don’t bother going to Liberty Island (statue of Liberty). all you’re going to end up doing is craning your neck upwards for a shi**y view of the statue.
Instead, take the Staten Island Ferry out to SI. It’s FREE. 100% Free. read that again because it’s not common in NYC. IT IS FREE.
It’s a 30 minute trip from Financial District down to Staten island. The ferry has concessions which serve alcohol, or you can actually bring your own on board and drink. It offers an awesome view of the statue of liberty, and Ellis Island. 30 minutes to Staten, then just jump on the next boat back to Manhattan. That’s an hour of your life and is totally worth it and fun.
I’m not sure if it’s really globally critically acclaimed, but Sunset Blvd in Hollywood.
It is literally just a rundown street with dingy storefronts and the Church of Scientology trying to rope you into joining their cult. But oh! There’s plaques set into the sidewalk for celebrities or celebrity-adjacent people you may or may not recognize that paid for them to be there. Seriously. There is nothing to see there.
I’m sure people more familiar with LA can give better suggestions (I’m partial to Venice Beach, but that is rough around the edges too), but I say, just go to San Diego.
LA.
Lots of stuff to do, but it takes forever to get there. I feel like I spent my whole LA stay in the car, stuck in traffic.
The rest of California that I saw was great, I’d do any part of it again, but not LA.
Disney World. The lines are terrible. Expensive as hell. The rides are not even that impressive anymore. You’re surrounded by weird people and jerks. The service is crap. It is completely packed. It’s either raining or hot as hell.
I found Pisa to be overrated. It’s small and was extremely crowded when I went.
There are definitely some things worth seeing but I wouldn’t go back again. A day trip was plenty.
captainmagictrousers added:
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is great, if you want to see 500 people posing like they’re mimes trapped in a box.
Venice. I know that’s blasphemy for some, but I found it stinky, dirty, and unnecessarily expensive. I was bored within 5 or 6 hours… and I had 3 days to fill! Ended up traveling out of the city and exploring the lovely surrounding cities/countryside.
ayb added:
I had a really bad time in Venice. All I can remember are pigeons, filthy water, scaffolding, pictures of the virgin mary, spaghetti with sauce that tasted like ketchup.
Florence was quite a nice experience though.
Times Square is the most overrated tourist spot on the globe. New York is an incredible, wonderful city but Times Square is its nadir
Boise Idaho, I know what you’re thinking “It’s hot, brown, nothing really interesting about it, and it’s full of crazy mormons and republicans and spiders.” In real life it’s actually slightly worse
Niagara Falls on the American side was not so great. The falls you always see in the movies are Horseshoe falls, and you can barely see those from the US. And in reality, there are like 20 “Maid in the Mist’s,” and you pay like $30 for a 10 minute boat ride, and to get drenched in stinky water. And there is nothing else to do in the area unless you go into Buffalo.
Pyramids of Giza; might be being too harsh, but the swarm of aggressive market vendors surrounding them makes the place a bit of a nightmare. One woman from our group asked a guard to take her photo standing next to the pyramids, and the guard refused to give it back without recieving payment (I cant recall the amount but being extorted by a man with an AK-47 isn’t an ideal situation). Inside the tombs themselves it reeked of piss and was a claustrophobes complete nightmare. A ~ 5 foot tall, very steep ramp with fuck all to prevent a fall wide enough to fit 1.5 men at best with a steady stream of people coming up from the opposite direction. Being literally yelled at to buy headscarves and assorted plastic shite by the truly horrible merchants outside completely ruined my experience of the place, which I’m so, so sad about because I spent months looking forward to the trip.
The Bahamas. Beautiful place and all, but Nassau is full of tourist traps and the locals are kinda a**holes.
_random_rando_ added:
Resorts in the Bahamas. Especially when you compare them with just renting a house and a boat for a week in the Abacos. There is so much more to see beyond an overpriced and overhyped tourist trap.
