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.

@PriestShame We weren’t rude to people at all. I wasn’t brought up to be rude. Being polite and friendly is a core value to me. I just don’t like the place. I too think it’s important to try with language when you’re in another country. It usually helps with rapport.

Jamaica. Beautiful island but very threatening. We were offered drugs befire we'd left the airport. Constant kerb crawlers trying to sell drugs.

Hubby and I went to San Fran as part of a west coast trip. So many homeless people begging. I felt sorry for them. We found the city had a undercurrent. We wouldn’t go back.

I can’t believe that Crete and Corfu are horrible. Did you actually leave the resorts and visit other parts of the islands? We have been twice to both and enjoyed them both times, and as for Greece being too hot, words fail me. Anywhere in the Med in summer is going to be hot. It isn’t rocket science to work that out

I think you must have stayed in the wrong resort @Bellasblankexpression. Were you in Kardamena? We stayed in Tigaki a few weeks ago and it was nothing like your description. It was a holiday resort, but full of sensible people enjoying their holiday. The beach was very clean and tidy as well.

Bali - Kuta is Australia's Blackpool and you get non-stop hassle on beaches

@minesagin37 we visited Kuta when we were in Bali and really disliked in. The beach was filthy and full of rubbish. I got talking to an Australian on the flight home and she says that it is the stag and hen destination for Australians – their Magaluf. However, we loved Komodo. It was the highlight of our holiday. I understand that they are no longer allowing visitors to the island now.

Orlando. Been there done that. It was OK, but not really my kind of holiday. I don’t understand why people go there year after year, but I expect people who like Disney holidays probably wouldn’t like the sort of holiday I enjoy – a bit of lazing around a pool, a bit of sightseeing, boat trips, walking, exploring, eating and drinking local foods and wines.

We didn’t like Tunisia for the reasons already stated on this thread. Also we didn’t feel safe in New Orleans. At night it felt rather menacing and threatening, and there were far too many people trying to fleece us out of a few bucks. I dislike Blackpool as well. It just isn’t my kind of resort. Paris doesn’t do it for me either, and I didn’t feel particularly safe there. And Turkey. I went there 40 years ago and loved it. I would be disappointed at how touristy it is now and I want to keep my nice memories of Turkey intact.

I loved Madeira @ThingsImighthavedone. We have been twice and had completely different holidays. There was loads to see and do, and I’m struggling to see what was so boring about it for you. We had a week in May and wished we had stayed longer.

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.

I agree @purpleolive

We went to the South of France one year. The lorry drivers were on strike and were blocking all the roads, and the weather was disappointing, BUT we liked the area so much that we went back the following year and enjoyed better weather and explored the places we couldn’t get to the year before. I agree that while things like the weather can put a dampener on a holiday you shouldn’t judge a place because of it.

I love all of Wales and have had a few holidays there. The comments about the Welsh speaking Welsh are just ignorant

I personally wouldn't choose to visit Brussels again
That's a shame because it's a great city with loads of hidden treasures.

Casablanca in Morrocco, bloody terrifying place, was practically held hostage in a carpet shop and the only way we could leave was to buy a fucking rug.

Tenerife, does nothing for me

I love Venice, stayed for a week in a 14c palace, I didn't want to come home. Yes it's busy but where isn't? Had a day trip to Verona, now that is a beautiful city.

Love Cornwall, had family living in Mevagissey but the trip to and from got longer and longer, 8 hrs to get back to Hamshire did it for me. Not the place it was sadly.

Alnwick. Very shabby and most shops were closed. Asked for Alnwick Rum in the pub and everyone took a collective intake of breath and fell silent as the barman boomed angrily “IT’S NOT EVEN MADE IN ALNWICK!” We ordered beers in shocked silence and went home as soon as possible.

Interesting idea that Welsh people all switch to Welsh when they hear English. Even in Gwynedd only about two thirds of the population claim to even have any knowledge of Welsh, let alone be able to actually speak it fluently! Everywhere else it's far less.

@Fairylea if you'd only let me know before you came I could've flattened the mountains and asked the jellyfish not to die on the beaches for your visiting pleasure.

Yes it rains (bloody mountains and bloody sea) but it rains everywhere in the UK.

It's not raining now .

As for the pp stating North Wales has Welsh as it's first language.... not quite. Some areas (Gwynedd for example) do but not the whole of North Wales.

If visitors have found us to be unfriendly I'd say it was in response to having to experience rude, entitled, ignorant visitors.

Crosspost @MyOtherProfile

LA is a sprawling shit hole full of plastic people and shocking homelessness.

