Holiday venues that didn’t live up to expectations

I do have friends in Edinburgh so I'm not including them!

This is a great tripadvisor on where to avoid!
Though it seems very different opinions abound. Of course.

We went to Edinburgh pre Covid with another couple, had a fabulous week.

Lots of really good restaurants, thoroughly enjoyed the walking tour, found the Castle really interesting.

Only downside was that we flew with hand luggage only which curtailed my shopping 😹😹😹

NotSpaghetti

I do have friends in Edinburgh so I'm not including them!

My brother lives there which is why I am visiting. Horrible at festival time but otherwise bearable…..I hope.

Sarahr

Paris. Filthy. Chaotic. Unfriendly. Needless to say, I won't be going back.

Lately I’ve only ever passed through, but the Gare du Nord is quite enough!
Such a woeful contrast to St Pancras, if you’re going Eurostar.

I live in Edinburgh. Have done all my life. I hate what over tourism has done to our city. The hordes of luvvies who crowd in at the festival - and there are many festivals- are definitely 'up themselves'. It's almost funny listening to them waffling on as though they really know the place based on two weeks stay.

Austria. The scenery was wonderful; the people largely unfriendly, the food in the hotels and restaurants lacklustre. We had a day in Salzburg when it rained incessantly. We took shelter under an awning outside a shop, only to be seen off by the snotty proprietor because we were stopping people looking at her shop window. That’s fair enough, but compassionate it wasn’t. The staff in the lovely cafe’s were surly. We came to the conclusion that “welcoming” is not a word that has any place in the Austrian vocabulary. Friends of ours who went some time after and stayed in guesthouses said the same.

Sorry to hear that Greyduster I'd always fancied visiting there. Sounds like they're pretty sick of tourists too.

That is not my experience of Austria Greyduster we must have been over 30 times, sometimes twice in one year. Always found the people helpful and the food is similar to Germany, beautiful deserts.

Never been keen on Edinburgh. Used to go regularly with late DH for his army dinners at the castle and disliked the dark stone, weather and I hate street theatre.
Also St.Andrews was grim where he played golf. I just think Scotland is not for me, although I enjoyed Glamis Castle and the village.

Love Paris with all its faults, I have sung there professionally and my last trip with my sister was lovely. Friendly waiters too!

This thread is interesting reading. It seems to me that 50% of the time it's the frosty attitude of the natives towards visitors that puts people off.

4allweknow

Paris did not impress. Found staff in restaurants,both cafe and highend styles to be rude, felt ignored once discovering British inspite of speaking French. A lot of places, areas appeared neglected and dirty.

I do love Paris. However we once had a coffee in a cafe that we’d been to several times before and the owner started shouting at me. I still have no idea what I’d done wrong. Trouble is, something like that tends to override all of the good things. I love the Musee d’Orsay though and would love to go back.

Speechless!
I have never heard so many places I like, even love, slagged off on this reverse version of Tripadvisor!
For the record, I have always loved its elegance and vistas over the Forth from Edinburgh and know it well, being brought up not many miles away.
St Andrews will always stay close to my heart, not least because Paw and I studied and met there and I love its clean (if windswept) streets, the sea, the beaches, the harbour and the pier.
I despair at the grot which has overwhelmed London especially when full of tourists but a dawn taxi ride the other week through a deserted City and empty streets and pavements reminded me of how lovely bits of it can be.
Lastly, Paris. Again a taxi ride across the city through the Louvre(!) on a quiet Monday morning as of course the Parisians all leave in August, showed me the city at its beautiful best. Travelling south on TGV trains enabled me to see the countryside at its best too.
I agree about St Pancras but not the Gare du Nord - or indeed Montparnasse. Both were fine, but for crowded, uncomfortable, disorganised and unfriendly try Euston!
I also liked what I saw of Switzerland when I studied there, and also Austria, enjoyed Salzburg and Vienna and have a great affection for my mother’s home city of Berlin.
Perhaps the problem visitors to these places have found lies in the over tourism and they are actually creating that of which they complain.
PS I like Birmingham too!
Perhaps I am too easily pleased ?

