Travel Popular Travel Destinations & Holidays You Didn't Like

[emuboy]

Have you ever traveled to a place that is generally a popular destination, that you were looking forward to visiting but when you arrived you found you didn't like it for one reason or another?

Alternately, have you tried to take a specific type of holiday such as a cruise, and found you didn't like that?

Or did you have a major travel event planned that didn't work out? For example, you planned to go on a two year working holiday to the UK, you got all your visas and set off, but a month later you were back in Australia after things went wrong?

It would be interesting to hear your stories.

 

[And_ROOS]

I have never been a big fan of Paris. France, yes, especially some of the more regional areas and smaller cities. But besides the Eiffel Tower, Macaroons and ordering a Royale with cheese I have never really found the appeal. Nicer parks in other cities, nicer people in other cities, and less hawkers/shitheads in other cities in Europe.

 

[HARKER]

I detested the small holiday I had in the Hollywood surrounds, but loved living there years after.

Vegas is an utter s**t-hole unless you get out of the city proper.

All in all, you can find good anywhere is you look hard enough and not simply settle for the obvious and mainstream.

 

[Gralin]

I have found London new York and Sydney all not to my tastes

 

[Total Power]

Vegas is an utter s**t-hole unless you get out of the city proper.

haha so true. Went there last year, the first night wandered the strip, looked at the fountains and thought" this is quite good". The second night, well, we realised had done everything on the first night so we left the next day.

So go there for one night/day. And that's it.

What i do like about Vegas is the art galleries and the Michelin star restaurants. My aim is to dine at most Michelin 3 star restaurants around the world, so vegas is a haven for that.

 

[The Dice Man]

I dont think there is a place Ive visited that I didn't like. I find something great about every destination I've been too. There are always negatives to most places too but they never outshine the good. I think there's a part of me that is in awe wherever I go, just thinking 'wow never thought I'd visit this place'. Maybe my choices are good, for instance I wouldn't bother visiting Vegas as there would be far more American cities or states that I'd rather go to. Vegas would be right down the bottom, and I do like gambling.

 

[Total Power]

I dont think there is a place Ive visited that I didn't like. I find something great about every destination I've been too. There are always negatives to most places too but they never outshine the good. I think there's a part of me that is in awe wherever I go, just thinking 'wow never thought I'd visit this place'. Maybe my choices are good, for instance I wouldn't bother visiting Vegas as there would be far more American cities or states that I'd rather go to. Vegas would be right down the bottom, and I do like gambling.

Haha so true, 20 years ago i was stuck in Hahndorf , working in a small time factory, never thought i would get out of the bloody state, let alone the country. Now i have travelled so many places and i do travel almost on a monthly basis now, i am grateful, not many have this opportunity. Every place has its charm, even Bangladesh, however some places are overrated than others. I blame hollywood for making Vegas like it is though.

 

[Demosthenes]

Barcelona. The art and architecture it is famous for is indeed lovely, but it exists in isolated pockets in a generally ugly and expensive city.

I am pretty good at enjoying myself wherever I go, but that was one place I wished I hadn't wasted my time and money on.

 

[thejockey]

I have never been a big fan of Paris. France, yes, especially some of the more regional areas and smaller cities. But besides the Eiffel Tower, Macaroons and ordering a Royale with cheese I have never really found the appeal. Nicer parks in other cities, nicer people in other cities, and less hawkers/shitheads in other cities in Europe.

Basically my thoughts about Paris too , had 5 nights there and just couldn't enthused about the place at all in comparison to the other major cities in Europe

 

[vanders]

I didn't like London. The city and the people felt very dull. I'm am not a big fan of LA, I only treat it as a stopover destination when I go there now. I stay 1 or 2 nights just to get my bearings before I fly to a different city.

 

[Total Power]

I have lived outside of Australia for so long and i was in Melbourne earlier this year, sorry but the place is a ******* dump. No nice beaches and expensive as **** ,Pretty dirty when compared with Stockholm for example and on top of that they dont say Melbourne weather for no reason. Public transport is a nightmare, it took us one hour to get to our destination in an overcrowded bus which should have taken 20 by bus.

 

[Mockcockpit]

Amsterdam was mercantile and Johanesburg downright scary.

 

[Better Loosen Up]

Bali

Patong is awesome in comparison

 

[The Dice Man]

Amsterdam was mercantile and Johanesburg downright scary.

I really don't understand what you mean by this.

 

[Total Power]

I personally loved Amsterdam, it's the most bike friendly city i have seen and thank * i dont have to avail public transport like most cities and i can explore at my own pace. There's something about biking past the canals and then renting a paddle boat and exploring the city like that.

 

[The Dice Man]

I personally loved Amsterdam, it's the most bike friendly city i have seen and thank **** i dont have to avail public transport like most cities and i can explore at my own pace. There's something about biking past the canals and then renting a paddle boat and exploring the city like that.

Loved it too and hope to go back in the next few months even for just a few days. Very tranquil, yet buzzing city. The Dutch are also friendly in a down-to-earth way. Plus Coffeeshops!

 

[Mockcockpit]

I really don't understand what you mean by this.

Totally and completely consumed by seperating you from your money. Even the junkies could remember exactly how much you'd given them the day before and wouldn't be satisfied with a cent less.