Wall Drug Store
About 10,000 signs alert you to the fact that Wall Drug is ahead when you drive across South Dakota, probably on your way to or from Mount Rushmore. The signs are fun, giving you something to look for while you drive what seems like an endless highway.
But just keep on driving and don’t stop: Once a gimmicky but real drug store, Wall Drug is now a shopping mall that specializes in crap. Imagine fake cowboy hats, fake cowboy boots and tacky t-shirts, not to mention overpriced food, as far as the eye can see. The only thing worth stopping for is the jackalope (a made-up jack rabbit/antelope cross-breed) statue, and the still-free cup of water.
Most underwhelming/overrated one I can think of is the Mona Lisa. It is quite small, with a 10 foot barrier around it and about 1000 asian tourists snapping photos at any given time.
Recently I’ve visited Barcelona. I’ve walked the Ramblas, went to all the famous spots and less famous spots (like the Catalan historical museum) but my overall experience was that it was an overrated city. It was expensive, crowded/overly touristy (ok, i expected that but still) and in a day or two, maybe three you’ve seen it all! All of my citytrips in the last two years (Madrid, Vilnius, Moscow, Dublin) and most of the major cities I’ve visited on my recent vacations were a lot more interesting. I really don’t get the hype
Being from Miami I can truly say Miami is a bit overrated. True the beaches are nice, we have beautiful weather compared to other states, and especially S.Florida is a melting pot of exotic people. Other than that..there is a lot of crime and snobby people. The club scene is nice, and shops are nice (if you have the money to spend on ridiculous over priced items). Don’t get me wrong, I have lived in other states and even in Europe and I Love living in Miami, but for an average Joe, its not what people make it out to be.
Antalya, Turkey. A formerly beautiful ancient city ruined by the massive amounts of tourist traps. During my stay in the city I had the constant feeling I was going to be ripped off. In shops, in cafés or restaurants, you name it. Not to mention the fact that the city is filled with eyesores of buildings designed to lure in tourists.
At least it’s not as much of a Resort Central as the surrounding areas.
I present you the most overrated/underwhelming tourist attraction in the world…
Editor’s note: It’s Manneken Pis in Brussels.
PyongyangJim added:
If you find yourself in this situation, turn around, go into The Poechenellekelder across the street. Grab some nice Belgian beer and watch the people.
Well, lots of people say the United Arab Emirates, and I’ll agree. It held my interest for a while with the craziness of its modern elements, and I saw quite a lot of it, enjoying the rural places like Liwa and Al Ain, but it really gets tired quickly. The facilities just don’t stack up to western cities and they always seem like a pastiche, with the repressive undercurrent throughout the place never fully hidden (did you know they had a spate of foreign maids falling out of apartment windows?).
Anyway, the reason I bring it up is because, for a better Arab experience, you can go next door to Oman. Old forts, dramatic mountains, dunes, beaches, souqs, old men drinking tea and playing chess on the corniche, it has it all and feels much more authentic and friendly than Dubai. It’s certainly not as advanced and easy to visit but the roads are good, crime is low, and English is widely spoken, so it’s actually not that difficult a place for tourists.
Don’t know why Istanbul is often called the most beautiful city in the world. If the major attractions are of religious nature than something doesn’t feel right. I cannot recall it correctly but I didn’t see many women there, mostly angry looking men. The city centre was full of stray cats, more than I’ve ever seen.
Bourbon Street. Happy I did it once but it smells of garbage, is crowded, sketchy, and did I mention the smell?
Jamaica. Terribly dirty, poor, violent, dangerous, and chock-full of rude and loud British and American tourists. You have to spend a fortune to get a nice holiday out of it, by heading to a decent resort.
Obviously can’t speak for everyone but personally I think Bali is pretty overrated. At least compared to the sky-high expectations everyone here seems to have and compared to all the pictures on instagram.
V_the_Victim added:
Can’t pick a country myself, so I’ll chip in with the most popular destination in Indonesia:
Bali.
