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 Dublin expensive and not a lot to do. Have no desire to return.
Expected to hate Ibiza but loved it we stayed in Santa Eualia it was beautiful, fab beach. We took a little boat trip from there to Ibiza Town it was amazing sight to arrive by boat into the Harbour.

Surprisingly loved; Cairns, Belfast, Cardiff, Boston, Tampa and Manchester. In each case it was the people who made it feel lovely and welcoming
Tolerated; San Francisco (desperately was red to love it), Orlando and Torremolinos
Really dislike; Bangkok, Luxor and Atlanta. In each case rude or grabby/greedy people wall to wall.

I felt very let down by Zanzibar. It doesn't help that I don't like Indian or spicy food so I had very little to eat while I was there. I waited till the evening and ate grilled seafood from the markets. And the giant tortoises were fabulous. But I'm not fussed about beaches so they were a bit meh for me. It's not worth a special trip imo.

I didn't like...

Brittany - Our gite landlady in Brittany was a nightmare and kept poking her nose into the house, we were pretty sure she went through our stuff when we weren't there. Everything was either expensive or shut.

Ile de Rei - even more expensive than Brittany, locals were rude.

Poiana Brasov - we loved the rest of Romania and stayed in Poiana Brasov to go hiking. We'd picked what looked like a nice hotel and then discovered they had all sorts of charges to do everything from borrowing a pack of playing cards to going in the jacuzzi, and it was very boring. We abandoned it to stay in Brasov instead.

I loved...

Brasov - Full of good pubs and restaurants, loved the Hollywood style sign, and there was a music festival on.

Bucharest - loads of parks

Budapest - loved the thermal baths and the food

I loved Zanzibar, am not into beaches, but went 15 years ago. Wonderful place, rich in culture, gorgeous people.

Have only ever had really great experiences in Cairo and Barcelona too.

Was surprised how much I liked Lisbon, Lake Garda, Isle D'Oleron and the North Norfolk coast.

Had dreadful holidays in the Isle of Wight (shit all to do pg in bad weather with grizzly toddler) and New York - just didn't do it for me. Adore Boston tho.

Loved Rome, Barcelona, Vegas

Hated Majorca (have been 3 times, definitely don't like it at all... it wasn't just the company the first two times ). Corfu was nasty as was Kos yet Kefalonia - part of the same group of isands - is my favourite European destination!!

We've been back a month from Ibiza - booked by my partner and our friends as we went on a joint trip. I was expecting to have to grin and bear it, but it was lovely and I'd go back again in a heartbeat!
A few years ago my partner and I went to Marmaris in Turkey, after being recommended it by so many people it was ridiculous! I hated every second and cried when a couple of girls we met over there (who turned out to live in the same town as us) were coming home the week before us, because they were actually coming back to our crappy town and we had to stay for another whole week. We've both said we wouldn't go back again if you paid us...

MrsRabbitsTwin do you only go to places starting with B?

Brittany is okay in my book for those gorgeous Breton biscuits if nothing else! And for the stones at Carnac.

Also want to add Lanzarote as a lovely surprise. We booked a last minute to Playa Blanca and it massively exceeded expectations.... although having been to Gran Canaria, Tenerife and F'ventura over the years my expectations weren't all that high to begin with!!! I love the Canaries for the weather / cheapness but other than Playa Blanca I've always been a bit underwhelmed.

Closer to home...
Detest Blackpool. Every time I've been I've tried to see the nice bits but can't....
Hate Brean...a mini Blackpool!
Love Brighton and York

Dislikes
Dublin bored me.
Fuerteventura - Actually was too windy and had to hire a car to drive to the sun.
Playa De Ingles Gran Canaria - horrid, horrid place. Full of concrete shopping centres.
Liked
Liverpool for a day/ night out
Lincoln as above
Bath
Bodrum, Turkey a surprise like but alas will not return due to the troubles.
Prague
Karlovy Vary also Czech Republic. A lovely spa town.

I went to corfu in the late 70's when it was a fairly new destination- most went to salou or benidorm if they went abroad at all.

It was gorgeous, brilliant to explore, we went on donkeys or vespas! We went shopping in town and the shopkeepers pulled us into their houses for a cold drink when it was hot.

Sounds like it's awful now, and im willing to bet if you cleared the tourists out again you'd find that beautiful island and lovely people still underneath.

I felt underwhelmed by Playa Blanca but loved Corralejo in Fuerteventura! Don't think weather helped tbh both were winter hols. Tenerife not so great but good for winter sun. Loved Akumul in Mexico but disliked Tulum ..love Kefalonia here now. Love Bruges and Prague. Santorini is great if you go prepared for the sand and the climbing of hills. guess the key is to do.lots of research before you go.

