The Most Overrated Tourist Destinations People Have Ever Visited
The world may feel a lot smaller these days because of our connections on the internet and social media, but the world is still really big when it comes to places to travel to.
But there are some places that are more worth it than others. Some tourist destinations have been incredibly overhyped.
Redditor Nailhead asked:
"What's the most overrated tourist destination?"
The Empire State Building
"Empire State Building."
"Go to the top of Rockefeller Center (aka 'The Rock') instead. Way better view, and cheaper too."
- Kryodamus
Mall of America
"As a Minnesotan, Mall of America is just a really big and really busy mall. It's kind of fun for locals but just crazy to me that people come from around the world to visit."
- Burninator85
M&M World in London
"The London M&M store is where symbolism and dimensionality go to die. Everything is a flat, one-dimensional representation. Floors upon floors of a party, but nothing to celebrate."
"It is almost as though the design team understood the soullessness of Nestle so profoundly that they designed the store to be a representation of that. And because Nestle is, in fact, soulless they went along without a hitch. This is what the executives WANTED."
"I went in expecting a h**lscape, and they managed to outperform even my most cynical expectation. Truly an achievement. Grandiose levels of eye-watering branding dedicated to crunchy chocolate pellets."
- TokenFemaleLadyWoman
Not-So-Spooky Salem
"I thought Salem, Massachusetts was terrible. Complete waste of time."
"The Gettysburg battlefield is awesome though. Highly recommend it."
- Clurence24
Hollywood
"As an Angeleno, Hollywood is not even kitschy fun like Vegas. It’s just ugly storefronts, dirty streets, and cracked sidewalk stars."
"Maybe the Chinese Theater is cool-looking if a bit racist?"
- ObtuseSage
Myrtle Beach
"Myrtle Beach, South Carolina."
"I was shocked to find out how many people travel there every year from outside of the Carolinas. It’s dirty as s**t, there’s a good chance some redneck is going to want to fight you at some point, and the beach isn’t that nice."
- Purple1829
Corn Palace
"Corn Palace, 100%… It’s a gymnasium in the middle of nowhere with corn art on the outside, way off the highway."
"Certainly breaks up the highway monotony though."
- Zork4343
Golden Gate Bridge to What?
"San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge is cool, but the rest is overrated, and not worth stepping over the homeless people and hoping you don't get robbed."
- UnfortunatelyAvacado
Mount Rushmore
"Mt. Rushmore."
"Rush more, see less."
- android_cook
More to San Francisco
"I lived in San Francisco… the fisherman’s wharf. PLEASE. Peoples. Go experience the city! There is so much more to SF than chain seafood restaurants and toy shops. You’re missing out."
- southwest_southwest
Side-Effects of Tourism
"Miami. Please stop coming here. I want to be able to park on my street."
- pspisy
The Mona Lisa
"The Mona Lisa room in the Louvre. Some could argue the entire Louvre is overrated, but the Mona Lisa was the epicenter of underwhelming while being packed to the brim with tourists."
- zangelbertbingledack
Bali
"Bali. The beaches and even the waves are just covered in trash and plastic. The sand is just a minefield of stray dog poop holes. The smell of not really having a water drainage system and again the trash that collects. Ubud is alright but that's about it."
- Content_Ad3604
Paris and the Eiffel Tower
"Paris. It’s expensive, grey, dark and cold. Fun fact: it’s not ‘the city of lights’ because it has a lot of light, but because it was one of the first cities to have gas lamps. It doesn’t have a lot of light. At all."
- Gloomy_Commercial_97
Yosemite
"Yosemite. Used to be nice, now it’s overrun, and if you can’t find a parking spot you have to go on a big loop one-way road that takes an hour just to look for parking again."
- 2515chris
There are so many places in the world for each of us to visit, places that are fun, beautiful, and more.
And despite all of the hype some of these places have received, these Redditors were here to reassure that these locations simply were not it.
People Break Down Which Famous Places Are Totally Not Worth Visiting
Lots of people have so-called bucket lists—things they want to do or see before death.
Included on many of them are famed destinations like the Eiffel Tower, Times Square, the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon or the Great Wall of China.
But are all of these places worth the time or money to get there? Are some of them underwhelming in person?
Redditor tade757 asked:
"What famous place is not worth visiting?"
Sherlock Holmes Home
"Sherlock Holme's house on Baker street in London."
"Of course I love Sherlock Holmes, so as a tousist I took the tour. Not far into walking around the house it dawned upon me... this is a fake set of a fictional character."
