You can travel to Rome and skip the pizza place your friend told you about but you have to visit the Colosseum. Some travel destinations are simply a must-see. But that doesn't mean you'll like them.
To learn more about these questionable places, Reddit user u/superlemondaze made a post on the platform, asking: "What's a tourist attraction you've been to that was 100% not worth the hype?" And people responded.
As of today, the question has 23.6K upvotes and 17.2K comments, many of which describe why some of the most popular spots can feel overcrowded, overpriced, and simply overrated.
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The glass bridge over the grand canyon.
Total rip-off tourist trap.
It takes HOURS to get there from Vegas
They charge you $20 to park in an empty desert
They charge you $30 per person to take the bus from the parking to the attraction (it's like walking from parking into a mall - no distance at all!)
Then they charge you $30 per person if you actually want to walk on the bridge
You cannot take pictures or bring a camera onto the bridge, but they will sell them to you, of course.
There is one overpriced place to eat where they sell you canned food heated up in a microwave for big money... or you could drive 5 hours back to Vegas...
Go there to get scalped.
Travel blogger and speaker A Lady in London has been to 112 countries and she's only visited a few attractions that she thought were over-hyped. It was primarily because she isn't really drawn to such places to begin with.
"Most of them were attractions that heavily marketed themselves or got lots of coverage on social media," A Lady in London told Bored Panda. "I went because I was curious after seeing them advertised or talked about online so much, and not because I was truly interested in them."
While the traveler acknowledges that some companies and individuals might prey on tourists, she doesn't think that makes the whole industry corrupt or dishonest. "I think most are genuinely trying to offer something that appeals to a certain demographic. If I'm not in their demographic, I'm probably not going to enjoy their attraction. But someone who is in their demographic might love it," she explained. "Like most things in life, the degree of enjoyment of tourist attractions tends to be relative to one's interests."
Don't worry. Everyone can find something they're into. "There are lots of ways people can discover cool, less popular sights when they're traveling," A Lady in London, who also documents her trips on Instagram, said. "As a professional travel blogger, I obviously recommend following blogs and social media accounts that share about under-the-radar places. Local knowledge is key, so if you can find influencers who specialize in a specific destination, you'll often discover great places through their content."
The Dead Sea. You're in Israel. In the desert. It's blazing hot, like 115°F. You think you'll go take a dip in the Dead Sea to cool off, right? Wrong. First, you have to pay to go through a spa to use their towels, pools, etc. Then you take the wagon/shuttle that drives you from the spa down to the shore. The wagon/shuttle goes about 5 miles per hour in the scortching sun. No breeze. Next, you get to the shore of the Dead Sea. You the proceed to run over the sand that's so hot you're sure your feet will burn off. You tentatively step into the water....and it's like the hottest bath you've ever taken in your life. The water is maybe 1° away from boiling. But you figure you've made it this far, might as well get the full experience. So you submerge. It's a mistake. Every pore on your body is burning from the salt. If you have shaved any part of your body within the last three years, you will feel the salt seep into the little micro cuts and burn you from the inside out. You find cuts on your body you didn't even know you had. Even your asshole is burning because you have pooped and wiped within the last week, so your skin is raw there. And the worst part is, when you decide you have had enough of this boiling body of water, you practically have to crawl out because you're too bouyant to stand. And in the process of crawling out, you scrape your knees on the bottom where the salt rocks have crystalized which sets off a whole new round of pain. So now you're hot, sticky from the salt, and every inch of your body burns.
Dubai. It's the most soulless, cultureless, and artificial city I've been to. The shameless and obscene display of bling-bling only adds to this vibe, and the supertall skyscrapers and mega malls get old sooner or later.
To top it off, all of this is built overnight on what is essentially slave labor.
Cory and G Varga, the wife and husband duo behind the blog You Could Travel, have also been to a few tourist attractions they could've probably passed on. "The most disappointing was by far the Manneken Pis in Brussels," they told Bored Panda. "Then we have La Rambla and Mercado de La Boqueria in Barcelona: overcrowded and overpriced. The famed Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin is a bit of a tourist trap and Camargue in the South of France because of factories and pollution."
The couple is warier of the industry than A Lady in London and said that at the end of the day, people are here to make money. "Naturally, travel industry players invest heavily in marketing and as we know, marketing can sometimes be deceiving. Travel agents operate on commission so their goal is to sell you a dream: more expensive hotel, upgrades on flights, more experiences to visit. Luckily, travelers are also savvier and can see right through the ads."
"Modern travelers rely mostly on recommendations of friends and relatives, online recommendations, social media, and travel blogs. Commercial information is not so relevant to them anymore. We do appeal to all industry key players to change some of their practices ... and adopt a more ethical stance."
Cory and G Varga think the best way to learn about unbeaten paths is by simply exploring. "Ditch the hop-on-hop-off options and grab a city map (or just use digital maps on your phone) and go on an adventure. It's perfectly okay to want to see popular attractions but travel between them on foot if possible. It's the curious sights in-between that are so much more interesting and unusual. A cute family-run bistro, an obscure century-old shop, a friendly local with a story to tell," the wife and husband explained.
The Taj Mahal (Agra). It's surrounded by 10-meter-high walls, and the entrance fee is ludicrously expensive compared to any other attraction in India. If you're in Agra and want to see the Taj Mahal, go across the river. There are some gardens almost directly across from it, and there's a great spot by the river with a brilliant view of the Taj Mahal, particularly at sunset. This experience is totally free, and you won't have to deal with crowds.
That's some solid advice. The Taj Mahal is still a magnificent monument and worth seeing it.
While the Louvre is wonderful, the Mona Lisa was a huge disappointment.
The painting itself is tiny and there are always hordes of people around it.
There are a million better things to see at the Louvre.
