Underrated places to visit

appledrop

Krawkow, I know its more popular, now but went there years ago and wasn't expecting much.

Beautiful buildings, very like rural Germany, I was expecting much more high rise Eastern European communist buildings but not the case. A beautiful old castle.

Also spent a day in Auschwitz which was a very difficult place to visit but somewhere I wanted to see.

A large beer on main tourist square was €1.50 and you would get a 3 course meal with bottle of wine for 2 people for equivalent of €25.

Also stayed in four star hotel for next to nothing.

I think its much nicer than Prague, which is overrated in my eyes.

Spanish Eyes

The Aude region in Southern France. great wine, food, historic Cathar country, fabulous medieval towns still largely intact with their usual street markets, the prehistoric cave paintings in Niaux, over the border into Spain (Puigcerda) on to Andorra to just drive through it to see it. The ski slopes are something else. And so on.

When it was possible, the flight was into Carcassonne and hired a car from there. Loved it, but no one I know had ever heard of places like Limoux, Quillan, Mirepoix, Ax les Thermes, and so on. The drive across the Pyrenees is spectacular too.

smokie72

Killinardan Tallaght

GetWithIt

The Hague (Den Haag)

Hear me out. Loads of historic buildings and squares. Restaurants, bars, markets, antiques, an awesome beach. Train from Schipol only 20 mins.

Because it’s a business town there are tons of hotels but there’s no demand at the weekend so it’s cheaper to spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday, than weekdays.

PeggyShippen

Internationally I think Israel is a great spot. The food ,history and weather is top class. Their customer service could improve but its a fascinating place.
North East Texas and up into the Ozarks is amazing if you like lakes and hiking and polite service. Beautiful place.
In Europe, Poland along the baltic coast..very historic..Swinoujice is beautiful..Foods good..good value,nice accommodation
In Ireland...Waterford is a gem..it really is...and County Down..Newcastle was lovely.
South America...Colombia is the best iv been and specifically Medellin area..
But America has it all...id retire there.. up around the Midwest.. wisconsin..visit the cousins and have a hugehalf a million quid camper with a car underneath it and a fold out cinema size TV..

athlone573

Waterford and Sligo both have lots to see in the surrounding hills and beaches
As does Letterkenny now that I think of it

Sligo though, the town centre just seemed sadly run down, was hoping for a nice riverside cafe but no luck, huge contrast to Killarney/Galway in terms of the buzz around the place.

Zaph

Hamachi wrote: »

Don’t know if it’s underrated, but I enjoyed Montreal in Canada. Felt like it had a lot more character than Toronto and Vancouver.

Parts of the city are quite beautiful, contrasting with the typical North American skyline. The nightlife is very lively, particularly in summer. It’s also interesting to see how much they value their French identity, without being obnoxious about it.

Totally agree, absolutely loved Montreal when I was there and returning to see the grand prix there is on my bucket list. Toronto is OK but it's a bit bland, wouldn't be rushing back. I liked Vancouver, but again, I've seen it and don't feel the need to return. However nearby is one place I'm definitely going back to, Seattle. I'd say it's probably a bit underrated because you never really hear of people going there, but it's a fun place to visit with loads of great places to eat and drink as well.

Charles Babbage

Slovenia.
Food like Italy, mountains like Austria, some beaches, big caves and friendly people.

North Macedonia, not in many people's to do list, but has a city, Skopje, with a nice old town area, and new town area, all night nightclubs, if weird European dance music is your thing! Cheap bars and restaurants.
Out the countryside, there's vineyards, cheap wine mountains, and Ohrid lake is beautiful, lovely scenery, old town with castle.
Everything is cheap as chips.

ShatterAlan

Dick phelan wrote: »

Inspired by the "most boring place you visited" thread, how about the opposite, somewhere you've visited that's not a major tourist destination but you'd recommend. For me I don't know how underrated it really is but I really liked Busan in Korea.

Do you mean "underrated" that everyone knows about or a hidden gem?


I would vouch for Bannow Bay in Wexford.

fryup

Coral Bay in western australia on the ningaloo reef, stumbled upon it by chance many moons ago - gorgeous!

completedit

Plodiv, Bulgaria. Oldest city in Europe AFAIK

KaneToad

fryup wrote: »

Coral Bay in western australia on the ningaloo reef, stumbled upon it by chance many moons ago - gorgeous!

I was there too. I can confirm, it's a nice place. Long feckin' drive up from Perth though!

Andrewf20

The Wilcox playa in southern Arizona barely get a mention in the guide books but its 1 of 2 places that I experienced complete silence. Its a dry lake bed, total flat in the middle of nowhere. I walked out towards the middle of it. Its surreal to feel totally detached from the world.



Also, taking a swim out in Crater lake in Oregon. Its a bizarre feeling to swim out a few hundred feet and to then look down at up to 1900ft feet of water depth below you. You see you legs dangling and then this dark blue nothingness.

dublin49

ShagNastii wrote: »

Myself and the wife have done serious travelling the last few years.

We went to Lazarote in 2018. I was entirely snobby it being bit a of “package holiday” destination. But it is an awesome really unique place.

I found Lanzarote disappointing ,the lunar landscape is mildly interesting but the towns are so boring and awful,the only reason for me to go there is winter sun,

Mr. Incognito

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Istanbul for a week was hands down the best holiday I've ever had.

Stay in a hotel in the centre not a resort..

Cheap. Great food. Amazing history

Istanbul is such a class city. The nightlife is also excellent, and the food as you say is absolutely fantastic. It’s nearly up there with Rome for stuff to see as well.

