Unpopular places to go on holidays

yagan wrote: »

As others have said Cambodia was actually great. I think spent nearly two weeks in Siem Riep just exploring the temples of Angkor.

Phnom Penh was seedy, stayed a few days and got out but we really enjoyed chilling at the beach in sihanoukville as it didn't have hawkers and pimps like in Thailand.

Myanmar was a real headreck though. Beautiful and friendly but so sad too. I'd call it a challenging destination, lots to see that will you'll be thinking about for the rest of your life.

I adored Myanmar, went on a TD trip with a lovely guide throughout. Stayed in superb hotels with great varied food and breakfasts. The country produces amazing baked beans. Of course, knowing now what was happening in parts of the country is so sad. For a seriously third world country it is surprisingly tidy. I had to laugh at one of the internal airline online brochures that they were trying to improve their safety record by re recruiting women to train as pilots! So sexist, why not actually *train* all their pilots in the first place. There had been one instance, a non fatal crash in Bagan (very short runway) where the captain did not realise it was his copilot’s very first attempt to land anything bigger than a Cessna, in other words he knew little more about flying than some of his passengers. If I remember right he had never even been on board an ATR in his life before!

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

albania looks interesting

Albania is great, few UNESCO towns, coastline is beautiful & it's dirt cheap.
Also, Macedonia or fyrom or whatever they call it now. Great scenery, very different, & cheap.

Nigel Fairservice wrote: »

I'm not long back from Skopje, Macedonia. It's well worth a day.

one of the nicest deserts I've ever had. Think it was called trilece. .

OMG, I lived for 18 months in the Balkans, I would kill for trilece cake right now! Mouth is watering. Beautiful, & I am not a desert person.
Skopje is great, unusual, but great. Also, about an hour away is ochra lake, on the border with Albania, beautiful lake & ochra town is lovely. There is a valley outside Skopje with a river, you can hire a boat & sail into caves for very very little money. Also, you can go to the coast in Greece in two hours.
Highly recommended.

I'm not working for Bord Fáilte here but given the 'unpopular' word in the thread title has anybody actually considered holidaying in... their locality for even one holiday? I guarantee you that if you look closely you won't be bored.

It's actually great. The local council in my area has a superb heritage season all summer like this where historic sites, parks, houses, cemeteries, castles, monasteries, mills, etc have guided tours and there are guided walks around the place. It was really an eyeopener to places I pass by on a quotidian basis.

Spend one (or two) of the wet summer days in the local history section of your local library - it's a lovely, peaceful break from the world and you're discovering new things. On the noticeboard there you'll probably come across some interesting cultural/musical/educational/health event on that week that you could take yourself off to. I've a much deeper awareness of how my local area developed over the centuries now. I'm googling everything as I go and finding out loads of new history and making links about this area I had never made. You see a lot more when you know a lot more, if that makes sense.

If you've kids, you have tons of places you've never been to - parks, open farms, beaches or whatever to bring them on adventures - and it's much easier than hauling 10 million bags around some roasting hot country. You could even plan some spontaneous last minute midweek overnight stay if you're getting bored. Or save money and camp overnight next to somewhere with the sound of water running all night.

If you make a point of going to gardens, on river walks (where you'll soon build up enough knowledge to start noticing old mills and evidence of various fishing types over the centuries) and finding some unusual world/trad/baroque/classical/gregorian chant concerts in some old acoustically gorgeous stone building or church you've never been to - Eventbrite seems to be a good resource nowadays for that - you can make a really lovely, memorable break at home, as unpopular as that might be.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'm not working for Bord Fáilte here but given the 'unpopular' word in the thread title has anybody actually considered holidaying in... their locality for even one holiday? I guarantee you that if you look closely you won't be bored.

It's actually great. The local council in my area has a superb heritage season all summer like this where historic sites, parks, houses, cemeteries, castles, monasteries, mills, etc have guided tours and there are guided walks around the place. It was really an eyeopener to places I pass by on a quotidian basis.

Spend one (or two) of the wet summer days in the local history section of your local library - it's a lovely, peaceful break from the world and you're discovering new things. On the noticeboard there you'll probably come across some interesting cultural/musical/educational/health event on that week that you could take yourself off to. I've a much deeper awareness of how my local area developed over the centuries now. I'm googling everything as I go and finding out loads of new history and making links about this area I had never made. You see a lot more when you know a lot more, if that makes sense.

If you've kids, you have tons of places you've never been to - parks, open farms, beaches or whatever to bring them on adventures - and it's much easier than hauling 10 million bags around some roasting hot country. You could even plan some spontaneous last minute midweek overnight stay if you're getting bored. Or save money and camp overnight next to somewhere with the sound of water running all night.

If you make a point of going to gardens, on river walks (where you'll soon build up enough knowledge to start noticing old mills and evidence of various fishing types over the centuries) and finding some unusual world/trad/baroque/classical/gregorian chant concerts in some old acoustically gorgeous stone building or church you've never been to - Eventbrite seems to be a good resource nowadays for that - you can make a really lovely, memorable break at home, as unpopular as that might be.

The Barrow Valley /Carlow etc is a most interesting area for exploring all the above. Lots to see, old mills by the river, events etc.

After I did my Leaving Cert in 1978, my mother brought me to Opatija in Croatia (then Yugoslavia) which was the most beautiful seaside place I’ve e we been since. It was my first ever trip abroad (apart from England/Wales) and my mother’s first trip abroad after marrying my father, who was delighted to have the peace of the house go himself! Times were relatively simple with so little spare money and huge air fares.

I think the fact that I didn’t get going to many places when young has made me absolutely delight in traveling now to the great and unusual in a world where so many still throng to the resorts of the masses.

I wouldn't buy a house in Serbia if they gave me 50000!

I’m quite random in the fashion I choose trips. The yearn to book a break away comes upon me, I might go to, eg, Ryanair website, put in to and from dates and cycle through the destinations on offer just to see what might be affordable. I might then just click and book wherever I hit upon!

Other times I might use an online travel agency (I find gohop has a terrific human backup service) and looking around Google Earth fairly randomly, might try booking a destination I hit upon. Once, whilst. Pining over the Indian Ocean I came upon Réunion Island, and a bit of googling informed me it was actually a very remote part of France. I made and booking and travelled to this safe tropical island where I could spend my euro and drink the tap water. What I loved best was taking to the air in both a helicopter and microlight, flying through the most spectacular volcanic landscapes, rather like a French Hawaii.