He doesn’t love LA.
Los Angeles has been named of the worst places to travel on vacation, according to a well-traveled critic who has visited more than 76 countries.
“No doubt, if you have big money you’ll have a great time, Daily Mail Travel Editor Mark Palmer sniffed in a swift takedown of the City of Angels.
“Otherwise, you might easily feel lost and detached. A city with motorways running through it is never the most relaxing,” he said.
Palmer trashed the local bus tours “where you’re shown where the big Hollywood names live,” which really entail “tall walls with barbed wire,” and called Venice Beach “a mecca for posers and ‘Love Island’ wannabes.”
Also on the connoisseur’s no-fly list is Dubai — a place he’d only “go once” and never again, despite the “amazing feat of engineering” that is building a metropolis in the middle of a desert.
Honeymoon dream spot The Maldives, he said, weren’t worth the trip either — he doesn’t “get” the hype.
“Those ‘idyllic’ atolls have no culture; at night you look out on to nothing; the sea is often only waist deep; there’s no popping down the road for a lager in a local bar; you see the same people for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” he wrote, adding that the cheapest wine price is still incredibly steep.
Up next on the chopping block is Mykonos — a destination that has been slammed by other avid travelers as being too expensive.
“Must have been delightful 20 or 30 years ago. Now it’s all style over substance,” wrote Palmer, criticizing the lavish sun loungers that cost a pretty penny.
“The main town is overrun and becomes impenetrable when a cruise ship comes to call. This is all so far removed from what a traditional Greek island should be about.”
He also would avoid Barcelona — too many tourists, he said, and Malta — too overdeveloped.
Instead, some of his picks are the “lush Caribbean island” of Grenada, for its “gentle, open, warm and infectiously joyful” people, or the Italian city of Lecce.
There, Palmer said, visitors can marvel at “its grand courtyard palaces, grand squares, vast amphitheatre” and more, adding that “it’s no wonder people call it the ‘Florence of the south,’” sans crowds.
He also recommended Morocco, Rwanda, Iceland, Japan, Venice during the winter time and Stockholm.
“The streets of Sweden’s capital are immaculately clean; the parks and forests are within easy access of the city; water is everywhere,” Palmer gushed.
“It has one of the world’s most beautiful opera houses; stately boulevards, exquisite narrow streets in Gamla Stan (old town) and the constant toing and froing of sea-worthy vessels of every kind.”
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