In 2020, global international tourism arrivals fell by 73%, according to the World Tourism Organization, and recovery hopes for 2021 have been dented by waves of new infections. But as vaccination programs advance around the world, opportunities are arising for restrictions to be gradually eased.
Destination and tourism businesses are trying to rebound while also being sufficiently nimble to manage the abrupt tightening of restrictions that could be imposed in response to future infection waves and the emergence of new variants of the virus. Let's hope this brings more transparency to the industry and more chances to travelers!
If you go to the Great Wall of China, I'd suggest not going to the section right there in Beijing. Very rebuilt and touristy.
Take a van ride a ways out of the city, to the Simitai section. Now there's some uncrowded, old-school Great Wall.
Disney Parks. Want to eat? Be ready to Shell out $50 a person per day. Oh, you came for the rides? Enjoy the four or five you make it on unless it's a busy day, those days enjoy the two or three.
Disneyland is my idea of hell on earth - rampant consumerism, screaming brats and obnoxious parents
Machu Picchu. I respect the Incas for building it, the real issue I have with it is the current management. It’s flooded with people (they let in over 3x the cap sto make money) being annoying and it’s very expensive, they bus people up a huge hill all day and we are required to have a tour guide and only spend 3 mins at certain areas. It’s misrepresenting the history of the Incas to people with selfie sticks. Not my fave
You are WAY better off seeing the Inca capitol, Cusco because it’s where they actually lived and thrived. See Sasqsyhuaman and the Qoricancha sun temple. Go on a backpacking trip and you will find Inca and pre Inca stuff Everywhere. With no idiotic tourists families. I highly recommend it.
¡Viva Perú!
I love how people run to see a touristic place and complain about the other tourists being there! Well, surprise!
Then they overrun it, demand restaurants, hotels, and souvenir shops close by, and end up totally ruining everything that made it attractive to people in the first place.
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Went in 2004, at about 7am. Saw the mist disappear and reveal magic Machu Picchu exactly like all the pictures (we climbed up some stairs not knowing where we were going). Sun shining, lama's chilling around us. Life was good.
A) It's only expensive if you stay in the $1000 a night hotel. B) If you stay in the nearby town $20 a night is a fine hotel. C) Go early. Out of season. D) Expect crowds anyway. E) You do not have to get a tour guide, this is false. F) Cusco is also great.
I love hiking in the mountains so Machu Pichu has been on my bucket list. It was taken off after I saw the rampant destruction happening to it by too many people climbing all over it. Like Uluru in Australia banning climbing to preserve the site and the Lascaux caves in France banning visitors because their breath is melting the paintings, we need to protect this site for future generations. I'll agree to limiting myself to a VR goggle experience if it means 200 years from now they'll still be there as a record of where we came from. Unfortunately the new airport they are building at Machu Pichu will doom it.
- It’s flooded with people (they let in over 3x the cap sto make money) Not in low season - being annoying and it’s very expensive, they bus people up a huge hill all day - I walked up - and we are required to have a tour guide and only spend 3 mins at certain areas." - I weasn't i walked for every place i wanted to. sound like you were ripped off
I think it's about finding the right time of the day, even the right day of the right season. Of course there are places that are always gonna be crowded, but for example I visited the ruins of Cacaxtla in Mexico two years ago. Of course they're not as popular, we went on a weekday, in the morning, it was just my parents and sister and I, and probably three other people. We saw the archaeologists cleaning the murals and temples, we got to take pictures of all the stones and mural super close, with no one interfering or telling you to move, etc. It was very peaceful and we had this huge forest behind it that you could see in your way out. The Cholula pyramid on the other hand, idk how much we had to wait for a trip that was only 1 hallway, because you couldn't enter any of the levels below, and you were not allowed to take pictures.
We were ?fortunate? To have a trip there at the height of Shining path activity. Despite our government warning we went because non refundable, right? Our tour guide was kind enough to turn us loose all afternoon in Macchu Picchu, pointing out it was probably only time in history since it was rediscovered that we could be alone there. One of our best travel moments ever. US national parks quite nice now due to ban on buses during covid.
Ah yes, we were there around that time. Stayed in the hotel near the entrance for $20 a night. Had the place all to ourselves for practically the whole morning. Really one of the highlights in my years of travel.
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This is an amazing location on a planet-wide scale. Of course there will be lots of other tourists there. I imagine it costs a huge amount of money to maintain and restore, and as such they NEED the tourist dollars to do that. I really don't see any other viable alternative to what you experienced.
Some people just wish there was a balance. Some places are like that, they control the people attending at what time and what they can do. We just wish more places weren't slaves to profit. Though it's usually profit that funds the upkeep and such on the attractions and places.
Some idiot visited Machu Picchu just to complain about everything. Go to Disney's next time.
I disagree. I’ve been all over the world from the high Arctic to Antarctica and Kenya to the Galapagos. My best touring experience was Peru and Machu Picchu. Walking through the gate, walking around the corner and the vista opens. Takes your breath away.
Sounds like you missed the whole point of going there because you were distracted by modern civilization.
Going on the backpacking trip you described is what killed my brother's buddy in 1977 when he was 19. He was crossing a stream, slipped, cut his ankle on a rock, not life threatening, but the water infected it. He was in fairly remote area. By the time he made it to Mexico city hospital, the doctor recommended amputation. Amputation caused a blood clot which killed him. He was dead before his parents could get there..Never hike alone.
A friend went on this tour many years ago (back when armed guards patrolled every trail). Sounded horrific to me and not a very pleasant vacation.
Sad to see history destroyed by the capitalistic ..but how else does one get there? By Limo?
The best time to visit Macchu Picchu was during the time of the Sendero Luminoso or just after it opened during the pandemic - when it opened for one person - bliss! I have there twice, one in 1994 just after the total solar eclipse. It wasn't too bad, but in 2018 it was hell, great weather, but too many people, though you can always find spots where there is no one and terraces with llama and alpaca. I wouldn't go again however.
