which was your most surprising enjoyable holiday destination?

[ChillyPanda]

We were very surprised how easy and cheap & fabulous we found travelling between the cities of Andalusia in the cool of spring by train. Ronda to Seville then Granada & finally to Malaga . Lots to visit , great culture ..well priced food & drink ! Great holiday

I went to Ostroda in Poland merely because it was the starting point of a ferry. Turned out to be such a lovely town i started fantasising about moving there!

off to look it up .. would love to travel around Poland 😊

Good to know

Chicago. Fabulous art and architecture. Found a great music venue and good restaurants. Lots of great hotels and plenty to see and do if you like art and architecture. The birth of the skyscraper was here.

Booked Lanzarote on a whim for some winter sun in December 2021. I absolutely loved it. Stayed in a great apartment with a sea view and had warmer weather than usual (even swam in the sea!). It’s low key, unpretentious, not built up, and it’s very easy to avoid the Brits abroad sort of areas.

I’ve been back twice in Dec/Jan time since.

It’s the perfect short haul winter sun break from the UK.

Ohrid, north Macedonia. Expected nothing and turned out to be very relaxing and the lake is beautiful.

Brussels

Love Poland. Everywhere I’ve been as been brilliant.

Ostroda sounds fab

Istanbul. We were there in August and I was worried about it being hot and busy, but I loved it!

Glasgow. We went there on the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee long weekend. It helped that we had fantastic weather (I’ve been told it’s not always warm and sunny in Glasgow!) but there were so many great places to see, world-class galleries and museums, some really good restaurants and plenty of interesting watering holes.

Oh no it was the opposite for me I found it a total dump and found the rudest people I have ever encountered

We went to Norfolk last year, near Wells next the Sea, and it was a total delight

Liverpool. Had visited in the early 90s and found it grim. Spent 3 days there in February this year to meet up with an old friend from New York and we LOVED it. I'm keen to go again.

Flew to Poprad in Slovakia and went to High Tatry, amazing ski resort. Absolutely stunning.

Two stand out for me. Probably not surprising to others, but my lack of expectations made them surprising to me.

We went to Dubrovnik years ago, I knew nothing about it. DH booked on a whim. It was beautiful, we had a gorgeous apartment on the hill, hideous for walking down to the town and back, but stunning views. Absolutely loved the weekend there, great food, weather, gorgeous views.

Saint Petersburgh in winter. Fabulous, like something out of a fairy tale. We ate wonderful food, and walked around in the snow looking at the amazing architecture. Visited the most amazing museums.

I love Liverpool!

ohhhh YES ! it’s our closest really lovely beach town .. absolutely love it and return regularly 😍 Wells Crab House has been amazing the three times we have visited. our son loves the crabbing and i love the beach there. lots of lovely other beaches & villages to see there too .. the rentals have got quite expensive now though so we stay more inland

My hometown .. left a longtime ago .. Visit regularly & absolutely a massive improvement there !

That’s interesting - I’ve recently come back from a long weekend in Glasgow and hated the city (beautiful scenery all around it, though). Could not find anything to do at all in the city.

Disneyland Paris. Went for the kids. Honestly thought I'd hate it (I'm a great outdoors sort of person). Best holiday I've ever had.

My unexpected place was Genoa. Went because it was cheap and I wanted some sun, but actually really liked it - nice mixture of tourist activities while being a city that people still live in.

Amsterdam (contrary to lots of Mumsnetters)
Verona
St Tropez, - I thought I’d hate it

Playa blanca at Christmas expected Brits abroad and chips on fried breakfast but it actually was lovely. We took the punt because of the short flight time easy transfer for the one year old at the same and being fairly cheap and so glad we did wouldn't go back because we've seen it now but it was lovely.

Slovenia. It sounded nice and it was cheap for a last minute week away. It was stunningly beautiful and so calm and clean and friendly. So much to see and do - gorgeous hikes around mineral lakes of jade green and sapphire blue water; boat trips to islands, hilltop castles and Tito's old summer palace - like a Bond-villain's lair. Amazing antiques and craft markets and bike rides and fabulous restaurants. One of my favourite ever holidays.