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.

Edinburgh is one of my favourite ever places and I loved Liverpool when I went for the first time earlier this year. Lovely buildings, nice people, easy to get around.

Sadly hated London - found Londoners rude beyond comprehension. Completely different once we got out of London.
Loved Paris so much we moved here.

A second for Rhodes. We were massively disappointed with it. Lots of big parties of drunk people, nowhere decent to eat and the resort was so close to the airport we could have waved at the people on every single flight that landed.

Awful:
Norfolk
Skegness
Lanzarote
Dorset

Amazing;
New York
Northumberland
Pembrokeshire
North Yorkshire

I would never EVER go back to either of the first four

Just got back from lovely week in North Yorkshire

Hope to take the DC to New York when they are older

I love Copenhagen - we go every other year. I'd happily move there.

I hate Paris. I've been several times, I even stayed with a friend who lived there. Don't like it at all. Hope I never have to go back.

Other places I've enjoyed: Auckland, Aswan, Block Island, Chania, Dublin, Graz, La Rochelle, Maine, Malmo, New York, Okavango Delta, Rhodes, Rotterdam, Zurich

Other places I dislike: Amsterdam, Algarve, Boston (MA - I've not been to the town in Lincolnshire), Cairo, Edinburgh, Geneva, Harare, Iraklion, Limerick, Munich, Sydney

Disappointed with St Helier in Jersey with a dual carriageway along the coast, was expecting more pretty coastal resort vibe.

Had no ideal that St Andrews was so lovely until I arrived in town a few years back.

Bit sad at the Australia hate! I think racism and sexism varies quite a lot from state to state. I lived in Melbourne for ten years and it's the only city in the world I'd ever consider leaving country life for! For me, there's nowhere I've really hated (well, the only criticism I have thus far is Paris smells of wee)

Gibraltar! Loved it

Some people are just talking about disappointment though cardibach. Cannes isn't objectively horrible by comparison with, say, Canning Town in the rain, but if you went there naively expecting the experience sold to you by Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant films then you're going to be horribly disappointed.

And some people just accidentally ended up in the wrong place. I went on a minibreak to Brussels on Eurostar and one of our neighbours on the train home was complaining bitterly about her day trip and how awful Brussels was. Turns out she'd just got out at the train station and wandered around randomly, without realising that the beautiful city centre is a brisk twenty minutes walk to the north. It's as if a Belgian had got off at Waterloo and set off walking south into Kennington. I love Brussels but I can well believe that she'd had a shit day.

Yeah, Paris does have piss-smelling spots (not everywhere), and especially in summer.
What other things didn't people like about Paris?

I don't know hiw uou can write off the whole of Dorset! My sister lives in Bridport and it's a lovely little town with a weekly antiques market, loads of cultural events and a real sense of community.

Puglia. Been to Italy so many times and never disappointed. From landing at Bari and being told by the car hire company we needed to up our insurance by around £150 - we soon found out why. The roads were pot holed, dirty, destitute towns where we didn't like to park up. Brindisi was dreadful. Such a shame as heard it was beautiful. Even the UNESCO sites were totally underwhelming.

Oh, we accidentally spent a day in Aachen/Aix-la-Chapelle (my stuff up with train tickets), and it was lovely. I liked Cologne, too. Unfortunately, the bit around th Grand Place in Bruxelles is really the only good bit (in my opinion).

Well if you like it that's fine
I thought it was boring and expensive

I also did Dublin in December and loved it! It was just a hostel with 4 friends. We had a 6 bed dorm. Father Christmas arrived at 1am, left his boots in the shower and left again early morning

I loved Majorca last year and am going again in a few weeks. Ds and I don't get out much but we went to Alcudia market, beach and port and found it clean and the locals friendly.

Hated Almeria - wasn't much to do there at all.

Also loved Benalmadena. Easy to catch bus and train around and plenty to do whatever the weather. In fact I was glad of my extra free days there due to the ash cloud!

Lanzarote. My mum persuaded me to go years ago as her and my step dad like it. I expected it to be tacky, but its a beautiful island. I love it and have been back several times.
I liked Dusseldorf, Germany, a lot too. I expected an industrial, dull town (guy at work said he'd been and it was crap), but it was really lovely and had a nice, friendly feel. Id like to go back there.
Hated Santorini, I cant really explain why, it just seemed unfriendly and boring. I love Greece and have since been to other islands and the mainland and loved it, but would not go back to Santorini.
Wasnt over keen on Switzerland, expensive and unfriendly (though Zurich was nice).

Dominican Republic.

Absolutely beautiful hotel. Couldn't fault it. Apart from the food. We specifically booked an English hotel and didn't get it. The food was inedible and had birds walking all over it. What was served at lunchtime was reserved at tea time and sometimes even the next day.

We was supposed to be in an all inclusive hotel and yet spent a fortune on food eating out because no way was we going to touch it

I like Paris but don't like the hordes of hawkers around all the tourist highlights. Much more intrusive than London.

Was really disappointed by Kuala Lumpur. Only went for a few days on a dual centre holiday for our honeymoon. Langkawi was glorious after that.

Didn't know what to expect from Vancouver and British Columbia generally but absolutely loved it to the point it was difficult to get back in the plane after 2 weeks. Helped we were staying in an apartment so got a less touristy experience. Could definitely live there.

Hated Tangiers. Thankfully wasn't there long as it was filthy and didn't feel safe there.

I loved the history in Istanbul, but I travelled there with a female friend and we did get harassed constantly by men, and it became very wearying.

I expected to hate Ibiza (as was expecting to just be full of 18-30 holiday types). It was actually beautiful, and very family friendly.

I also loved Disney (have been to both Paris and Florida parks now) and I was originally dubious that I would.

I love Dorset, most of it. Mudeford, Sandbanks, Poole, the Jurassic coast, Swanage, and the beautiful Studland Bay .. what's not to like... I've spent lots of time there and have many happy memories.

Love Stockholm too but its eye wateringly expensive. Beautiful city, I've stayed at a friend's house who lives there so didn't feel like a tourist.

Geneva. Had a couple of hours to kill at the airport so went into the city, it's a gorgeous place.

Loved Ibiza. Went to the old town and it was lovely. Hired a car and loved the little villages and beaches. Despite staying in a truly terrible hotel would def go back, just not to that hotel.

Loved South Africa safari but hated the second part of the holiday when we went to Cape Town. We were right next to a shanty town in a gated community which was soulless. Couldn't venture out as felt very dangerous and felt so wrong being within that level of wealth next to people living in cardboard houses. Found it hard to deal with.

Hated Miami, too build up and fake. Beaches nice but too spread out and didn't feel safe. There was a shooting on the beach outside our hotel! Over priced shops and no culture.

Belize- thought I d love it but hated it. Was trying to do on shoestring budget and thought would do as a traveller which actually wasn't really us. It did not stop raining, no sleep as pissed up travellers in hostels. Dogs with rabies everywhere and saw someone get bitten. Town we were in was not pretty and heard so many horror stories about the tourist attractions I didn't feel safe. We left early.

Mumma totally agree. Really didn't like Kuala Lumpur, but love love Langkawi too! Wasn't there long enough but want to go back.

Happy to see the Benalmedena love. We're going later this year, really wasn't sure what to expect.