Some ridiculously good looking women there as well.

dublin49

San Miguel in the Azores is lovely ,have to fly from lisbon though,surprised Ryanair have not put on a flight from Dublin,Tropea down south of Italy is well worth the effort,fly into Sicily and train stays on ferry ,Mafia heartland of yesteryear but grand now,

notdarkyet

Cordoba in the south of Spain is a gorgeous place to spend a few days. Fascinating blend of history too.

notdarkyet

notdarkyet wrote: »

Cordoba in the south of Spain is a gorgeous place to spend a few days. Fascinating blend of history too.

The Spanish do good cities.

jimmy180sx

Longford

silliussoddius

fryup wrote: »

Coral Bay in western australia on the ningaloo reef, stumbled upon it by chance many moons ago - gorgeous!

Went there to swim with Whale Sharks. Beautiful place in the middle of nowhere, I liked that it wasn’t over developed back then.

notsoyoungwan

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Istanbul for a week was hands down the best holiday I've ever had.

Stay in a hotel in the centre not a resort..

Cheap. Great food. Amazing history

Istanbul was the worst holiday I ever had. It was an awful place for a woman. Constant harassment on the streets, mostly verbal but also men following you, quite openly grabbing and groping, trying to pull you into cars/down streets with them. Taxi drivers taking detours to their friend’s/brother’s/uncle’s shop and making you go in, then the doors were shut and there was the hard sell until you purchased something, then you’d get driven to your destination. It was awful. I felt a constant sense of threat and fear. We actually cut the holiday short, left a few days early and came home, stayed in a lovely hotel for a few nights instead.

notsoyoungwan

notsoyoungwan wrote: »

Istanbul was the worst holiday I ever had. It was an awful place for a woman. Constant harassment on the streets, mostly verbal but also men following you, quite openly grabbing and groping, trying to pull you into cars/down streets with them. Taxi drivers taking detours to their friend’s/brother’s/uncle’s shop and making you go in, then the doors were shut and there was the hard sell until you purchased something, then you’d get driven to your destination. It was awful. I felt a constant sense of threat and fear. We actually cut the holiday short, left a few days early and came home, stayed in a lovely hotel for a few nights instead.

I spent a lot of time in Istanbul, I'm a single woman but I didn't get any of that behaviour at all.
The 'hard sell' is something everybody gets in Turkey, if you just ignore it, it stops, you don't have to engage. I have spent days walking around markets and a simple headshake was enough for them to ignore you!
I never felt any fear and I have stayed in the city as a single woman.
Coastal resorts are much worse and not somewhere I would go to as a single woman, unless you were just planning on staying in a hotel for the whole time.
Friend of mine is very dark, actually looks foreign and not at all Irish, she doesn't get a second of hassle, she's totally ignored

It's a pity you didn't like Istanbul, I think it's an amazing city with so much to do and see.

notsoyoungwan

bubblypop wrote: »

The 'hard sell' is something everybody gets in Turkey, if you just ignore it, it stops, you don't have to engage. I have spent days walking around markets and a simple headshake was enough for them to ignore you!

It’s easy to ignore it and keep walking if you’re in a market or bazaar, much less so if you’re in the back of a taxi which you assume is bringing you where you asked to go, you’re in an unfamiliar part of the city, the taxi door is opened for you and you’re ushered into a building and the building door is then closed behind you, and you just want to get out of there before something bad happens. The first time it happened me, I didn’t know what was going on, why the taxi guy was getting me out of the car- was this the nearest he could get me to my chosen destination, was there a problem, wtf was happening... it’s a routine with them, well-practiced and before I knew what was happening I was in this shop with little I could do about it. I naively hoped it was a bad wcoerience with one taxi driver but when it happened a second time and separately happened my friend, it became clearer that this was a tactic of theirs. For that and other reasons I outlined, it was the most intimidating place I ever encountered. I vowed never to return. It cost me hundreds to change my flight and book the remainder of the week in a decent hotel in Ireland but I considered it money well spent.

iffandonlyif

dublin49 wrote: »

ShagNastii wrote: »

Myself and the wife have done serious travelling the last few years.

We went to Lazarote in 2018. I was entirely snobby it being bit a of “package holiday” destination. But it is an awesome really unique place.

I found Lanzarote disappointing ,the lunar landscape is mildly interesting but the towns are so boring and awful,the only reason for me to go there is winter sun,

I'm inclined to agree. For towns and scenery, I'd take the Balearics over the Canaries any (summer) day.

Mullinabreena

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Yes Sligo is a nice part of the West Coast without all the diddley eye tourist crap you get in Kerry and Galway. I have often stayed around Strandhill, lots to do there.

The country is fantastic and lots of hidden gems, it's a pity about the town.

leahyl

Karlsruhe in Germany - went there about 10 year ago now when a friend of mine was working there - such a lovely small city, delicious cheap food and lots of history. I often think about it and how I’d like to go back one day :-) I never would have even heard of it only my friend was over there for work. It’s not far from Strasbourg so we went there on a day trip too - also a beautiful city! Amazing croissants!

The One Doctor

Lake Garda, specifically Malcesine and Limione. Glorious weather, food and drink.

The One Doctor

The One Doctor wrote: »

Lake Garda, specifically Malcesine and Limione. Glorious weather, food and drink.

Lake Garda is hardly underrated.

mikemac2

Cambridge

Under an hour from Kings Cross station and 45 minutes or less from Stanstead so easy to get to. Locals grumble the train station is far from town but it's a walkable distance for sure, never bothered me

It's very pretty. You can do a walking tour and be brought around the colleges and be told stories. A thing to do one time is the punting boats, the workers hang around the main square, do their sale and walk you to the boat Was 10 pounds or so

I found Cambridge pretty and relaxed and have returned a few times.

leahyl wrote: »

It’s not far from Strasbourg so we went there on a day trip too - also a beautiful city! Amazing croissants!

+1 for Strasbourg

Beautiful city