Is there somewhere that you would not return to? And why?

[Mothership4two]

Just commented on a post asking for places you would go back to and why. Thought it would be interesting to find out places you would never go back and why not. Not trying to cause offence! I'm going to get flamed arent I?

Mine are:

Amsterdam. Just found it a big unfriendly city. Away from canals, the buildings are pretty ugly. Staff in shops/restaurants/etc had a couldnt care less attitude. Didn't help that it was a really cold few days and we werent interested in getting 'cake' from cafes or looking at the red light district. I find Dutch people usually lovely.

Dublin: found it drab and old-fashioned. People lovely though and good pubs

Florence: I love Italy but Florence is just a working city with islands of lovely buildings imo. We'd just come from Venice and it didn't compare.

North Wales: beautiful but unfriendly. Everywhere we went people switched from English to Welsh when they heard our English accents including a staff member in a tourist info office! We knew it happened but it just makes you feel meh. The fact if rained every single day didnt put it in a good light for us. Have visited many parts of the rest of Wales, all good. My lovely fil is from North Wales and my lovely sil and dn is also Welsh.

Now realised I overuse love and lovely

realise

Greece. Too hot.

Venice! Partly because I've now been lucky enough to go several times. I wouldn't have missed seeing it. But I've never enjoyed myself that much there. It feels like a preserved tourist enclave more than a real place.

I personally wouldn't choose to visit Brussels again, I've been twice and had quite a miserable time there, though I was too young to have enough money to really enjoy the food - going as a better off tourist might be fun. A city where the Mannekin Pis is a genuine tourist attraction isn't appealing though.

Milan is a complete shithole. Saw a guy sitting on the ground jacking up in his foot. Need I say more?!

Prague - didn't get it. Food was nice and it was definitely nice to visit but there are far nicer cities in Europe.

Cannes - just a bit nothing and there were used needles all over the beach.

Santorini - too many tourists with selfie sticks.

With regard to North Wales; Welsh people don't start speaking Welsh when they hear an English person; I hear this nonsense all the time and it's such an arrogant thing to assume; they speak Welsh to each other anyway - even when you're not there - because it's their first language. There may be some hostility towards the English but with ideas like this about them speaking their own language, I can understand why.

Barcelona - we were car jacked very frightening for the DC

New York - been to several cites all over USA, been lots of times to and love Boston but NYC is overrated IMHO and IME

Cornwall - too difficult to get around in a wheelchair and large car when the children were little

Manila. Felt really unsafe and menacing.

London and Sydney- both too busy, too rushed, people too unfriendly.

Malta- not enough to do for a week’s holiday. Food not great. Quite run down.

London, it's a dump.

What so bad about Welsh people speaking their own language, in their own country, to each other. They speak Welsh to each other because that's their native language, you know like Spanish people speak Spanish to each other.
Why is it so fucking difficult for non Welsh speakers to understand. It's no wonder that there can be hostility towards the English with such casual bigotry and xenophobia clearly on display.

**North Wales: beautiful but unfriendly. Everywhere we went people switched from English to Welsh when they heard our English accents including a staff member in a tourist info office! We knew it happened but it just makes you feel meh. The fact if rained every single day didnt put it in a good light for us.

You’ve just described perfectly why I hate wales and the people. Very rude and unfriendly. Constant rain too.

Gambia. Security guards on hotel, lots of passport hunters. Nice winter sun but I wouldn’t go back.

Florence after Venice is hard but I would go back.

Bognor Regis, it rained so much we were trapped in the town (in June) and couldn’t get out for 2 days.

London

Used to love it.

Nowadays I think it's too big, noisy, polluted and expensive. It typifies all that's so silly/scary about the human race to me now.😁

Bali.
Terrorist target plus constant risk of nearby volcano erupting and being stranded
Also lots of rip off merchants.

Vienna - really didn't like it and found the roads that slice through it very noisy and disruptive. My memory of it is fast noisy roads.

Vancouver - it was ok but once was enough. Lots of homelessness and substance issues and a rather nasty underbelly. I got criticised for saying this on another thread as supposedly Vancouver is a wonderfully inclusive city and beyond reproach but I certainly did not feel this way.

Thailand. I knew I wouldn't like it from the moment I saw a sign in the airport saying something really flowery and veiled about "considering our children and their circumstances and acting accordingly when you come to our country" it was clearly warning against child sexual abuse but was just so watered down and like a pleasant request rather than what I would I have hoped to see, which would be a warning of prosecution and prison sentences. The anti drug poster was far more descriptive and stern. Just felt like lip service. I had the worst holiday there - mainly to do with ex H but it put me off for life.

I wondered how long it would be until the London-bashing started. We're not unfriendly!

Madagascar - just not the place you expect it to be.

South Africa (specially Cape Town) - the entitlement of white people there is too much for me. They say they aren't racist but I struggled with what I saw there...

I've lived in London for 17 years. How people can write off this city with the words "it's a dump" I do not understand. Parts of it are granted - like any city, but other parts are stunning. Is the Tower of London "a dump"? Is Notting Hill with its rich culture and Portobello Market "a dump"? The South Bank, Temple, Hyde Park, Covent Garden, Kew Gardens, the stunning museums, Hampstead Heath and the Lidos, The Royal Hospital Chelsea and the land it stands on, the theatre district; ALL dumps?

Kenya. Lovely country, amazing scenery, safari an experience of a lifetime, all spoilt by the people in the big towns and cities - aggressive beggars everywhere, armed guards on the beaches, we were afraid to leave the hotel (in fact advised not to) so felt like prisoners - not what we like on holiday.

Brussels didn’t excite me so I wouldn’t rush back. I’d happily go back to most other places. Even North Wales, where people - shock horror - spoke their own language.

I’ve read the complaint about Welsh people speaking Welsh before on MN, and I find it baffling that people expect otherwise.

Egypt. I went on my own with dd. I didn’t feel very safe outside of the hotel and did not like being constantly hassled

Peru - people rave about it but we were robbed twice within a week, losing all our photographs of a two month trip (although fortunately not at knifepoint like another young English couple we met) and suffered near constant food poisoning despite only eating in relatively top end restaurants...even our tour guide was sick!

Didn’t have any of these problems in Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia or Ecuador - just Peru. Would never ever ever go back, even if you paid me!

Agree about Milan . It's rotten.