"What am I doing here????"
- RemotelyRemembered
Plymouth Rock
"Plymouth rock Massachusetts."
"Despite all the rage it's still just a rock in a cage"
- BodybuilderOk3836
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
"Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales Nothing there except an Edinburgh Wollen Mills shop. Which is just silly as Edinburgh is nearly 300 miles away."
- Dreddguy
"Meh. I went there to take a photo by the train station sign. I got a photo by the train station sign. The whole experience was exactly what I expected and I was completely whelmed."
- HawkinsT
Hollywood
"Hollywood, it's seedy and disappointing. It's full of entire industries (*cough scientology *cough) that take advantage of starry-eyed twits."
- Judas_Feast
"I think what I really liked about Hollywood was how sh*tty it was. And the Chinese Theater and walk of fame are so much smaller than I expected. The fact that everything looked so much bigger and more glamorous on TV really made the whole thing perfect to me."
- Spite-Funny
Run Away!
"Camelot. It is a silly place."
- 4LostSoulsinaBowl
"It’s only a model"
- Admirable_Tie_3497
"They do routines and chorus scenes with footwork impeccable, though."
- punania
Lands End
"Lands End, UK. Heralded as the 4th most disappointing attraction in the UK. It's not even disappointing enough to win an award"
"Edit: I mean the landmark in Cornwall, not a clothing store. Deary me."
- YellowBernard
"Lizard Point (the most southerly part of England and not that far away) is a much better trip - it doesn't try and pimp itself up with tat and tourist attractions, it lets the scenery do the talking and gives you space to take it in. Plus you might see a chough, which is a cute and super rare lil crow with a red beak and legs."
- slogginmagoggin
Platform 9 3/4
"Platfotm 9¾ in King's Cross station, London. Stupid metal statue on a straight wall, a horrible queue to taking a photo with you on it, and another hundred-meter long queue to the small and very expensive Harry Potter shop. I was there middle of the day in off-season, don't want to even think about it on high season."
- HorsesWearHooves
"My husband and I took a train from Edinburg into Kings Cross for a Christmas trip one year. We thought, hey since we’re here we should find Platform 9 3/4. We walked the platforms in the station thinking it was actually on a platform. Ended up in a utility elevator with our luggage and a bunch of station workers who thought we were the funniest American tourists they ever met. They ended up pointing us to the very sad wall in the main lobby with the statue and a line 2 hours deep."
- blackpearl882
NYE in Times Square
"Times Square on New Years Eve."
"Just forget it. It has *never* been worth it."
- roman_fyseek
"I remember a radio host I heard as a kid said the following:
"'The amazing thing about Time Square on New Years Eve isn't that you get tens of thousands of people there every year, it's that you get a whole different set of tens of thousands of people there each year. Nobody wants to do it twice, because it's cold and boring and crowded and filthy.'"
- Sawses
Centralia, PA
"Maybe less famous than the question meant, but about fifteen years ago my friends and I took a road trip to Centralia, Pennsylvania (the abandoned town with a decades-long mine fire burning under it that the Silent Hill movie was loosely based on). We thought there would be tons of abandoned buildings to look at, creepy places to see, adventure to be had- we were so excited, and we were like six or seven hours away so it sounded like a fun trip."
"We got there, and there was just... nothing. All of the buildings are gone, the creepiest thing we found was a very-well-taken-care-of cemetery, and the only really "abandoned" thing to see was the stretch of interstate that had been routed around (which had a little bit of fun graffiti on it back then, but in years since it's become just a giant paint stain). We ended up driving to Gettysburg instead and going on some ghost tours, so it was still a fun trip, but there was like... nothing to see in Centralia, at all."
- UltimaGabe
Checkpoint Charlie
"Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. It used to be the border between the US and Soviet sectors, but all that's left of it is a shack and a sign, and the only thing you can do is pay to get your photo taken with someone in uniform. There's a frickin' McDonald's next to it."
- Nihiliste
"I was looking for this, god it was disappointing. I seem to recall there was a really badly dressed soldier who you could take pictures with for 5 euros."
"Quite enjoyed the DDR museum though."
- Renfieldslament
So, did these stories change anything on your must-see list?
Or did someplace you went not make the list that should have?
Let us know in the comments.
Being a tour guide of any kind is sort of like being a parent to toddlers. And, as any toddler parent will tell you, they try to do three things simultaneously:
- Not listen to your directions.
- Get lost.
- Accidentally, but really on purpose, try to get themselves killed.
