Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

[NickiFury]

Torremolinos - ex booked it and I really didn't want to go. It was beautiful, amazing food, beach, perfect for kids, been back loads since.

Thailand - I hated it from the moment I left Bangkok airport, Krabi down by the coast was ok but the rest of the time was awful, I actually cried with relief when we touched down at Heathrow.

Hated Barbados, kept getting pestered by drug dealers in the clubs and tbh it was quite boring.
Dubai, it was sooo hot and full of rich wannabes.
Loved the Maldives, it was utterly beautiful.

Unexpected gems for me were Antwerp and Ghent in Belgium. Bruges is also lovely but I had expected that. Also most Eastern European capitals, with the notable exception of Bucharest. Didn't get a good vibe there at all. Prague is lovely, as is Budapest and Warsaw. I love the mittel-European history of these places.
Sardinia is gorgeous, but it helps if you have a local friend who can take you to all the secluded unfrequented beaches.
Love Istanbul and Bodrum in Turkey.
Rome is my fave city in the world
Love HK but I used to live there
Cuba, it was grotty in parts and run down, but I had the best time ever. We weren't restricted to the compound (cheaper area) so visited loads of places and met a lot of Cubans.
Moscow in the Soviet period was intriguing, Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad) was crumbling splendour from afar. Foul drinking water though.
In the UK I did the Pennine trail and enjoyed it immensely despite the inclement weather.

Dislikes
Switzerland is a little too twee and dull for me.
Frankfurt reminds me of sweaty pork, the overriding smell in the evenings was of boiled lard. I'm veggie so cannot bear the smell of bacon or anything porky as it is, but all those boiled sausages came together in one memorable big stinky cloud. Disclaimer, I was pg at the time. Still haven't been back though.
Tenerife - got a cheap holiday in I can't remember what part, hotel was full of drunken toothless louts (and those were just the women!), the beaches were next to the port and disappointing and the water was freezing. Am enticed by the favourable reports of Lanzarote though.
Great Yarmouth is a hellhole. Norwich is lovely though.
Dublin was a disappointment

Other than that I've liked most places I've visited, but then I do try and research before going, so as to avoid the most common tourist pitfalls, eg. India during monsoon season, Milan in August etc...

Underwhelmed by:

• Florence: subsumed by traffic, grubby, crowded
• Paris - architecturally samey, covered in graffitti and dog shit
• Cairo: chaotic, grubby, uncomfortable

In contrast to places I had no expectations of but loved:

• Lisbon: gorgeous, unspoiled, great food
• Bordeaux: packed with history, friendly locals, great coutrside surrounding

Istanbul: cahotic, grubby, wonderful

Budapest - scruffy, rude people, awful food - it was just grim.
Berlin on the other hand, great, super restaurants, friendly people, lots to see, amazing food etc. It's a great destination for a short break.

And I have been to Dublin many many times and there is nothing to do (book of Kells excepted) that doesn't involve booze. Never got the vibe there at all. Galway is fabulous though

This is a really interesting read!
Really agree with Berlin being a fantastic place to visit. I was surprised how much I loved it.
Washington is stunning- so clean and there is a real atmosphere there of it being somewhere special.
Sam Francisco is just amazing and Alcatraz is just the most fascinating place.
Kraków is a must for a short break- beautiful and a trip to Auschwitz is easily done from there. Truly the most sobering and terrifying place I have ever visited but an absolute must for anyone to gain some perspective and grasp the realities of mistakes the world still hasn't learned from. I will never forget it.
Also agree with the comments about Sidari- hideous place. Albufeira is nearly as bad.
I'm also not a lover of Paris- filthy, seedy place with the most rude people I've ever encountered and I've been a few times and not changed my view. My OH hates it as well.

Poor old Florence and Paris. I could happily spend weeks and weeks in both those cities.

We love Lanzarote and I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as we did. Playa Blanca is lovely especially the marina rubicon part. So much more reasonable for car hire and eating/drinking than Costa del sol.
I found Miami very very underwhelming and had a very cold/unfriendly vibe.

Fuerteventura. Grey, lifeless and miserable. Like something out of a JG Ballard novel. There is nothing nice about Fuerteventura.

Loved Iceland, Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh and up to Hanoi), Lao, Barcelona.
Really disliked Chengdu (been several times to China through work and always try and extend a little).

Oddly though, my biggest surprise and possibly favourite break was to a static caravan at Crimdon Dene campsite, on the coast near Hartlepool between a colliery and a power station. DH was doing a bungee jump locally and as we had too many DCs under 12 at that point to book travellodge or similar I booked the caravan thinking we'd only stay one night, then go off to the jump and head home. The van was basic but very clean. The beach allowed campfires. We collected driftwood and sat around singing until really late at night, staring into the coloured flames then had to carry the two youngest back up the boardwalk to the top of the cliff. It was really magical. we ended up staying all 3 nights.

In Florence's defence - it IS horribly crowded, hot, humid and overwhelmed with tourists from Easter to Oct and it stinks of Vespa fumes. Its also full of substandard restaurants that can survive, because so many people just come for the day and don't really care what they eat. However, if you go out of season and accept that its going to be cold and damp you can have a lovely time in the wonderful museums, which are nice and quiet, and if you read restaurant reviews and seek out the good places you can eat very well. Its hard to make a real connection with the locals, because they're jaded by the tourist-hellhole they live/work in, but Florence itself is still a lovely place that's packed with amazing treasures. Just don't go in the summer months.

