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Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Most disappointing destination/holiday

1000 replies

Forgottenmyphone · 10/07/2025 13:09

For me, it was the Norwegian fjords. Not because they weren’t beautiful (what we saw of them, they were!) but because it was cold, rainy and foggy when we went. One town known for being very pretty was ridiculously busy and there was a cruise ship blocking the view from the restaurant we booked. We knew the prices were going to be high, but expected good quality… when you pay over £100 for a train ticket, you expect there to be toilet roll and soap in the toilets!

where have you been that was disappointing?

OP posts:
OpalShimmer · 11/07/2025 05:10

onehorserace · 10/07/2025 15:07

I'm not trying to force my views on anyone! It's like someone saying " I went to the zoo and it was full of animals" 🤷‍♀️

There is always one who has to derail the thread and then go on and on.

The PP answered the OPs question. Now you arguing your point over and over ruins the flow…

RiceBubbless · 11/07/2025 05:19

Soulfulunfurling · 10/07/2025 15:22

Australia overall is very featureless almost everywhere you go. The ambience and lack of history or beauty lends itself to street after street of flat pack housing and zero culture. The exception being the Daintree forest.

I understand that people like different things but a whole continent condemned? No beauty? White sand beaches, huge forests, red stone gorges - I think parts of Australia are paradise. As for no history - well I guess 60,000 year old continuous living culture doesn't count to Westerners? Yes Oz doesn't have Castles or Cathedrals but it has rock art over 20,000 years old.
For me , I hated Berlin. West Berlin had rebuilt with ugly 1960s architecture. Former East Berlin still had ugly 1930s architecture. Altogether and ugly place.

EternalLodga · 11/07/2025 05:20

Dublin. Felt like a shittier version of Liverpool.

Lille: depressing.

DogsandFlowers · 11/07/2025 05:26

Everybodysinthehousetonight · 10/07/2025 15:20

Icelamd was a disappointment after seeing New Zealand's thermal activity.

Least favourite popular city is Barcelona.

Dodgiest place in my life was Memphis.

Agree with Memphis

DogsandFlowers · 11/07/2025 05:30

Centre Parcs, overpriced dump! Sick of dodging the bikes and couldt bring myself to get in the urine infested pool 🤢 really no point in going tbh and Memphis was dodgy apart from Graceland and one of those horse and carriage people screamed at me for feeding her dog (my bad I know)
Also hated Tenerife of Tenegrief as I now refer to it

unsurewhattodoaboutit · 11/07/2025 05:32

We loved the road trip down to the big sur we did from San Francisco but my god parts of that city are like a zombie apocalypse movie. If you love watching homeless people wandering around with needles stuck in their arms from drug abuse this is the place for you!

garlictwist · 11/07/2025 06:03

I thought Tenerife was stunning! The volcano and the mountains and rock formations are just like nothing I've seen elsewhere and the north of the island is so lush and jungle-like.

I think the only place I've really disliked is the Scottish borders. Did a cycling trip a few years ago and whilst the scenery was nice there were some god forsaken towns and villages that we stayed in that were really depressing as fuck.

MontereyK · 11/07/2025 06:18

Soulfulunfurling · 10/07/2025 15:22

Australia overall is very featureless almost everywhere you go. The ambience and lack of history or beauty lends itself to street after street of flat pack housing and zero culture. The exception being the Daintree forest.

Australian cities are like that though, great place to live and bring up kids, give them a real outdoor lifestyle, great beaches and countryside but the cities are not desperately exciting to visit from overseas, with the exception of Sydney's eastern suburbs.

VegemiteOnToast · 11/07/2025 06:26

Rome - dirty, unfriendly, chaotic, boiling hot in summer, full of scammers.

DappledThings · 11/07/2025 06:31

pollyglot · 11/07/2025 03:33

Oh dear...so many not impressed with Malta, and we're off there for a month at the end of September.

Lots of us saying it's great as well though. If you like history you'll find loads to see and do.

Gardenbird123 · 11/07/2025 07:03

Tenerife. Had to move apartments as it had broken furniture and was next to the karaoke bar. Half built hotels everywhere. Ours was a concrete monstrosity. Not enough sunbeds. Didn't like the barren landscape with black sand - felt like sitting on a spoil heap.