Now replace "toddler" with "full-grown adults" and you see the issues tour guides face on a regular basis.
Reddit user, [usernameredacted], wanted to know how things went wrong overseas when they asked:
"Tour guides of Reddit, what's the worst thing a tourist has ever done under your supervision?"
Can we all just agree that we should leave animals alone when they're out in their natural habitat? Please?
Don't Tick Off The Bulls
"I worked at a living history farm museum."
"I had a kid that was climbing on stuff the whole tour in the farm house and trying to get behind the Smith in the blacksmith shop during a demo."
"After the tour when people are allowed to roam the grounds, I hear his mom screaming and look over to the barn and this kid has climbed the fence into the field with our long horn oxen and is trying to poke them with a stick."
" I walk over and calmly told him to get out of the field before our lazy oxen decide they've had enough, but this jack off decides to look me in the eye and smack Ted on the butt with the stick like it's a riding crop."
"Ted, bless him, just kinda jumps a little and whips his head around with a WTF dude look on his face."
"But seeing as he's a long horn, he just wipes this kid out with one of his horns when he turned his head."
"Kid goes flying into the dirt and is having a melt down."
"Mom is freaking out. I'm like dude, get the hell out of the pen before Ted actually gets mad."
"So this kid is crying and trying to climb the fence out of the field and Bill, who has been watching this whole thing waits until the kid is almost over the fence and walks up to him and nudges him in the butt with his nose and pushes him off the top of the fence."
"It was everything I could do to keep from laughing."
"Kid was fine, Ted was fine, but the kid and his mom were promptly kicked out of the museum."
"Their dad and little sister were allowed to stay because she was well behaved and was just enjoying petting the goats at the petting zoo."
"So since the kid had to leave but his sister didn't there was a temper tantrum in the parking lot that could be heard all the way to the other side of the farm."
"But the oxen got some extra grain that night, so I guess they won in the end."- PtolemyShadow
Crypto Bitcoin GIF by ProBit GlobalGiphySnap, Snap
"Tour guide at a university."
"Small group gets into our gardens where there's a big turtle pond."
"Girl gets excited and wants a close up of the largest snapping turtle."
"Girl loses her phone to the turtle and tries to get the university to buy her a new one."
"Girl was lucky she still has all her fingers..." - Bengmann
Yank, Yank, OW
"My cousin is a tourist guide and biologist, most of his tours are in Africa."
"He instructed his group of 20-25 people including kids not to wear any type of earrings or collars especially shiny stuff since they were about to go into a thick forest to try to see a bunch of animals."
"This is very important because 20-25 make a lot of noise which makes wild animals run away or hide, it's even worse if they're wearing shiny stuff they can spot from far away."
"Ok so this woman complains, decides to wear shiny earrings anyway, cousin tells her to get rid of them or she ain't coming with the group so she obeys but puts them on a bit later."
"Some species of monkeys in that area LOVE shiny stuff. They ripped the earrings from her ears."- shave_your_teeth_pls
Learn To Keep Your Hands To Yourself
"I was working on a tourist island in Australia when this man pulled out almost all the back feathers of a peacock because he wanted to keep one."
"He sneaked up behind it, and grabbed a huge handful and yanked them all out."
"He was immediately escorted off the island."
"The peacock had a huge bare patch and most of its beautiful feathers were gone :("- mugsandcoveve
Dance Dancing GIF by BBCGiphyPunching Way Above Their Weight Class
"I had a guest, snorkeling try and grab the tail of a barracuda as he swam up behind it."
"Luckily I was able to hit the guest with a dive fin from the boat to stop him before he got ahold. If he had grabbed on, I’m sure he would have been ripped to pieces by that fish." - fkirwan82
You have to wonder what kind of people aren't going to listen to the tour guide. Honestly, it's not hard. Just don't do the thing they're telling you not to do.
Why Wouldn't You At Least Take A Swimming Lesson First?
"Former whitewater rafting guide."
"There's a calmer section of the river people can, if they choose to, hop out and swim through."
"They are wearing life jackets so you can just float through it."
"This woman decides she wants to try it and hops out."
"After she pops up she slowly tilts forward until just the back of her jacket is out of the water and she's completely still."
"After 5 or so seconds of this I start to realize this might not be intentional and paddle over and physically pick her head up above the water followed by her gasping for air."
"I haul her in the boat and ask what happened."
"She said she didn't know what to do as she'd 'never been submerged in water before'."
"1) why are you on a whitewater rafting trip?"
