Overrated sights/destinations

harr · 05-11-2018 09:07PM

Niagara Falls Was a bit of a let down and our first visit to New York was ok but I found it claustrophobic our second visit to New York was more enjoyable we got out of Manhattan a good bit and paid a visit to all five Burroughs and New Jersey..

Arghus · 05-11-2018 09:12PM

The Spainish Steps in Rome.

It's just some steps.

Though, Rome in general is absolutely amazing.

05-11-2018 09:14PM

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

Belem in Portugal for custard tarts. I just had Lidl version. Just as tasty.

take that back! :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Zorya · 05-11-2018 09:19PM

Must admit I have liked most destinations or sights I have ever visited or seen. It's nice to be out and about. Having read this thread I will remember to bring my glasses if I am ever in the position to visit the Mona Lisa.

One place springs to mind. I visited the Red Light district in Amsterdam in the late 80s. Prior to wandering in there I had really been enjoying Amsterdam. I found the famous district unbearably sleazy, dank and saddening. Maybe it was long ago and it is not like that anymore as I haven't returned, but the girls in the windows were obviously often underage, they looked jaded and unwell, trapped in desperate lives, the 'viewers' were crude and cruel, lunging drunkenly about, there were junkies everywhere, and to cap it all a woman walked past me who was hunched and snarling and naked from the waist down and covered in filth. It was like a scene from Dante's Inferno.

SimonTemplar · 05-11-2018 09:24PM

For tourists visiting Ireland, the Blarney Stone is definitely one of our most overrated sites. If you are interested in castles, there are far better ones in Ireland.

If you are there to hang upside down and kiss a stone after a big queue of people have already left traces of their saliva on it, well that's fairly disgusting.

Plumbthedepths · 05-11-2018 09:28PM

Zorya wrote:

One place springs to mind. I visited the Red Light district in Amsterdam in the late 80s. Prior to wandering in there I had really been enjoying Amsterdam. I found the famous district unbearably sleazy, dank and saddening. Maybe it was long ago and it is not like that anymore as I haven't returned, but the girls in the windows were obviously often underage, they looked jaded and unwell, trapped in desperate lives, the 'viewers' were crude and cruel, lunging drunkenly about, there were junkies everywhere, and to cap it all a woman walked past me who was hunched and snarling and naked from the waist down and covered in filth. It was like a scene from Dante's Inferno.

No offence but did you expect an experience akin to walking through Disneyland main Street? Those woman were not selling their bodies out of any personal enjoyment. Even then most were probably trafficked from the east.

Mister Vain · 05-11-2018 09:33PM

I was underwhelmed by the collousem. It's not much to look at inside.

Conservative · 05-11-2018 09:35PM

Zorya wrote: »

Must admit I have liked most destinations or sights I have ever visited or seen. It's nice to be out and about. Having read this thread I will remember to bring my glasses if I am ever in the position to visit the Mona Lisa.

One place springs to mind. I visited the Red Light district in Amsterdam in the late 80s. Prior to wandering in there I had really been enjoying Amsterdam. I found the famous district unbearably sleazy, dank and saddening. Maybe it was long ago and it is not like that anymore as I haven't returned, but the girls in the windows were obviously often underage, they looked jaded and unwell, trapped in desperate lives, the 'viewers' were crude and cruel, lunging drunkenly about, there were junkies everywhere, and to cap it all a woman walked past me who was hunched and snarling and naked from the waist down and covered in filth. It was like a scene from Dante's Inferno.

I find it hard to believe underage girls were allowed to work openly in the RLD in the 80s? Is that commonly acknowledged?

Saint_Mel · 05-11-2018 09:45PM

Venice ... Went there once, place was feckin flooded!

Zorya · 05-11-2018 09:47PM

Conservative wrote: »

I find it hard to believe underage girls were allowed to work openly in the RLD in the 80s? Is that commonly acknowledged?

I can only say how it appeared to me. Some of them looked very young.

As for the poster who asked what I expected, this place was promoted even then as a tourist attraction and a groovy liberal place. I didn't expect such squalor as I saw. It was quite shocking to a young person from Ireland at the time, well, me anyway

beertons · 05-11-2018 09:49PM

The pyramids. The waft of camel crap from the place too does it no favours.

prunudo · 05-11-2018 09:51PM

Did the people who didn't like the Giant's Causeway go at high tide?
The Carrigareed rope bridge was a lot shorter than I expected and queuing system kinda takes away from it. Crystal clear water though.

trashcan · 05-11-2018 09:56PM

Squatter wrote: »

Love it. Although it's not a patch on the Leaning Tower of Calzone!

Subtle

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 05-11-2018 10:06PM

LirW wrote: »

I think we all had that moment to go and see a world famous sight or visited a must-see destination and you were nothing but disappointed or didn't get what the fuss is about.

I'll start: Stonehenge. It's literally a bunch of really boring rocks. Now I'm very into prehistoric sights and all but that one is pretty underwhelming.
Also Denmark, this is a really boring country to visit (except Copenhagen which leaves you bankrupt).

Stonehenge for me too. Quite small and relatively little is known about it.

Also, I grew up near a very cool dolmen (approximately 500m from my childhood home) and a very cool ogham stone (about 2kms from my childhood home) that nobody knows about bar locals and Stonehenge wasn’t any more impressive than those two things.

