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.

My experience was similar. Some gorgeous architecture in addition to the fabulous nature. All lovely for a holiday, but to live? I found the food very mediocre too.

Durdle Door

Regarding Malmö I was there 4 days - took a train over the border for one of those days. Explored old town as well as new, went to a beer festival that had the flattest atmosphere I've ever seen and went for several dinners out and a museum or two. I just found there was very little nice scenery or natural areas to explore and even people watching fell flat as was so very quiet!

It did get dark very very early also which likely did not help.

It wasn't my choice to go there I must add. My favourite place to holiday is in Scotland, although I loved the Alps too.

Marmaris- like a hot Blackpool.

I'm a Londoner, & used to love it.
But it has changed a lot since I left, so I know what you mean.

Mauritius. Was nice for a beach holiday but I can have a beach holiday in the Mediterranean without flying for 16 hours. Also hated the set-up of rich people flying in to private resorts, hogging all the best bits of the island and never venturing out into the wider island so contributing nothing to the local economy.

The Lake District, crammed full of people. It feels a bit construed Maybe because I come from Scotland where you have so many natural outstanding beautiful spaces with solitude

I love Malta, but hateed Amsterdam, can't cope with dodging in and out of bicycles to cross the road 🫤

Sydney Opera House and harbour. I had it built up so much in my head and then it was just ‘oh’. I thought it was white to be honest but it’s a dirty cream colour and just a bit meh. I’m probably alone in this thought though.

Dublin city centre. I've travelled all over the world and was shocked at the amount of young lads racing around with balaclavas on, the homeless in nearly every doorway that didn't have security and people, who are on drugs or really drunk asking for money. The surround areas of Dublin near the coast was really nice though.

God yes it’s like Blackpool without the amusements.

Also sweeping statement about Ibiza! Let me guess the poster went to San Antonio or playa and nowhere else?!! It’s a beautiful island and lots to see and do that is not ‘tacky’ and ‘chavvy’ if they’d bothered to look where the Spanish go!

We liked Dublin. Found a lovely bar with live traditional music the bog men in the museum were great and dd2 repeatedly saw a ghost.

How weird how different experiences are! I remember being really pleasantly surprised by the facilities at Arlanda airport - I remember really nice toilets, great kids play area places to fill water bottles and it not feeling as much like an overpriced shopping mall as uk airports.

And I loved Stockholm!

@MMUmum i feel the same about Amsterdam. I’ve been a few times and just find it so stressful with the bikes flying everywhere, seeing people with young kids balanced on handlebars, riders being hit by cars etc. I do think it’s a very pretty city and love what it has to offer, but getting around makes me feel anxious!

Cairo. We went primarily to see the pyramids & were, naively, shocked how close to Cairo they actually are.

Tangiers, Morocco.

The saddest was Jerusalem & Bethlehem back in 1998. Having to pass across the heavily armed border between the two countries & the extensive war damage in Bethlehem. I still feel lucky to have been able to visit however.

I'm a born Londoner and still live here. I live +/- 10 miles from where I was born. I've sampled and lived in other parts of the globe. Loved Morocco/Tangier, loved Kōln, loved Amsterdam, loved Venice. Yet: I'm still a proud, unabashed fan of London. I love this place. I feel so lucky to live here. I feel so fortunate to have such easy access to its many treasures and attractions. I love its embrace of multiculturalism (nurtured so carefully by the ILEA, that's another story). I am DELIGHTED that Sadiq Khan is our Mayor. I love the easiness in the mix of ethnicities.

I'm old. It gives me the hugest pleasure to meet, in the street, (immigrant / asylum-seeker / refugee) parents whose children are now doing brilliantly at university and/or postgrad.

Don't know the official definition, but around Brexit time there was talk of Anglo Irish families and it simply meant extended families with some members living in The Irish Republic and others in the UK. It was about easy movement between the two countries.