I think it's easier to count the people who haven't been there than the people who have. If you've been lucky enough to be on any dating apps, almost everyone has a photo of them at Machu Picchu. Literally. Everyone.
Well... I hiked 5 days on Inca Trail to get there. In the morning, I climbed 1893 steps to get to Machu Picchu. Stayed there for 7 hours, looked around, sitting and breathing all that magic in. I was also looking people. Running around in groups, taking 2000 photos and running off to bus to get back down to train. Probably they were in a hurry to run to post social media of how overpriced and touristy this place is. Machu Piccu is amazing place if you are able to see bigger picture, I recommend it to everyone who is able to think and feel.
Been there and it was AMAZING! Took the bus around 5am and got to spend the whole day there, staying the time I wanted in every area. It was full, but not crowded. It is a must see experience!
This had been a lifelong dream of my husband's, to see Machu Picchu, so I decided to treat him for a significant birthday. We were middle-aged so not on a hand to mouth existence and I decided to splurge on the horrendously expensive hotel located right by the ruins. Best splurge ever! The buses came in mid morning, included a lunch then left, which gave us hours in the morning and late afternoon that it was literally us, no more than 2 other couples, to explore Machu Picchu on our own and it was incredible. We definitely wouldn't have had the same experience had we stayed in town taken the tour buses with the crowds. There were times he and I were the only two people walking around Machu Picchu. Unbeatable experience!
I went in 2012, stayed at the hotel up the top next to the entrance so I didn't have to leave with the last bus of the day. By the time we walked back down from the Sun Gate we had the whole place to ourselves, not even any park employees around, just a few llamas and chinchillas, it was fantastic and a completely surreal experience!
When I went, I did not take the bus nor the tour. My cousin and I climbed the hill and visited at our own leisure.
I don't know. I expected it to be crowded, so I arrived at dawn, and had the place to myself and just a few others for hours. It was an incredible experience in an incredibly beautiful environment. The hike up Huayna Picchu is also not to missed. I do agree with the poster that Cuzco and many other nearby site are also fantastic.
I just made the connection that the name of the Emperor in "Emperor's New Groove" is also the name of the Inca capitol...
Sydney Opera House. The tours are expensive and the inside is kind of underwhelming. The outside is free and is also the best part. ALTERNATIVE: Just walk around Sydney harbor. It's free and gorgeous.
An acquaintance once told me a great joke about it. Australia has the best performing arts centre in the world, the only problem is the outside is in Sydney, the inside is in Melbourne and the carpark is in Adelaide.
The Liberty Bell. Wait in a long line to look at... a bell. That looks exactly like it does in all the Philly souvenirs. They don't even let you lick it.
Every Hard Rock Cafe. Seriously, the pricing is similar to a nice chain restaurant, but the food is right on par with Applebee’s.
Madame Tussauds in London. You're in a city filled to the brim with history and culture and free museums, but you'd rather wait in line for hours and pay a fortune to go see a mannequin of Justin Bieber?
Some could say that a 200 year old wax museum is part of that history.
The London Eye
What you expect
Whisked into your futuristic pod by smiling flight attendants, you gently rise above the ancient city of London. The crowds fall away as the panorama of the city is laid out before you - truly an experience for the ages
What happens
A snotty customer services assistant rips your d**k out through your wallet as you are shuffled into a stiflingly hot glass pod with dozens of other people. Sweaty tourists barge you out of the way to get to the windows before you have even left the ground. There are children, and they are screaming. The ride is 45 minutes long.
Generic rule: do not visit popular cities at summer and mid of tourist season.
Times Square and Piccadilly Circus, same damn chain restaurants and tourist traps
Mount Rushmore. It looks exactly like any picture you've ever seen. It's not easy to get up close to it. If you're in that area, I recommend prioritizing Devil's Tower. It's well worth it.
Mt Rushmore is shitty, anyway - it’s on a spot that’s sacred in Native American culture and I think I remember reading that the people who made it KNEW that.
Waikiki Beach. It's a horrible, crowded concrete beach surrounded by traffic and overpriced stores.
Go to literally any other beach in Oahu. But the coolest thing to do is drive up to north shore, and pick a spot on any one of the many relatively isolated beaches there and enjoy the scenery.
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 f**k 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 s*** 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.
Unfortunately if you want to experience the wonders of Ancient Egypt you have to put up with the modern inhabitants. If you are really interested best join a special interest tour or a university group. As well as knowing the real facts about what you are seeing they know how to deal with the annoying locals.
Branson. The Simpsons weren't really joking when they described it as Las Vegas ran by Ned Flanders.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa - five minutes, that photo, and you're done.
Bourbon Street, New Orleans
Now don’t get me wrong, the food is smash so I’d recommend hitting it anyways (Pat O’Brien’s and NOLA Poboys were my favorites). But the whole street itself is dirty, smells like sewage, and is overloaded with mostly ear rapingly loud rap music and maybe a couple jazz bands.
I can't hear or read 'New Orleans' without salivating. Some of the best food I eaten anywhere was in a strangers front yard in New Orleans, he was grilling up for his family and just offered up some food to 2 passing European tourists. If you're reading this, I love Derrick & Leanne!
Plymouth Rock
Put bluntly, this attraction is massively lame, no one even knows if this is the right rock or even if there was a rock.
Not to mention that the rock is nowhere near the shore, and it's frightfully small; you can't even get close, and it's just this rock in the middle of a fenced off area. When we were kids, we were taught Plymouth Rock was this huge historical thing, and then it's a huge disappointment. I recommend you visit the living history museum at Plimoth Plantation, instead.
Hitlers typewriter. It's a typewriter, I'm not sure what I expected.
"Hitler's typewriter" sounds like a Netflix production on a really tight budget.
Roswell, New Mexico. You’d think it would be a hotspot for conventions and space geeks, but it was an incredibly tiny town with dozens of alien shops and barely any people. It was creepy as hell.