Tunisia. The place itself was beautiful but having heavy machine guns at every turn, the airport transfer being stopped and searched and being told not to leave the complex for your safety was really unnerving. This was before (and near) the beach / hotel attack.

@ShirleyPhallus and I expect you learn the language of every country you visit do you . The menus were written in English! So I just repeated what was written on the menu , when I was given a vacant expression I then pointed at said item , then when it came out it was something totally different- and I was given the attitude of oh well who cares ! It was like it in every restaurant we went to. Miserable ignorant unhelpful staff. One of my desserts had a piece of broken glass in and I didn't even get an apology. The place was dire.

Las Vegas. Hell on Earth (& as hot as).
That's about it! I was surprised how many Welsh speakers there were in Wales but that was me being ignorant, I didn't begrudge them their first language . Very friendly people.
Love NY, and I don't really like cities that much. Won't be going back while Trump is in charge.
Probably won't bother with SF & LA again but didn't hate them.

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.

Agree. On the rare occasion we heard Welsh being spoken it was total strangers to me talking to each other.

Barbados. We just didn't feel the vibe that has people returning year after year.

Turkey but only because I was lucky to travel the country extensively before tourism hit hard. Cappadocia is one of the most amazing places I have ever visited but would never return now due to over commercialism. We had to drive 10 hours to get there, no airport back then. Huge hotels far less AI didn't exist anywhere.

Venice, similar, no massive cruise ships back in the day.

The thing about San Francisco and Las Vegas is that they're both really good gateways from the UK to national parks and amazing coastline and really good stuff to visit. So while neither is particularly lovely (SF can be cold and damp in summer, is full of homeless and is dirty, Vegas is just tacky, expensive and crowded), they're worth flying into/out of and spending a night or two, just for convenience's sake and having been to SF twice I haven't been to Alcatraz, which I'm determined to do next time!

Los Angeles - huge place and constantly sat in traffic. Lots of dumpy areas too! I'm sure there are lovely areas but you have to drive for an age to get to them as they're all so spread out!

Marrakech - got lost in the town and asked somebody for directions back and he demanded money from us. Very scary time!

Northern Ireland - apart from the odd area (Giant's Causeway etc.) the towns are a dump! Belfast is also very dull for a capital city! Can see why the suicide rate is quite high!

I also wouldn't return to Athens. We spent two days there - one for the Acropolis & Museum, the other for Monastiraki (the Agora and the Roman ruins), and IMO we saw all that there was to see of any interest to visitors. The rest of the city is modern and dirty and covered in graffiti and there were lots of shady-looking, single males hanging around everywhere we went. It didn't feel very safe or very nice.

New Orleans...simply terrifying. French quarter not so bad but above canal street it felt threatening and unsafe. All no doubt due to the chaos following Katrina that was ever properly dealt with. I didnt want to leave the hotel after dark.
So disappointed.
However, on the drive back to Houston we stopped off in a bayou for a toilet break and found a party of Cajun people playing music, cooking food and hanging out. We had the best time and got fed!

@MaidenMotherCrone great minds think alike

Any Centreparcs or Butlins or Pontins type holiday. Never had a good holiday at one of them (granted most were as a child!).

Skegness.

Venice.

Smokey Mountains (the nearby towns we visited were truly terrifying places to be non-white). Some parts of the Carolinas were similar.

Istanbul.

Johannesburg (again not a great place to visit with a mixed race family).

Tunisia

Surprisingly, I was extremely disappointed by Toronto. We just found it quite grey and boring, even with a jam packed itinerary. Our hotel was beautiful but everything else was really disappointing.

Miami. Been many times. Hate it with a passion, very seedy place.

Tempted to add LA simply because of the driving. Also seedy in parts (but much easier to avoid than Miami).

India though it was very interesting and I’m glad to have been. Was sooo sick there although I was very careful. Everyone was ill except one person whose mother had prayed at home every day to a special Catholic saint who wards off illness.
Wales.
Ireland.

Marrakesh, locals extremely rude and clearly viewed us with contempt. Just hated it. Felt unsafe.
Also saw a man having a shit in the street in full view of everyone.

Sunny beach, Bulgaria. Very poor with beggars everywhere, including lots of children. Locals were friendly enough though but would never go back.

Blackpool. Obviously.

Love Amsterdam and Glasgow.

Have to agree about Vancouver, the obviously mentally ill people left to live on the streets was heart breaking. Also, the only place we've ever wandered 2 streets from where we were and truly felt for our safety. However, Vancouver island is the most beautiful place I've ever been.