Most disappointing destination/holiday

[Forgottenmyphone]

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?

I've always enjoyed seeing places even if it wasn't exactly fun.

This one place in Laos, there was a sad case recently with poisoning. When I went it was just this one street with bars playing episodes of Friends and Simpsons. And you could go tubing and drink opium and mushroom shakes. That strangely had very little effect.
The whole place was a bit like Disney's shit hole and just purely there for the backpacker market.
The river etc were pretty. The locals seems pleasant enough but clearly with their eye on your wallet. This was about 20 years ago.
I wouldn't go there again.

These comments never fail to make me laugh. There are so many different landscapes in Andalucía, from tropical coasts with palm trees and mangoes growing wild to sandy atlantic beaches that stretch for miles, to ski resorts to Europe's only desert. To think you have been to Torrevieja and can pass judgement on a whole region and cuisine cracks me up.

You must have had a dull teacher to put you off such an incredible, ambitious design. We had a brilliant tour guide for the cathedral. She showed us how one side depicted God's creation and nature - all natural curves and intricate animals and vines carved everywhere, then the other side showed man's behaviour and impact - all sharp, harsh lines, depicting Judas betraying Jesus. She also led us to a point in the church and then said 'turn around' and when we did we all gasped as the sun was pouring through the stained glass windows, flooding the church with bars of brilliantly coloured red, gold green and blue light. The pillars were all bent to look like tree trunks and yet hold up the incredible spires. I just loved it so much. I am going back when it is finally finished.

I loved Lisbon, my husband was born there and every body made a big fuss of him and he could brush up on his Protuguise which was lovely for him. Can't wait to go again.

😅I disagree but this did make me chuckle

We love Kefalonia as we just want a quiet beach location but you're right that there is very little to do there

For me it was Los Angeles.

We were only there for, I think, three days. I did love Disneyland at Anaheim. Then we did Universal Studios, which I had always wanted to do and I loved that too. Those were what we had planned to do.

However, as far as I could tell LA itself was Hollywood, theme parks, Rodeo Drive and very little else. No surprises there of course but this gave it the feel of a very, very shallow sort of place with very little else of interest.

I'm glad we went and I enjoyed the trips we did but I have no interest in ever going back. For us it was just a stopover on the way to SIL's wedding in Sydney Australia. We'd chosen it because we had a 5 year old and a 2 year old with us and knew that Disneyland/Universal Studios would interest them far more than a stopover in the Far East would. It served that purpose and we made the best of it but we won't be returning.

Egypt - the only place I've gotten food poisoning, but I enjoyed the sites (tip: you need a good sun hat).

San Francisco - specifically the homelessness (and that was 20 years ago).

Maldives - we went for 10 days. I was bored out my mind by day 7. Mind you, this was pre WiFi.
We probably should have started in Sri Lanka or somewhere else to break up the holiday.

That was the other around for me. I didn't want to go to las Vegas but I had to and I guess because my expectations were so low. I really enjoyed it 😆

On a positive note though my biggest revelation was Istanbul - absolutely loved it - food, vibe, the huge east meets west mix -

Tunisia, went twice as a child on family holidays and found it intimidating. That put me off Turkey too but booked last year due to so may people recommending it. Same vibes. Will not be back there either. Also, LA, was a bit shit but that was a looooong time ago.

Ha, me too! (Like a lot of others on this thread). Felt unfriendly and unsafe, and I once worked in Beirut, which was delightful in comparison!

@Crikeyalmighty Yes Istanbul was amazing

Capri - unbelievably dirty and polluted😷!

LA - what a vast, dirty and dodgy dump.

Disneyland Florida. Hot and crowded and soo expensive. We'd saved up and were pre warned and the kids loved it, but god..

I agree with that. You have to go, if you want to see the Grand Canyon. I was only there for 2 days, but it was fascinating, and I saw a great show in one of the hotels.

Almost everyone I know has hated Tunisia except DH and me. We loved it, but we were away from the touristy beaches, doing camel treks in the desert and looking at Kairouan and El Djem. And it was Ramadan so everyone was very quiet. I think we got lucky. Bet it's a different experience for a woman on her own.

Sorry, last one - Naples. It was dirty, ugly and we didn't feel safe, but great for accessing Pompeii and Herculaneum.

I don't think I've ever been disappointed. There's places that now I've been I wouldn't rush back to, but I've always been able to have an enjoyable time overall. I don't know whether that's down to low/realistic expectations or being easily pleased.

The centre of Prague - maybe my expectations were just too high. The famous castle looked more like a cathedral to me. Everyone seemed to be trying to rip us off. I remember getting into an argument with the lady in a money-changing shop. I saw a man chasing a pickpocket who'd just robbed him. Also, when I was sitting at the front of a bus, a man with a knife sticking out of his pocket got on and argued with the bus driver, a few inches away from me.

But we did stumble upon some lovely, peaceful gardens (Wallenstein Palace Gardens?) and the atmosphere there was completely different. And the rest of our trip, to Ceske Budejovice and Cesky Krumlow, was fun. We met many friendly and hospitable Czechs who all appeared to be very clever and highly educated. And the beer was excellent, of course.

@Costacoffeeplease when did you go? I liked shutters & Santa Monica but this was over a decade ago.

Belgrade.

Ugly, boring, terrible food, not much to see. Luckily I only went for a weekend.

Cuba, it was over ten years ago and I think a lot was bad luck but Id try another country because I'd go again.

We sat on the plane for two hours as the nervous flyer decided she wanted off before we took off so they had to take her bags off etc,

It was our first AL holiday so it took us a while to get in to the swing of it but the food was really basic, plastic cups of sickly cocktails etc (apparently you don't go to Cuba for the food, which is a shame because I go on holiday to eat)

There was a storm and it rained for the first 3 days, the beach was destroyed trees over etc, spent the first days inside playing cards. The weather got better and I got awful food poisoning and needed a jab to stop being sick and nearly ended up in hospital.

To be fair the people were lovely but Im no rush to go back 😅

Isle of Man. My kids ( then 15 and 18) took themselves home on the first ferry back to Liverpool! Was kind of weird waving them goodbye, but I understand why they did it. Who in their right mind, drags teens to an Island, not suitable for teens. You may say it’s a beautiful Island and that’s your opinion.

Naples was a total sh*t hole and felt unsafe. Luckily we had hired a car so drove to nicer places like Sorrento every day.
We also did Capri which was too busy and quite dirty despite its reputation.