It’s full of tourists and so much more expensive than the rest of the country. It’s a veritable desert of culture in a land with nearly 1,000 spoken languages and hundreds of ethnic groups. Heck, it doesn’t even have the best beaches in Indonesia. Any traveler looking for a real experience should avoid Bali like the plague.
aleksndr_a added:
—The taxi hawkers at the airport are a mob unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They swarm you. They follow you. It is very unpleasant.
—The driving is insane. I never felt safe in any vehicle.
—Sewage is openly left everywhere, and the smell of burning trash fills the air each evening.
—If you go to any of the beaches, most are so dirty you won’t want to swim at them.
—If you go to any resort town, it’s overrun by tourists and dive bars.
—If you go inland, prepare to be eaten alive by mosquitos.
I know this is very disparaging, but Bali is in a tough situation. They are trying to build a tourism industry and make it accessible, but their local issues are too great to overcome at the moment.
Monaco. I was in southern France in 2012 and decided to take a quick bus ride over to Monaco one day just because I heard was almost like a paradise. But I was thoroughly disappointed with the place. Nothing but high end clothing stores, extremely overpriced, terrible food, and yacht docks. A complete absence of anything interesting. It seriously felt like a place for ultra-rich people to sit around jerk each other off.
Kyoto.
I might not have given it a fair shot, but arriving to huge mobs of tourists and crammed public transit basically killed my ability to appreciate the promised peaceful & refined vibes. The expectation and reality were so different I’m considering giving it another try and cycling around the outskirts to see if I “did it wrong.”
I think the worst tourist attraction I’ve seen was in Myanmar when I signed up for a local tour in Mandalay. They took us to a monastery where a S**T TON of people had all gathered to watch the monks walk from their dorms to go have lunch. Dozens and dozens of old (almost all of them over 65) tourists were lined up to take pictures of these poor guys as they were trying to go have a meal, and apparently this happens every day. For those of us under 30 this was incredibly strange and really embarrassing. I couldn’t figure out why so many old tourists were all gathering to aggressively photograph these guys just going to have a meal.
The monastery was home to a ton of cats so I wound up hanging with them until our cab driver told us it was time to move to the next attraction.
Gatlinburg. Everything there is kitsch, the whole town is one big tourist trap. There were some skeezy businesses too, it reminded me of Camden Markets but less fun.
The scenery is beautiful. But it is everywhere else in the Great Smokies too
Shocked no one has said this yet.
Plymouth F**king Rock
If you haven’t seen any pictures of it, you imagine it as this epic massive stone representing the pioneering spirit of the first European settlers.
What you get is a rock that’s the size of about 3 footballs with a date carved into it. It’s surrounded by this little gate thing and you look down into it. Since the pit the rock is in is surrounded by sand, people find it to be a convenient ash tray. There were cigarette butts everywhere when I went. Shit was depressing.
I’ll go by continent, though I have never been to Australia and there is nothing to be over/under rated regarding Antarctica.
North America
Overrated: All of Florida. It’s really not that interesting. There are better beaches elsewhere, there are better amusement parks elsewhere, there is better food elsewhere, there are fewer cranky boomers elsewhere.
Central & South America
Overrated: Costa Rica. It’s a fun destination, but a lot of the experiences you can get/things you can see (rainforest, mountains, beaches) have more interesting options elsewhere. Brazil and Peru have more spectacular rainforest & wildlife, Peru, Argentina and Chile have more breathtaking mountains, Colombia and Brazil have nicer beaches.
Europe
Overrated: Rome. Everyone should visit Rome and it’s a fun city, but it is overrated as hell. The food scene doesn’t compare to Northern Italy or down in Naples. I don’t find much repeat-visit value like there is in Barcelona, Paris, or London.
Africa
Overrated: South Africa. Too many Western tourists pick South Africa as their safari destination in Africa because it’s an easy African country to visit which means that, unless you go to a private game reserve, things get busy. Safaris in other countries are so much better with better lodges and no crowds. That said, Cape Town is Africa’s best city and I did enjoy Durban. South Africa isn’t bad, but it’s overrated.
