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Original poster

What famous places have disappointed you?

522 replies

mouldyhousemouldylife · 24/05/2019 16:46

Or a landmark, artwork etc.

I guess mine is Plitvice Lakes in Croatia and Lake Bled in Slovenia. I've wanted to go for years as they both looked unbelievable and magical on photos, but going there just felt pretty ordinary. Very nice looking but I wasn't blown away. Blush

Anyone else been to either? What did you think?

OP posts:
Sweetdreamer93 · 24/05/2019 23:01

Paris.
Dirty and overrated

ToEarlyForDecorations · 24/05/2019 23:05

Went to American in 1988. Including Port Authority. Nothing wrong with it. Didn't have your experiences though.

thethethethethe · 24/05/2019 23:07

I think the mistake people are making is going to these places in the summer. Off season, they're great!

stucknoue · 24/05/2019 23:09

Hollywood was dirty and full of people sleeping rough, Paris is full of beggars (whether they are homeless I don't know)

CarolDanvers · 24/05/2019 23:15

Interesting reading all these. I am quite widely travelled but live in London where so many buildings have the blue plaques on them to show when someone famous lived there. I just happened to walk past Emmeline Pankhurst's old house the other day where she and her daughters did much of their campaigning for the suffragette movement. I can honestly say that blue circle moved me more than many other "sights" I have seen elsewhere. Made me all goosebumpy and a bit tearful. Love spotting those little blue circles.

GabsAlot · 24/05/2019 23:29

I love vegas but i can see it being a marmite place

some parts of hawaii were lovely but i agree about waikiki

Fifthtimelucky · 24/05/2019 23:33

I can understand why people are mentioning Stonehenge. However, I'm old enough to have gone when you could still get up close to the stones and I think we were the only people there. That was a very different experience from the one visitors have today.

I loved Pisa and Rome, but visited them 40 years ago.

I expected to hate Vegas, and did. Just stayed one night on the way to the Grand Canyon (which I did not find underwhelming).

I've been interested to hear people's comments about Lake Bled and Plitvice Lakes, as both are on my list, as is Machu Pichu.

I think much depends on a) the weather and b) how crowded it is.

YouBumder · 24/05/2019 23:48

Oh God I also forgot

Padstow

Urgh. I love Cornwall too but Padstow ...URGH

goose1964 · 24/05/2019 23:53

U fleku in Prague, it was busy, the beer was nice but not brilliant and it was expensive,and the staff kept hassling us to buy a Czech liqueur.

MarieToulouseBerlioz · 24/05/2019 23:57

Wow OP that really surprises me, plitvice lakes is one of my number 1 places I've ever been! Maybe it's because I only looked into going there a couple of months before I went so didnt get my hopes up or anything.

As a pp said I was very underwhelmed by the pyramids, and also florence! I wanted to go to florence for years and when I got there I was so disappointed! Tiny and a lot of it seemed very grotty

Icantreachthepretzels · 24/05/2019 23:57

Don’t know if this counts but the Mona Lisa, very small & protected in very thick glass

I saw the Mona Lisa in 2002 & don’t remember it being behind any glass ..must have changed.

My parents went to go see the Mona Lisa way back in the 70s. They went in one day and it was - as per the first quote - very small. They went back to see it a couple of days later - only now it was a much larger painting.
The moral of the story is - sometimes when you see The Mona Lisa - it isn't actually the Mona Lisa.
Small and behind glass means it was probably the real McCoy. No glass ... perhaps not.

My best memory of the Louvre is that, the day we went, entrance was free, so the queues were mahoosive, winding round and round the outside for miles. We decided that absolutely no way we were queuing for that long and started to leave - when we were approached by a person wearing a louvre lanyard and clutching a map, who told us about ... wait for it ... THE BACK DOOR. so we went round to see - what was there to lose? Surely and truly there was a back door and there were no queues. We were straight in (for free) and walked through the gallery starting where most people finish - so it was pretty much deserted, because all the masses were still at the other end. We finished at the glass pyramid and could see the miserable tourists filing through in a grim faced, single file death march - whilst we had waltzed through at our own pace.
Compared with the glee of staring out of the windows and looking down on the queues, I barely remember the Mona Lisa or Venus de Milo - though I think I saw the small/ with glass version.
Best tourist experience ever. On the way out, we handed a Spanish family, just joining the mile long snake, the map and pointed to the back door. I hope they found it.

I don't think I've ever been that disappointed by a place - but I'm an old grump and expect to hate everything. I go places that interest me so I can say I saw them. If I also happen to love them then that's a bonus. If they're just meh, I cross them off the list - no harm done, at least now I know. If I hate them, I expected to hate them (because I expect to hate everything) and I feel vindicated. It's a win/win.

SpoonBlender · 25/05/2019 00:00

Shibuya crossing. Even from a fourth floor cafe overlook I wasn't whelmed.

Dragonlight · 25/05/2019 00:13

I kind of agree with Pompeii too, so crowded. I loved Herculaneum far better.

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 25/05/2019 00:26

Goa

Just didn’t like it much beaches were not as amazing as I had been told

BetterEatCheese · 25/05/2019 00:35

Stonehenge. It was all plastic walkways and selfie sticks

DeRigueurMortis · 25/05/2019 00:41

Venice - in general.

Overpriced and underwhelming.

iftruthbetold · 25/05/2019 00:50

Bondi beach, biggest let down everSad

iftruthbetold · 25/05/2019 00:53

@LoveTheLakes40 I have to absolutely disagree, always dreamt of Australia and it was exactly as I'd imagined. Sydney opera house though very underwhelmingly small

superoz · 25/05/2019 00:56

The thing that disappointed me most about the pyramids was being constantly harassed by street sellers trying to flog you cheap tat. They wouldn’t let up and would follow you around.
I told them to get lost in the nicest way possible (ignoring) but I snapped when one wouldn’t leave one of my friends alone.
My friends still say it was the only time they have seen me mad. It was the thing they remembered the most!

GreyGardens88 · 25/05/2019 00:58

Bloody hell this thread is a bit depressing. One mumsnetter has called Japan "wet and boring" and another of the Sistine Chapel "Rubbish paintings". Words fail me

Nikhedonia · 25/05/2019 01:00

@Coveredincathair I came on to say the Mona Lisa. Really small and very underwhelming.

StayAChild · 25/05/2019 01:09

Another vote for Bondi beach. Newquay's surf beaches are nicer.
Waikiki beach was a big disappointment.
Bangkok's Grand Palace is like a film set.

Allhailthesun · 25/05/2019 01:12

I agree that’s it’s the crowds and expense that ruin the experience.
Stonehenge is gob smacking. It was build over 2,000 years BC. Condidering a whole one THOUSAND years later we were still living like peasants in wood and poo huts it is an amazing structure that I can’t believe society could be arsed to build.
Rome is fantastic as everywhere you look is incredibly old and has a story.

Venice is shit. Literally feels like a Disneyland for adults with a similar mark up. Great museums and history but nothing feels authentic, so tourist driven rather than a working town.

I find Paris disappointing. Not half as chic or “French” as many other cities. Bit grey, bit tourist driven.

desparate4sleep · 25/05/2019 01:15

Las Vegas- just a load of hotels with slot machines.

HerRoyalNotness · 25/05/2019 01:22

Another for Niagara, I can’t believe what a shit show of a town they made there. Awful. I rather fear I spoiled MILs trip there.