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.

Barcelona, muggers everywhere and quite aggressive beggars

Carvoeiro in Algarve. It was described to me as a charming, traditional and picturesque town with lots of good restaurants. I didn't find it charming in the slightest and most restaurants we tried were underwhelming. It was more hilly than I had expected and both my toddler and elderly parents struggled. We ended up using uber a lot. The beach was nice though and we did a few lovely day trips.

I always find these threads fascinating…

people have some widely differing views about the same places.

NYC is one of my favourite destinations

LA is hot, and hate the fact you have to drive everywhere. It reminds me of a new town like Cumbernauld ( but sunny and full of beautiful people)

Loved Ibiza- found it to be a glamorous, stylish place with great food…though spent about an hour in San Antonio which was a shit hole.

However, I found Great Barrier Reef a massive disappointment. Have been snorkelling and diving in much better places.

Australia…snoresville! The whole continent- what a let down.

Love Switzerland!

I loved Venice, but the Lido was a let-down. I assumed it would be glam, like Cannes or Nice!

Choose destinations wisely. For example Dublin - I found it lovely and friendly and lots to see, BUT I didn't go near Temple Bar or anywhere in rip off land. I don't recall paying 15 for a pint or a drink either, but like any city you will pay for the privilege of being a tourist!

I am lucky enough to have travelled a lot and can honestly say that I took something positive from every place I've been. Yes some of them were not great but still. Having paid a whack to get there, I made sure not to moan too much and find something nice. LA is a case in point. Legged it to Redondo Beach on the bus lol, and took the greyhound bus to Anaheim and Disney with zero intentions of doing so at the start. All to get out of LA itself. It is a shithole no doubt about it.

All places that I didn't like were tourist traps, places where no one cared one bit whether they provided good services or not, and were rather blase and sometimes angry with mass tourism, but the money was coming in anyway!

Worst place was definitely LA, closely followed by San Fransisco, but made it out to Carmel and the wine country across the GGBridge so avoided the horrible sad mess that is the homeless and drug addicted streets.

Am glad to be able to travel, so should you 😊

I think nyc is such polar opposites, the limos and wealth, but my god how the us has let people down there, people asleep everywhere, so many people shooting up, talking to themselves… so so sad. We have a man twenty dollars on our last day and he was crying saying he’d lost his legs in the war and it would change everything for him, we were all really upset, the privledge we take for granted

Barcelona. Just found it had no atmosphere.

We found Riga lovely, went in summer though. Clean, interesting, beautiful, safe. Restaurants were open till late and we went to some lovely ones.
Clovelly. Pretty but what a honey trap.
Loch Ness. See Clovelly. But with added tartan tat.

I hated Malta, most miserable holiday ever, everywhere was so run down and full of the worst kind of stereotypical Brits abroad.

Tunisia - the resort was dull, the local towns were filthy and despite travelling around a bit didn’t find anything less grim.

In the UK have never enjoyed a Cornish holiday.

Completely agree. DLP is an expensive, dirty and crowded rip off. Nearby Davy Crockett Ranch is also awful. Never again.

I’ve haven’t been to Barcelona in years, but I think it’s been ruined by tourism. So many people now say it’s crowded and crime ridden.

I think TikTok and Instagram have a lot to answer for. Everyone seems to ‘find’ the same places at once and flock there making it crowded and shit.

I agree about the Algarve. Nice (ish) beaches, but not much else, and we didn’t even stay in the tacky resorts. I would happily have went home after 2 days. I really can’t understand the appeal.

Jamaica. Felt scared out of the hotel, never want to return.
Thailand. Dirty. Beach that should have been idyllic was covered in rubbish and people appeared to be living on it.
Barcelona. Constantly on the watch out for pickpockets.

This time forty-five years ago I was in San Francisco. I loved it but sadly, it’s obviously very different now. I still reminisce fondly about the Magic Pan, the crepes restaurant in Ghirardelli Square with a view over the bay.

Albufeira is known for being a dump. Its the equivalent to skeggy or Blackpool.

Niagra Falls.

Mauritius, so many nicer beaches much closer. Lots of ‘this is the best’ but many disappointments; Black River Gorge and Pamplemousse Gardens. The capital St Louis too.

Rome. Incredibly dirty. Love Italy, but Rome was not all that. The colloseum was obviously phenomenal but that was it.

I loved New York, it's noisy, busy, crowded, dirty and utterly amazing despite all that. I was a bit disappointed with Sorrento, like so many places everywhere, a lot of the lovely old "quality" shops had closed, and were either empty or selling mass-produced tourist tat. The restaurants were still lovely though.

Funnily enough I read your title and thought ‘New York’.

But to be fair, I knew beforehand that I probably wasn’t going to love it, because I tend to find busy cities overwhelming (although London is an exception to this- I love London). Capitalism is on display in a big way in places like NY and I hate shopping, fashion etc. I hate big loud advertising everywhere, and the pressure to buy stuff and look the right way and all that. We went there because it was part of an extended US/Canada trip and it seemed like a ‘must do, probably won’t get the chance again’ type of thing. Our kids loved it and I think my DH found it exciting but I felt stressed. We went in August which didn’t help because 35° on the subway feels way worse than 35° anywhere else. The city was busy, loud, dirty, expensive, and far too hot. The highlight was an evening spent on a rooftop terrace in Brooklyn, which really was nice. I’m glad I’ve been, I guess, but don’t think I’ll go again. I’m much happier in mountains/fields/beaches/lakes and I like pottering around little villages and towns and markets, so NY was never going to be my kind of thing.

Sunny Beach - Bulgaria (It’s like Blackpool on Steroids). Nessebar, on the other hand, was charming.

Also didn’t like New York. SO expensive and it just didn’t feel enough like a holiday? I guess maybe because I live in London. there’s too much of a focus on commercialism. I did have one great night out at a jazz bar.

Or San Francisco. Too much homelessness to be fun.

India. I got harassed every second of the day. People literally queuing up to take my picture. Men trying to grab me. People constantly begging. I felt guilty and frightened the whole two weeks. Oh and beaches are filthy. Rubbish piles burning.

I also did a road trip through Utah and Arizona which are beautiful but culturally depressing.

I Actually loved Venice, I fully expected to hate it but it was so beautiful and lovely. We went just outside of peak season which probably helped.

I think Barcelona is overrated. It’s ok but you’re not missing out if you don’t go. We did our homework and found lovely places to eat and drink but the whole place feels super touristy in terms of the retail and the feel of the place

My cousin had the same happen every day outside his workplace in Bath. Horrible.

Thailand, hated the place, no matter where you went or how nice the beaches I couldn't escape the air of seediness of the whole country.

The Canary islands, boring and barren

Indonesia, something about it was just awful, nothing bad happened but I couldn't wait to leave, horrible atmosphere like a death sentence was hanging over you.

I'll think of some more in a minute