Asia
Overrated: Goa, India. Not sure if it’s very proud Indians on the internet who tout Goa as a legendary beach destination, but it really isn’t that great. 4/10 as far as beaches go. It’s crazy busy, the water can be polluted, and it’s not really the relaxing beach destination some would make it seem. So, so, so many better options.
Antelope Canyon. You’ve probably seen the iconic images. Don’t get me wrong, it was pretty cool, but it was waaaaay more touristy than I expected (I was being naive though). As soon as I got down into it, I couldn’t wait for the tour to end.
Khao San Road. I love Thailand but I absolutely hated Khao San Road. It’s entirely fabricated for tourists to make tour groups feel like they’re doing something exotic and adventurous. Signs for “We don’t check ID!” “Take a picture eating a scorpion for $5!” “Fake passports sold here!” and then it’s just t-shirts and bars. Compared to the rest of the country it’s gross, fake, and douchey.
Don’t go the Empire State Building. Instead, go to 30 Rock – the view is better, it’s cheaper, it’s bigger, and the wait times are 5 minutes instead of 5 hours.
If you want to see Redwoods or just Nature and you are in San Francisco, do not, I repeat, do not go to the Muir Woods. The traffic and congestion going over the Bridge to Marin County is horrible. The woods are packed with noisy people and there is no parking. Instead go hike amongst the trees at Henry Cowell State park instead. It’s in Santa Cruz and the drive is almost as lovely as the hike.
‘Countries’ is a little too big to talk about. Each one has its merits… but as far as cities go, I wasn’t overly impressed with Paris. I had always heard it was romantic and bursting with culture. I just saw a bunch of tourists waiting in lines, homeless people, and a lot of people in a rush (as seen in most metropolises). That being said, I was only there for 4 days, I mostly did the classic tourist things because I was pretty fresh to travel.
I’m going back there again in a few months to try and find the city all those people praise.
Unpopular opinion: Hawaii is overrated.
I’ve experienced Oahu and Maui. I loved the astonishing coastal views, swimming holes, pineapple ice cream, poke bowls, and hiking, don’t get me wrong.
But it’s quite pricey compared to other similar destinations around the world, and that’s just if you’re doing it fairly economically (no fancy resorts or eating out 3x/day). The people of Hawaii – natives and “mainlander” transplants alike – honestly seemed pretty aloof, pissed off, and even hostile (this was especially pronounced around Honolulu); oddly similar to cities like Miami and Houston where I’d expect that sort of behavior. Customer service doesn’t seem to exist in the state. HNL is one of the worst airports I’ve seen in the wealthy, developed world. Hawaiian Airlines is also an okay airline at best, it seems, and I’ve encountered some pretty unpleasant staff while flying with them. (As a side note, Southwest is now providing much more service to the state, but I don’t like SWA at all. Alaska is a much better airline to fly if the opportunity is there.)
Update: I went in 2017 and 2018. Pre-pandemic.
Anyway, which tropical or otherwise warm-locale holiday destinations have I enjoyed more? Key West, Gulf Shores area (Alabama), Fiji, Northeast Queensland (Australia), Okinawa, and even Bali. I also quite enjoy New Zealand, definitely not tropical but a country whose Maori traditions/culture have a lot of similarities with native Hawaiian traditions/culture. Yet Maori people have been much kinder in my experience.
Maybe I’ve just done Hawaii wrong during two visits…
Copenhagen.
Expensive. There’s not much to see/do. Weather is often not that great. The little mermaid statue is one of the most overrated things to see. The architecture of houses is very similar to Amsterdam’s.
Maybe an outlier but we encountered too many chatty drunks in the street.
Sedona, AZ. Unless you are into healing crystals and going to bed at 7 it is pretty terrible.
Las Vegas is probably on my “skipping list”, just because of the idea of it just doesn’t interest me whatsoever.
