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.

I have been to Dublin countless times over the years and have really tried to give the city a fair crack of the whip but I just don’t like the place and I honestly believe it is getting worse. For starters for a capital city that escaped the ravages of WW2 it is bloody ugly. It is massively short of top class attractions and the ones that do exist are largely booze related. I mean Trinty college, book of Kells, Dublin Castle are alright but they are hardly going to be a lifelong holiday highlight and Phoenix Park is not exactly Jardin du Luxembourg. Restaurants, bars and accommodation are ludicrously expensive for what you get , public transport is crap and the city is just dirty. There is a very obvious drugs problem, increasing homelessness and it is one of the few cities that I have visited that I am hyper conscious about safety when walking at night (the others being Lagos and Kinshasa) . Whenever people ask me for my advice on where to go in Ireland I always end up suggesting the west coast. The Atlantic Way between Cork and all the way up to Galway and beyond is stunning. If you have to go to Dublin go for day and then jump in the car and escape to the country.

Orlando. Went to get the 'Disney experience and magic". The food was terrible, the consumerism was extreme, ( do they really need 15 shops selling the same tat?!), it was too humid and there were too many people. Never again.

New Zealand. Cold and expensive.

People are free to say that they experienced racism anywhere they did! We certainly experienced openly racist attitudes from white Australians when we visited. It marked quite a strong contrast with New Zealand where Māori voices are so much more prominent and knowledge about Māori history, culture and language is more overtly promoted.

Maybe the difference with those other countries is that due to media and its membership of the commonwealth, British/European visitors are aware of the abysmal historical treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Straits island people with lasting effect, as well as the legacy of indefinite and offshore detention of migrants. Add to that the well-publicised coverage of the abuse Stan Grant received after his coverage of the coronation, and racist comments during the recent debates during the referendum campaign...etc

Sicily

Really???? I love Gib been many times

Majorca

Alcudia

Tacky, horrid, like Blackpool and stunk of swamp😆

But I loved Isle of Wight

I won’t say I didn’t enjoy it, but I can’t say I was wowed, as all the hype suggests. Very overrated IMO, but I dare say a lot of it is down to the effects of mass tourism.

Before we went, a dd who’d been told us to stay well away from at least one coastal resort - ‘It’s Blackpool for Aussies - you’ll hate it!’

Must say I much preferred parts of mainland Indonesia - had been twice, since dh was based in Jakarta for a year or so.

Yes, Niagara Falls is a bit of a dump, but about half an hour's drive away is Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is a lovely place to stay for a few days.

https://www.niagarafallstourism.com/niagara-region/niagara-on-the-lake/

Thank your lucky stars you were not in Margate or Ramsgate.

Maybe we had bad luck, were there for a weekend about 15 years ago, did go up to the castle and the view was ok, but the best thing was the bus to Monaco out of it!

I usually find good in most places I’ve been, but Paris was horrible. It was dirty and felt dangerous, grey, unfriendly and generally a depressing destination. We had older men following us around and my friend was groped by a stranger. I’ve been 3 times, once on a city break, twice with work. Couldn’t wait to leave each time.

@frostyfeet

People are free to say that they experienced racism anywhere they did! We certainly experienced openly racist attitudes from white Australians when we visited.

Agree, at risk of stating the obvious racism is often hidden to the ethnic majority. They don’t experience it, and when it does occur it more often than not happens out of earshot. So they assume it’s nonexistent. About the only way a white person can experience “first hand” the actual level of racism in a majority white country such as the UK, the US or Australia is by frequently hanging out with a group of non white friends/colleagues. I’ve done that, and it’s pretty shocking how differently some people will react when they think or assume no one is around to catch them (apart from those on the receiving end).

Seeing such conflicting opinions, I’d love there to be a TV programme on this.

EG someone who HATES Paris is taken there by someone who loves it. They could show them their favourite places and experiences in the city/destination and see if the other person had changed their minds by the end of the programme or not.

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

🤣🤣🤣🤣

An interesting concept. But you just know that producers of said programme would go out of their way to find some narrow minded fuckwit who hates anything ‘forrin’ just so they can film the well meaning local get increasingly exasperated with them as they turn their nose up at every experience and foodstuff.

Ive not read the whole thread, about half of it. If you are planning a road tip around Ireland, get out of Dirty Dublin as soon as you can (as @TheCadoganArms said) and drive south and around the whole coast. Unbelievably stunning and the food is amazing.

However, my husband and i did this trip AFTER having done the same one to Northern Ireland. Belfast and then all around the North Antrim coast and into Donegal and around the Wild Atlantic way and then back to Belfast through Fermanagh. 💕💕💕💕

NORTHERN ISLAND WAS BY FAR THE COOLER, LESS TOURISTY, LESS AMERICANISED PLACE. Ireland felt a bit kind of sterile in comparison. Best holiday ever.

Yeah. It would just be another romanticised version of Paris on TV which is the reason why it gets mentioned so much for being disappointing when one finally visits.

I wasn’t up for that. But walking the levadas in the mountains among the last remains of the ancient laurel forests that used to cover much of Europe - amazing. And the climate is kindly all year round. We sunbathed and swam in January.

This thread has been a wonderful tonic for my Insta perfect FOMO January blues! The grass isn't always greener :)

The Algarve.

Other parts of Portugal are lovely.
But the Algarve is arid, full of golf twats, and - even away from the main resorts (most of which are naff) - has very little of cultural interest. The fact an area with so little water uses the water it does have to keep golf courses green is shocking. Oh and it's not cheap either!

There's not a single thing the Algarve offers (perhaps with the exception of golf, but I know nothing about that) that can't be obtained somewhere nicer and often for better value in either Spain, the Canaries, Greece or elsewhere in Portugal.

Yes but they aren’t really upheld as top tier holiday destinations hence this thread is about overrated holiday destinations.

Hawaii. Just so bloody far. I'm not sure whether we either didn't make the most of it, or it just wasn't worth it 🤷‍♀️

Can’t believe how many folk hate Paris, maybe they’re going to the wrong places, try hanging out in the Marais or Bastille, walk over the river to St Germain or up the hill to Belleville, amazing cafe culture, great service, lovely small restaurants, gorgeous architecture, small museums, whats not to like.