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Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

916 replies

NickiFury · 31/07/2016 18:33

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.

OP posts:
namechangingagainagain · 21/08/2016 18:35

Loved Bergamo and Venice (thought it would be too touristy and smelly). Loved all of Germany.

Hated both Florida and Colorado. Going to get to new York at some point as I've been told Id like that bit if US

pinkmagic1 · 21/08/2016 18:42

Blanes on the Costa Brava left me cold. Sounded nice but just had no soul. Loved Prague and wasn't really expecting too. Pictured grey communist style apartment blocks in my head and it was so not like that.

namechangingagainagain · 21/08/2016 18:48

Oh and DH has just reminded me of my hatred of Cornwall. I wanted to love it-i really did. We went camping 4 yrs ago. The weather was crap in august. Everywhere was£££. And the sea was rough..... Still have flashbacks about nearly losing ds then aged 2 when he fell over when paddling and started to get sucked out to sea by the force of the waves. St Ives was pretty but so full of people .

SlinkyVagabond · 21/08/2016 18:52

Not on the same scale as some, but our first holiday after ds1, he was about 14months, we were skint. Dh's aunt lent us her caravan near Filey. I was fucking ungrateful- unimpressed. We got there and it was a luxury caravan, weather was fantastic, playground was great, we could walk to Filey, get the bus to Scarborough where we walked miles around hidden gems and ds could play on the beach.It was nothing special compared to hols we've had since, but it was perfect. Probably too perfect as 9 months later -dtwins.

Ilovecharliecat · 21/10/2016 23:47

Lindos in Rhodes, when the rep unlocked our room, the previous occupants were still asleep in bed, I was NOT impressed, said rep had to throw them out and change the bed (ewww), bath/shower was like a large Belfast sink, the curtain didn't fully cover the widow and there was no air conditioning so we had to hire a fan off the reps, needless to say we moved to a different resort the next day. (And pay about £50 for the privelidge) I think it was a ploy by the reps to have accommodation for their friends and family....it was shit. Rhodes town was lovely, but I don't think I'd ever go back.

Florida was great, even my DH who was dreading it really enjoyed

Bodicea · 11/11/2016 08:47

Venice - went for the first 4 nights of our honeymoon. I hated the lack of open spaces, I felt claustrophobic caged in after a couple of days. There were no decent restaurants and the place was devoid of life in the evenings. Nobody actually lives there so it's strangely lacking in ahtmosphere.
To top it off we both got d&v and we're confined to our tent tiny hotel rooms for a good chunk of it.

littleme2016 · 15/11/2016 21:59

Hated Torremolinos. May have had something to do with the fact we went in Feb, it rained and was freezing for the time we were there. We were based at a hotel way outside the city centre with ominous food, dirty rooms, a broken shower. Nothing to do, lots of things closed. We're meant to be there for a week. Checked out after day four and came home.

Loved Salou - didn't think I would. Flat, clean, friendly people, accommodation nice and central, good food.

Still undecided on Barcelona. Went there during a day trip while in Salou. First impressions too noisy, too busy and dusty. But would be willing to give it another proper go for a few days.

travelmad · 15/11/2016 22:17

Wouldn't go back: Tunis, Vienna

Loved: Reykjavik, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Bruges

galaxygirl45 · 01/12/2016 13:25

I adored NYC - everything was so familiar but new at the same time, we wandered miles through back streets and off the tourist path. I'll never forget standing on the WTC site and feeling goosebumps, something very tangible there. Statue of Liberty amazing too, thinking of all those who passed her on their way to a new life.

Prague - utter hellhole, went for 4 days and wanted to come home on the 1st. Gorgeous buildings and cobbled streets but unbelievably English and commercialised, struggled to find decent food apart from hotel and got really stressed with walking groups everywhere and those stupid segway machines being ridden at you. Also horribly expensive. Such an overwhelming disappointment, and we went for daughter's 21st. She's scared of flying so NY was out of the question. Wished we'd booked London instead.

Bobochic · 01/12/2016 13:26

Florida is horrible. And I'm always disappointed by Spain - it ought to be nice but somehow isn't.

Frazzled2207 · 01/12/2016 17:38

Loved - Hong Kong, Melbourne, Granada, most places in Germany, Cuba (wasn't beautiful but absolutely fascinating), Istanbul, most places in Spain (but not the resort towns), Scotland (when the sun shone, especially Skye), Boston and Washington DC. NY not so much but lots of stuff to do there.

Meh - Auckland, Vienna, Bahamas, Barbados (all very dull), Athens, Sharm-el-Sheikh, LA

rollerderbyannie · 06/01/2017 20:56

Loved Florida, NYC, LA and Vancouver. Washington DC also lovely, lots of greenery and Georgetown is a lovely area.

Also love Majorca but not so keen on the Canaries

TartYvette · 06/01/2017 21:04

Lanzarote. Unexpectedly lovely. We went in November 15 years ago and stayed in a small village called Arrieta. We didn't go near the two (at the time) main tourist areas but the island was so clean and well maintained and the people and food fantastic. So much so we went back to the same place 6 months later but never since Sad

Backingvocals · 06/01/2017 21:07

Loved Seville.

Hated Cyprus.

Backingvocals · 06/01/2017 21:12

Who on earth thinks London is boring? I could understand hating it (although not really Grin) but boring?

Berlin I didn't really get. Mainly because it wasn't like being Liza Minnelli in Cabaret.