I haven’t really been anywhere that I would put on a skip list though. Places I wasn’t too fond it (like Malta) is probably part to do with my age.
Honestly I think NYC is overrated (and I’m an American from the East Coast). I’ve been probably 8-10 times in my life, and different stages of life (kid, teenager, adult, seeing friends who live there) and every time I go I feel thankful I don’t live there and I’m happy to be gone. I’ve visited a fair number of neighborhoods and off the tourist track sights, restaurants, etc. and I still feel the same way. It’s worth visiting and it’s certainly diverse but it’s just exhausting and kind of faceless in my opinion.
Ohio is a f**king wasteland. I had to go the cleveland once, first time, and i am always excited to see a new state especially driving because i go by everything and i can stop and look around, take pics and what not. I went to my destination turned around and left nothing at all to see.
Langkawi Island. I see a lot of South-East Asian people go there on holiday but the place is incredibly tacky and looks like it hasn’t been looked after for 20 years.
I used to live and work in Waikiki. A lot of people don’t know this but if you leave Waikiki there’s a whole bunch more island to explore with more beaches and more food and more authentic culture than what you get in just one tiny area.
The number of tourists I used to meet out there who would spend thousands of dollars and travel thousands of miles to come to Hawaii only to never leave their resort, much less the area it’s in, never ceased to disgust me.
Austin, Texas, USA: Insanely overrated
Insanely terrible traffic for a city its size, whether along I-35 or along the myriad thoroughfares and neighborhood routes otherwise.
Stupidly long waits to get into “hip” BBQ or taco joints that might be the “best” in Austin, but would be par-for-the-course, holes-in-the-wall in many other places throughout Texas.
I’m sure the locals pre-tech-boom were generally friendly. However, today’s Austin reveals a general population that is snobby, pretentious, surly, and aloof. I realize that many of these twits are nasal-sounding, vapidly-conversing, fast-talking, self-absorbed asshats from major coastal cities, although many are also Texans who wanted to get out of their hometowns and now seem to feel the need to “act Austin.” The customer service in most stores and restaurants seems to reflect that accordingly.
Speaking of service, the way that my partner and I have been treated at Austin’s airport on numerous occasions has been just flat-out rudely. Despite AUS being a fairly modern airport, I place it on par with LAX, Sea-Tac, Newark and Miami airports for being the worst of the worst for personnel attitudes.
Lastly, if I wanted to pay L.A., San Francisco, or NYC prices for dining out, I’d go to one of those cities.
I live down the road near Houston and am no fan of this place either, but at least we aren’t trying to pass ourselves off as the coolest, most tourist-friendly city in the state. I can tolerate Austin for less than a day, then I can’t wait to bail. By the way, San Antonio is fairly close to Austin and has had a far better developed tourist infrastructure for decades.
Australia 100%
Studied abroad there for about 5 months and dealt with way too many racist, homophobic, and misogynistic uni boys.
Don’t get me wrong it’s beautiful, but I preferred NZ. Kiwi’s were way more friendly, progressive, and diverse. Loved how the Maori’s were apart of Kiwi culture.
Bratislava.
They renovated their castle on the inside to look like you’re in an office park.
Industrial carpeting, drop-ceilings, fluorescent lighting and drywall for the walls.
In a castle.
WTF.
Iceland is so f**king overrated. I’m sure it was nice a few years ago before the tourist boom really took off, but now it’s basically just a theme park (high prices and all)
elijha added:
I never miss a chance to sh**-talk Iceland.
It’s pretty, but no prettier than countless other places that don’t have sky high prices, terrible food, poor to nonexistent public transit, and tap water that smells like egg farts.
The only other place I’ve really though was awful and made me decide to backtrack was Budva in Montenegro. Some friends of mine love it but I thought it was mostly an awful, trashy hell-hole full of mafia, rampant over-development and awful nightclubs. The citadel was nice, the food was good and paragliding was excellent but it’s not my scene. I got on the bus back to Kotor (it was a few years before Kotor was overrun with cruise ships).
