Underrated / pleasantly surprising travel destinations

[buncenbunny]

Inspired by another thread about disappointing destinations.

What places dramatically exceeded your expectations? I ended up in Aix-en-Provence for a few days last summer as some plans changed last minute. I’d never heard of it. I now won’t stop raving on about it to anyone who will listen. I had such a special time there.

And now I want to hear about all of yours, so I can try to visit some myself!

Thank you! I've been to Seville too briefly which is a lot bigger and busier than Cordoba, so I quite like the fact that it's not too overwhelming! I wish I was there now! I spent Christmas there with my cousin's gf's family. The food was out of this world! And her family were so kind and hospitable. Despite the language barrier. X

I agree, had to go there for work and liked it so much I went back for a weekend. One of the few cities I could live in

Ah got a couple to add.

La Rochelle - it’s really pretty, pedestrianised harbour area to stroll around, little beach, islands to visit, good restaurants, indoor food market, great aquarium. Surprised it’s not more popular as a weekend getaway.

Puy du Fou - didn’t quite know what to expect and DH was very but we loved it!

Alderney - caveat haven’t been for years but so it may have changed

Another vote for Ghent and Utrecht - much nicer than Bruges/Amsterdam. Antwerp is another great Belgian city, and Leuven. I also love Leiden in NL and Rotterdam is fab. Had a girls weekend in Ostend last summer and that was really fun. The beach is huge and sandy with some really nice beach bars. The Dutch and Belgian coasts are generally undeservedly overlooked.

Cadiz in Spain. And Malaga city itself vs just passing through from the airport.
Strasbourg really surprised me by how lovely it was. Oslo (though pricey).

Wroclaw and Zakopane in Poland. My polish colleague recommends Gdansk so that is on the list. Berlin was much nicer than i imagined - and a huge amount of things to do.

Another vote for Jersey. It felt a bit like being abroad even though it wasn’t. Visiting the castles and the war tunnels was really interesting. It was a great place to holiday.

North Wales - Snowdonia area and Anglesey - both amazing.

Aarhus - brilliant with kids

Cordoba is wonderful but not underrated. The patio festival in early May is breathtaking but the city is heaving during that period.
Also wonderful but very much on the tourist radar was Nice and the coastline which we explored by train.
Agree with other re beautiful Slovenia and our recent visit to Krakow was brilliant.

Cordoba is lovely but between June and September, 45 degrees in commonplace.

I've heard that area is lovely! I love England, but Scotland and Wales are so striking and bold in their impressive beauty.

agree on Madeira, absolutely fabulous.
also visited Antwerp recently , great small funky city

Romania, in particular Sibiu and Brasov, also Sinaia, Cluj Napoca also ok. I'm a big fan of Eastern Europe (plenty of times in Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, and already apologies for countries that do not consider themselves EE or ex-EE). I thought that at the gate for departure I had made a big mistake, angry looking people really, and Romanians in the UK do not always have the best publicity. Could not have been more wrong about a country and its people. Had a fantastic 14 days there, the cities I have mentioned are beautiful, and the people are just lovely, always helpful always glad to see you visit their country, and the younger people are just fab - keen to practice their English, and happy to tell you about their history. If you just use the word "multumesc" (thank you) anywhere they really appreciate it, and are just so nice. The train service between the cities is a bit old school, and Bucharest is pretty ugly (and massive) and sorry for not liking it more, although Bucharest Terme near the airport is fab, as is Palace of the Parliament. Not sure how much a kids thing it is, but for adults, it is perfect.

I liked Romania a lot too, impossibly pretty towns in Transylvania and we found Bucharest very interesting.
Went to Uzbekistan last year and just wow. Friendly, safe, cheap, surprisingly easy to travel around. Awesome architecture, museums and markets.

Ghana!
fantastic beaches, great food and wonderful people

I used to want to go to Istanbul but I visited Turkey for the first time last year and was really not impressed, and now I’ve gone off the idea of Istanbul. I think I expected Turkey to be just a slightly rougher around the edges version of Greece, but they’re poles apart, IMO (absolutely love Greece).

Taiwan. I am amazed that it isn’t more popular with international tourists. It has beautiful landscapes and some really interesting history and culture. There’s great museums, shrines and temples. I can’t recommend it highly enough but would advise going at a different time of year to us. We went in August and it was oppressively hot. We want to go back someday at a cooler time of the year.

Cumbrian coast. Stunning, virtually deserted beaches.

@Crushed23 whereas I don’t like Turkish resorts much but love Istanbul -

Bergamo, which the city you fly to for Milan with cheap airlines, like easyJet. Similar to how you fly to "London Luton" for London. However Luton has nothing on Bergamo!

I went there for work, not knowing what to expect. Oh my goodness, it's stunning! The central historic quarter is a medieval UNESCO world heritage site, amazingly well preserved and still in use with cobblestone lanes, wine bars and cafes serving gorgeous food and plenty of beautiful historic buildings to explore.

It's the kind of place that's perfect for a romantic getaway, or a relaxing weekend with a friend. You wouldn't need to really plan anything, simply wandering around the beautiful streets and enjoying what you come across would be enough.

We had a great time in Slovenia. Fond memories of walking round Lake Bohinj and only seeing other people every 10 mins or so.

We had a lovely holiday in the Hague. It was the first time we stayed in a city since having kids and it was very well set up for kids. We did get lucky with the weather which helped.

I have wanted to go there for years. Would love tips on where to stay or what to do!

Jordan is incredible. Go! You can still travel

I was going to say the UK. I’ve travelled a lot and some of my UK trips are as beautiful without a doubt. You don’t get the cultural differences though, and that’s the only bit missing. North Wales is stunning and has loads to do.

I was looking at Ghana. Where did you go? Did you feel safe? I’m considering overlanding Africa, but would prefer independent.

I was in Normandy during May cycling and there are some wonderful towns and villages, many people just pass by as they are going south from the ferry, in particular

Bagnoles d L orne
Domfront
Portbail
Thury Harcourt

Also
Fougeres
Chartres
Bonneval
All worth while to stop over or look on the way

Also if youre into cycling, then Normandy is a cycling heaven. There is hundreds of miles of old railway lines turned into cycle paths and you can cycle for miles - I mean 50-60miles at a time if you wished all shaded in the heat from the old embankment trees. Brilliant for families en.francevelotourisme.com/cycle-route