Hello2025helloworld · 11/07/2025 07:10

Gozo is lovely too and we'll worth a visit. I've stayed in Gozo and visited Malta, and really enjoyed both places.

Onthemaintrunkline · 11/07/2025 07:14

Australia is a relatively young country, it shouldn’t be compared to Europe and the like with high expectations of history. I don’t live there but personally I thought Sydney and it’s beautiful Harbour an absolute joy.

Onthemaintrunkline · 11/07/2025 07:15

Sorry should have quoted MontereyK.

ladywindemeresbucket · 11/07/2025 07:15

digiwidgy · 10/07/2025 14:00

Paris. Unfriendly and dirty.

Yup I'll second that.

Just like another dirty city. I could have gone to London for less money.

researchers3 · 11/07/2025 07:17

Ironfloor269 · 10/07/2025 14:19

Melbourne. Cultural wasteland and nothing to boast about in terms of a modern city either I.e. like Miami, New York.

Interesting! This was very far from my experience when I lived and worked there.

AbitSceptical · 11/07/2025 07:18

FreeRider · 11/07/2025 01:42

It's nothing but a grotty North African town. The beach is like the one at Southport....the sea is miles out, the sand is grey and grubby and the locals don't like tourists sunbathing on it - particularly women.

My husband and I went on a couple of 'trips' organised through the hotel - the city tour consisted of being taken to the highest point in Agadir to look at the view...then dragged to local shops with the expectation that we'd spend huge sums of money in them...and the tour guides were NOT happy when we wouldn't. There is literally nothing worth seeing in Agadir. The local market we were also dragged to is modern, shabby and horrible - nothing like the sort of moroccan bazaar I was expecting...and once again we were expected to spend a lot of money on shoddy local tat.

The second trip was a 'boat cruise'.... it was a local's tiny fishing boat, and the 'cruise' consisted of us being taken out to sea, where we got to enjoy the fine view of all the concrete bollards lining the shoreline, and the refinery in the distance. There were only 4 of us on the boat, myself my husband and two German women who were so horrified one of them pretended to be ill so the 'cruise' was cut short.

After that I refused to leave the hotel for the rest of the week. I've travelled all over the world, I work in the travel industry and Agadir is the ONLY place I would rather chew off my own foot than ever have to go to again!

(The worst part was the trip was supposed to make up for the shitty 50th birthday I'd had 6 months prior. What a great delayed present it was! Not)

Thanks @FreeRider for the detailed (and amusing) feedback 😀
Agadir has been crossed off our list!

ladywindemeresbucket · 11/07/2025 07:23

Gardenbird123 · 11/07/2025 07:03

Tenerife. Had to move apartments as it had broken furniture and was next to the karaoke bar. Half built hotels everywhere. Ours was a concrete monstrosity. Not enough sunbeds. Didn't like the barren landscape with black sand - felt like sitting on a spoil heap.

Go to the north of the Island next time it's greener !

aLittleWhiteHorse · 11/07/2025 07:32

@AbitSceptical my friends went to Agadir in February and had a mini break to Marrakesh midweek - they extended their Marrakesh bit to avoid returning to Agadir. There was little to do and restaurants weren’t great. I really like Marrakesh, though 5 days to explore is plenty, and there are interesting trips to stay in the desert, etc. or southern Morocco has Trafarout as options.

i have loved trips to so many places listed here (Barcelona, Rome, Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco, Paris, Australia, etc.) but I agree that I was disappointed in Malta.

Malta has fascinating ancient sites, we drove all over, visited Gozo, etc. but I found it a bit meh. Valletta is pretty but boring and other towns are unattractive. People were nice but not especially friendly, the food was not good, We had a nice holiday but I have nixed the suggestion of returning with friends since.

Applecrumble9 · 11/07/2025 07:35

I love to hear other opinions/experiences on different countries/cities.

We travel a lot. Overall we try to find the good everywhere we go, we have never hated anywhere we've went, but usually do our research beforehand. There are a few places we would not rush back to but nowhere I would say never again (except maybe Australia as its really very expensive and we spent a couple of months travelling so feel we have seen and done all there is to really)

We loved Paris...yes it has rubbish, we found early May this was actually not too much of a problem but I know it can be at other times of the year, I have been on a short trip with work in July and there was a notable difference in the amount of rubbish. Could it be that the tourists are the main problem? (as is the case in a lot of places) some dodgy looking characters, some rude people...but doesnt every city have these? Some really beautiful parts to Paris, great architecture, amazing food (not everywhere), some lovely and friendly people too. It had some negatives for us too but the positives outweigh them.