"2) why didn't your strategy involve moving your body?"- b771
GiphyThankful For Teachers Every Day
"I used to work at a heritage site. It was an old military installation with a lot of remaining original structures (bunk beds, cafeteria equipment, computers etc.)."
"Everyday it was a constant effort to remind people (read: kids) NOT to jump on the beds, not to slam doors open, not to punch every button like it owes them money."
"The absolute worst was a group of kids on a school trip."
"Within the first ten minutes we're walking through the tech portion of the exhibit, where we had a wall lined with Burroughs large systems machines (B5000's), all behind this little fence about waist-high."
"I turn to demonstrate some of the pieces, and when I look back at the group one of them had jumped over the barrier, opened one of the units and started pulling out handfuls of digital tape from the reels inside."
"I just about jumped on the kid when their teacher did just that."
"She jumped the barrier, smacked the kids hands and took him outside."
"I immediately ended the tour and had them all refunded, as I couldn't imagine what else could happen."- sassymatty
But, of course, they don't listen.
And bad things happen.
You Tell Them What Would Happen, And Then It Happens
"I work at a brewery tap room and take people on brewery tours."
"During fermentation CO2 is produced and excess comes out through a run off pipe and into a water bucket."
"One of the attendees, who was being a pain and trying to be funny but nobody was laughing, asked me what the pipe was for, so I gladly explained."
"He then asked what would happen if he breathed it in... in disbelief of his stupidity I told him he would pass out/damage his brain, he then proceeded to grab the pipe and take a breath."
"He was then ejected and barred. Some people are just beyond belief."- tedandrassy
But...Why?
"Friend of mine does tours of whiskey museums in Dublin."
"Someone took a sh-t in one of the exhibition rooms."- Eoinoconn
You Get What You Deserve
"I work at the National Cathedral, and a tourist took a small votive candle, and lit their friend's hat on fire."
"It didn't spread or set off any alarms, but it got through most of his hat and almost caught his hair on fire."
"He was also really overreacting, and he threw his burned hat into the organ."
"The Cathedral suffered from earthquake damage in 2011, and we borrowed one of their ladders to get it down."-not_hacking12
Fox Tv Fire GIF by Bob's BurgersGiphy"You're trying to seduce me... aren't you?"
"Bit late to the party, but what the heck."
"I gave tours in the French Quarter in New Orleans for about a year, and I had this one drunk older woman who kept nip-slipping and trying to flirt with me as I was trying to talk."
"It was really uncomfortable and kept throwing off my focus, but thankfully she wandered off about halfway through the tour."- Throway9591
We like to live dangerously
"Ran after a bear cub trying to get a picture."
"Was astonished after I yelled at them and asked 'are they dangerous?'
'Yes they are'."
"'They're bears'."
"Two days ago I warned a few people about an agitated moose up the trail and two of them got excited and ran towards it with cameras while I tried to explain why that was an awful idea."
"Tourists f*cking crave death I swear to god."- plantoyo
Maybe I'll listen next time
"Not a tour guide, just an idiot."
"About ten years ago, my grandma took me and my sister on what we decided to affectionately call an 'Old People Bus Tour' out west for a couple of weeks."
"Our parents decided to come along as well because it seemed fun, and it totally was."
"We went all over and saw some really amazing sights, but when we got to Arches National Park, for SOME unknown reason my Monkey Brain kicked in and went 'IMMA CLIMB IT!' as soon as we got to the entrance of the first path."
"Thankfully, it wasn't enormously dangerous, but it wasn't until I spontaneously scaled the bottom half of the arch and turned around to sit proudly looking at everything that I saw everybody's faces and it clicked that maybe I should climb back down and knock it off."
"I wish I could use the excuse that I was just a dumb kid, but I was in my mid 20s at the time."- MyLaundryStinks
Fall Climbing GIF by KletterRetterGiphyHow long have you got?
"I was a tour guide in hollywood for a few years."
"I cannot even begin to choose a story."- adhominem4theweak
Putting everyone in danger
"Tour guide here, there was this one guy who tried to swim in the ocean at Peggy’s cove."
"As some of you may know the currents are incredibly strong and I had warned everyone to not even go near the ocean."
"But this one moron didn’t listen and I had to hall his a** back to shore."
"We both almost drowned."
"D*ck."- LegendaryPineappleYT
Mind the gap
"Customer."
"So the tourist was in front of the tour guide."
"He said SHUT YOUR’E F*CKING MOUTH UP to a woman."
"I think was on a vacation with her child and she only yawned before She said SIR DO NOT SAY THAT INFRONT OF MY CHILD and she smacked him and he fell of the cliff and almost died."
