Underrated places to visit

Seville is a beautiful place, really wonderful cafe culture and much nice than Barcelona.

HBC08

Weepsie wrote: »

I also liked busan, but in general I just loved korea. 2 weeks was not remotely enough time there.

Porto also mentioned above is great. All doable on foot too really and a bit less busy than lisbon.

The whole of west cork is underrated. It's everything that kerry is but without the vast number of americans and I hope it stays that way. Roads are in rag order though.

I lived in Korea for nearly 10 years.Its a great country and id highly recommend for a visit.Busan is the 2nd city (although Incheon has recently overtaken it in terms of size) its a lot more rough and ready than Seoul and bizarrely theres a big russian population down there,its also a port city with lots of ships docking there including military carriers and all the madness that can include.

HeidiHeidi

Agree with a poster earlier about Utrecht - has all the charm and bustle of Amsterdam, without the big city feel. I loved it (about 30 years ago!!)


My big one for this thread is Ethiopia. It's all gone a bit pear-shaped over there at the moment, so definitely not one for immediately post-lockdown - but if the civil situation settles down (hopefully it will soon) there's a guy over there has set up a community tourist initiative in the north in the Simien mountains, guided trekking in the uplands and valleys - and it's really the most extraordinary holiday - you have a local guide and luggage porters (donkey men!) you sleep in purpose built little compounds in the most spectacular locations - all the money goes first to the communities to try and diversify them away from dependence on subsistence agriculture.


Luxury it most certainly is not, but I cannot recommend it as an experience highly enough! I've been twice, and can't wait to get back again.



And coincidentally, there was an article in the Examiner last weekend about it!


https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/travel/arid-40265270.html?fbclid=IwAR0fgxMCWSnFxpUCNJNxtWZIGf7IrIRK0DooBkjYW-fQs2wjhTF9vsDbiiY

Church on Tuesday

Mad_maxx wrote: »

County Mayo

beautiful scenery ( Louisburgh is as good as anything neighbouring galway has to offer ) , friendly people , long drives between towns , interesting coastline

Westport is a cracking town for its size

mariaalice wrote: »

Wales, we have has fabulous holiday there if you are the type that likes country pubs, history, senary, castles, hiking and just pottering around its for you. For me personality, I would avoid a lot of the coast except for Portmeirion.

Caernarfon Castle, Bodnant gardens there is loads to do.

We stayed in a posh restaurant with rooms for one night on a dinner bnb package and in Airbnb and the rest of the time the Airbnb had a hot tub on a balcony overlooking a river, car hire is cheap as well. We flew into Manchester and did it that way.

Chester is fabulous as well.

Westport punches well above it's weight, sad to see it so quiet these days though. Mayo has always been something of an underrated gem.


Agree on Chester, very interesting charming town.

FrankN1

+1 for Sligo also.

cashback

Lviv in Western Ukraine.

Beautiful city that mainly seems to get domestic tourists. Great restaurants, walkable, amazing architecture.

And 2 euro a pint.

Church on Tuesday

FrankN1 wrote: »

+1 for Sligo also.

The county yes, the town... not so much.

humberklog

cashback wrote: »

Lviv in Western Ukraine.

Beautiful city that mainly seems to get domestic tourists. Great restaurants, walkable, amazing architecture.

And 2 euro a pint.

Is there much of a museum there regarding WW2 and in particular the '41 Pogrom?*


*If you're sensitive then don't Google it.

Das Reich

bubblypop wrote: »

Serbia committed genocide to their fellow former Yugoslavia neighbours.
They stopped Kosovan Albanians from speaking their language, closed Albanian schools, threw Kosovans out of all government and civil service positions, threw them out of the police. Did not allow the teaching of any Albanian history of culture.
That's how they are like the English.
What is 'your loved Turks ' about?

Weak arguments. If you talking about the genocides against Germans and Hungarians in Voivodina and Italians in Istria that's was in the end of WWII and you must be very partial if you think Serbians also didn't suffer from the war. If you talking about the 90's, same thing here, a lot of Serbian civilians were killed and expelled from their homes. Shame the EU did leave USA to bomb Serbia and making things even more worse. USA took advantage of the weak Yeltsin government to create caos on Balkanic and destroy a former USSR ally. What else you want to blame Serbians for? Killing the prince of Austria and create the WWI?

cashback

humberklog wrote: »

Is there much of a museum there regarding WW2 and in particular the '41 Pogrom?*


*If you're sensitive then don't Google it.

