Places that were a let down

[DarcyDear]

Have you ever been anywhere on holiday and felt it wasn’t what you thought it would be? My friend is just back from New York and absolutely hated it. I’ve never been let down by a holiday but I remember being really taken aback at the levels of poverty and homelessness when I visited Los Angeles in my youth.

Agree about Paphos unrecognisable from years ago and didn't rate Taormina but that not helped by spell of awful weather there.
Some strange (to me) takes on Carcassonne which I really enjoyed in September last year. Wonder what those posters expected. There are good restaurants and good shops, it's pleasant to walk around and those shops round the castle though busy are not particularly tacky. Also didn't notice any "braying Chelsea" element as mentioned, just pleasant ordinary people among the Brits and locals v friendly too.

I'm onboard with NYC. Had a great time in the museums of Manhattan and central park but the whole place is filthy and stinks. We'd been to Washington DC first and I'd always recommend it over NYC. Also kind of onboard with the Algarve. Was lovely for us to slowly potter around the historical towns for a week with a baby but a week was enough and I don't think I'd return.

Some of the places here though I feel need defending. We've had some great holidays in Lanzarote and Mallorca but we don't really venture into the resorts and hire a car so we are free to do as we please and stay as far away from the Brits (and Germans) abroad scene as much as possible. I think if I'd only ever ventured into playa blanca/Costa teguise or Palma nova/el arenal I'd agree that they were a dump!!

When were you in Dublin? I find the city so dirty and crap now. I absolutely loved it up to about ten years ago. If visitors are coming to Ireland I always tell them to get straight of Dublin and go to Galway or Kerry.

When did you go? We spent a few days there at the start of our honeymoon in the summer and couldn’t wait to get on to the next destination. We went back for a family birthday in the winter and had a completely different experience (absolutely loved it!).

New York is like London but with binbags. So many bin bags full of rubbish.

Istanbul. Loved the sights but the city itself was dirty, chaotic and the metro system a nightmare.

Re Malta DH and I visited about 10 years ago. Lots of history, interesting museums etc but it was a bit of a building site. Felt food was overpriced and underwhelming. Also pestered by random people while out walking.

I agree with this completely. It absolutely is not worth travelling such a long way to go there. We stopped in Dubai on the way and I didn't like it there either although my DC enjoyed it.

Budapest. Incredible food and pretty to look around but there's only so much of that I can do. I found there wasnt much to do if you're not interested in architecture

Windermere is a lake, there are a number of towns on it. It is also surrounded by total beauty

Not sure what you were hoping for from this thread, OP. To me it demonstrates Alain de Boton's contention that you can go away, but you just take yourself with you. You will only find a place as interesting as your mindset and natural curiosity allow.

There seems to be an expectation that you go away and it should be immaculate and marvellous and geared entirely to the enjoyment of the tourist. People live in these places (perhaps Disneyland excepted!) - they are homes, working cities, with histories and presents that are messy, dirty, human and invariably interesting. Writing off a whole country on the basis of being miserable in one city or resort says a lot more about the traveler than the place.

Threads like this attract the glass half empty negative Nellie types. My mother in laws tribe basically.

Going to carcasonne next month so had a little worry
then realised I absolutely loved
rome
athens
Budapest
amsterdam
rhodes
windermere
naples

so I’m obviously not remotely fussy 😂

was a bit overwhelmed and uncertain about Berlin

If you can’t see the beauty in Venice there’s no hope for you really. Stick with your box sets and back garden.

So true. I thought England was crap after a childhood holiday in Southend. Cut my foot on broken glass embedded in the mud 😆. But I've since revised my opinion after living there. Even Essex has its charms. Perhaps that the thing .... holidays are rushed and you are always watching the clock?

Spot on Halloween

Also absolutely adored Marrakesh which gets a lot of hate on here
bodrum and Kalkan in turkey

That's a good description. We used to live in Leeds and went to Dublin when we still lived there. I expected more from a capital city.

Also, the number of beggars on the streets was nothing like I had come across before - this was in 1988, so nothing like it is today.

Bali (in 1996) was not what we expected either. I liked it but was disappointed at the amount of ribbon development along all the roads. The lovely photo of the tiered paddy fields is not typical of Bali. It is just in one small area.

New York is an incredible place. How can anyone be so fixated on the weeds on the road or the dirt when you've got that incredible skyline to look at.

I cannot stand travel whiners. Stick to Wetherspoons then.

The Great Barrier Reef

I think people expect NY to be a cross between Dubai and Disneyland.

Yes. Awful holiday there. Never going back

Egypt

Paris - dump
Greece - visited 3 islands, all were dirty and smelly