"I went down and I said Sir are uh you okay?"
"He said NO IM NOT F*CKING OKAY YOU FUCKING DUMBASS."- f*ckboymigeee
Why do American tourists get such a bad rap?
"Not the worst on here but still bad."
"In between years one and two of uni, I took a job in a musem showing people around talking about the stuff on show."
"The group was behaving mostly ok, but this one American family, trying to touch things that out not be touched."
"And just being loud and obnoxious."
"I think I have it all under contorl untill we enter the Gree/Roman rooms."
"We have a replica Roman Legionary armor, weapon sheild and stick which held all the equipment."
"All in all its about 45KG (about 7stone) in weight for everything."
"Now this can be tried on to show people what Roman Legionaires had to go thorough on a march. we stopped to let those that wanted to, to try it on. now it was very clear that the dad, think Gun toting Texan from the Simpsons, was far to large for the armor, but i didn't say anything as even if he and his kin have been d*cks."
"I don't want to be rude."
"Anyway after it becomes clear even the helmet wont fit he gets moody and just drops it to the floor, lucky another group member caught it in time, and wanders of to 'look' at the real weapons that had been revoved from dig sites."
" Now one of the pride and joys of this museum is a fully intact Roman short sword with battle nicks showing that it had been used in battle, now these are far and few between, so anyone thats found is hightly exsiting for the Achaeologist that uncovers it."
"Anyway I am giving my speech about how far the Legionnaires had to march in a day and the set up of camps and the like, when there is a loud SMASH from the sword case,followed by the alarm going off."
" This dumb American had tried to prize open the case to get a better 'look' at it."
"There's lots of yelling as guards rush in."
" The damn fool still tried to pick it up but when he saw the guard rushing him he dropped it back into the stand THANK THE GODS IT DIDN'T BRAKE."
"He and his family were promptly kicked out and band for life but not before he offered to buy the sword."
"'I'll give y'all $20 for the thing and maybe we can for get the glass'."
"$20 you heard read it right."
"These things if sold, they really shouldn't be, go for 10 of thousands of pounds."- Emrys91·3y ago
GIF by The Last TouristGiphyWhen you Gotta go...
"Cave tour guide."
"South American man pisses on the floor during total darkness."- ZootZephyr
"Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?"
"Not a tour guide."
"Went on a Hot Air Balloon Tour of the Temecula Valley and our tour guide told us this story he experienced."
"For those that don't know, Hot Air Balloons have ZERO safety features for the passengers."
"You can fall or jump out very easily."
"So our guide was on a tour and somebody jumped out of the balloon."
"Turns out he had a parachute on."
"Don't remember exactly what happened to him, but he did get in legal trouble, of course."-
Who's the real animal here?
"I was on a trip to Thailand and we were at this Night Safari place, it wasn't a legit safari thank goodness, and we were all on the tram type thing and we went into the hyenas cage and this guy jumps out and tries to take a selfie with it."
"Luckily they were just fed and weren't as wild as the ones in the wild."
"He ran back as a few started to get up and yip."
"Afterward he was kicked out with no refund as you would expect."
"Some people just blow my mind."- SirDankius
the lion king laughing GIFGiphyJust follow the rules next time you're in a tour group?
It's that simple.
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Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
One of the more exciting parts about taking a trip is seeing the attractions that make a spot unique.
Reddit user, Impossible-Tap-7820, wanted to know what to avoid on their next road trip when they asked:
Which tourist attraction disappointed you?
Sometimes it's the hype behind the attraction that ends up killing it once you arrive. All the excitement builds, as the legends and the myths surrounding the place from media and people who have been begins to rise, so much so that when you arrive and see it's just a place...
...it's kind of a letdown.
The Truth Is Less Interesting Than You Think
"Roswell New Mexico. It was just a lame tourist trap area." ~ HG_Shurtugal
"Did you go to the UFO museum? They have an area with photos of "real" UFOs next to photos of non-UFOs. I swear, sometimes the same photo was in both sections. Just sad." ~ froglover215
"Sorry, are we not gonna talk about the life sized diorama of the aliens landing that lights up and makes whoosh noises every nine minutes? Or their in house theater that only plays "Fire in the Sky" on loop?"