Not sure about museums but do recall seeing some memorials.
Had a walk around the Jewish area as part of a free walking tour.

joe40

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

Westport punches well above it's weight, sad to see it so quiet these days though. Mayo has always been something of an underrated gem.


Agree on Chester, very interesting charming town.

I would not call westport underrated, it is very popular with hotel prices to match.

I do think north Mayo is underrated. DownPatrick head sea stack is stunning and I really enjoyed a visit to the ceide fields.
I don't think either would be that well known.

alias no.9

seenitall wrote: »

Lol as far as

Sorry, I’m sure you had a fab time, it’s just that distance is about the same as Cork to Waterford, half a day’s drive max but more like a couple of hours, so that got me a bit but it sounds like you stopped off plenty to admire the scenery and eat well so good for you!

So yeah, on that note, that peninsula, Istria, is quite underrated in international tourism terms (if it’s Croatia, it has to be Dubrovnik, right?), it’s gorgeous with medieval little towns perched on hills and the standard beautiful coastline, and gastronomically blessed (especially if you like good wines, and truffles...). The Roman amphitheatre in Pula is one of the best preserved ones overall, and is good for concerts.

It's not about the distance, there's more than enough there to spend a week doing the journey and it's very much overlooked by irish tourists.

FrankN1

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

Westport punches well above it's weight, sad to see it so quiet these days though. Mayo has always been something of an underrated gem.


Agree on Chester, very interesting charming town.

Westport is very nice, much better than Castlebar.

Das Reich

Das Reich wrote: »

Weak arguments. If you talking about the genocides against Germans and Hungarians in Voivodina and Italians in Istria that's was in the end of WWII and you must be very partial if you think Serbians also didn't suffer from the war. If you talking about the 90's, same thing here, a lot of Serbian civilians were killed and expelled from their homes. Shame the EU did leave USA to bomb Serbia and making things even more worse. USA took advantage of the weak Yeltsin government to create caos on Balkanic and destroy a former USSR ally. What else you want to blame Serbians for? Killing the prince of Austria and create the WWI?

Should have known a poster with your username would be sympathetic to countries committing genocide.
I don't know what your problem is, but your posts are way off topic.
It seem weird that you, a Brazilian, would get upset by me, an Irish woman, because I like a city, Istanbul, in Turkey! Or because I don't feel particularly sympathetic to Serbia, who murdered thousands of people in the Balkans.

I'll leave it at that. Please leave me alone from here.

Muahahaha

cashback wrote: »

Lviv in Western Ukraine.

Beautiful city that mainly seems to get domestic tourists. Great restaurants, walkable, amazing architecture.

And 2 euro a pint.

Was in Lviv a few years back and yeah it is an absolutely beautiful city, even more so than its neighbour Krakow imo. We got a train there from Krakow which was an experience in itself, especially the Ukrainian border crossing.

The architecture in Lviv is top class, its like an open air museum. There are statues of lions absolutely everywhere there, at the entrances to buildings, above doorways, etc. The symbol of the city is a lion and on the coat of arms so every building follows that with their own statue of a lion.

Charles Babbage

Muahahaha wrote: »

Was in Lviv a few years back and yeah it is an absolutely beautiful city, even more so than its neighbour Krakow imo. We got a train there from Krakow which was an experience in itself, especially the Ukrainian border crossing.

The architecture in Lviv is top class, its like an open air museum. There are statues of lions absolutely everywhere there, at the entrances to buildings, above doorways, etc. The symbol of the city is a lion and on the coat of arms so every building follows that with their own statue of a lion.

Lviv is one of the most beautiful central Europe cities, a jewel of the Austro-Hungarian empire, which is now a bit cut off in Eastern Europe. It also has its own beer.

Witchie

Bali is overrated but some of the smaller islands around it are wonderful. The Gillis and Nusa Lembongan are a refuge from the mainland. I prefer Nusa as it's a less harrowing boat ride.

Also love my chosen home of Kuala Lumpur which gets dismissed as just a stopover place or for business. It's a great spot.

Sir Lanka doesn't get enough praise. Train ride through the mountains from Kandy to Ella, National Parks galore and some stunning beaches. Like a less crazy, cleaner India.

Someone mentioned Den Haag and I have to agree. Much overshadowed by Amsterdam but a much nicer city. Scheveningen Beach holds great memories for me. Bought my debs dress in a 1950's vintage shop there, fell in love with a Kosovar refugee during the war in the region and the first abroad holiday my kids had. Maduradam was where as an innocent 10 year old I was flashed by a lad not much older but still didn't ruin it for me. The museums, culture, dinner on the pier...wonderful place

bb1234567

This thread is really getting me worked up for travelling after the pandemic! Some great suggestions

Charles Babbage

Witchie wrote: »

Sir Lanka doesn't get enough praise. Train ride through the mountains from Kandy to Ella, National Parks galore and some stunning beaches. Like a less crazy, cleaner India.