It needs a museum dedicated to explaining how aliens crossed the interstellar void in a craft made of weather balloon materials
Oktoberfest. Way too crowded for my liking. I had a much better time at fests in the smaller villages.
Munich here. Been to Oktoberfest every year of my life, first time w/ 3 months-I´m 46 now. Always has been overcrowded in the evenings, but turned unacceptable in the last 10 years. Primitive party crowd like somewhere else in the world. Nothing special, just embarrasing. I recommend coming at 11 in the moning, have some chicken, pretzel and 2-3 Maß of beer and leave at 15 at latest, befor the crazy people arrive. That´s cool. You will meet kind, local people, that are lightly drunk and still able to talk. Or you just visit any of the bavarian beergardens with better food and lower prices for beer and food. Oktoberfest is basically for your insta-bucket-list. :-)
Romeo and Juliet's balcony in Verona. Like, 10,000 people all crammed into this tiny alleyway just to see a balcony that I found out was built after the play was written.
I understand Romeo and Juliet is a work of fiction, but the story of the balcony is it inspired the play. I now know that isn't true but as someone knowing very little about Shakespeare, I thought it was true when I went to the wonderful city of Verona.
The "Juliet's balcony" story is so silly I can't summon up much sympathy for this disappointed tourist
M&M World in London. Every single tourist has a bag from there, they don't even sell the unusual flavours of M&M, just the usual UK packets of peanut and solid chocolate. I just don't understand it...
Stand in front of the store in London, turn 180degs, hey-presto the Lego store :) Much better :)
Any instagram gimmick where you need to spend money on tickets and wait in line for a photo op
Specifically thinking of Museum of Ice Cream
Takeshita Street in Harajuku (Tokyo). I couldn't move my elbows an inch without bumping into someone, and pretty much every shop had a 30-minute line. I went to see the Harajuku-style fashion associated Takeshita Street, but hardly saw any of that. So essentially I was packed like a sardine for hours while waiting in long lines to shop for overpriced clothes. I love Tokyo, but I definitely won't be going back to Harajuku anytime soon.
Go on the side streets and alleys. They're full of tiny shops and artisans that are way more interesting and original than tourist traps like this. ...///... Frankly, I don't know how dumb you'd have to be NOT to have fun in Tokyo. Every time we go, we find more gorgeous parks and wonderful places.
The Fyre Festival
A festival promoted on Instagram by social media influencers turned out to be a massive scam. Who could have guessed....
Note: this post originally had 65 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Some people just shouldn't travel. Honestly. Who goes to Disneyland and complains about crowds and overpriced food? Either go out of season and bring your own food, or don't go at all. The Liberty Bell is just a bell - who knew? What exactly were you expecting, a line of dancing entertainers in bell costumes? Egyptians live in Egypt and many are extremely poor. Your rich tourist $$ feed their families. There are plenty of wonderful people in that country, and lots of other amazing historical monuments if you don't like the crowds at the Pyramids. I've been to many of these places and had an amazing time. I go in with the right expectations and set up the experiences to suit me and my family. It's all about research and being realistic.
I have also been many of these places and enjoyed some of those but egypt especially Cairo and the pyramids have been very bad experience because of local people. I have been dealing with sellers in other countries in Africa and Asia and usually they do not not act so agressive way than next to pyramids. First taxi driver was taking us to atleast two destinations we didn't want to stop (his friends business) We had to get out of the car in the middle of the street because it was scary and annoying and he refuse to give our bags first. Next to the pyramids people really push their items to your hands even you say firm NO and yells to you and insist to give money. Almost impossible to walk thru (we went alone, not with tourist group so we were almost only persons at the moment and all vendors werw all over us) Worst part was that one man stuck his hand to my intime area while I was trying to walk forward and that is only time ever anywhere in the world that I have been sexually attacked
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We already had a post like this not long ago, and it didn't get any more interesting. Popular tourist destinations are really crowded, a building is just a building, a painting is just a painting, and a lake is just a like, who could have guessed. That can be said about virtually every place.
I remember that. And someone actually complained "Wall Street" was a disappointment. "It's just a street". Yep, that's what it is. What it's not supposed to be is a tourist destination
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I came to be discouraged from different places but I left with a million new travel wishes! Especially the christmas shop in michigan (or was it minnesota?) seems cool
Come visit us in Michigan! Frankenmuth has a Bronner's Christmas Wonderland (the biggest Xmas store in the world*), and then down the street a bunch of cute little shops, horse & buggy rides, and a lot of Bavarian architecture. You can also take a river boat ride and eat in at the Bavarian Inn Restaurant which is covered in murals, the staff dress in the old timey German style, and there is always an accordion player entertaining diners. Kids especially love it!
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I think I'd rather read a thread about tourist attractions that people thought were *better* than expected.
I want to go to a place everyone knows about to take my instagram selfie but it was too crowded because everyone wanted to do the same as me...
All I can say is how incredibly lucky I am to have been able to travel over so much of the world. There's very few places that I would actually complain about. All I think about is what are we creating now that somebody will be in awe of some 200 or 300 years in the future?
Most of these really aren't that bad, especially if you can learn to focus on the experience more than the tourists. Also, don't make that one attraction the main focus of your trip, instead, go there, then enjoy the small towns/natural areas nearby.
If you are complaining about crowd in a tourist attraction then you are a hypocrite. All other complaints are fine...
First Rule of Travel: Look at the top five sites people say you MUST see.... and avoid them. You have a lot more fun, learn a lot more, meet amazing and diverse people. Just act with courtesy and learn enough native language to be polite (I don't speak the language is the first phrase to learn, second is forgive me, third is please, thank you, may I request assistance, etc.).... the best of most countries is never at any site featured on postcards, in my experience.