"That place is a delight." ~ FeathertheSheepcried
When The Spinal Tap Stonehenge Looks Better
"Stonehenge. Literally drove past it and was like 'haha that looks like a lame version of Stonehenge' and dad was like 'thats Stonehenge'" ~ didnsignup4dis
You Possibly Set Your Expectations A Little Too High
"Statue of Liberty. Did not move like in Ghostbusters and there was next to no paranormal activity." ~ tykogars
"For real though, she is way smaller than I imagined" ~ Mech-Waldo
Bland, Bland, Bland
"Most of them honestly. Empire State Building, CN Tower, Luray Caverns (or Shenandoah, I don't even remember which ones they were, they were so bland), Navy Pier, Liberty Island were all just "meh"."
"I liked the Vietnam Memorial and the Washington Monument. I like the Met, the Guggenheim, and the Smithsonians." ~ BeckyDaTechie
South Beach, Bringing The Heat
"Maybe it's not an "attraction", but Downtown Miami killed my expectations of this roller-skating-art-deco-bikinis-and-white-beaches fantasy. I was hyped to relive Will Smith's "Miami" and instead I ended up in a grungy city with bumper-to-bumper a--holes that never stop HONKING at each other."
"Nobody f-cking told me by "Miami", they mean SOUTH BEACH." ~ a_pale_white_horse
Obscure Opinions People Are Fully Committing To | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
We all have a set of beliefs about even the smallest of topics. Like sandwiches should have structural integrity. That's something we can all agree on, right...It's...A Street.
"Lombard Street in SF. When I went there with my wife there were dozens of cars waiting in line to drive down this famous street. Hundreds of tourists were taking pictures of this very famous street."
"It has some plants and bushes. It looks a bit whacky. It... is a street. It's just a street. Nobody famous lives there. It's not like they couldn't build that kind of street anywhere else." ~ IchEsseNurBrot
History! That all important thing we spend most of our school days studying and memorizing only to forget as soon as the year ends. Surely, something of historical significance must match the hype behind it.
Right?
But, The Pilgrims?
"Plymouth Rock was the dumbest thing I got taken on a school trip to see." ~ WanderingGenesis
"I literally scrolled down to find this. I live in the area, and went to downtown Plymouth a few years ago to drink with friends. Parking in the summer is a nightmare, so I parked near this weird colonnade thing. I wondered what it was and went to check it out...and it was Plymouth Rock. It's the saddest little rock, glued together and surrounded by trash and half in the tide. If I'm ever downtown in the summer I genuinely watching tourists visit and be disappointed."
"The worst part is that there is no real 'Plymouth Rock.' It was a legend and eventually locals decided to pick a rock near the original Plymouth colony settlement to play the part. And THAT rock is the one they picked!" ~ Witty-Message-2852
Not As Alien As You Think
"Not really disappointing but I think if people saw Mayan Pyramids in person they wouldn't be so quick to cry out ALIENS. Don't get me wrong they are cool but not as monolithically big as the photos make them look. That room on top is more like a shrine, a person could not fit in there." ~ Hermes_Domain
...It's Just A Picture Of A Lady.
"The Mona Lisa. Now, The Louvre is amazing. However, seeing the Mona Lisa is disappointing. You go to a relatively narrow hallway, and there is a pane of glass 15 feet in front of the painting. I understand that it needs to be protected and preserved." ~ case31
"I always find it funny seeing people hurry past exceptional works down that long hall to stand in a crowd and stare at a small dark painting." ~ Spotinella
When It's So Popular You Can't Get Around
"The Pyramids - not because they weren't amazing, just because of the sheer volume of tourists clambering up them like ants. That's the thing with these attractions. You always imagine them to be so stunning because they're pictured without crowds, but when you get there and it's crammed with thousands of people, it does feel like you imagine." ~ thegreatoutdoors79
And then there's these, the worst kinds of tourist traps. The ones which most likely know they're not worth the time or the investment, but do such a good job of making it seem like they're a good time you end up going.
What a waste of a day.
You Go Up, You Go Down
"Late answer, but definitely Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. Horrendous prices to ride on a train up there, just to get a view that is actually rather disappointing. Also do I see absolutely no point in going to a point 3500 metres above sea level in order to buy a watch or some chocolate. Luckily we only paid like one third (or even one quarter) of the regular price but even that was almost too much for what you get." ~ audi_r8_plus
Smaller Than You Think
"The Sphinx, always shown out in the desert but really tiny and a stones throw from Cairo itself." ~ Vixypixy
Working The Wrong Kind Of Hustle
"Fremont Street section of Las Vegas was disappointing. Place was filled with all types of d-bags trying to hustle you for your money." ~ Ibelieve008
Worse Than The Real Things
"They had this dinosaur park in South Dakota. I went there as a small child, in the prime of my dinosaur loving phase, my imagination fluttered with images of massive, lifelike dinosaurs. It was a few lame dinosaurs just covered in peeling green paint. My mom and I still laugh about it to this day." ~ PesticideDream
Just A Dirty Sidewalk
"Hollywood walk of fame. Bunch of scammers, homeless people, druggies, and random people trying to sell you their mixtapes and other random sh*t in the streets. And these mixtape/CD people literally shove the CD in your face as you're walking. It's so annoying."