Unimpressed with Bali, also hate Cuba (have had to go several times for work) horrible apartheid between tourists and locals with myth they are all cheery, salsa-loving dudes. New York I can live without, much prefer LA.

Love the Greek islands, Turkey, South Africa, Hong Kong and Australia esp Melbourne, my favourite city.

Unexpectedly loved Las Vegas - kids loved it too - great vibe, good food, super hotels, fantastic customer service and entertainment.

Disappointed in LA - boring, sprawling car-filled city - just one big traffic jam, though a couple of good places to go - Griffith Park observatory and J Paul Getty museum: both above the urban sprawl - good view of LA from both these places - it's best seen at a distance :)

Prauge - SO overrun with tourists and rip-offery and disappointing, strange food - I seem to recall going to a restaurant and being amused that most of the food on offer came served with melted cheese on top as standard (steak + cheese, chicken escalopes + cheese, sausages + cheese...the list went on and on)

France - sorry. Didn't like. Couldn't get used to the fact that the French stuck to a strict lunchtime and dinnertime opening hours, so we could just wander into a restaurant whenever.

Krakow - loved this city (10 years ago) relaxed, friendly vibe, excellent food, lots to see and do - hoping it hasn't changed too much when we visit later this month :)

New York was not nice, what's so wonderful about a load of high rise buildings? The food was piles and piles of shite, apart from Eatalie which was great but very crowded.

Los Angeles is not a town . Beverley Hills was ok though. San Diego was lovely, Don't get me started on Mexico (admittedly it was tourist Mexico that we saw) Ponies painted to look like zebras fgs. Universal and Disney were fun.

Oh and love Florence

Hate Iceland.

Loved- Kraków. We went to visit Auschwitz to pay respects to ancestors who died there, but didn't expect Kraków to be so fabulous. Lovely people, very honest and eager to help, cheap, lovely town square with tons of restaurants, loads to see and do. I would happily move there!

Hated- Los Angeles. So much traffic, ugly buildings, superficial people. Not for me.

Hated Albufeira and Sidari. Was a bit disappointed with halkidiki

Absolutely love Rhodes, kos, fuerteventura and crete

I've been lucky enough to travel a lot and have some new favourites and not so favourites this year!

Loved: Uganda, the most beautiful country I've ever been to. The wildlife, the people, the landscapes - I have a craving to go back.

Another country I fell in love with was Nicaragua, we combined the trip with Costa Rica and while Costa Rica was more tourist orientated, Nicaragua still felt wild and unspoilt and I felt like I was properly exploring!

Unexpectedly loved Mallorca, went for a long weekend with girlfriends and it was perfect for us, lots of lovely restaurants and great scenery.

Dubai was soulless but fascinating (loved the hot Milton Keynes description)

Off to Crete next week to see the family, Chania is truly one of the most gorgeous places I know and I would recommend the area to anyone having been visiting for over 20 years.

We have booked to go to the Dominican Republic for Christmas, but I plan to lay by a pool in the sun for a week without moving so hopefully it will be okay!

My aims next year are Croatia and Canada, but after reading this thread I'm also going to try to fit in a break to Kraków, and visit Auschwitz. What a great thread, I'm going to go back and read it again from the beginning and make a list!

I wasn't that keen on Bruges.

It was pretty but it lacked soul. There was no sense of any real life going on there, just chocolate box tourist stuff.

Paris - been 3 times and nope still can't stand the place
Barcelona - FAB, FAB, FAB can't wait to go back
Ibiza - just come back from my 5th or 6th visit and yep still fantastic
Florida - I adore Florida but we are particular on how we do it. Orlando is fantastic but if you stay in a great resort and don't do Disney (we only do Seaworld and Universal at a push and only at specific times of the year where very few queues) Also the west coastline of Anna Maria Island, Sarasota, Naples, Clearwater are stunning. The Keys are amazing, Tampa airport much much nicer to fly in and out of than very busy Orlando airport.
Prague - I absolutely loved it when I went but only popped in for a couple of days for business during the week, I suspect if I had gone on a full on stag/hen party weekend I would hate it.
Dublin - been 4 times and experienced it once as my own hen, once as a couple, once visiting a friend and once on a work social and every time was amazing, loved it.
Thailand - loved
Malaysia - loved
Las Vegas...hmmmm it was okay and there are some cool things to see and experience but couldn't handle longer than 2 days.
Dubai - Urrrrgghhhh can't bear the place, struggle to find many redeeming features to be honest. Most of the British colleagues I came across had this sanctimonious air about them as if the had truly "made it". Horrible place
Budapest - loved but didn't like graffiti but you get that a lot I suppose
Greece - been many times and to many different parts and always love it, the people, the food, the scenery is beautiful.

Love this thread. Disappointed to see the comments on Dublin - I think perhaps people need to step away from the typical tourist attractions and areas?

I have recently been to 2 family holiday home accommodations (I'd rather not give the exact exact locations in case I'm identified and offend or appear ungrateful). One was the Algarve and the other was the south east coast of Spain. Found both extremely ugly, just didn't appeal to me at all; over crowded, over developed, no nice scenery, run down, I could go on... I imagine that people go for the beaches, pools and heat?

Loved
The black Forrest Germany
Northern Lake Garda (in September)
Brittany
Edinburgh
Venice, but only for one day.

Switzerland is next on our list

Out of season is the time to go to Florence and Venice. Managed to just stroll into the big tourist attractions with no lining up at all. Going to Rome next year in February so hoping for similar there.

Love love love London and Paris. When you live in the blandness that is suburban Australia they're magical places.