NSAman · 05-11-2018 10:07PM

Las Vegas.... was there for 3 hours... it was 3 hours too long for me.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 05-11-2018 10:11PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Mona Lisa in the Louvre, a small squalid portrait behind bulletproof glass. Magnificent paintings adorning nearby walls all but ignored by tourists eager to chalk one off the list.

Just like the Berlin wall. Everyone crowded around the below mural (which is admittedly pretty cool) when there are so many amazing murals to see on the wall.

I like the Mona Lisa though actually. I’ve never been to Paris but I wouldn’t bother stopping by the Mona Lisa because I couldn’t handle those crowds. I’d just explore the rest of the museum.

EDIT: The below is a stock photo, it wasn’t taken by me. I took in every single mural bar The Kiss because I couldn’t get near it. If everyone there took in all the murals, then the crowd would spread out and nobody would miss anything.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 05-11-2018 10:19PM

Sirsok wrote: »

Ayers rock...four day drive from Sydney with not much to see around you only to go see a big red rock, four day back.. waste of holiday from work

Google Maps is saying it’s a 1.25 day drive. I know Maps isn’t always completely accurate when it comes to drive times but I doubt it would be out by that much! With an overnight stay, it shouldn’t be more than two days. Unless you did the drive a long time ago and the roads were worse?

Mookie Blaylock · 05-11-2018 10:19PM

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

Belem in Portugal for custard tarts. I just had Lidl version. Just as tasty.

Nah man, you're on your own there... nothing to touch the pastry there...even in other parts of Lisbon it's not a patch on Belems finest

RhubarbCrumble · 05-11-2018 10:21PM

SimonTemplar wrote: »

If you are there to hang upside down and kiss a stone after a big queue of people have already left traces of their saliva on it, well that's fairly disgusting.

You're lucky if saliva is the only body fluid left on it!

ArnoldJRimmer · 05-11-2018 10:23PM

NSAman wrote: »

Las Vegas.... was there for 3 hours... it was 3 hours too long for me.

I've been in Vegas a few times on short trips for various reasons, and while I can see the attraction for some, I'm not a fan.

I know a few different people who spend 2-3 weeks at a time there, but after 2-3 days, I'm ready to lose my mind

Atoms for Peace · 05-11-2018 10:23PM

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Ladies View on the Ring of Kerry, I drove right past it then realised 'that was it'

Went straight to molls gap myself, all I can say is false advertising.

imme · 05-11-2018 10:24PM

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

Leaning tower of pizza, not that impressive. Lots of tourists doing stupid poses.

Mona Lisa, tiny and swarmed with people

Barcelona / Venice; suffering from over tourism

Leaning tower was a major disappointment, the building close by was better, more interesting.
Just another tourist rip off, people selling crap and loads of stupid tourists!

Venice should be limited to a certain number of visitors per day.

The Galapagos is over rated.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 05-11-2018 10:25PM

Mac-Chops wrote: »

Re Giant's Causeway, if you're up for a bit of walk you can get there for free. Pretty spectacular walking route at that.

Yup, same with the cliffs of Moher. Start at Hag’s Head and you get free entrance and a lovely scenic walk.

BoJack Horseman · 05-11-2018 10:25PM

Giza.

Whereas there are other pyramids a drive away that are pretty much bereft of tourists.

Try_harder · 05-11-2018 10:26PM

San Francisco

Teyla Emmagan · 05-11-2018 10:32PM

A bit closer to home, I bought some visitors to the Guinness Store House a few years back. Wow, is it useless. Half of it is empty and the exhibits just aren't that good. The Heineken brewery in Amsterdam is way better. And this is Ireland's most popular visitor attraction!! It is rubbish!!

kerryjack · 05-11-2018 10:35PM

LA is a bit of a kip, cliffs of moher, Paris and temple bar.

LirW · 05-11-2018 10:39PM

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

A bit closer to home, I bought some visitors to the Guinness Store House a few years back. Wow, is it useless. Half of it is empty and the exhibits just aren't that good. The Heineken brewery in Amsterdam is way better. And this is Ireland's most popular visitor attraction!! It is rubbish!!

I'm not big into the whole factory tour thing in general. It's literally the last thing I'd like to do on a trip somewhere, visiting a brewery/food factory, I've been to a few on school tours and I always found them soooo boring. An absolute (low)highlight was when they took a bunch of 10 years old to the big site where they process all the household rubbish.
It's all just a glorified "here's the clean part of the plant, we're so great, buy our product" tour with a few gimmicks.

Noveight · 05-11-2018 10:44PM

Naples. Very few sights worth seeing and rubbish heaped everywhere. Only handy as it's near enough Pompei.

endacl · 05-11-2018 10:46PM

Sirsok wrote: »

Ayers rock...four day drive from Sydney with not much to see around you only to go see a big red rock, four day back.. waste of holiday from work

Have to disagree. I never 'went to see' Uluru, but did have an 8 hour stopover at the nearby airport. The rock is visible from the airport, and with little else to do, we decided to walk out and see if we could improve the view. It looked 'massively-tiny' on the horizon. Two hour's walking later, we were almost halfway there, and it still looked 'massively-tiny'. As if we'd got no nearer at all, although we'd covered about 10k of the 26k distance.

Couldn't help thinking of the effect that this constant massive presence in a landscape that was otherwise endless horizon might have had on the people of the land before roads and airports arrived.

Quite humbling.

Overrated sights/destinations

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