I second Venice. It was smelly, dirty, felt quite menacing. We lucked out with a hotel literally on one of the bridges which was a saving grace for the whole holiday. Everything was priced in rubles or dollars, once they realised we were British they dropped any pretence at customer service. Romantic dinner on the last night on the waterfront was marred by the stinking water and constant condoms floating nonchalantly past. Then at the airport I unexpectedly got the most MFing painful period and cramps in my life but had nothing on me. Shop owner (male) would not help me find what I needed and in the end a female security guard helped me, demanding he get me assorbenti and ensuring he didn’t over charge me. Ok so that’s two aspects of the holiday but I still remember it to this day being desperate to leave.

Plenty of solitude if you avoid Bowness and Ambleside and head into the quieter more central parts of the Lake District. Lots of places where you can walk on the footpaths and up hills/mountains and not see another person.

Yes, I agree. Loved other parts of Holland but Amsterdam was a sodding nightmare with all the moronic cyclists. I laugh when the UK cycling enthusiasts say how wonderful Holland it - they've clearly never experienced central Amsterdam!

I'm agog at many places mentioned - I obviously have had very different experiences. Love Barcelona, Naples and Nice for example. Somewhere I have been several times and can't gel with is Vienna. Beautiful but somehow lacking in atmosphere. Can't put my finger on it. Went to Porto years ago and felt the same way. Though I love Lisbon. Dd is going next month so interested to see what she thinks. Maybe it's changed. Our trip was saved by stays in Salamanca and Segovia which were both amazing.

I do think the big cruise liners have effectively spoilt many places and wish they would ban the buggers! if you want to cruise about - stay at sea or go to the big ports where huge numbers can be coped with. Santorini, Portofino and Cinque Terre, Taormina, Cadiz etc - these towns can't cope with 1000s of people being bussed in just to do a walking tour and not really spend any money. The Cinque Terre as an example is just ridiculous now - narrow streets ram packed with people, train ticket prices increased and a cost for the trails maybe in a vain hope to discourage some. Lovely at night when everyone has left. They make me so angry. And so many posters on here say "oh do a cruise" for any scenario. Vultures of the seas.

Amsterdam has vastly improved in recent years. We went a few weeks ago and I was really pleasantly surprised. It didn't seem nearly as seedy as my previous visit - which was probably about 10 years ago. Did a fab walking tour.

I love most of the places listed here, especially the cities (they are the places I have mainly visited).

NYC, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Stockholm, Copenhagen, London, Budapest, Venice, Rome, Naples, Dubrovnik, Paris - all amazing. It's interesting that people say NY doesn't live up to the movies as for me it absolutely does. I suppose it depends which films you are thinking of but for me the skyline, the manhole covers with steam, the people, the snippets of conversation you overhear, the diners, the chaos but also the quieter bits - all totally lived up to my expectations. I'm also interested that so many people comment on places being dirty - I don't think I've ever particularly noticed a place being dirty or clean - not entire cities.

I've enjoyed something about everywhere I've ever been, but places I haven't loved have been:

Belfast - the city centre just seemed quite rundown, but I did enjoy the trip to Giant's Causeway, the indoor market, the bus tour with commentary (DS loved the old school humour) and the C S Lewis cafe. So quite a lot really.

Sorrento - A bit bland and just not as nice as other places on the coast, or Naples.

Skye - Beautiful of course but I felt it a bit limited in terms of eating out/cafes. Yes, I'm more of a city person so this is on me.

Seahouses - stupidly went camping with two dogs and 5 month old ds at the end of May. Was freezing, ds wouldn't sleep properly (well, he didn't at home, so why would he in a tent?) and I just found it bleak and depressing, probably because I was exhausted. The final straw was trying to get a morning coffee in a local coffee and only instant was available - it was 18 years ago. It put me off the whole area, probably unfairly.

Malia - cheap last minute holiday with now ex dh. It is what it is but we spent most of our time in Aghios Nikolaos and wishing we had brought a driving licence to hire a car.

All of these places had something to offer though and the ones I didn't like I probably should have known not to go to.

Egypt, the men there are leering and just plain awful.