"Oh and it's crowded as hell, so you're getting jostled and yelled at for getting into other people's pictures. And it's impossible for you to take your own pictures without getting bumped around. Or pickpocketed (happened to my cousin when we were visiting)" ~ SpiffyAssSam
"Hahaha when I lived in LA my office was nearby and I'd always marvel at the people that spent their vacation looking at dirty sidewalks. Go do a studio tour. Or better yet don't go to LA." ~ FeathertheSheepcried
When The Bare Minimum Isn't Being Done
"I went to a really sad aquarium in Seaside, Oregon. I was holding back tears due to the poor condition of all the creatures. Every tank was overcrowded, and everything looked absolutely miserable. There was an octopus in an open tank, barely any water. It was terrified, and the only protection it had was a sign telling people not to touch it. For comparison, I grew up in California and used to visit the Monetery Bay aquarium when I was younger, which is an amazing place where marine life is very well cared for." ~ lagFairy
Why Does Everyone Keep Going There?
"4 Corners Monument. It is the intersection of Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. It's just a sidewalk and a gift shop. I guess I don't know what I was expecting, but it's about 5 seconds of fun." ~ OttieandEddie
It's One, Big Living Commercial
"Times Square. It's been Disneyfied to holy hell. Who the hell goes to NYC to eat at a KFC and then go to the NFL store? There's this saying that Times Square is the one part of Manhattan actual New Yorkers never go and I totally get why." ~ Squirrels-Are-Jerks
Do your research ahead of time, talk to locals, and be open to going outside the beaten path. Maybe there's an authentic local spot you can find that contains as much history, relevance, and gorgeous scenery as a bunch of lit up advertisements on buildings.
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Oh my, all the places in the world we can go. I'm currently putting together my travel bucket list. I'm not often attracted to the normal destinations.
I'd rather hit up the places people aren't always aware of. My least favorite place in the world is Times Square and that is only rivaled by Herald Square.
So you can imagine my thoughts on the crowd congested areas of the world. Most of the time the destinations we flock to tend to end up being a disappointment. All that hype and no payoff.
That's my everyday life already, vacation should be more grand.
Redditoru/qsauce6 wanted to know which hotspots really aren't all that... "hot." They asked:
What popular tourist attraction can you not understand the hype around?
I'm always surprised when I go to Disney world. Like, what is sooo amazing about standing in line for hours in the blistering sun while some loon in a Mickey costume tries to make you smile? The amount of over attendance just doesn't make sense. But... I'm old.
Nothing Special
"The very first Starbucks at Pike Place. It's crowded as hell, it's just a regular Starbucks. I understand getting a picture standing out front or something, but people actually wait in a super long line when there's another one like two blocks away."
No Madame...
Arnold Schwarzenegger Prank GIFGiphy"I was dragged round Madame Tussaud's as a kid and I still can't understand the appeal. You shuffle round looking at mannequins which like a bit like famous people. The queue always seems to stretch down the street."
Pee?
"The Manneken Pee in Brussels. It gave me my user name, but I understand that people are often very disappointed when seeing it. Apparently the most disappointing point is its size (24 inches). But honestly, what do people expect when they are to visit something whose name literally is little boy peeing?"
Selling Hollywood
"Hollywood walk of fame. I don't really get what's exciting about seeing famous peoples' names in the ground to begin with, but the street itself is pretty grimy and dirty and full of homeless people and aggressive street "vendors."
"For me it was exciting because it's something you hear about all the time and I got to see it for real. The tour peddlers were something else, though. I was with my American friend and about 14 people heard my accent and tried to sell me those tours."
Kiss this...
Drunk St Patricks Day GIFGiphy"I can't understand why people are bending over backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone."
I'm not kissing a stone, they're dirty. Also, is anyone cleaning that rock after it's been kissed by masses? Hello COVID. I hope y'all are wishing for penicillin.
I'll Skittle Away
Giphy"M&M World. Literally you're paying extortionate prices for M&Ms which are sold for retail price in a shop across the road."