Agra. The Taj is gorgeous, but Agra is not a nice place to visit. I honestly think that city can be completely missed. There are other spectacular Mughal monuments in Delhi. I’m not saying the Taj isn’t beat taking, but I don’t think it’s worth allocating time away From Jaipur or Delhi if you’re doing the Golden Triangle.
Also, Portland, Oregon
Florence. Amazing history and museums, but the rest of the city was just so, so. Tourists have almost completely driven all the authenticity away. Restaurants are half the quality of the rest of Italy for twice the price. Super narrow sidewalks are overcrowded, pushing pedestrians onto the street. Selfie stick and knock-off product pushers on every corner. Bologna, Modena, and Parma are just so much better of an experience.
Amsterdam. Granted, I was only there for 3 days so there’s a lot I didn’t see, but what I did see didn’t leave much of an impression.
Stockholm. I visited last spring after having wanted to visit Sweden for 5+ years and hearing stories from friends who grew up there. It wasn’t awful (there were still many nice things to see and places to walk around) but it was a bit depressing and sprawling. Not quite the vackerra huvudstad I wanted it to be. On the whole, much worse than Göteborg, Oslo, København, or even Malmö.
Bern, Switzerland.
You can just do it as a day trip. Saw the clock and gave the lion monument a miss. Let me know if I missed anything.
Faneuil Hall in Boston is definitely overrated compared to the other landmarks in Boston.
For some reason it continues to be the most visited site in Boston, but is honestly one of the least exciting. Yes there is historical context, but everything in Boston has historical context. Comparatively to everything else on the Freedom Trail, Faneuil Hall is fairly boring. It doesn’t look interesting, and the historical context is comparatively dull. And it’s by far the most tourist-trappy landmark, with a gift shop inside of it, a shitty mall behind it, and constantly crowded with street performers.
It seems to have Times Square syndrome where it’s where people go because it’s where people go. It seems like a cool place because it’s always crowded, but when everyone is gone it loses most of it’s excitement.
PSA: If you’re planning a trip to Greece, skip Mykonos. It’s totally overrated.
My wife and I are honeymooning and while planning it booked four nights in Mykonos, something we realized late was a big mistake. This was our fault for not doing the proper homework and including it just due to brand name recognition, really. Arriving in late August, the island was very crowded and expensive to stay, eat and drink at most places. On top of that, there are not really that many beaches compared to other Islands and Mykonos lacks aesthetics (it’s a dusty rock.) Mykonos locals and fans of Mykonos like to boast about the fact it’s a party/clubber’s destination, which seemed plausible enough except that if I wanted to go and pay for a Vegas experience, I’m more inclined to just go to Vegas. Granted, we’re in our 30s and aren’t the clubber types.
For our Mykonos leg we ended up calling an audible and double-booked a night to skip over to Naxos, which was absolutely wonderful by comparison. Beaches were plentiful and mostly deserted, food and lodging was very good and reasonable. We love Naxos and can’t wait to go back someday. Mykonos? Not so much.
Hard to get over the fact that for the price of a single night’s stay in Mykonos we were able to rent a luxury suite in Ikaria for three nights (By the way, if you’re coming to Greece, GO TO IKARIA!) It’s green, has amazing beaches, friendly locals,
Stonehenge.
The cool part is how old it is. That’s not something you can see with your eyes.
Brussels, like the whole city. Beggars everywhere, lots of trash and smelled like piss.
The Eiffel Tower.
It’s good but certainly doesn’t deserve what it gets, as basically over-glorified scaffolding of little historical significance. It’s always overcrowded, and the endless proposals are so clichéd and almost always thoughtless “it’s what you do there” ones rather than because of any particular significance to the couple.
Which is all made so much worse by the fact that it getting that attention massively overshadows the Arc de Triomphe, which is the opposite of that in every way, with significantly better views due to its location. Though if nothing else that does make the Arc de Triomphe much quieter, which is obviously great.
