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.

Sydney. In fact I wouldn’t go back to Australia again. I liked the beaches in Queensland but I was totally underwhelmed by the month I spent there. I just found Sydney totally soulless.

India, we got horribly ill and I found the lack of personal space very challenging. It was beautiful but there's other places I'd rather go.

Amsterdam. Just not for me for the reasons OP said. Have loved other parts of the Netherlands.

Tenerife. I was bored.

I absolutely love Florence! And New York! I work in London and love it and have to go to Brussels occasionally for work but I wouldn’t choose to go there for a break.

Malta and Cyprus

Amsterdam and New York are my favourite cities! You've got to head out of the touristy bits though for both cities.

For me, Barbados. Went there on holiday and there was nothing wrong, hotel was nice, food was nice, people were nice, beach was nice. But I just found it a bit bland for some reason, no desire to go back at all.

Crete. That's a dump.

Bulgaria (sunny beach) , vile place crawling with stag and hen parties. Along the strip was just bar after bar with loads of strip clubs. Hardly anywhere decent to eat. Restaurant staff had barely any concept of speaking English so when ordering on many occasions in different places we didn't receive what we had asked for (even after pointing at it on a menu!) attitude was "oh well" and nothing done to rectify- Best thing I ate all week was a McDonald's!
Would never go back.

Also detest Turkey. Been 3 times (as it's the only place ex bf would go - because it's cheap ) and every single time I've ended up with crippling stomach bugs, the final time I was in bed for 3 out of the 7 day holiday and to go to hospital upon returning to the UK and was ill for a further 4 days- filthy dirty place.

Naples - I adore Italy and visit often, going all over, but Naples has a very different vibe to a lot of Italy imo. It's dirtier for a start, and we experienced aggressive beggars, witnessed 4 crimes in 3 days (mugging, breaking in to a shop, physical attack and arson attack) and in the end felt uncomfortable leaving the hotel which was a real shame.

Tunisia - very aggressive men constantly trying to pressurise you in to come in to a shop or buy smithing or otherwise just overly obviously leering. I went with 2 female and 1 male friends and myself and 1 of the other girls were groped in a shop (both separate occasions in different shops) and one of the locals asked my male friend if he would let him 'have' one of us. Horrible.

We've never been made to feel anything other than welcome in North Wales! It's beautiful and the people are so friendly and accommodating. We absolutely love it there.

I used to love visiting London, but now it is so crowded, so much traffic and everywhere is busy, museums, art galleries, all the time.

Athens is grim, we went to see the ancient sites, which are great, but agains so busy. The city is a dump with sad stray dogs everywhere.

NYC is great, but you have to go to the nice bits as in everywhere in the US.

I disliked Hong Kong, once was enough, dirty with loads of police/army. Obviously would not go now.

Love Florence, Sydney, Rome (but now too many tourists)

Another one for Bali, aggressive locals and terrorist hot spot.
Dirty towns. You need to just stay in the resort which I don’t like to do.
Now they are bringing in a law that means unmarried couples having sex can get jail time.

Leckford just out of interest, can you tell me when London wasn’t crowded & didn’t have traffic? I’ve lived here my whole life and it’s always been busy!

San Antonio in Ibiza - dump
North Crete - nothing special, the south is beautiful.

I live in North Wales and do not speak Welsh. People do not switch to exclude you. This has never happened to me in 20 years. They speak Welsh because it is their first language. In some parts of North Wales people speak what my son calls "winglish" so it may sound like they are switching but it is probably they were speaking a pigen.

You didn't hate Venice because people spoke Italian.

The comment says much more about your intolerance of the Welsh language than it says about North Wales, which is stunning. The weather is awful.

isitnearlyweekend - You hate wales and the people. Nice. With an attitude like that I’m sure whatever rudeness you experienced in Wales was 100% deserved!

For people wondering about the language, in South Wales English is the first language and in North Wales Welsh is the first language so they will always talk Welsh there! If you explain that you can’t speak Welsh they will speak English to you. OP, if they were speaking English to somebody and then reverted to Welsh to you it was probably because the previous person they’d spoken to had asked them to speak in English and they were just reverting back to their first language afterwards.

When I go to a non English speaking country I always learn some simple phrases, as I’m sure most people do. Why not learn some Welsh if you’re going to North Wales, even if it’s just to explain that you’re English and tonask can they speak to you in English?

I spelled pidgin wrong.

Have to say a number of places listed I’ve enjoyed and found loads to do. - Brussels, Malta, Barbados and even my only visit to Lanzarote was really surprised as didn’t really fancy it.

Same with food Malta some awesome restaurants.

Love how posters feel that they can proclaim an entire country to be a dump when they probably went to one hotel, in one resort for one week 🙄

Zante town - too many full English breakfasts and drunken Brits

Kas in Turkey - beautiful place but the way I was followed around by the local men as a 14 year old girl was enough to put me off going back

Other than that I have really enjoyed every place I've visited, which I think is pretty good going.

As for London, I understand why some people don't like it, but having lived there for 7 years I feel sure that I could show everyone bits that are wonderful (and I'm not talking about the big tourist attractions). I feel sure it's the most welcoming, diverse place that I'll ever live.

Venice-not because it's not beautiful, because it is. Because of their foul attitude to tourists See 'em coming, rip 'em off then complain too many of them are ruining your city Ban them then and let's watch you on telly moaning then. (I live in Italy and TV is full of whining Venetians, justifying charging tourists ten times what they'd charge an Italian and saying the souvenir shops are lowering the tone)
I lived in Brussels for 6 months and hated every second..swore I'd never return. Dd and I went for 3 days this summer and I loved every second. Cultural, loads to do, free museums, an amazing day at the European Parliament, a 4 star hotel just behind the Grand Place which was cheaper than a Travelodge in Wolverhampton. it was great!
I bloody love London. Makes my heart sing

Tunisia is an absolute dump, hassle to buy things, it’s like running he gets gaunlet on streets with shopkeepers grabbing your arm to make you go in, my DD was walking in front of us aged about 10 at time a shopkeeper grabbed her and pulled her into his shop! We were furious. We then went on a trip organised by the holiday company and my DH and I were injured in an accident as the horse carriage we were in turned over and we were thrown out (all because the carriage driver was irresponsible). They clearly wanted you to spend your money but at same time despised you.

Dominican Republic, beautiful but trapped in a hotel for two weeks as two dangerous to go out, armed guards on the beach with locals not allowed past a certain point so they stand and shout at you, if you dared walk down to the see to the “public area” you were Fair game and instantly hassled. There were fences around hotel with locals shouting at you and waving there wares through the fence. It was boring due to isolation and just felt crappy the way locals were treated and the poverty

I just knew there would be a post with the old ‘Wales because when I entered the shops they switched to Welsh’ nonsense when I opened this thread and there it is, in the first post!

Firstly, how did you know they switched to Welsh and weren’t just, you know, speaking their native language all along? Secondly I have lived in Wales for twenty years and it has never, ever happened to me.

The rain I can’t disagree with you on though

Isle of Sheppey.

We refer to it now as the Isle of Shitty.

I wouldn't go back to Malta. The people were lovely and the food was good but, with the exception of M'dina, it was an island of rundown buildings, concrete and dust. Even our taxi driver who was a local, said it wasn't a pretty place.

Corfu. Just sea, sun and sand. Got bored very quickly.