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.

Just what I was about to say. So many MNers seem to think every town, city, country they visit should be set up to entertain them. It's ridiculous, and honestly, all this talk of how "boring" a place is, and those who complain that tourists have ruined a place!!!

Travel really is wasted on so many people.

Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s a beautiful city. We’d spent 3 weeks travelling around Italy and it was the last place we visited, and it was just our least favourite. I think by then we were all galleried-and-museumed out tbh.

I do have to agree with some posters upthread though. I’ve been to many places in the UK and abroad, and never had a bad holiday. If you’re positive you can take something good away from every place you visit. Nowhere is perfect and there’s always going to be something you don’t like about a place, but to go somewhere for a week or whatever and say I hated it all!! I love travelling and exploring new places and try never to have any expectations and then I won’t be disappointed.

I like Cornwall, but found it hard to get vegetarian food. All the pubs and restaurants seemed to serve mostly fish/seafood.

Barcelona - cold, rude staff everywhere, absolutely packed. Would never return.

we went to Rome at Easter this year and didn’t experience any trouble or pick pocketers at all. Thought it was stunning

Yes why not. I’d probably combine it with a trip around Southern Ireland next time. I read about a place called Kinsale, that looks gorgeous. Quite a way apart though.

We are busy driving back from Croatia at the moment and although Google maps says to go through Paris, DH has made me find a different route as he has never forgiven it for being the most disappointing place he has ever been. He found it dirty, full of dogshit and rude people. I don't mind it but it's not on my list of places I want to spend more time in.

For me the most disappointing were:

Rome, 37 years ago to the exact day today (its my birthday, thats why I know exactly!). Way too hot, all the shops were closed because it was August, couldn't even get a bottle of water. I pointedly did not throw a coin in the Trevi fountain.

Kenyan coast. The beaches were gorgeous but I didn't go onto them after the first hour of the first day, because of the aggressive men leering and trying to sell you things, who won't take no for an answer. Just stayed by the hotel pool, which one could have done anywhere.

PS:
I loved Las Vegas, it was exactly what I expected (was 30 years ago though). It helped that I had a big win in a casino right at the beginning and so we had loads of money to spend, so went to all the shows, best restaurants etc. Yes it was tacky and soulless and full of very strange people but that was what I expected. I found it fascinating and the food was fantastic. Surely anyone who goes to Vegas knows in advance what it'll be like?

Go for it and report back!

I definitely related to the ‘too many Madonna and Childs’! Unless you are able to fully appreciate the nuances of renaissance art, which let’s face it, most of us aren’t, they do start to swim a bit in Italian galleries and museums! We spent our time finding the ugliest/weirdest ones in the end. Heathens that we are.

Fiji and Vanuatu. I thought I was going to a south pacific paradise, but it’s the equivalent of Benidorm for Australians. The scenery was lovely though.

But a lot of these posts are people going to the most touristy part of a place and complaining it’s touristy?

I went a few weeks back, and even in the summer heat, it didn’t smell so bad. Some places you walk through and think, wow, that stinks of weed, or trash, but it’s not every place. Most times we didn’t notice any smell at all. Also agree with police everywhere. We even commented on it. You never see a police officer at home!

My favourite take from this post is the amount of places that allegedly feel like theme parks

is this perhaps because theme parks are modelled on real places 🤔

I understand you to a point however, what you’re not considering is that this is a post discussing places that people have visited. Not necessarily a chosen holiday destination. For example, I put Dublin as a place I felt was overrated. I visited as I have family there, not a chosen holiday destination. I also went near Athens, again not my choice but a huge family holiday. Did I enjoy it, yes! It doesn’t mean I can’t feel that places are overrated.

Longleat Safari park. Went about 25 years ago with a friend, loved it, it was a very unique place, fab safari drive through, we had a fabulous day, got lost in the maze and when we found our way out we got a certificate to say we’d successfully navigated the worlds longest maze. This was all in the day of the rather eccentric previous Lord Bath.

fast forward to last year, I was going with my current partner and really excited to share what I remembered as quite a special place, but omfg, it has been turned into a soulless money making place, no atmosphere at all. The safari drive though consists of a parade of cars, so many being allowed into a section, you hardly see any animals, then you are pretty quickly chivved along to the next ‘air lock’ without much time in the individual sections. Everything is over priced and the utmost disappointing part for me is they’ve just about cut the maze in half, we were out in 10 mins (no more certificates) it’s like the current Lord and Lady Bath have ripped the heart out of it and just treat it as a money spinning exercise.

