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Underrated places to visit

  • 17-04-2021 11:07am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 2,867 ✭✭✭


    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.


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,277 ✭✭✭Your Face


    I wouldnt share that info for fear it would turn into a major tourist destination.


  • Registered Users Posts: 81,223 ✭✭✭✭biko


    I told people about Sharm El Sheikh before it was cool, and now look at it


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,819 ✭✭✭✭Zebra3


    One night in Paris is meant to be great fun.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,707 ✭✭✭Bobblehats


    Somewhere only we know


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,798 ✭✭✭Mr. Incognito


    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


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  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,896 ✭✭✭sabat


    Romania is well worth a visit.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,828 ✭✭✭Gregor Samsa


    When the twins were babies, I used to sometimes go out to the bins round the side of the house to throw something out, and just stand there in the dark and quiet for a minute or two. Sometimes I didn't even have something to throw out.


  • Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    My dream is the wildest part of Alaska. And were I younger I would not leave it! I fear I am too old for such jaunts now...

    But hey! I longed for a small, isolated island and I am here.

    Anywhere desolate and deserted ie per se underrated.


  • Registered Users Posts: 889 ✭✭✭FrankN1


    Croatia


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,363 ✭✭✭Hamachi


    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.

    On a related note, the old town in Quebec City is also very appealing.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 9,252 ✭✭✭FTA69


    West Waterford has some lovely scenery and mountainous areas for hiking. Parts along the Blackwater are lovely as are places like the Gaeltacht and Ardmore.

    Sligo for Ben Bulben and the beaches.

    North Norfolk in England. Went up there with the missus last year and there are loads of lovely villages, long clean beaches and areas of outstanding natural beauty loaded with rare birds.

    I went to Algeria and it was incredible, no tourist infrastructure but you can visit unspoilt and perfectly preserved ruined Roman towns and be there alone for hours on end, tripping over old bits of coin and pottery. The scenery in parts of it are incredible and Algiers is a fascinating city in its own right, only a two hour flight from London too.

    Lebanon is well worth a visit. Really diverse mix of culture, anyone interested in history will be in their element. People are sound and the food is some of the nicest in the world. Going up to the mountains to see the cedars is a great experience as well.


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 11,391 Mod ✭✭✭✭Captain Havoc


    I saw Berlin mentioned in the boring thread and I thought, no I'm not having it, we had an amazing weekend in Berlin a few years ago. I planned the whole thing out, which I know is a bit anal but still:

    Friday we arrived, stayed in a Mercure by checkpoint Charlie. Went to see Hertha Berlin play Dortmund in the olympic stadium. Saturday, did the parkrun in the morning, drove a trabant around in the afternoon and in the evening went for dinner in the Charlottenberg castle with a Vivaldi concert, Sunday, museums and stuff, Trabant museum, currywurst museum, Führerbunker site, bus tour around the city, topographie of terrors, then in the evening had dinner on top of the TV tower. This was in January so no tourists about, which made it great, probably wouldn't have covered half the stuff in the summer.

    https://ormondelanguagetours.com

    Walking Tours of Kilkenny in English, French or German.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,557 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    Waterford, I love it there, the coast and even the city.


  • Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 10,362 Mod ✭✭✭✭humberklog


    Palma in Majorca.
    I'd say a lot of holiday makers don't bother making it into the city but it's a really lovely, interesting and friendly with great restaurants and bars.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Sitges in Spain, it's a seaside town that hasn't been ruined by overdevelopment.

    It's something of a gay hotspot, so if you've a problem with seeing men holding hands (the horror) then I wouldn't recommend it.

    It's a beautiful place.


  • Registered Users Posts: 446 ✭✭Happyhouse22


    As said earlier Romania was a great spot which totally surprised.

    Iran one of my favourite places and travel experiences.

    Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan were both amazing and pretty underrated, would expect an explosion of tourists in the coming years.

    As for individual attractions the Darvaza Gas crater stands out. Not sure if it counts as underrated but didn’t know much about it before I went but Sossusvlei in Namibia was , had heard so many negative things about the leaning tower of Pisa so had super low expectations but thought it was awesome- could that count as underrated :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,758 ✭✭✭Fann Linn


    Tunisia prior to ISIS with its generous and friendly people, it's Roman Colosseum, Berber caves, salt lakes, Sahara desert, Star Wars sets, sunrise in the Atlas Mountains and lovely exotic foods

    A really enjoyable holiday with great memories for me and my family.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Fann Linn wrote: »
    Tunisia prior to ISIS with its generous and friendly people, it's Roman Colosseum, Berber caves, salt lakes, Sahara desert, Star Wars sets, sunrise in the Atlas Mountains and lovely exotic foods

    A really enjoyable holiday with great memories for me and my family.

    Has it gone extremist there?


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,758 ✭✭✭Fann Linn


    Has it gone extremist there?

    I'm not sure about now, but a number of years back some Irish and British tourists were shot and some killed on the beach.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,782 ✭✭✭DeanAustin


    Your Face wrote: »
    I wouldnt share that info for fear it would turn into a major tourist destination.

    Think you might be overestimating your influence.

    Queenstown in New Zealand has everything. Incredible spot as is most of the South Island. I saw Singapore mentioned in the boring thread. I loved it there. The best run place in the world for me.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 13,557 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    Has it gone extremist there?

    My friends uncle was killed by terrorists there a few years ago, during that attack on a resort. North Africa never appealed to me.


  • Registered Users Posts: 620 ✭✭✭Meeoow


    Has it gone extremist there?

    Extreme flirting with Western women.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,952 ✭✭✭✭retalivity


    Laos is fantastic - A much better place to visit than Vietnam or Cambodia.
    Seoul in South Korea is a great spot, could spend a month there and still have new things to do every day.

    In Ireland, I always thought Sligo had some great sights and things to do but never made anyone's lists or destinations for travel.
    Similarly in the north, places like Portstewart, Cushendall & Newcastle Co. Down are great spots that would have very few visitors from the south.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,557 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,639 ✭✭✭completedit


    Malaga itself not the tourist spots along the coast.


  • Registered Users Posts: 508 ✭✭✭The DayDream


    Great to see Sligo being mentioned, I lived there for a while and enjoyed it and when I had friends from America visit they fell in love with the place and had flights booked for a return visit until covid hit. As has been said they thought it was real authentic Ireland without trying too hard to be what Yanks expect of Ireland. I still get a warm fuzzy feeling when Ben Bulben comes up alongside you any time I return there.

    Unfortunately the chamber or commerce and the former mayor are those usual golden circle types: a mixture of incompetence and corruption, so when the recession decimated the town it ner really recovered properly. My visitors were shocked to see so many closed shops and that I was unemployed at the time myself. As they said, any town with scenery like that all around that close to the beach would be hopping in the States and you'd be paying a million for a house in it!


  • Registered Users Posts: 43,017 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    Limerick

    Great little city doesn’t deserve the bad press


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,632 ✭✭✭I see sheep


    Carlow


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,784 ✭✭✭ShagNastii


    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.

    In terms of cities I think Liverpool as a tourist is very underrated. A quick flight, great people, interesting attractions and a nice place.

    For my birthday one year we got tickets to Antwerp. I joked doing the Wayne’s World Deleware gag. Her brother sent us to some really great pubs and restaurants off the beaten track. One of my most enjoyable trips.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 14,930 ✭✭✭✭Fr Tod Umptious


    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.

    On a related note, the old town in Quebec City is also very appealing.
    Yea, the French influence really does
    differentiate it from other similar sized north American cities.

    I used to live in Boston and I'd often head up there for a weekend, it was about a 4 hours drive, great city.


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