NotSpaghetti

Oh, not a fan of Edinburgh - rather "up itself " in my opinion.

Eh, excuse me, we're not all like that! Yes, it's a bit of a nightmare when the festival is on, but overall, I still love Edinburgh and think it has a lot to offer. And there's so much to see and do away from the actual city centre as well. So please, don't be put off by the Negative Nellies or Moaning Minnies - come to Edinburgh and explore more than just the obvious tourist traps.

vegansrock

Anywhere that has huge cruise ships docked
Santorini - the donkeys were treated appallingly

Both absolutely true.

I didn’t know there were deserts in Austria!

I love lots of the places we have visited. However we travel and wherever we go we are contributing to the destruction of the environment. We don’t even have to go abroad.

I love German food, GG, especially that of the Black Forest region. I’ve lived and travelled widely in Germany. Maybe we just had a bad experience of Austria but I’ve never been in any hurry to go back.

We went frequently to the Costa Del Sol in the early 60s when it was not spoiled by mass tourism. We were there when you had a clean beach not a building in sight ,all to yourselves except for an enterprisng man who came to sell us water melon from his donkey's panniers. I would never go to any place overrun by tourists and their golf courses and blocks of flats and huge hotels.
The few cafes there were used mainly by Spanish people who ate Spanish food.

Isthepopecatholic

I didn’t know there were deserts in Austria!

It hasn’t rained much there either

ViceVersa - not sure I've ever done any "tourist traps" in Edinburgh.
I been there for work, conferences, visiting friends and yes, over 50 years ago, organising performances on the fringe.

I used to live in Rome, loved it and did not want to leave, We went back a few years ago and hated it. Like all cities it has grown so much. Suburbs going on for ever and, as with most of the places people have mentioned, two things make the places undesirable: too many tourists and locals weary of the crowds clogging up their city making them not caring or polite.

I agree Niagara Falls was an enormous disappointment the falls themselves were OK but the town was so tacky and I had the worst meal of my life there. I could not eat it and the waitress wanted to give me a ‘doggy Bag’. But honestly I don’t think my dog would have eaten that!

Franbern Yes, happy to see a defence of Weston super Mare.. Fed up to hear ‘the tide never comes in’ - twice in 24 hours it does, people have never heard of timetables it seems.
My disappointment was a long ago first visit to Cornwall, a beach at Marazion covered with toilet paper. I’ve been back several times, to South Cornwall and had lovely visits.

ViceVersa

NotSpaghetti

Oh, not a fan of Edinburgh - rather "up itself " in my opinion.

Eh, excuse me, we're not all like that! Yes, it's a bit of a nightmare when the festival is on, but overall, I still love Edinburgh and think it has a lot to offer. And there's so much to see and do away from the actual city centre as well. So please, don't be put off by the Negative Nellies or Moaning Minnies - come to Edinburgh and explore more than just the obvious tourist traps.

What! Even the suburbs where the disadvantaged people live?

One dark night , 70s, I was slightly lost driving along a back street in Leith. Nobody about except a taxi . The taxi driver stopped me and advised me to leave area as it was unsafe . That was local atmosphere all right--dead creepy!

Caleo

We went frequently to the Costa Del Sol in the early 60s when it was not spoiled by mass tourism. We were there when you had a clean beach not a building in sight ,all to yourselves except for an enterprisng man who came to sell us water melon from his donkey's panniers. I would never go to any place overrun by tourists and their golf courses and blocks of flats and huge hotels.
The few cafes there were used mainly by Spanish people who ate Spanish food.

There are still unspoilt beaches along the coast, still many bars and restaurants where you will find locals and original tapas.

The tourist hotspots are busy in season, but it is also easy to avoid them.