+1. India is interesting, but is a bit full on. Sri Lanka gives you something of the same part of the world without continuous challenge.

cashback

Muahahaha wrote: »

Was in Lviv a few years back and yeah it is an absolutely beautiful city, even more so than its neighbour Krakow imo. We got a train there from Krakow which was an experience in itself, especially the Ukrainian border crossing.

The architecture in Lviv is top class, its like an open air museum. There are statues of lions absolutely everywhere there, at the entrances to buildings, above doorways, etc. The symbol of the city is a lion and on the coat of arms so every building follows that with their own statue of a lion.

Definitely. I loved Krakow but Lviv felt fairly undiscovered in comparison.

We arrived there from Copenhagen. Spent four or five days and I would happily have spent longer. Then took a train to Budapest, stopping for a night in another Ukrainian town called Mukachevo. Great trip.

MyLove4Satan

Malta. The small island nation literally has everything. Great people and food and the history wow! Some of the most ancient buildings on earth.

intp1990

Cool to hear good reports about Lviv. I am planning to visit there when I can.

Montage of Feck

I'm going to have to go somewhere mad and off the beaten track after the pandemic.

HeidiHeidi

MyLove4Satan wrote: »

Malta. The small island nation literally has everything. Great people and food and the history wow! Some of the most ancient buildings on earth.

I second this. Valetta is just the most gorgeous town! I could sit and look at Grand Harbour alone for a week.

Shiok

Taiwan

Well known obviously, yet Taipei is more often than not overlooked in favour of other cities in Asia. Fab food & night markets, diverse history, beautiful scenic mountains, gorges & lakes.

Antwerp in Belgium is a nice hidden gem I really like. Diamond district, very strong Dutch influence as well.

FrankN1

Carlingford

Sleepy

My votes are really just places I visited that I never expected to be as good as they were:

Plymouth - beautiful coastline and a lot of Naval history

Maastricht - only spend a night there but had a great time

Vienna - mentioned multiple times in the "over-rated" thread but I had a blast there - where else could you see the opening night of the Russian State Ballet's Nutcracker for €5? Wonderful city to just wander around.

Hvar - small island off the coast of Split in Croatia that may well be ruined by tourism now (I'd love to know if it has been?) but it was an absolute paradise when I visited a decade ago.

VG31

Sleepy wrote: »

Vienna - mentioned multiple times in the "over-rated" thread but I had a blast there - where else could you see the opening night of the Russian State Ballet's Nutcracker for €5? Wonderful city to just wander around.

I think most people who think Vienna is overrated are the type of people who like nights out when they're away. Which is fair enough, but Vienna is definitely not a suitable destination for that kind of holiday.

rossie1977

County Leitrim.

Carrick on Shannon is one the best towns its size in the country and far superior weekend spot and makes much better use of its location than its much larger southern sister Athlone.

Ballinamore festival blows away any other around this area of the country like it.

You have Glencar waterfall, Shannon erne waterway. Maybe try to be only seventh person in recorded history to ascend Eagles Rock..

Muahahaha

Witchie wrote: »

Bali is overrated but some of the smaller islands around it are wonderful. The Gillis and Nusa Lembongan are a refuge from the mainland. I prefer Nusa as it's a less harrowing boat ride.

Indonesia as a whole is vastly underrated, most people just go to Bali, Lombok and the Gili Islands which are all great for a party and scuba diving but otherwise limited. Further east of there on the island of Flores is the three volcanic crater lakes of the Kelimutu volcano. The three lakes change colour every few years depending on what the volcano below is doing





Further to the east of that is Rinca and Komodo islands where you can see komodo dragons just wandering about in the wild

Indonesia also has some great temples, both of these are on the island of Java and are just 50 kilometres apart outside the city of Yogyakarta

Prambanan, Hindu temple built around 900 BC





Borodubur, the worlds largest Buddhist temple, built in the 7th century. It has over 500 statues of Buddha within it





When we were at both those temples there was barely 30 other tourists there the whole day which is in stark contrast to Angkor Wat in Cambodia where there are thousands of tourists every day. You really felt like you had the whole place to yourself at the two main temples on Java.

