Underrated places to visit

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.

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.

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.

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

The "Bachten de Kupe" region in Belgium. It is an unofficial name for the region near the coast roughly between Nieuwpoort, Ypres and the French border (although the same landscape continues to Dunkirk in France and when included it is called "Westhoek").

It is a region of large fields interspersed with small villages consisting of a church and a clutter of houses. There are also some Abbeys, like West-Vleteren where one of the best beers in the world is brewed. This regions is where most of the hopfields can be found so no surprise that some of the better breweries can be found (and visited) there.

The landscape is ridiculously flat as far as the eye can see although it becomes hilly the closer you get to Ypres.

This is also where the Western Front was during the First World War so historically significant with many Monuments and War Cemeteries.

The One Doctor wrote: »

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

As others have said, Lake Garda hardly underrated! But my sense is that the western side is less popular. When I was last there ten years ago, Limone felt noticeably less crowded.

I don't think Lake Como is underrated either, but I found it to be glorious.

mikemac2 wrote: »

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

Have visited both Oxford and Cambridge. I found Cambridge much the prettier (although the consensus seems to be that it's better to live in Oxford). I think my expectation of Oxford (quaint university town) more closely resembled the reality of Cambridge. Oxford's streetscape is much more planned, with wide boulevards and the ceremonial Radcliffe Square. But I prefer the narrow, brick-wall lanes of Cambridge, and nothing at Oxford beats the magnificent Backs.

Gran Canaria

Valencia in Spain is a lovely city, far less busy than Barcelona, filled with history, and very walkable. The entire river was diverted after a flood in the last century, and the old riverbed is now a park that runs right through the city. It's the home of Paella obviously, so well worth a try, but there's lots of restaurants and stalls selling Horchata as well, a nice local drink which is very refreshing in the heat. There's also the Albufera lagoon south of the city and plenty of beaches just a short bus ride away.

Utrecht in the Netherlands is nicer than Amsterdam imo. Not as big and maybe not as much going on but has the exact same Dutch character, easily walkable and less crowded with tourists/hen nights etc. And its in the centre of the country so pretty reachable from everywhere.

Slovenia as well is a gorgeous country, Ljubljana was very nice but its a pretty small city so you can cover everything in a weekend tbh.

greenbicycle wrote: »

I think everyone should experience things for themselves in order to make their own mind up so would not be advising against any country.

But....

I have the same opinion of Istanbul as those negative reviews above. And I have heard SOOOO many positive things about it which is great for the city. However, I felt that constant low level harassment like I have never felt anywhere else and I consider myself well travelled.

Its not the same as "harassment" I have felt elsewhere that can be waved off. I definitely did not feel safe as a woman being there and it sounds silly and extreme but I never felt safe there and always had a small bit of fear in my head. I have been around the world as a solo traveller, have had plenty of little negative experiences which I got over fast, nothing that would turn me off a whole country or city. But despite not having a stand out negative experience there I really didn't like how I felt in Istanbul and I was not travelling alone when there. Lots of interesting things to see but I wont ever be going back unfortunately, my money and time will be better spent elsewhere and I wouldn't even go there for free to feel like that again.

Yeah like I said, I felt a constant threat there and was afraid. I’ve travelled solo quite a bit and haven’t had a similar experience anywhere, though I don’t tend to go off the beaten track much. But in Istanbul it really was horrendous. Three days in we cut our losses and got out of there before something bad happened. I’ve never ever even remotely considered that anywhere else I’ve been.

The ‘hard sell’ I referred to was so different to the “oh special price for you, lovely lady” patter you get in markets elsewhere, it was being brought to a shop I hadn’t asked to be brought to, being ushered in without any explanation, the door closed behind me and two men there pressuring me to buy and speaking among themselves presumably about me, with no obvious means of exit for me as the taxi driver was blocking the door, and a general seedy/creepy vibe in the atmosphere.

Wales.

... and it's on our doorstep.