My main takeaway from this is that the worst thing about tourist traps... is the tourists. Who knew? I grew up in Blackpool and I swear people just turn off their brains when they go on holiday - wandering out into traffic just to get a better view of the Tower or the Illuminations. Oh, and that advice about "if you want the real experience, go back a few streets from the central tourist area" only applies to little towns in Spain or Italy. Go back a few streets in Blackpool and all you see is the second most deprived area in the UK (after a small town in Essex with a population of less than 5% of Blackpool). Stick to the tourist areas and maintain the illusion.
Go back a few streets in Blackpool and get offered literally every kind of illegal substance possible.
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I do not understand people who go on vacation to a place in the middle of the tourist season and get angry because it is full of tourists, surely the local people are more angry. If you don't like people there are many destinations to go to, otherwise there is no other option than to enjoy the place in the best possible way. Sometimes, you just have to be grateful that you could go, see and be in a place that many people in the world will never be able to meet. I mean, you're on holiday, just relax and enjoy!
For me, it was definitely the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia. Don't get me wrong, the area itself is gorgeous, it's just that the area is also FLOODED with people, the entire flipping day. Like, imagine a lake, which you can either walk around or take a boat to cross. Around where the boat departs there's a small area for people to wait for the boat, that area is about as big as the lake itself and it's PACKED with people. As in, wait for three hours before you can cross, if you're not going to walk around the lake. The boardwalks over the water are amazing but there's so many tourists that you can't cross them without risk of falling in the water, you constantly have to wait for people to take their selfies (with the risk of being hit in the face with a selfiestick). There's so many tourists that there's a traffic jam in front of the gates an HOUR before the park even opens. AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING. Never go there.
Ehehehehhe I'm from Croatia and I've been to Plitivice Lakes once. It wasn't as crowded as you say, but that was a long time ago and not during tourist season. It was pretty rainy, though. It's often rainy at nature parks built around rivers. Sadly, falling into the water is less of a risk, when it comes to Plitvice - landmines are a greater concern, but it's safe if you stay within the tourist infrastructure. Just don't wander around too far, and possibly stand by your tour/guide. Anyway, Plitvice Lakes are nice, but there's plenty of equally beautiful nature parks in Croatia.
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My family made the trip up the NC coast to visit the lighthouses. There they were...no information just them sitting there. But so remote we had to rush by one to get to the ferry. I held the camera out of the window and clicked. Very anticlimactic. We made the ferry.
I'd add Pamukkale in Turkey. Completely empty of water except one small artificially built part! We asked an employee why it was so, he said water enables algae and stuff to grow in the pools, so they keep it all dry except when promo material is being done :/ Understandable, but dissapointing.
A bit of a milder example since I still found it interesting, but the Victor Hotel (and town of Victor) in Colorado wasn't as cool as I thought it was gonna be. It's a historical hotel that's pretty well-known for its "haunted elevator", but the rooms only have one bed (unless you decide to borrow a foldable one) and there isn't much to do in the town. We ended up going to the nearby town Cripple Creek for food and other attractions.
As I stated in one of my comments, I'm so glad that I did my travelling back in the Sixties & Seventies, tourism was in it's infancy, not too crowded, I have wonderful memories of those days, I've written out my travel diaries, digitised my slides, and share the experiences with friends, who are all like me, in our 70's. All the places that I visited, are places I'd read about, like the song says - 'Far away places, with strange sounding names, far away over the sea .......'
True, many people haven't the inner resources to benefit from travel. Travel is about what YOU bring to IT. Yes, there are tourist traps to be avoided (the glass bridge is an excellent example) and there are overcrowded places that should be visited off-peak. Faced with a long line at the Fondation Vuitton museum in Paris, my wife had a great idea: ask the attendant what days/times are slowest. He told us--and three days later at a decently convenient hour were practically OWNED the place. Then there's the problem of essential interest. For every 'must-see,' as WHY. If the answer is because it's supposed to be quite something, you're almost guaranteed to get nothing out of the experience. If you're seriously interested in the American Revolution, the Liberty Bell may very well be more than a mere bell to you. If not, not. I love Italy and Shakespeare, so when in Verona I always drop by Juliet's House. Of course it's all a fiction, but so what? It's also an homage to love.
No need to travel, it's getting to d*** crowded and rude right here in this town these days.
Balmoral Castle in Scotland: You can only go in one room, the gardens are tiny, there is security cameras everywhere throughout the surrounding land and the police will harass you. It's not worth the money or time.
Almost every foreign person I ever spoke to loved Amsterdam. I live about 50km from Amsterdam and I don't see the appeal to the city. It's a overcrowded,dirty city. There are many much more beautiful places in the Netherlands.
THIS ARTICLE JUST PO ROVES HOW F*****G STUPID THE MASSES ARE! I LIVE ON A PLANET FILLED WITH MORONS!
I think it's not about the thing you are seeing or place you are visiting, but what feelings they bring in you. Some wonders of the world I deeply feel like I have a connection, and visiting them would probably make me feel amazing, no matter how expensive and crowded it is. And some, are just not my thing. So I don't go.
I think travel is about the people and your spirit. I went to Switzerland and love it and hate it, because I was with the wrong person and my mood was not the best. Try to visit your own city and you will be amazed the same way people who come from far away to visit it.
BOSTON: The aquarium is very famous, but meh. The science museum is surprisingly lame. Stick to the historical stuff. The great thing about Boston is that it's very compact; young people can walk around the whole city; I used to walk from work near Fenway and join my housemates as they got out of work going through Back Bay, downtown, North End, and up to Charleston in one big, walk that wasn't much longer than going down th national mall in DC
FROM DC: There are few places in the District itself that are overhyped. Mannassas (Bull Run) National Battlefield. The only thing to SEE is just a big field. A very historically important big field, but that doesn't mean there's anything to see or do there. If you want to get out of town, but still want to see the Air & Space Museum, go see the Udvar-Hazy (sp?) campus out towards Reston. And I'm no fan of the redo of the dinosaur exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. But typically ALL the free stuff is great.