Bad Rock
"In Canada, there is a small town on the west coast called white rock. The only thing that the town has is its pier, which is the largest one in Canada. Other than that it's all just 50 dollar fish and chips."
"White Rock is a cool little town though."
"I wasn't aware it was any sort of tourist destination (in which case, I do not understand why). But I've stopped by there on my way to Vancouver. It's nice. It kind of reminds me of Danbury, Connecticut. Not in a "these towns are similar" way, but they're both towns that I find quite charming when I stop in along my way to big metro areas."
Just Mona
"Everyone flocking into the Louvre and directly heading to see the Mona Lisa, barely stopping to look at anything else before leaving. It's not even the most impressive painting in that corridor. Don't get the hype at all. I spent hours in there and barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer. And this is coming from someone who, admittedly, knowing little to nothing about art."
- f1manoz
People Who Made A Lot Of Money From Something Totally Random | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
At the Beginning...
"Plymouth Rock. There's no parking lot for it. You have to find a spot and walk to it. The area surrounding it isn't that great to look at either. It's literally just a rock. Plymouth the town looks like a nice, quaint village on the other hand."
"I had a very lovely long weekend in Plymouth MA a few years ago. It was July 4th and there was a parade and fireworks and a concert playing John Williams. I also had some tasty seafood and a corn dog. 8/10 would recommend!"
Too Sticky
"Honestly probably the gum wall In Seattle, Washington. I've personally never seen it, but my sister showed me pictures and explained from her trip there. She said it was really dirty, ill-kept, gross, and that honestly there was nothing really special about it. Even when I looked at the pictures all I thought about was all the possible germs that could be on the wall."
Poor Unfortunate Visits
the little mermaid ariel GIFGiphy"The Little Mermaid. It's a small statue of a mermaid on a rock. People flock to it, and I have never understood why. I know the story, and Hans Christian Anderson is a famous writer, but the hype around that statue is beyond me."
Fake Worlds
"Dubai. I feel it's one of the fakest city in the world."
- Lis_9
"Built with slave labor to be the biggest, glitziest, most over-the-top freaking places ever. A place built to try to make Las Vegas blush except for the fact that it's located in one of the most socially oppressive regimes on the planet. Simply disgusting."
Down the Road
"Penny lane (famous road due to the beetles) i live down the road and have to cross penny lane everyday and it's filled with tourists taking pictures of the sign and it makes it difficult to cross the road due to it being busy."
"All those poor sods just trying to get home after work being held up by idiots walking back and forth across the street. Source: I was one of those idiots and still cringe in embarrassment."
Gumped
Tom Hanks Running GIFGiphy"Bubba Gump shrimp in Hawaii. It's disgusting."
"Yes! Just go across the walkway to that open air bar. Enjoy some live local music, poke tacos, and lava flows for half the price of that corporate tourist trap."
In Singapore
"Posting something non-American: The Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, specifically the rooftop infinity pool. It's super expensive (because the only way to access it is by booking a room), smaller than it looks in the pictures, and full of crying children and 'influencers' taking selfies."
Bad Sands
"Venice Beach. It's filthy and is full of people selling garbage."
"My grandparents moved to Venice a few years ago, and we always go to other beaches when we visit them. There are much nicer beaches if you know where to look. And no, I won't say where. Gotta keep my secret spots secret!"
The Bean/Cloud Gate...
"The giant metallic bean here in Chicago. We were once known for the world's tallest building. Now, I'm always asked about the 'bean'."
"I dunno. Maybe i'm in the minority, but I was prepared for The Bean/Cloud Gate to be underwhelming, but I was much more impressed than I expected."
"Maybe I hit it on a day when they'd just cleaned it, but I was blown away by how the Chicago skyline is continuously reflected and and warped a bit in the smooth curved surface. It must have been a pain in the butt to make and install."
A Hellscape
times square GIF by Ski Mask The Slump GodGiphy"Times Square, NYC. It's a dystopian nightmare of consumerism and sensory overload filled with people in filthy cartoon character costumes extorting money from children's parents and crappy chain restaurants."
Views
"Niagara Falls on the US side. You're fine as long as you stay in the park area but don't go further than that. Smells, depressed, and dirty. Plus, you don't even get a good view from the US side."
"The views from the Canadian side are gorgeous but once you leave that tourist area it's not too dissimilar from how you described the us side."
I've never even heard of some of these places. And now I have no interest in leaving home any sooner. Who makes a pilgrimage to Ariel's house? She's not real. They are better things to do with your time and money.