a language course there and loved it), Palma (I too had the Mallorca snobbery) etc I would add Merano in northern Italy - gorgeous little Alpine spa town with a fascinating blend of Italian and German culture and barely any British tourists (it will likely be our ‘go to’ place for relatively inexpensive school holidays once DD starts in September). Ditto Slovenia - probably the most stunning place I’ve ever visited in terms of scenery and we’ll definitely return. Ljubljana was also surprisingly nice and buzzy in terms of cafe/bar culture etc.

I like some of the small, low key cities in the Netherlands like Leuven - not much ‘there’, so to speak, but really nice to mooch about, people watch in cafes etc. In terms of mainstream touristy places, Yosemite and Big Sur really surprised me in that for me they were as genuinely impressive as all the hype around them suggested. Same for Rome - massive tourist trap, obviously, and searingly hot when we were there, but we weren’t disappointed.

Totally agree with Salamanca and Segovia. I would say Budapest, Bratislava, Oslo, Cologne, Munich that aren't main stream. Prefer Ghent and Antwerp to Bruges. Montpellier - could see myself living there. Strasbourg was unexpectedly lovely - preferred it to nearby Colmar which is more famously scenic. Food was fabulous.

The Netherlands has some lovely cities and beach resorts. It's very underrated as a destination imho. Everyone speaks English too. Leiden is much nicer than Amsterdam. Delft, Maastricht, Groeningen, Rotterdam, the Hague, Breda. They do a good Grote Markt.

I really liked Kilkenny but it was thirty years ago and I can't remember the specifics!