Another great thing to do in Indonesia is to go to the orangutan sanctuary at Bukit Lawang on Sumatra island. They bring you on a trek through the jungle to colonies of orangutans they are rehoming and rehabilitating so most of them are semi wild. The orangutans jump from tree to tree high above you before coming down to ground level for some free bananas so you get pretty close to them. Its really some sight to see orangutans in their natural environment, amazing experience.

Would recomment Indonesia to anyone, its probably the least touristed country in all of south east Asia but it has some of the best sights that a lot of people overlook.

cashback

Shiok wrote: »

Taiwan

Well known obviously, yet Taipei is more often than not overlooked in favour of other cities in Asia. Fab food & night markets, diverse history, beautiful scenic mountains, gorges & lakes.

And possibly the friendliest people I've ever met.

Patsy167

Brighton

Great for a day trip from London - Less than an hour on the train and lots to see and do.

Witchie

@Muhaha I had one of my best birthdays ever on Borneo (Indonesian part). Got to do something I had wanted to do as a 10-year-old....stand with one foot either side of the equator. Had a bunch of school kids also doing a palace your take loads of photos with me and sing happy birthday and got a surprising extra during a massage...

ChippingSodbury

rossie1977 wrote: »

County Leitrim.

Carrick on Shannon is one the best towns its size in the country and far superior weekend spot and makes much better use of its location than its much larger southern sister Athlone.

Ballinamore festival blows away any other around this area of the country like it.

You have Glencar waterfall, Shannon erne waterway. Maybe try to be only seventh person in recorded history to ascend Eagles Rock..

I'd say you'd get a part for a nuclear submarine in The Forge, Ballinamore if you were stuck!! There's more stuff on the ground than on the shelves it's so full. Stayed at the marina for a couple of nights a few years back: a lovely, sleepy town.

Fr D Maugire

bubblypop wrote: »

Should have known a poster with your username would be sympathetic to countries committing genocide.
I don't know what your problem is, but your posts are way off topic.
It seem weird that you, a Brazilian, would get upset by me, an Irish woman, because I like a city, Istanbul, in Turkey! Or because I don't feel particularly sympathetic to Serbia, who murdered thousands of people in the Balkans.

I'll leave it at that. Please leave me alone from here.

I think the poster is simply pointing out double standards on your behalf. Turkey is widely accepted to have carried out a mass genocide of Armenians around the time of WW1 and spent a lot of time persecuting minorities within their borders. So, if you hold Serbia to one standard, then you have to hold Turkey to the same standard.

The poster is also right in that Turkey is more similar to Britain than Serbia as they had the Ottoman Empire which covered a huge swathe of the middle east, the Balkans and Northern Africa, similar to the British Empire, but not as large.

I do agree that Serbia seem to have been the worse offenders in the 90s conflict, but is that reason enough to not visit there? What about Germany or the US or numerous other countries. If you start discounting countries for historical misdeeds, there will not be many left to visit.

VG31

Fr D Maugire wrote: »

I do agree that Serbia seem to have been the worse offenders in the 90s conflict, but is that reason enough to not visit there? What about Germany or the US or numerous other countries. If you start discounting countries for historical misdeeds, there will not be many left to visit.

Germany and Serbia are really not comparable. Germany paid for their crimes and have thoroughly repented. Serbia have definitely not and many Serbians practically start foaming at the mouth at the mere mention of Kosovo.

DonegalBay

VG31 wrote: »

Germany and Serbia are really not comparable. Germany paid for their crimes and have thoroughly repented. Serbia have definitely not and many Serbians practically start foaming at the mouth at the mere mention of Kosovo.

Well, my understanding of the relationship between Kosovo and Serbia is that Kosovo contains a lot of Serbian historical and cultural monuments so the Serbs see it as part of their country. But it had been part of the Ottoman Empire for so long, it became a majority Muslim country region which wanted independence once Yugoslavia broke up, which is fair enough IMO. I suppose Serbia might see it the way many people view NI here.

flended12

Underrated places?

Take a stroll from Graiguenamanagh to St. Mullins – 6km.

http://www.riverbarrow.net/phone/barrow-way.html

Just let the world pass you by.

Fr D Maugire

Fr D Maugire wrote: »

I think the poster is simply pointing out double standards on your behalf. Turkey is widely accepted to have carried out a mass genocide of Armenians around the time of WW1 and spent a lot of time persecuting minorities within their borders. So, if you hold Serbia to one standard, then you have to hold Turkey to the same standard.

The poster is also right in that Turkey is more similar to Britain than Serbia as they had the Ottoman Empire which covered a huge swathe of the middle east, the Balkans and Northern Africa, similar to the British Empire, but not as large.

