Where is the most overrated holiday destination you’ve been?

[phoanymoany]

Where have you been on holiday and thought “wow, that was a waste of my time and money”.

Mine was travelling to a fairly remote tropical island where people were supposed to be so friendly. Unfortunately we found the people we interacted with in the hotels and restaurants to be anything but nice. It piddled down with rain and then we almost got scammed.

Thanks so much @Flamesatmytoes - sounds like it was a brilliant trip! I’ve only booked flights and accommodation so far so will look for similar activities. We have 4 nights in a 3 bed villa there so very excited. We have 6 nts in a villa in Seminyak too after (and Singapore beforehand for a few nights) so hopefully won’t feature on any future disappointing holiday threads 😂

I live between the two and would consider myself more manc, but am very pleasantly surprised every time I go to Liverpool, it's lovely. And I'm bored of Manchester.

I stopped off in Hawaii twice, the first time i felt as if it was Blackpool for the rich, the second time I agreed to return if we could do India - it was better but I really don't get the place. Never returned and wouldn't bother or recommend

Hilarious that you were told everything good is in the north of Sardinia - we were in the north and everyone told us the south was much nicer. The beaches we visited were beautiful but, of course, very crowded and there was nothing else to do. I definitely got the impression that anyone working in the tourism industry actively disliked tourists (which is probably fair enough but a bit depressing). 100% can't understand why people get misty-eyed about Sardinia.

I’ve been to lots of places on this thread too and I’m surprised at the negative comments. I tend to enjoy being away and embrace the differences even if everything isn’t perfect (nothing ever is). Having said that in some cases it’s more than 15 years ago since I’ve been to, say, Bali (which I adored, especially Ubud) so maybe it’s changed? Has Covid impacted some of these places? I can’t imagine not finding NYC fabulous - I always feel like I’m on a movie or TV set when I’m there. Simple things like the yellow cabs and the street signs. I am fascinated when I’m there. Paris, I haven’t been for years but I love that you can get on a train in London (and go under the sea! Come on folks! I’m still in awe at the literal engineering), and 2.5 hours later you are in a city where the language, the culture, the food, everything is different. Lanzarote gets a lot of flack but it is quite beautiful, just don’t stay in the strip towns. It is a bit windy though. The surfing up at Famara was great, we stayed in a tiny cottage inland and I cycled to the beach every morning and surfed, great memories. Rome, even my kids loved it and didn’t moan about the sight seeing. Go in winter. Dublin, a bit meh, anytime I spent there I headed to the areas along the coast on the Dart, but outside of Dublin Ireland has some of the most beautiful places in the world, head west or head south. Most cities I think warrant a very decent hotel, and Dublin is certainly a better experience if you splash out on an olde worlde elegant hotel. I won’t hear a word against London, lived there for 30 years and I love every bit of it, from the gritty to the grandeur. I don’t miss the tourist crowds in the centre at the weekends, but also dead easy to avoid/escape. I loved Vegas though I expected to hate it, but I totally embraced the vibe and how OTT it is and became quite adept at cards.
I haven’t been Dubai and hope never to, for reasons mentioned above. I wouldn’t even stopover there.
This thread is making me want to book a trip away now, bizarrely :)

I took my kids and stayed just outside the city surrounded by windmills. We never even came across the red light district!

This thread is depressing me. Thank goodness Elon Musk is going to terraform Mars.

Barbados

And it will get overhyped like other places and many people will be disappointed after visiting.

Mars?! Red, hot as hell and dusty. Couldn’t pay me to go back 😂😂

I haven't found anywhere I've been disappointing or overrated as I always read a lot about where I'm going before I go, get really excited about and thoroughly enjoy my holidays and trips away.

Probably the only thing I can think of is a day trip to Rhyl in the 1990s with my boyfriend. All I could remember was the excitement conjured up in my mind as a kid in the 1980s by the adverts for the Rhyl Sun Centre. It looked like the best thing in the world. The town was so rough and run down. Even so, we still had a nice day out, the sun was shining, we sunbathed and had great fish and chips.

Adding more, Bangkok was amazing, and had the best food ever there. Loved Barbados with its mix of washed away beaches, lovely locals, and vague recognition that it isn’t really anything special or exclusive or posh unless you are super rich secluded away in your own villa. But still great fun. Anyone who criticises “Spain” needs to get in the sea TBH :)

I was in Paris a couple of months ago. Hadn’t been there for almost 20 years and felt a bit ‘meh’ about going again. But it was stunning, people were not rude AT ALL (and my French is virtually non-existent) and the streets were not filthy.

It probably helps that I am brown and can pass for Moroccan/Egyptian/Indian/Sri Lankan/Malaysian/Indonesian and a few other nationalities, so am not harassed so much.

Marrakesh

LA

Dubai

Dublin

Casablanca
Shithole, literally

I found people quite rude in Paris when I went on a school trip aged 14, but I was also quite gauche and shy, and people are often suspicious of teenagers. At the same time some people were nice and helpful. Different story when I went aged 21 and 23. Apart from the dirty old man pawing my leg on the metro, we had a lovely time.

I had to grow into Paris: I didn't like it at all when I was younger, I found it a bit dull. Now I appreciate it for its restrained elegance - the careful thought applied to elevating so many areas of everyday life, be it a set lunch menu or beautifully understated, classic fashion. And the art on offer really is out of this world.

Great Barrier Reef, qld, Australia

@Ylm189 as a pp mentioned, it is absolutely soulless. I went there recently, I really really tried to like it but unfortunately couldn't wait to come back home to the freezing weather. It's very impressive and surreal but at the same time it's very tacky and vulgar. Very shallow and superficial. So long story short, soulless, no culture and just fake. Just a massive playground for billionaires where the new rich like taking photos by the swings to feel like they are like them.

*feel like they are one of them on instagram

Did you pay them? Or buy them a drink? Most of the locals you meet on beaches will do pretty much anything for money. Nice enough people, but they're actively looking for ways to make money on the beach a lot of the time. (I have a relative married to a Bajan man so I've lots of experience of the place)

New York. Miserable buggers.

I like a lot of the places on the list. I think places disappoint when you've done something similar, but better elsewhere and then something else is persistently annoying during the holiday.

My two would be New York, which didn't have anything we could really experience outside London, which is only 20 minutes away from where we live. We did really enjoy the United Nations tour. But the permanent smell of weed was awful, I just felt constantly nauseous.

Bali - Okay holiday, but the food wasn't amazing, the beaches were nice, but not as good as others we've been to, temples were interesting, but we've seen more impressive ones and it was very expensive holiday. But, it was the time that it took to get anywhere that spoilt the holiday and far too many tourists in some of the areas (we travelled round).

@shearwater2 I have lovely childhood memories of the Sun Centre...but yes, Rhyll is a complete dump. I did take the kids to Blackpool a couple of years ago and they were horrified, so maybe won't risk that with them.

Santorini

Most if the island is a bit of a dump, the “famous” areas are absolutely heaving with tourists with not much to see but a sunset (once you’ve seen it you’ve seen it!)