 

[The Dice Man]

Totally and completely consumed by seperating you from your money. Even the junkies could remember exactly how much you'd given them the day before and wouldn't be satisfied with a cent less.

OK. I didn't get that vibe at all. Have you walked the streets of Bangkok?

 

[Total Power]

OK. I didn't get that vibe at all. Have you walked the streets of Bangkok?

Or even Shanghai, the number of time i have been approached for fake goods, women, drugs and other stuff left me amused. But i still loved Shanghai.

 

[Mockcockpit]

OK. I didn't get that vibe at all. Have you walked the streets of Bangkok?

I'm not talking about getting ripped-off. More a cold efficiency in the transactions that I didn't care for. You get a similar vibe in the busier parts of Tokyo and London like Shibuya or Oxford St. It's not anything I've ever felt in cities in poorer countries.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I believe it's all about small factors making up a bigger picture, but New York was really disappointing and I stayed in two distinct areas for a week each. I just walked around waiting for it to hit me but it didn't. I didn't feel the pulse, see anything unusual or cool, and there was no romantic moment for me that it seems everyone else. The people were incredibly rude, the food is rubbish, and as a walker it's a terrible city because it takes a good hour and a half to even get to a different feeling area. Just unfriendly, unhelpful people. I don't get the hype. Maybe it's the first massive city people go to and that's what hits them but I don't know, just seems hugely overrated.

I think Paris is a great city. I was expecting it to be terrible – no one speaking English, rubbish everywhere, seedy – but people were very accommodating, I thought the architecture was beautiful, and it had a nice ambience to the place with a lot of areas being quite... cool, nice looking people as well and some decent second hand shopping. I expected it to be a dump but yeah, nice place.

I feel Berlin, Barcelona are hugely overrated. The service in Berlin is really bad and I felt like a lot of people there mistook cool and arty for just dressing like a twat, being rude, and taking drugs. Germans are quite odd people as well and from what I saw a lot of cities were so ruined in the war that they're just homogenised looking half-modern things now. Barcelona has this rep as a party city but it was just full of *in Aussies... some of the bars are okay but it's by no means that happening or anything. Not sure how I feel about Amsterdam either but I was drunk most of the time so who cares.

 

[Great8]

I believe it's all about small factors making up a bigger picture, but New York was really disappointing and I stayed in two distinct areas for a week each. I just walked around waiting for it to hit me but it didn't. I didn't feel the pulse, see anything unusual or cool, and there was no romantic moment for me that it seems everyone else. The people were incredibly rude, the food is rubbish, and as a walker it's a terrible city because it takes a good hour and a half to even get to a different feeling area. Just unfriendly, unhelpful people. I don't get the hype. Maybe it's the first massive city people go to and that's what hits them but I don't know, just seems hugely overrated.

I think Paris is a great city. I was expecting it to be terrible – no one speaking English, rubbish everywhere, seedy – but people were very accommodating, I thought the architecture was beautiful, and it had a nice ambience to the place with a lot of areas being quite... cool, nice looking people as well and some decent second hand shopping. I expected it to be a dump but yeah, nice place.

I feel Berlin, Barcelona are hugely overrated. The service in Berlin is really bad and I felt like a lot of people there mistook cool and arty for just dressing like a twat, being rude, and taking drugs. Germans are quite odd people as well and from what I saw a lot of cities were so ruined in the war that they're just homogenised looking half-modern things now. Barcelona has this rep as a party city but it was just full of ****in Aussies... some of the bars are okay but it's by no means that happening or anything. Not sure how I feel about Amsterdam either but I was drunk most of the time so who cares.

Having been to Europe several times and spending over 2 years in Europe I have to agree with you on Barcelona. Spain has so many awesome cities and towns to visit that are a miles better. Barcelona and Athens were probably my two least favoured cities in Europe

 

[Papa G]

The Gold Coast is ******* s**t.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Having been to Europe several times and spending over 2 years in Europe I have to agree with you on Barcelona. Spain has so many awesome cities and towns to visit that are a miles better. Barcelona and Athens were probably my two least favoured cities in Europe

I think it's one of those self-fulfilling cities. It's really talked up especially amongst Aussies and as a result it's probably the first place people fly to from London and therefore it's associated with the buzz of a new continent. New York and London similar.

To me it just never delivered on this hardcore party vibe it's tossed up as having and during the day it's basically overrun with tourists. The attractions are okay and it's a nice enough town on its own, but it suffers from a lot of the major issues of other popular cities (hawkers, opportunists) without having enough of its own grace and fame actually coming through. You go to Paris and see the iconic landmarks but also the people dress like you'd expect and it has a sense of style and that smugness it's known for, you go to London and it's got those things... but in Barcelona you have to sort of go out a fair way to get a sense of the real people and the Catalan flags hanging and by then it's almost a depressing sort of working class area.

It wasn't Ibiza but it wasn't quaint, it wasn't dripping with trendy and cool, and it wasn't like... I dunno, it's just a weird city.

Spain is a nice place though but then again Italy and Portugal and s**t are awesome and you could spend three months going to all these cities for four nights and drinking beers in city plazas and hanging on beaches. That's how I'd spend my next big trip.

 

[raskolnikov]

Bucharest. I absolutely loved the rest of Romania but Bucharest is a dump.