Most disappointing destinations

[footy99]

$2K ....ouch how did they work that ? I only ask as fore warned is hopefully fore armed.

Booked the whole 2 months with accommodation, travel and everything sorted. Paid for it and they said come back to get the tickets the next day.

Next day, they said they couldn't get the train ticket for the first place and another one later. So it won't work. We'll refund everything back to your card and it will be all sorted in 3 working days.

5 days later - still nothing. Went back and they said they had just put it through the day before so it will all be returned soon. Next week, still nothing. They said it had gone through from their end and might be delayed due to Diwali or something. Had now decided to leave and wouldn't be back. Money never got returned.

Later learned on online reviews I hadn't read beforehand that this hotel sent people to this tour company all the time for the same con. It starts with the internet being cut to the room (as it was to mine) so you can't book anything online. This was another thing I only learned on the last day chatting to another patron who had fast internet the whole fortnight - I hadn't even linked the two in my mind beforehand! Then this flyer is everywhere and the hotel arranges free taxis to see them. They book everything for one decent sounding price, take payment, then can't deliver key parts so have to refund and never do. Suspicions are the hotel gets a cut but I can't be sure about that.

Again, it's just my bad experience though. I was initially angry about it and basically told everyone that Delhi is the worst place ever and to avoid like the plague but then people who stay somewhere else invariably enjoy it!

 

[missafternoondelight]

Interesting read, guys. A few mental notes taken there, thanks.

For me..
1. Macau - Outside the casinos: filthy streets, rude locals, decaying infrastructure. Inside the casinos: rapey sleazebag Indians & Arabs getting all up in my grill, fabricated everything. Did enjoy the free drinks though.
2. Paris - Gross. Metro was dirty, littered with rubbish, completed disregard of locals for any hygiene (coughing all over each other in packed trains), washing ( a lot of smelly people). Had my bum grabbed by 1. one of those hawker guys outside a restaurant 2. a guy on the subway within the space of half an hour. I dread to think what attractive girls have to put up with! Rude locals, unless of course they are trying to swindle you out of your money. Found my bag (an across-the-body travel bag I hold under my elbow) open twice. Lucky I don't keep my money/cards/passport in there anyway.
3. Wuhan, China - try finding a snack that is not: a) dried fish jerky, dried bullfrog, dried turtle, dried insects, dried assorted dead animals. Polluted. Locals will press themselves up against the entire length of your body when lining up anywhere. Cold drinks do not exist. Drinks are kept in fridges, but the fridges aren't turned on, making for a clammy, humid cabinet full of room temperature bottles.
4. Shanghai, China - cosmopolitan city my a$$. Prepare to take the name of your hotel and anywhere else you want to go written down in Chinese, or risk not getting there at all as most taxi drivers don't speak English. Very few bathrooms have soap, even in restaurants.. which makes for risky eating out. Lame shopping due to 17% VAT (things made in China are cheaper in Aus). Be prepared to be near pushed over by locals if you plan on using the subway.
5. Frankfurt - boring.. except for the huge red light district one has to walk to to get to the cathedral / museums from the train station. Wow. That was not boring for all the wrong reasons.

I too was surprised by Kyoto being on some traveller's 'disappointing' lists - I really liked it. There's not much to dislike anywhere in Japan in my opinion... except for maybe Fukushima. But then, I love Cairns and Milan as well, so I guess it's a case of different strokes for different folks.

Venice I have to love out of loyalty - it's my ancestral home, and my cousin Roberto the gondolier would feel betrayed if I didn't like it. Though it is definitely a great place to observe the negative effects of tourism.. and global warming. And impossible to find a public toilet without buying an overpriced drink in a restaurant / bar. Never mind. As long as there's good, us travellers take the downsides in our stride.

 

[RooFlyer]

This is interesting.

<snip for space>

Some of the places mentioned here and in the article are truly remarkable places. I reckon generally it is almost irrelevant which city names are on your itinerary - they can all be great or terrible. And the final judgment will be based on such a tiny sample of experience of the place that it is ultimately useless to anyone except the person who had it.

Think you may have over-analysed it a bit. I think a disappointing place is simply one where the experience didn't match the expectation - for whatever reason. To find a place disappointing doesn't make it 'bad' or not a good place to have visited. As for your last para - the OP simply asked us what places had disappointed us - for whatever reason.

As I said up-thread, Ireland disappointed me. I was there for 6 days and seemed to spend most of that time in traffic; weather was drizzly and foggy and two of the three hotels I stayed at had taken leaves out of the Fawlty Towers hotel handbook. I never doubted before or since my visit that it is a magical, lovely, scenic, friendly, amazing, historic etc etc country. But I was disappointed when I visited it.