I was so looking forward to it, and it was a massive letdown. The only highlight was seeing the Koala’s and the boat ride.

Dublin certainly isn’t what it was. I miss the excellent second hand bookshops of my youth.

An early poster said Riga. DS and GF went earlier this year and loved it. Interesting museums, architecture, history, good rail service for days out. Best eating/bars were outside the city centre - they have fond memories of Olaf, the brewery dog.

Vancouver ….. horrible place- nasty hotel with rude staff and then we stumbled upon Heritage Street - my goodness that was an eye opener!!
also dislike Calgary, but Banff and the Rockies generally were amazing! Canada-a proper mixed bag imo.

Loved NYC and Chicago, agree LA is a strange place, no buzz, feels empty and sparse.

Just came back from Nice - my god, so glad we only stayed there a couple of days. Horrible, noisy, crowded, expensive, smelly; beaches were disanointing - public ones were packed and no sun loungers, had to queue for 40 minutes to the private one for the privilege of paying 65 euro for two loungers and parasol. Water was murky. Lounger cushions were stained and icky.

In addition to this, pace was full of showy people looking like Eastern European mafia straight from the 90s - and prices reflect it completely. One place where we ate had a bottle of wine on the list priced at 21k!!

So glad that was not our main destination.

About Carcassonne, yes do the walk around the winding streets at the castle. Yes it is full of tourist crap and restaurants with pictures on the menu (beware!), but if you are there, it's what you do.

If you will be in Carcassonne for a few days, go to the main town outside the citadel called the Bastide St. Louis, it is a great vibrant place, walk around, some lovely independent shops and a great market in the Place Carnot (check market days), lovely bistros and restaurants all around there, and much used by the market folk and locals, which is where the real deal is.

If you have time, take a train (short hop on the local train) to Limoux, another dreamy place where the main activity is lazy boules on the pitch followed by wine in the local shops, as there are lots of vineyards and wineries around. A favourite is Cremant de Limoux and you can get a free taste if you take a stroll outside the town to one of the wineries.

The walks along the Canal du Midi are gorgeous with the lovely shady trees. I took a barge trip, but you have to make sure there is English spoken (unless you don't care and just want to enjoy the ride!) and it was so relaxing and peaceful puttering along at a nice slow pace.

So there, you will enjoy Carcassonne if you explore outside the castle area, enjoy!

I absolutely loved Florence! I went when I was pregnant and everyone was so kind and helpful to me! I’d definitely go back.

Barcelona was an amazing city but we stayed in a shithole (poor students) and the found the people the most unfriendly of anywhere I’ve been. Would go back though and stay somewhere nicer!

I absolutely loved Florence! I went when I was pregnant and everyone was so kind and helpful to me! I’d definitely go back.

Barcelona was an amazing city but we stayed in a shithole (poor students) and the found the people the most unfriendly of anywhere I’ve been. Would go back though and stay somewhere nicer!

A lot of people hating LA here - I would say its a great place if you know where to go. I have family living there and always have a good time. But of course its a bit limited if you are a tourist. Though it does have amazing areas with hotels on the beach where I think it would be great to stay - Oxnard, for example. It also has a lot of cool little "villages" where you can rent a boat, have sea food and generally enjoy yourself for a day. There are also parks, museums and pockets of hipster activity. But, as I said, you need to know where to go and you definitely need a car.

Its not just MN - its a real thing and its human nature

Google Paris Syndrome

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome

I personally was a bit stunned by Salcombe. Sooo expensive, full of overpriced shops and families in Dry Robes and leather wellies. No idea what the attraction is, I guess sailing? Shit weather, grey sea but the place is as pricey and as packed with obviously rich people as Monaco.