Something that underwhelmed me was Giants causeway near Belfast. I thought the rock formations were cool and even beautiful, but it was only a small portion of the park. (Definitely my fault since I could have looked up more pictures of the place.) I can honestly say I loved the hike around the top of the mountain next to it even more.
Egypt, Cairo in particular.
If you simply must visit, fly in on a red-eye, sleeping on the flight.
Land and get a ride to the Pyramids (bus is actually safe than a cab, simply due to its size/mass vs. the other maniacs on the road honking their horns every thirty seconds.).
Rent camels, not horses… horses you are too low to the ground and the beggars try to steal your shoes; also if you get the right camel rental place, they’ll teach you the command word for the camels to kick the beggars.
Ride out and enjoy the pyramids… don’t look too low and you might be able to ignore all the trash. Don’t take pictures of any people, they’ll claim you stole part of their soul and demand payment… and the local corrupt enforcement officers will back them up so they get their part of the take.
When done, ride back, turn in the camel, catch a ride back to the airport and fly home.
Four corners. I wasn’t expecting much before I went and it was still a letdown. It’s hours from anything. You have to pay to enter, cash only, and the nearest ATM is about 45 min away. If you want a photo be prepared to wait for a full tour bus or two of Chinese women to get through the line before you. Also all around the monument are peddled selling you overpriced junk.
Lake Louise in Alberta. Don’t get me wrong, the view is breathtaking. But there are so many tourists that even at the crack of dawn, its packed. It’s more hectic than enjoyable.
Bow Lake which is between Jasper and Banff is just as (if not more) beautiful and far less people.
Panama City Beach, Florida. It’s loud, it’s not fun, and you’re likely to get your car towed no matter where you park it.
I can’t believe I’m saying this (Because.. it’s in WACO), but: Magnolia Silos.
We have people from all across the country DRIVING to Waco, TX, to see the magnolia silos thanks to fixer uppers.
It’s not that great, people. Please do not drive for 30 hours to see this place.
It has food trucks, a vastly overpriced store, and an “okay” bakery. You get about an hour out of it, max.
Stop.
Cape may, Nj.
Super wealthy people come here for their summer vacation to spend tons of money on beachy couture and to eat overpriced seafood on docks.
In the winter it’s just a bunch of people doing heroin/collecting unemployment.
I lived in cape may for a year and I spent that whole time wondering if someone was going to break in again while I wasn’t home. The locals literally have nothing to do other than do drugs and steal in the off season.
It’s pretty shi**y. I’ve lived here for 20 years and every year it gets worse.
Taiwan. “its beautiful, its great, its amazing you’ll love it”
…i lived there for a year. The food is s**t, the people are rude, the racism (I’m indian) is overwhelming.
The first semester of my sophomore year of college, I studied in Moscow. Man, was it ever awful. The people were so rude to me, the city stank, everything was incredibly expensive, people would lie to me about speaking English, and the food was just disgusting. The city is basically an overpriced toilet.
Geneva. Albeit a pretty city, the soul-crushing cost of everything entirely weighed down my experiences there. Never expected to pay 24f for a hamburger in my life.
The Great Barrier Reef. It wasn’t more exciting than any other place I have snorkeled. Also it is all dying so it was more sad than anything.
Of all the places we visited in Morocco, Jemaa el-Fnaa (market square) in Marrakech was the biggest disappointment. It’s full of knock-off gear and guys trying to get you to take pictures with cobras. However, we did go to a roof-top restaurant on the edge of the square and had an amazing meal – we also got to hear the adhan (call to prayer) while in the restaurant.
Marrakech in general is pretty awesome, but the market was a let down. Everything else we saw was worth it, and we plan to go back at some point in the future.
The Space Needle is cool but it’s really over-priced. Sure, the rotating restaurant is kind of fun, but be prepared to really shell out the dough to eat there. The Space Needle is a lot more impressive from a little bit of a distance than it is when you’re standing right underneath it IMO. If you want a nice view, try going across the lake. Take a ferry, or go up the Smith Tower instead.