There’s currently a fence up around the White House and you can only see it from a distance close to the Washington memorial. The fence was put up during the BLM protests last year by Trump and it has still not been taken down, so until it is down I have to say the White House is a disappointment since you can’t really see it because of the fence.
I think the point of this post isn't to discourage you from going there. The point is to go, but look ELSEWHERE nearby for the best experience.
Seattle. My highlight of the trip was the ferry ride over to Bainbridge Island. The PNW is truly beautiful. I also enjoyed snowshoeing near Mt. Rainer and exploring old growth forests on an excursion. I had a friend take me around Seattle for good food, breweries and shopping spots. With that said, I found it hard to enjoy much in the city due to the overwhelming homeless population. They weren't harassing me or anything, they were literately just everywhere and it was very sad. I've since then made donations to some organizations in Seattle, even though I live in Pennsylvania.
a question or challenge for you world traveling Pandas out there: how many of these 65 places have you been to? In the reply, put your handle up with "x/65" next to it if you have been to any of these places with the "x" being the number of places:
4/30 There are many American attractions. I only travel in Europe
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Maui the submarine that takes you around the harbor. Don't go unless you have kids under five who just watched the Mermaid. There is a person in a mermaid costume that comes up to the windows and shows you a rock and a starfish. That's it. It's like a smelly bus that is underwater. And that trolly that goes up the mountain out of Vancouver to some kind of tourist park. They did have a good movie but the rest was just trails with two bears behind a fence. Oh and a raptor show. Nice view from the trolly going down but found the whole place under whelming.
Surprised nobody said Wisconsin Dells. Big plastic animal statues, indoor hotel water parks, and fudge shops.
You clearly missed the Tommy Bartlett Water Show, and Circus World, and Duck tours, and the railway museum, and House on the Rock, and all the wine.
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Niagara falls. Casinos and restaurants. The best spots to take a picture are paying. They sell shirt saying "I survived Niagara Falls" but truth is there is nothing wild reminding there.
There are three things I have seen that left me totally disappointed. The Hope Diamond in Washingtion DC, it's a rock that is not really that big, tons of people were really excited about it, it was completely lost on me. The Magna Carta, in Salisbury Cathedral, it was a small piece of paper written in French, I don't know what I was expecing, but felt very underwhelmed when leaving there. Salem, Massachusetts, the famous witch trials city, it was a tourist trap, with nothing of any real substance, excited to go there, left really disappointed. There are a dozen witch museums and they are all expensive for what they are.
I want to mention one too.... The hypogeum in Malta! It's supposed to be the most famous sightseeing in the island but hear my advice and don't throw your money!!! It's ridiculously overpriced 40 Euros per person for a tour that lasts about 40 minutes! The place is impressive with underground tombs but they don't show any respect to it! The staff was bored when i was there, they didn't have headphones and you had to hold the thing to your ear for 40 minutes and the most important they didn't have many languages available! When your sight is called hypogeum (Greek word) i expect to have Greek language available!!! Especially for the 40 Euros i paid! We've been in other audio tours in Malta with 10 Euros and they had more languages available! Huge shame still crying for this money
I have to disagree about this one. Hypogeum is an amazing historical monument that is over 6000 years old with breathtaking architecture. The word hypogeum just means that it's an underground temple, it doesn't really have any Greek connection as far as I know. The guided tour provides enough information to at least give a glimpse into it's history. That is unfortunately not always the case for other megalithic structures in Malta, all of which are just awe-inspiring. If you are interested in history and especially in pre-history on Europe, hypogeum is definitely a must visit. Just a note for anyone interested: the number of people allowed inside is very restricted and you need to buy tickets an advance, I suggest checking their website as soon as you have your plane tickets booked) Honestly, to this day the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum remains one the most impressive places I've ever visited.
Load More Replies... I have 0 sympathy or surprise. Lower your expectations, or have them lowered for you by research.
Every single one of these are just stupid. Who knew a popular landmark can be a tourist trap. What did you expect? Do you people read at all before you travel?
Some people just shouldn't travel. Honestly. Who goes to Disneyland and complains about crowds and overpriced food? Either go out of season and bring your own food, or don't go at all. The Liberty Bell is just a bell - who knew? What exactly were you expecting, a line of dancing entertainers in bell costumes? Egyptians live in Egypt and many are extremely poor. Your rich tourist $$ feed their families. There are plenty of wonderful people in that country, and lots of other amazing historical monuments if you don't like the crowds at the Pyramids. I've been to many of these places and had an amazing time. I go in with the right expectations and set up the experiences to suit me and my family. It's all about research and being realistic.
I have also been many of these places and enjoyed some of those but egypt especially Cairo and the pyramids have been very bad experience because of local people. I have been dealing with sellers in other countries in Africa and Asia and usually they do not not act so agressive way than next to pyramids. First taxi driver was taking us to atleast two destinations we didn't want to stop (his friends business) We had to get out of the car in the middle of the street because it was scary and annoying and he refuse to give our bags first. Next to the pyramids people really push their items to your hands even you say firm NO and yells to you and insist to give money. Almost impossible to walk thru (we went alone, not with tourist group so we were almost only persons at the moment and all vendors werw all over us) Worst part was that one man stuck his hand to my intime area while I was trying to walk forward and that is only time ever anywhere in the world that I have been sexually attacked
Load More Replies... We already had a post like this not long ago, and it didn't get any more interesting. Popular tourist destinations are really crowded, a building is just a building, a painting is just a painting, and a lake is just a like, who could have guessed. That can be said about virtually every place.