Perth - This was the most dull and boring city I've ever been too, WA has some great beaches but there is only so many days I can spend at another beach. Hillary boat harbour was the highlight of the trip and thats not saying much, in WA the Margaret river area and Kalbarri and Esperance national parks were good. Pretty average food the whole trip too, dressed up to look great in a lot of places but the quality was really quite poor, meat in particular (this may be down to climate difference) Very expensive to eat/drink out and for day trips (we knew this before going so we prepared but it felt a bit of a rip off really, we dont mind paying for a good experience/good quality) Had a poor experience where we needed assistance and felt people were friendly on the surface but not willing to stop to help us at all when we really needed it. Parts of the city and a suburb where we stayed with friends for a couple of nights felt very very unsafe at night. Friends lived in a nice area but youth crime was on the rise there too (apparently this is country wide not just in Perth though, we did see a lot of anti social issues in Queensland too, we did not witness anything to note in NSW) Felt WA had quite a sleazy side to it, but again found this in "most" places we visited in Australia (we spent many months travelling there so got to stay in areas a little longer than the average tourist)

Sydney - A little underwhelmed, enjoyed the opera house, enjoyed Watsons bay, loved Katoomba and the whole area around the blue mountains is really beautiful with lots to see and do, but the city itself is extremely busy, overcrowded, particularly when cruise ships dock. Found "in general" the people were quite rude and a bit miserable/uninterested in the bars and restaurants compared to other parts of Australia we have visited, we did have some great service in places though and met some lovely people (a lot of bad service was not from Australian people) we didnt have any unforgettable meals despite eating at some highly recommended spots. Felt extremely expensive to do anything, eating/drinking out was a bit of a rip off in reality, but then so was a food shop, I was suprised how expensive fresh fruit was, but this was Australia wide not just Sydney.

New Zealand was absolutely amazing and if we had the time again we would half our time in Australia and spend much longer in NZ, again it has its negatives but the positives outweigh them

notanothersummercold · 11/07/2025 07:39

Champaganesupernova · 10/07/2025 14:03

Paphos, hotel was stunning but we were really disappointed with the place and the old town . After seeing beautiful places in Sicily and Italy the town for us was no comparison.

I love Paphos but agree the old town is unremarkable

Onthemoooove · 11/07/2025 07:44

Just back from Barcelona and didn't love it but think that was more to do with the heat. Park Guell, Sagreda Familia, Waterfront all stunning but my enjoyment was spoiled by being preoccupied with getting cool. Have vowed never to visit a city or anywhere else that requires lots of walking around in high summer ever again as have made similar mistakes with Boston & Florida.

Other disappointing places were LA - big sprawling place that felt unsafe. Was particularly unimpressed with the area where the stars on the ground are - got vibes of Wembley high road🤣

New York - similar to above, overrated. London has so much more to offer a tourist - I love London.

Salem - was really excited to visit for all the witch stuff but it was dull & overpriced.

Conversely I loved Venice, Paris & Amsterdam, all of which were visited in cooler weather. I will also admit to enjoying many of my UK holidays more than the foreign ones. Some beautiful places in the UK - Scotland Angelsey, Northumberland West Country etc.

romatheroamer · 11/07/2025 07:44

Paphos in Cyprus used to be quite small but now just a long built-up strip with Lidl etc. Not really a beachy person but, thinking about it, did in recent years enjoy Sardinia and Corsica.
Like cities even Lille for a day trip and Munich for a short time, fantastic museum/galleries. Paris, Berlin, New York, LA...except wouldn't go to the States presently....

Keepingoin · 11/07/2025 07:48

I can't think of anywhere I actively disliked. Many of the places mentioned such as Santorini, Capri, venice etc I loved. I wouldn't go back to Las Vegas but loved the experience especially the grand canyon. Bodrum in Turkey was a fantastic break & loved the hotel but it's another place I wouldn't return.

Clearinguptheclutter · 11/07/2025 07:53

digiwidgy · 10/07/2025 14:00

Paris. Unfriendly and dirty.

I def used to this think but went back recently for the first time in years and am def won back over. It’s massively cleaned up

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