Edit: Columbia! Go to the Columbia Tower! I apologize for my ignorance!
Edit again: Absolutely check out the EMP, Sci-Fi Museum, and/or The Science Center, depending on your interests. I personally think Pike Place is always worth a visit, particularly for tourists (it gets crowded though, be warned). Gas Works, Fremont, Seattle Underground…there’s a lot to see and do here, it’s a beautiful city.
Las Ramblas in Barcelona.
Lovely city, but everybody hypes up this one street that’s crowded full of people. It’s practicallly highlighted in every tour guide of the city yet I still don’t understand the draw. Every restaurant and shop on the street is a tourist trap as well: overpriced and under-quality. It’s much more worth your time to stroll around the Gothic neighborhood if the city rather than Las Ramblas.
Takeshita Street in Harajuku. Went on a Sunday, and I couldn’t move my elbows an inch without bumping into someone, no matter where I went, and pretty much every shop had a 30+ minute line. There was also hardly anyone there actually dressed in the kind of fashion you to go to Takeshita Street expecting to see, which isn’t exactly a problem on its own, but it essentially meant that I was dealing with being a sardine for hours on end with no real payoff beyond shopping for overpriced fashion goods once I survived the lines. I love Tokyo, but I definitely won’t be going back to Harajuku anytime soon.
As a New Zealander I have to say that my country is overrated. Considering that it’s ages away from anywhere I don’t know why people bother coming here when you can find similar or better scenery in North America or Europe.
Im from Vancouver, and cant really tell why its one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. I only speak of the city itself, not the surrounding nature; our nature is up there with the rest of em. The city itself is overpriced and overrated.
Kraków.Maybe not that it is overrated because city is REALLY beautiful and worth visiting but I don’t like how it absorb most of tourist who decide to go to Poland and leaving the rest of cities behind. For example Warsaw is magical cities and it doesn’t get as much attention. It has historical sites, unique architecture. Moreover nightlife is super crazy there, there a lot of amazing places to spend night in, my favorite is New Orleans Club and all of the pubs and bars near Rondo De Gaulle.
Kuala Lumpur. I don’t even know why this was hyped to me so much since ever since then I’ve heard no one think of it as a remarkable tourist destination. It’s for a reason that all the photos of KL are either of the Petronas towers or the Batu caves entrance….
Cabo de Roca, it took me an hour to get there from Lisbon. Spent no more than 20 mins there. One cafe and that’s it for the most western point of the European continent.
The entirety of Orange County, CA. Rich and vapid; where creativity and personality goes to die. I drove all the way across the country to visit the OC and ended up having more fun in Des Moines.
The Taj Mahal in Agra, India.
It’s mildly interesting to look at, but there’s not much else to do once you’re in that area.
Luxembourg. It is so small it must be unique. If you call a nationwide blackout unique…
Greece, Greece is so f**king overrated especially on summer.
I’m from Greece and tourists come every summer here to enjoy our “Mediterranean food and clean beaches”.
Actually 80% of the people that swim in our beaches pee on them. They aren’t as clean as you think!
Apparently Chicago’s biggest tourist destination is navy pier. It’s small, and very close to much better things to do. Not worth the time.
Akihabara in Japan. It is just a bunch of computer part stores, girls screaming in annoying high pitched voices, and American weebs cosplaying. I noped out pretty fast.
Sagrada Familia. (Barcelona) I mean, it was nice, but I expected something jaw-dropping and instead found myself hoping that I just hadn’t seen the best part of it yet. I found Parc Guell to be infinitely more impressive.
Coney Island. Don’t really know what I was expecting, but it’s just kind of bleak and depressing. Also, we were surprised the car still had hubcaps when we left.
Old Faithful, it is honestly one of the least spectacular geysers in Yellowstone. I feel like the only reason it is so famous is because it is a relatively tall geyser and goes off so predictably.