I remember that. And someone actually complained "Wall Street" was a disappointment. "It's just a street". Yep, that's what it is. What it's not supposed to be is a tourist destination
Load More Replies... I came to be discouraged from different places but I left with a million new travel wishes! Especially the christmas shop in michigan (or was it minnesota?) seems cool
Come visit us in Michigan! Frankenmuth has a Bronner's Christmas Wonderland (the biggest Xmas store in the world*), and then down the street a bunch of cute little shops, horse & buggy rides, and a lot of Bavarian architecture. You can also take a river boat ride and eat in at the Bavarian Inn Restaurant which is covered in murals, the staff dress in the old timey German style, and there is always an accordion player entertaining diners. Kids especially love it!
Load More Replies... I think I'd rather read a thread about tourist attractions that people thought were *better* than expected.
I want to go to a place everyone knows about to take my instagram selfie but it was too crowded because everyone wanted to do the same as me...
All I can say is how incredibly lucky I am to have been able to travel over so much of the world. There's very few places that I would actually complain about. All I think about is what are we creating now that somebody will be in awe of some 200 or 300 years in the future?
Most of these really aren't that bad, especially if you can learn to focus on the experience more than the tourists. Also, don't make that one attraction the main focus of your trip, instead, go there, then enjoy the small towns/natural areas nearby.
If you are complaining about crowd in a tourist attraction then you are a hypocrite. All other complaints are fine...
First Rule of Travel: Look at the top five sites people say you MUST see.... and avoid them. You have a lot more fun, learn a lot more, meet amazing and diverse people. Just act with courtesy and learn enough native language to be polite (I don't speak the language is the first phrase to learn, second is forgive me, third is please, thank you, may I request assistance, etc.).... the best of most countries is never at any site featured on postcards, in my experience.
My main takeaway from this is that the worst thing about tourist traps... is the tourists. Who knew? I grew up in Blackpool and I swear people just turn off their brains when they go on holiday - wandering out into traffic just to get a better view of the Tower or the Illuminations. Oh, and that advice about "if you want the real experience, go back a few streets from the central tourist area" only applies to little towns in Spain or Italy. Go back a few streets in Blackpool and all you see is the second most deprived area in the UK (after a small town in Essex with a population of less than 5% of Blackpool). Stick to the tourist areas and maintain the illusion.
Go back a few streets in Blackpool and get offered literally every kind of illegal substance possible.
Load More Replies... I do not understand people who go on vacation to a place in the middle of the tourist season and get angry because it is full of tourists, surely the local people are more angry. If you don't like people there are many destinations to go to, otherwise there is no other option than to enjoy the place in the best possible way. Sometimes, you just have to be grateful that you could go, see and be in a place that many people in the world will never be able to meet. I mean, you're on holiday, just relax and enjoy!
For me, it was definitely the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia. Don't get me wrong, the area itself is gorgeous, it's just that the area is also FLOODED with people, the entire flipping day. Like, imagine a lake, which you can either walk around or take a boat to cross. Around where the boat departs there's a small area for people to wait for the boat, that area is about as big as the lake itself and it's PACKED with people. As in, wait for three hours before you can cross, if you're not going to walk around the lake. The boardwalks over the water are amazing but there's so many tourists that you can't cross them without risk of falling in the water, you constantly have to wait for people to take their selfies (with the risk of being hit in the face with a selfiestick). There's so many tourists that there's a traffic jam in front of the gates an HOUR before the park even opens. AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING. Never go there.
Ehehehehhe I'm from Croatia and I've been to Plitivice Lakes once. It wasn't as crowded as you say, but that was a long time ago and not during tourist season. It was pretty rainy, though. It's often rainy at nature parks built around rivers. Sadly, falling into the water is less of a risk, when it comes to Plitvice - landmines are a greater concern, but it's safe if you stay within the tourist infrastructure. Just don't wander around too far, and possibly stand by your tour/guide. Anyway, Plitvice Lakes are nice, but there's plenty of equally beautiful nature parks in Croatia.
Load More Replies... My family made the trip up the NC coast to visit the lighthouses. There they were...no information just them sitting there. But so remote we had to rush by one to get to the ferry. I held the camera out of the window and clicked. Very anticlimactic. We made the ferry.
I'd add Pamukkale in Turkey. Completely empty of water except one small artificially built part! We asked an employee why it was so, he said water enables algae and stuff to grow in the pools, so they keep it all dry except when promo material is being done :/ Understandable, but dissapointing.
A bit of a milder example since I still found it interesting, but the Victor Hotel (and town of Victor) in Colorado wasn't as cool as I thought it was gonna be. It's a historical hotel that's pretty well-known for its "haunted elevator", but the rooms only have one bed (unless you decide to borrow a foldable one) and there isn't much to do in the town. We ended up going to the nearby town Cripple Creek for food and other attractions.
As I stated in one of my comments, I'm so glad that I did my travelling back in the Sixties & Seventies, tourism was in it's infancy, not too crowded, I have wonderful memories of those days, I've written out my travel diaries, digitised my slides, and share the experiences with friends, who are all like me, in our 70's. All the places that I visited, are places I'd read about, like the song says - 'Far away places, with strange sounding names, far away over the sea .......'
True, many people haven't the inner resources to benefit from travel. Travel is about what YOU bring to IT. Yes, there are tourist traps to be avoided (the glass bridge is an excellent example) and there are overcrowded places that should be visited off-peak. Faced with a long line at the Fondation Vuitton museum in Paris, my wife had a great idea: ask the attendant what days/times are slowest. He told us--and three days later at a decently convenient hour were practically OWNED the place. Then there's the problem of essential interest. For every 'must-see,' as WHY. If the answer is because it's supposed to be quite something, you're almost guaranteed to get nothing out of the experience. If you're seriously interested in the American Revolution, the Liberty Bell may very well be more than a mere bell to you. If not, not. I love Italy and Shakespeare, so when in Verona I always drop by Juliet's House. Of course it's all a fiction, but so what? It's also an homage to love.