 

[drross]

Pisa definitely, London boring, niagara falls over rated, cairns and Frankfurt...terrible coffee

 

[Pushka]

Pisa doesn't really make any claim other than the leaning tower.

 

[amaroo]

Pisa definitely, London boring, niagara falls over rated, cairns and Frankfurt...terrible coffee

Agree on Pisa...but I can't agree on Niagara Falls. Experiencing it at -35C is a life long memory.

 

[NM]

Agree on Pisa...but I can't agree on Niagara Falls. Experiencing it at -35C is a life long memory.

And I found it pretty impressive at +25C also.

 

[Obzerva]

Bratislava, Slovakia. Been there a couple of times for a drive stopover between Budapest and Vienna. Small city with 80's communism style apartment blocks everywhere. Felt unsafe there a couple of times.

I'm gonna get slapped down for saying this, but Vienna is on my list, I actually preferred Bratislava.

Vienna is everything about Europe toned down to boring.
It's a conservative Germany, and really, what's the point of that?

has anyone mentioned Cleveland yet?

 

[jetlagger]

Interesting read, guys. A few mental notes taken there, thanks.

For me..
1. Macau - Outside the casinos: filthy streets, rude locals, decaying infrastructure. Inside the casinos: rapey sleazebag Indians & Arabs getting all up in my grill, fabricated everything. Did enjoy the free drinks though.
2. Paris - Gross. Metro was dirty, littered with rubbish, completed disregard of locals for any hygiene (coughing all over each other in packed trains), washing ( a lot of smelly people). Had my bum grabbed by 1. one of those hawker guys outside a restaurant 2. a guy on the subway within the space of half an hour. I dread to think what attractive girls have to put up with! Rude locals, unless of course they are trying to swindle you out of your money. Found my bag (an across-the-body travel bag I hold under my elbow) open twice. Lucky I don't keep my money/cards/passport in there anyway.
3. Wuhan, China - try finding a snack that is not: a) dried fish jerky, dried bullfrog, dried turtle, dried insects, dried assorted dead animals. Polluted. Locals will press themselves up against the entire length of your body when lining up anywhere. Cold drinks do not exist. Drinks are kept in fridges, but the fridges aren't turned on, making for a clammy, humid cabinet full of room temperature bottles.
4. Shanghai, China - cosmopolitan city my a$$. Prepare to take the name of your hotel and anywhere else you want to go written down in Chinese, or risk not getting there at all as most taxi drivers don't speak English. Very few bathrooms have soap, even in restaurants.. which makes for risky eating out. Lame shopping due to 17% VAT (things made in China are cheaper in Aus). Be prepared to be near pushed over by locals if you plan on using the subway.
5. Frankfurt - boring.. except for the huge red light district one has to walk to to get to the cathedral / museums from the train station. Wow. That was not boring for all the wrong reasons.

I too was surprised by Kyoto being on some traveller's 'disappointing' lists - I really liked it. There's not much to dislike anywhere in Japan in my opinion... except for maybe Fukushima. But then, I love Cairns and Milan as well, so I guess it's a case of different strokes for different folks.

Venice I have to love out of loyalty - it's my ancestral home, and my cousin Roberto the gondolier would feel betrayed if I didn't like it. Though it is definitely a great place to observe the negative effects of tourism.. and global warming. And impossible to find a public toilet without buying an overpriced drink in a restaurant / bar. Never mind. As long as there's good, us travellers take the downsides in our stride.

How very true - aptly humorous!

 

[JohnK]

I have been to 3 of the places on that list, Gibraltar, Niagara Falls and Frankfurt, and did not find them boring.

There are a few disappointing places, for various reasons, I have visited over the years. In no particular order

- Jakarta (too crowded, too slummy for my liking)
- Cilegon (too boring)
- Shah Alam in Kuala Lumpur (had 2 work trips there and found the place extremely boring)
- Taipei (too gray, I found people very unhelpful in time of need)
- Warsaw (pretty but rather dull)
- Prague (touristy but rather dull surrounded by the heavy communist influence in architecture)
- Vienna (boring if you are not into museums and cathedrals)

I can see a lot more disappointing places in the coming years as more and more Russians and Chinese tourists dominate tourism around the world. I guess the people you meet make the destination.

And I heard so much about Budapest, Prague and Vienna and had dreams of going there and when I did go it was a huge disappointment. Is one of the reasons I hate reading reviews from strangers. If you want to visit a place visit it because you want to visit not because someone said it is a nice destination.

And some people would think I would put Brisbane on the list but I think Brisbane is a nice place to visit and the best part of the visit would be leaving.