I do agree that Serbia seem to have been the worse offenders in the 90s conflict, but is that reason enough to not visit there? What about Germany or the US or numerous other countries. If you start discounting countries for historical misdeeds, there will not be many left to visit.

I never said one word about not visiting Serbia, I have been there many many times. I'm not sure where you got the impression I would advise anyone not to go there? In fact, I wouldn't put people off visiting anywhere, I believe everyone should make their own mind up.

That poster stuck his oar in when I was answering a different poster.
I did not bring any history into any reason not to visit anywhere.

That poster seems to have been upset with me because I said I like Istanbul. That's it. I never alluded to their past, nor do I want to.
Like I said, I have been to Serbia many times, I never expressed any kind of opinion about whether other people should visit there or not.

Perhaps that poster needs to pull his head in, and maybe you could read all the thread in order to understand the conversation.

Oh, and the poster that thanked your post? Just took some personal dislike to me, very childish, he has even admitted it on different threads, and seems to thank posts that he perceives to be disagreeing with me #rolleyes#

Sleepy

flended12 wrote: »

Underrated places?

Take a stroll from Graiguenamanagh to St. Mullins – 6km.

http://www.riverbarrow.net/phone/barrow-way.html

Just let the world pass you by.

I've done that walk so many times. My Dad's family home in Tinnahinch backs onto the barrow there, absolutely gorgeous spot.

Chester. Very nice old town, a river nearby, a better night out than either Liverpool or Manchester. Small enough to do some great pub crawls.

Hamachi

bubblypop wrote: »

….
Oh, and the poster that thanked your post? Just took some personal dislike to me, very childish, he has even admitted it on different threads, and seems to thank posts that he perceives to be disagreeing with me #rolleyes#

I see this zinger is directed at me. I was actually thanking that poster for reminding me of the Armenian genocide by the Turks, which is something I had completely forgotten about, which also prompted me to read an article on it this morning. Growing the knowledge base and all that..


Can we get back to the topic under discussion without another hissy fit?

I'm always on topic

For a weekend break during normal times, Ryanair fly to Gdansk, Poland.
Very pretty port town, small, plenty of restaurants and bars and of course, great value.
Summer is a very nice time to visit

rossie1977

rossie1977 wrote: »

Ballinamore festival blows away any other around this area of the country like it.

You have Glencar waterfall, Shannon erne waterway. Maybe try to be only seventh person in recorded history to ascend Eagles Rock..

I would add in Co Fermanagh here, Marble Arch caves and Florencecourt, the walk up the Cuilcagh steps, all nearby also.
Probably missing some good restaurants in the area though.
If you're on the boats you won't mind!

ednwireland

bubblypop wrote: »

I'm always on topic

For a weekend break during normal times, Ryanair fly to Gdansk, Poland.
Very pretty port town, small, plenty of restaurants and bars and of course, great value.
Summer is a very nice time to visit

love gdansk was there in 2018/19 (oh and 2001 and 1975) but I'm biased in I speak polish and have some family there dont forget a day trip to malbork castle, westerplatte sopot . stayed in a 14th century castle in reszel as well which is near the wolfs lair.
all the way across to bialowiesza.

Hulk Hands

rossie1977 wrote: »

County Leitrim.

Carrick on Shannon is one the best towns its size in the country and far superior weekend spot and makes much better use of its location than its much larger southern sister Athlone.

Ballinamore festival blows away any other around this area of the country like it.

You have Glencar waterfall, Shannon erne waterway. Maybe try to be only seventh person in recorded history to ascend Eagles Rock..

Agreed, Leitrim is always the first to get ripped on in any thread discussing worst county's or godforsaken places in Ireland. Carrick is picturesque and decent for a piss up, that alone puts it ahead of a good half dozen counties. Glencar waterfall also lovely as you say

billyhead

bubblypop wrote: »

I'm always on topic

For a weekend break during normal times, Ryanair fly to Gdansk, Poland.
Very pretty port town, small, plenty of restaurants and bars and of course, great value.
Summer is a very nice time to visit

Lovely spot. I was their for the Euros in 2012. The women are gorgeous.

cashback

Gdansk is great. The ferry through the harbour up to the seaside town nearby (I forget the name) was lovely. Sun shining, beer in hand.

blackvalley

Alentejo region of Portugal is fabulous. Beautiful little fishing villages dotted along the coast joined by quiet scenic walking trails. Think cliffs of Moher for mile after mile without the tourists.
Great value , food and lovely people . Little town like Vila nova de Milfontes and Zambujeira do Mar are hidden jems .
Very different the plastic resorts along the south coast .