No need to travel, it's getting to d*** crowded and rude right here in this town these days.
Balmoral Castle in Scotland: You can only go in one room, the gardens are tiny, there is security cameras everywhere throughout the surrounding land and the police will harass you. It's not worth the money or time.
Almost every foreign person I ever spoke to loved Amsterdam. I live about 50km from Amsterdam and I don't see the appeal to the city. It's a overcrowded,dirty city. There are many much more beautiful places in the Netherlands.
THIS ARTICLE JUST PO ROVES HOW F*****G STUPID THE MASSES ARE! I LIVE ON A PLANET FILLED WITH MORONS!
I think it's not about the thing you are seeing or place you are visiting, but what feelings they bring in you. Some wonders of the world I deeply feel like I have a connection, and visiting them would probably make me feel amazing, no matter how expensive and crowded it is. And some, are just not my thing. So I don't go.
I think travel is about the people and your spirit. I went to Switzerland and love it and hate it, because I was with the wrong person and my mood was not the best. Try to visit your own city and you will be amazed the same way people who come from far away to visit it.
BOSTON: The aquarium is very famous, but meh. The science museum is surprisingly lame. Stick to the historical stuff. The great thing about Boston is that it's very compact; young people can walk around the whole city; I used to walk from work near Fenway and join my housemates as they got out of work going through Back Bay, downtown, North End, and up to Charleston in one big, walk that wasn't much longer than going down th national mall in DC
FROM DC: There are few places in the District itself that are overhyped. Mannassas (Bull Run) National Battlefield. The only thing to SEE is just a big field. A very historically important big field, but that doesn't mean there's anything to see or do there. If you want to get out of town, but still want to see the Air & Space Museum, go see the Udvar-Hazy (sp?) campus out towards Reston. And I'm no fan of the redo of the dinosaur exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. But typically ALL the free stuff is great.
There’s currently a fence up around the White House and you can only see it from a distance close to the Washington memorial. The fence was put up during the BLM protests last year by Trump and it has still not been taken down, so until it is down I have to say the White House is a disappointment since you can’t really see it because of the fence.
I think the point of this post isn't to discourage you from going there. The point is to go, but look ELSEWHERE nearby for the best experience.
Seattle. My highlight of the trip was the ferry ride over to Bainbridge Island. The PNW is truly beautiful. I also enjoyed snowshoeing near Mt. Rainer and exploring old growth forests on an excursion. I had a friend take me around Seattle for good food, breweries and shopping spots. With that said, I found it hard to enjoy much in the city due to the overwhelming homeless population. They weren't harassing me or anything, they were literately just everywhere and it was very sad. I've since then made donations to some organizations in Seattle, even though I live in Pennsylvania.
a question or challenge for you world traveling Pandas out there: how many of these 65 places have you been to? In the reply, put your handle up with "x/65" next to it if you have been to any of these places with the "x" being the number of places:
4/30 There are many American attractions. I only travel in Europe
Load More Replies... Maui the submarine that takes you around the harbor. Don't go unless you have kids under five who just watched the Mermaid. There is a person in a mermaid costume that comes up to the windows and shows you a rock and a starfish. That's it. It's like a smelly bus that is underwater. And that trolly that goes up the mountain out of Vancouver to some kind of tourist park. They did have a good movie but the rest was just trails with two bears behind a fence. Oh and a raptor show. Nice view from the trolly going down but found the whole place under whelming.
Surprised nobody said Wisconsin Dells. Big plastic animal statues, indoor hotel water parks, and fudge shops.
You clearly missed the Tommy Bartlett Water Show, and Circus World, and Duck tours, and the railway museum, and House on the Rock, and all the wine.
Load More Replies... Niagara falls. Casinos and restaurants. The best spots to take a picture are paying. They sell shirt saying "I survived Niagara Falls" but truth is there is nothing wild reminding there.
There are three things I have seen that left me totally disappointed. The Hope Diamond in Washingtion DC, it's a rock that is not really that big, tons of people were really excited about it, it was completely lost on me. The Magna Carta, in Salisbury Cathedral, it was a small piece of paper written in French, I don't know what I was expecing, but felt very underwhelmed when leaving there. Salem, Massachusetts, the famous witch trials city, it was a tourist trap, with nothing of any real substance, excited to go there, left really disappointed. There are a dozen witch museums and they are all expensive for what they are.
I want to mention one too.... The hypogeum in Malta! It's supposed to be the most famous sightseeing in the island but hear my advice and don't throw your money!!! It's ridiculously overpriced 40 Euros per person for a tour that lasts about 40 minutes! The place is impressive with underground tombs but they don't show any respect to it! The staff was bored when i was there, they didn't have headphones and you had to hold the thing to your ear for 40 minutes and the most important they didn't have many languages available! When your sight is called hypogeum (Greek word) i expect to have Greek language available!!! Especially for the 40 Euros i paid! We've been in other audio tours in Malta with 10 Euros and they had more languages available! Huge shame still crying for this money
I have to disagree about this one. Hypogeum is an amazing historical monument that is over 6000 years old with breathtaking architecture. The word hypogeum just means that it's an underground temple, it doesn't really have any Greek connection as far as I know. The guided tour provides enough information to at least give a glimpse into it's history. That is unfortunately not always the case for other megalithic structures in Malta, all of which are just awe-inspiring. If you are interested in history and especially in pre-history on Europe, hypogeum is definitely a must visit. Just a note for anyone interested: the number of people allowed inside is very restricted and you need to buy tickets an advance, I suggest checking their website as soon as you have your plane tickets booked) Honestly, to this day the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum remains one the most impressive places I've ever visited.
Load More Replies... I have 0 sympathy or surprise. Lower your expectations, or have them lowered for you by research.
Every single one of these are just stupid. Who knew a popular landmark can be a tourist trap. What did you expect? Do you people read at all before you travel?