 

[boomy]

- Warsaw (pretty but rather dull)
- Prague (touristy but rather dull surrounded by the heavy communist influence in architecture)

Not confusing between the 2 cities? I thought Prague is pretty and Warsaw has too much communist architecture. Maybe I need to go there again to refresh my memory

 

[RooFlyer]

There are a few disappointing places, for various reasons, I have visited over the years. In no particular order

<snip>
- Prague (touristy but rather dull surrounded by the heavy communist influence in architecture)
- Vienna (boring if you are not into museums and cathedrals)

<snip>

Hmmm ... by 'heavy communist influence in architecture' in Prague that'd be Prague Castle, and Hradcany Square I guess? Karlov most? Or the buildings around Tower Square; or Mala Strana in general? Awful, concrete block commie stuff. Positively surrounds the place.

Unfortunate that you missed the parks, coffee shops and Opera House in Vienna though. Walking by the Danube is a gorgeous experience, when its fine.

Your quirky views to stir up discussion are legendary JohnK but here I think its a bit unconvincing ....

 

[JohnK]

Not confusing between the 2 cities? I thought Prague is pretty and Warsaw has too much communist architecture. Maybe I need to go there again to refresh my memory

Not confused at all. Don't get me wrong the touristy parts are OK.

I went on a tour with Cosmos. We stayed in the middle of Warsaw and I thought it was pretty but overall it was dull.

We stayed further out in Prague and for miles and miles on end were these dull communist box type buildings. Awful. I see some of them around Circular Quay in Sydney.

 

[zainman]

Bali.........

 

[boomy]

I guess it's all depends on the areas one gets to visit in a certain city. I remember driving in some parts of Honolulu that looked worse then the slums in Brooklyn and it was a bit shocking considering Waikiki was only a few miles away. I'm sure that most of the Japanese tourists will always consider Honolulu as paradise because they only saw the good parts. I still like Honolulu but on my next visit I will spend more time in the other islands as they showcase Hawaii better IMO.

 

[harvyk]

You know what, any destination can become "disappointing" if you visit them frequently enough. I'm not a huge fan of visiting SYD, and even MEL / AKL is starting to become "just another trip". It's not that there is anything wrong with these destinations, it's just when you've lost count of the number of times you've been to a destination, the wonder and excitement disappears. (although with AKL it's been 4 years since I was last there, so perhaps next time will be better)

So far I've only been to one destination on the list, and I plan to go back there in about a week and a half (Hollywood) plus visit another destination on that list (Las Vegas) and I'm seriously looking forwards to it. Then again I haven't visited the US enough for it to become "just another destination".

Besides, I always feel that a destination is what you make of it. If you go to a destination expecting it to be like somewhere else (eg my cousin and his GF went to HKG last year and where disappointed because they where expecting a place more like Japan, problem is that they didn't experience HKG for what it was, they where simply disappointed in what it wasn't) as a result, I've yet to visit a destination and be disappointed in what it is...

 

[DaveB]

Have never been to a place yet and been disappointing.
Had a few ordinary moments including:

• going into a Lyon bar in the 80's and being mistaken for english;
• visiting US cities in the 70's where the police seemed to have given up; and
• effectively being kidnapped by a HKG taxi driver trying to take us to another hotel to the one booked.

 

[JohnK]

Hmmm ... by 'heavy communist influence in architecture' in Prague that'd be Prague Castle, and Hradcany Square I guess? Karlov most? Or the buildings around Tower Square; or Mala Strana in general? Awful, concrete block commie stuff. Positively surrounds the place.

Unfortunate that you missed the parks, coffee shops and Opera House in Vienna though. Walking by the Danube is a gorgeous experience, when its fine.

Each and every city has some beauty.

Sydney gets a lot of criticism but I don't believe there is any dispute it has one of the most beautiful harbours in the world.

That was my honest take of Warsaw, Prague and Vienna as seen through a Cosmos tour. Very heavy communist influence which makes the place dull. Notice how I didn't include Budapest?

 

[codash1099]

You know what, any destination can become "disappointing" if you visit them frequently enough.

Not entirely sure that I agree. Familiarity can certainly change what you do in a destination, although many locations always seem to me to have some things left to do. Familiarity allows me to dig a bit deeper and to get a real "feel" for the location. It also allows you to spend time in surrounding areas, particularly in Europe when transport is so easy.

 

[harvyk]

Not entirely sure that I agree. Familiarity can certainly change what you do in a destination, although many locations always seem to me to have some things left to do. Familiarity allows me to dig a bit deeper and to get a real "feel" for the location. It also allows you to spend time in surrounding areas, particularly in Europe when transport is so easy.

I did say any, not every... There are certainly places where one can visit time and time again...
I guess my point was that for every one of these articles, there will be someone who has yet to visit a destination and is seriously looking forward to it (aka me), or who has visited a destination and is seriously looking forwards to going back (aka me again).