ShotgunNotDoingThePans · 06/01/2017 21:26

On a Canarian theme -La Gomera. Went for a few days' sun before Christmas and were so pleasantly surprised. In fact it's the first time in 21 years of family holidays that all five of us have agreed we'd love to go back! A bit of a trek to get to with the extra ferry trip, but utterly charming and such a treat to get an uninterrupted view of the Atlantic and a lovely fresh breeze to make the sunshine bearable for us Celtic types.

pseudonymph · 06/01/2017 21:58

Backing! Finally someone else who doesn't like Berlin. I thought I would love it, but not at all.

Capri is magic in my opinion despite everything - much nicer than Ischia. It's hard to pin point why - I think it's to do with the improbably steep cliffs - it seems like the edge of the world, but full of Pucci dresses (which I obviously can't afford). Ravello is indeed lovely, especially the Villa Cimbrone.

Auntpodder · 06/01/2017 22:20

Loved, loved, loved Anguilla recently - everything I wanted in a Caribbean island. Always love a bit of Scandinavia. And New York. Would hang out for ever on Bondi Beach if I could. South Beach Miami is trashy and gorgeous. Austin is amazing.

Not really in love with Tobago (preferred Trinidad). Hope never to to go to Las Vegas again in my lifetime. Barbados is expensive and dull - much too Jeremy Clarkson for my liking. Can cope with not heading back to Cyprus for a while...

MrsPeelyWally · 12/01/2017 09:54

Celebration OP: quite simply the oddest place on earth, I thought it was like wisteria avenue and expected wind up people to come out of their boxes and get ur away at night. It's spotlessly clean and plays piped music in the streets. Bizarre place

I found it really creepy. Like one of those pretend towns the Russians used to build in order to train their spies for going abroad and integrating into society.

MsGameandWatch · 12/01/2017 09:57

Disney Florida Holiday. I thought it would suck but did it for kids. It was magical and would be my holiday of choice every time now.

CakeRattleandRoll · 16/04/2017 15:51

Disappointing:

Paris (as a teenage backpacker) - expensive, grey and wet, got followed by sleazy men
Vienna - expensive and unfriendly

Exceeded expectations:

Istanbul - so much history, so much to see, so different from Europe. This was 20+ years ago though, I would hesitate to go back at the moment.
Colombia - lovely, friendly people, stunning scenery, amazing artisan products, incredible variety from Caribbean beaches to Andean mountains to Amazon jungle. Wonderful food, music everywhere, not full of tourists. But most people's first thoughts are drugs or the civil war.

Also loved more than I thought I would:
Prague - although this was in the mid 90s, so not yet discovered by tourists
Venice - packed with tourists, but didn't matter!
Bora Bora - the most stunning tropical island I have ever visited, and I have seen quite a few
Andalusia - especially Cordoba and Grenada

badhotfanny · 16/04/2017 17:20

Sarajevo was beautiful, with such a variety of things to do and see.

WontLetThoseRobotsDefeatMe · 19/04/2017 23:53

Love - West Coast of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Llyn Peninsula, Filey, Cologne, Laos, Tioman Island, York, Phnom Penh, Monaco, St Malo, Normandy. Koh Phangan and Koh Tao - but not sure I'd love them so much now.

Disappointed - Padstow, Mont St Michel, Orlando,

buttermilkwaffles · 22/08/2018 22:59

Sorry, I know this is an old thread but as it's in classics (and also interesting and very useful for ideas) thought I would add a few:

Loved: Seville, Granada, Bordeaux, La Grave (Ecrins, France), Drakensberg mountains (South Africa). In the UK have always like the Lake District and the Scottish Highlands and Islands, especially the far North West.

Liked: Girona, Besalu, Lyon.

Not awful, but disappointed by: Carcassonne (Cite is too much of a tourist trap - like a theme park and full of mediocre restaurants and tacky tat shops, impressive to look at from far away but not that nice once you are there. Thought Barcelona was a bit overrated given how many people rave about it.

As for the comment about Tenerife being "dull as ditchwater. Absoultely nothing to do of any interest whatsoever!"

Obviously depends what your interests are but the village of Masca and surrounds are stunning as is the whole of the Anaga Rural Park in the far North East of the island, wonderful walks in the cloud forests and the hike from Cruz del Carmen to the cave village of Chinimada is one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done. La Laguna is an attractive old Canarian town with a mostly pedestrianised centre with lots of nice pavement cafes and restaurants. You can go up what is (I think) the worlds third highest volcano, Teide, there are also sunset trips with a glass of Cava and night trips for stargazing, trips underwater in a yellow submarine, swimming in tidal pools created by molten lava in Garachico, a huge water park (Siam), you can visit lava tube caves, go on catamaran trips to see the giant seacliffs and go swimming beneath them, go snorkelling with turtles or go dolphin and whale watching, etc etc - seems like a lot of interesting things to me?

secretselkie · 27/08/2018 22:48

Rome - loved it when I didn’t expect to (DH wanted to go), lovely people, amazing sights & great food.

Miami - horrible place, full of insane traffic (made worse by the non stop blasting car horns and lousy air quality due to all the traffic!), scam artists, crazy people & didn’t feel at all safe.

Turkey- best holiday ever! amazing friendly people & so so clean & pretty .. I totally didn’t want to go and moaned about it for weeks before hand, but we loved it so much we changed our flights & stayed an extra few nights

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