I loved Verona , we had our honeymoon there
Place that took my breath away when I first saw it was The Lake District , stunning scenery

Norfolk coast & Northumberland for amazing beaches

Mitzy I want to go to Bratislava next

Surprised Dublin gets so much hate. Love the place. The tourist trail is crap, but it's a great city to just hang out in. I like walking around Ballsbridge pretending one of the houses belongs to me

Also LOVE Florida. We are also quite particular about how we do it (have family there so go every other year). A week in an apartment in Orlando. Kids not fussed about Disney, but Universal is brilliant and the Disney water parks are great. I could spend days in Typhoon Lagoon.
Love Miami, but only for a few days with kids. Lying on a canopied sun lounger atNikki Beach on Ocean Drive with a cocktail is my idea of heaven.
Anna Maria is gorgeous, too. Have had some of our best ever family holidays there.

Places I've loved:
Jaipur - so atmospheric, albeit mental!
Boston
Washington - so interesting and pretty to visit at blossom time
Toronto and Montreal. Snobbily expected Canada to be a sort of USA-lite and couldn't have been more wrong - it has a character all of its own.
Used to adore New York but, having been there 3 months ago, it was filthy with piles of rubbish bags in the streets and the homeless problem is appalling.
Marrakesh - I think having an Asian husband helps because the locals seemed to think he was one of them and we didn't get hassled at all. Felt very safe there and loved the medina etc.
Belize - we stayed on San Pedro (Madonna's Isla Bonita) and it was lovely. We got lucky because we hit the very end of the low season just before high season began and the crowds arrived. Practically had the place to ourselves!

Places I've hated:
Wales - never have DH and I experienced such blatant racism as in Pembrokeshire. The whole of Wales can go fuck itself as far as I'm concerned!
LA - flat, soulless and boring. Full of self-obsessed people who all think they're the next Oscar winner. Meh.
Agra - the Taj Mahal is fabulous but the rest of it is a dump and full of camel shit.
Cornwall - filthy, touristy, shitty narrow roads, unfriendly locals, never going back!

Commented on this thread a couple of times near the beginning and just caught up with it.

Did anyone have a bucket list of places that you now have crossed off based on the previous posts?

Dubai

That was mine

I now want to go to Kraków, Washington and Ibiza

Poland - went on a coach holiday for next to nothing when I was student. Absolutely brilliant. Headed to the Zakopane area - mountains, forests, winter sports. Absolutely beautiful and so inexpensive.

Cuba - exceptionally safe. (10 years ago) Travelled around on my own for a few days and was never hassled. People went out of their way to help me.

Dublin - expensive, touristy, quite boring. And I'm of Irish descent and love it, but Dublin was a massive cliche.

Another one here pleasantly surprised by Brussels, had to go through work so not expecting anything! Went at Halloween time and were charmed by the decorated chocolate shops, Art Nouveau, Museums, The Atomium, Food & Beers.

Amsterdam, It's not all Sex Shops and Weed Cafes. So much more history.

Fontainebleau- expecting nothing we just stopped off on the way through for a sandwich, DP & I ended up having the best day ever there! Often overlooked for Versailles (which is amazing but in a flashy way). Hardly anyone was there and even though the Château de Fontainebleau is on such an enormous scale it seemed low key.

Dublin wasn't at all as I expected, some interesting history & museums, but on the whole I was disappointed. Very expensive, difficult to find decent restaurants, Temple Bar was like a cattle market and I felt unsafe - we witnessed a massive brawl and riot police.

Bordeaux - it's exquisite ! Reminds me of the best aspects of Paris and Bath.

I'm another Dublin disappointee I'm afraid. I wanted to love it, I really did, and even read James Joyce's Dubliners while I was there to try and engender some enthusiasm for the place, but still wasn't really feeling it. My overriding memory is of that fast food chain that was basically every fast food restaurant and cafe rolled into one. Supermacs or something? There were loads of them!

Belfast however I was blown away by - I visited with work and was expecting something bleak and industrial, but it's gorgeous.

Love Sri Lanka and Singapore; disliked Bali intensely, except for Gili Air.

Enjoyed Florence, but it was a work trip in January. Hamburg was great. Visited Brussels fairly regularly for work and with family and always enjoyed it, but have yet to visit Bruges and Antwerp which I am looking forward to. Did not like Amsterdam much, nor Rotterdam (both work trips). Northern coast of Spain, especially Santander and Asturia was lovely, but not southern Spain or Portugal.

I was surprised that I didn't like Canada very much (dull, bad food with horrible campsites, huge mozzies and frequent drug deals) although the Vancouver waterfront was lovely. Much prefer the US, although I lived in NYC for a long time; have had good and bad trips in California.

Fiji was okay (but wouldn't return); loved NZ, especially Nelson and Awaroa Beach, also Wellington and Bay of Islands.

I have also really enjoyed Dubai and Oman, but these are family visits rather than tourist trips.

And have spent lots of time in France, mostly in Provence (adore Arles, less keen on Avignon; Aigues-Mortes and St Remy are also lovely) as we had a boat share on the Canal du Midi several times, but not very keen on Carcassonne (touristy). Brittany is very patchy for me. We had a very wet week there once in the middle of nowhere, which was depressing in the extreme, but the gulf of Morbihan is wonderful with great beaches. And when DS was tiny, we went to Ile de Re several times (friends there, and we rented a nice gite through their contacts) but it wasn't peak summer, which I am told is to be avoided at all costs!

Saving the rest of Europe for my dotage.