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.

Israel. It was the home of the anti-tourist. There’s nothing that says “relaxing lunch” like an Eilat beach bar with early 20’s sporting shorts and semi-automatics.

New York and Barcelona. Found them both expensive and boring once the sights are done. And the pickpocket situation in B is ridiculous.

(Actually all of America while the orange idiot is in charge)

@milliefiori you went when it rained so it's a dump?

Are people that unintelligent they declare an entire country a "dump" because of the one place they visited for the very short time they were there? Beginning to see how Brexit happened.

For me it's Dubai and Las Vegas. Just hotels in sand.

IMO saying Crete is a dump is like saying the same about England if you've just been to Blackpool. Depends where you go. Crete is on our to do list because of its history.

My wise MIL once said that good or bad holidays aren't entirely about the place. When you go, the weather and who you go with or meet can make a huge difference.

Anywhere in the height of the season, baking hot and overcrowded would be a no no for me. The same places in November or February might be a completely different kettle of fish.

Crete is absolutely lovely IME of 5 visits.

Great thread, I totally agree with a lot of the already mentioned places, London for me is only if I must go, never for leisure! Bognor Regis, spent a few breaks there with the kids being little, Butlins, they loved it, we couldn’t wait to get home, and Isle of Sheppey, well that’s a whole new level, we went expecting an Isle of Wight type of place! Err no, obviously in the days before kids & trip advisor!

Hi @Hellohah - I'm sad about it too because I love Italy so much. I'm currently learning Italian and would like to live there one day. I'm sure I'll give it another go at some point.

I would also like to echo what others are saying about north Wales. I am from north Wales and there's just no denying it's beautiful. Dispite the rain I don't know how others can say otherwise. And yes people do speak Welsh first language. I personally don't but I certainly don't expect people not to speak their first language because I'm in the room. That they speak Welsh is a surprise to some people is odd. I don't live there any more but I go back a lot to see family and also to holiday away.

And someone mentioned Centre Parcs - agreed! Crazy expensive, too busy, accommodation like a travelodge but far more expensive, activities a rip off and not as good quality as doing the same thing outside Centre Parcs. I would much rather rent a self catering cottage somewhere in the countryside.

That’s brilliant! No, can categorically say aside from “Isle” there’s not much to favourably compare Sheppey with Wight.

San Francisco - we expected to love it here but were completely underwhelmed and found it very dirty with a lot of overbearing homeless people not leaving us alone

Turkey- hassled everywhere and wouldnt take njo for an answer

Dubai- fake and plastic.

New York- didn’t live up to the hype.

Granted Milan is certainly not as obviously charming as a lot of Italy but it definitely does have its charms - you just have to do a bit more research before visiting. I wouldn't write it off.

And if anyone is doubting Venice, try and go in the winter when it's much quieter, and make sure you visit the other islands. Especially less touristy ones like Lido

Berlin and Paris.

Cyprus. Of course it's personal based on my own holiday there which was difficult but I just didn't like it. Hugely over developed, effortful place. But with big positives - the Roman sites were astounding, everyone we met was lovely. Just not for me.

Bulgaria, namely an area near sunny beach and Varna. Honestly so rough. It seems like a very poor area, houses falling into disrepair everywhere and a lot of homeless people, and my sister and I felt genuinely unsettled being there, it felt unsafe often. We stayed at the hotel much more than we thought we would. Would never go back to Bulgaria.
Turkey, namely the Bodrum area. Never been so constantly sexually harassed in my life. Beautiful place, a huge proportion of vile men.

I hated our week in North Wales this year. Nothing to do with the people just the weather was awful, I found driving through endless mountains absolutely terrifying and the beaches were full of jellyfish. Huge ones. Wasn’t impressed at all, especially after driving 5 and a half hours to get there! But that’s just me.

The other least favourite place I’ve been to is Nidri in Lefkas in Greece. I think that’s how it spelt. Spent a week there and it was awful. Just endless gift type shops, beach full of litter and shingles / pebbles too sharp to really enjoy, restaurants were all horrid (except the ones that did pancakes for breakfast)! I had my stuff stolen from the hotel we stayed in and every time we went out anywhere we were chased down the alleys by wild chickens - which to be fair was funny but not how I imagined our holiday to be!

Some ridiculous comments here. I'm never going again because it rained when I was there . Rubbish damp cottage . Was it the only cottage there?

Baffled by the comments about Wales too. Why should Welsh people have any less right to speak their own bloody language than anybody else does?! We went to North Wales this summer and visited Anglesey. Very far from hrim and the people were perfectly friendly!

The place I wouldn't go back to is Disneyland Paris. It was the only time I've been to a Disney park and it was awful.

Dublin. Boring, boring, boring. Also massively overpriced.

Love Crete and corfu and lefkada although agree some parts are a bit touristy for my like ing bug a,ways fab places you can go anywhere is greece to get away from the crowds. Tourism is How the make their money so I forgive the sometimes overbearing number of shops and focus on teh culture and history and beauty

Wouldn't rush back to Egypt, didn't like the armed guards on every corner.
Love Barcelona but never take anything of value and carry very little cash, always dress down.
Need a London fix at least once a year, it's probably my favourite UK destination.

Trotter I know so many people who love Anglesey & go regularly. Personally I just don't like the scenery. To me it's grey and bleak (grim). It depresses me rather than giving me a sense of calm. We stayed for a week a few years ago in the summer and explored quite a lot... The weather was mild but I didn't find the area inspiring or beautiful! 🙁

MrsBungle

I felt like you did re Sydney as well and have no desire to return there or to Australia for that matter.

San Francisco is another city I would not like to revisit.

Lazy
Other people base their opinions on personal experience just as you do.

Baffled by people saying there's not enough to do in Malta. There's masses of prehistory (Hagar Qim, Tarxien, etc etc), great coves for swimming, some amazing museums in Valletta (Lascaris War Rooms, for example) and the geology is astounding. Yes, it's built up and quite dry, but the food is good and we found the people friendly.

Corfu on the other hand... We went in May, it pissed down and there wasn't lot to do apart from go to the beach and look at a few sets of ruins while getting soaked.

I hate cities in general and London in particular. Crowded, filthy, loud... The museums and historical sites are wonderful, which makes visiting worthwhile, but it's overpriced and exhausting.

Paris- TOTALLY OVERRATED! Food...meh, ppl- mostly rude, I didn’t feel safe, tourist areas-meh, not as pretty as I though it would be. I’ve been to way more romantic cities!!!