To ask what famous landmark or must visit place/thing were you secretly underwhelmed by?

[Midge1978]

I went to stonehenge this year and whilst I was trying to get in touch with my inner druid, trying to project historical importance and mystery onto the place, I just couldn't escape the feeling that I was just looking at some very old stones and it was actually (whisper) a little bit boring!! Dh thought it was all marvellous though so I have never told him!!!

Ditto to the Mona Lisa being tiny, dark and disappointing.
I liked Ayers Rock though, a dawn tour in light rain was kind of mystical. Had a grin on my face for about 3 days after scuba diving on the Barrier Reef, heaven!

Big Ben.
It's a nice looking clock, like, but it's underwhelming considering how much people sold it as a must see landmark.

Prague's astronomical clock however was very interesting!

Statue of liberty, dirty green statue....anticlimax for me I'm afraid

The Acropolis in Athens. Looked like a Shell garage on top of a hill.

The Taj Mahal. It's hugely impressive in its way, but to me it just seemed like this huge, dead thing.

The views from the top of the Burj Khalifa were pretty bloody dreary.

Stonehenge - carrowkeel was way better and hardly anybody there. Prague's clock was behind scaffolding when I went!
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I wanted to see one particular painting and had to shuffle all the way round as it is at the end. I'm not good at museums/galleries apparently.

Statue of Liberty fir me too - she was tiny in comparison to what I was expecting Ghostbusters has a lot to answer for

I agree about Dublin. I've never known a city to be absolutely lacking in somewhere to sit down. Not a bench to be found.

Oh Tailypo - I thought you were going to write that you were underwhelmed by the statute of David and I was thinking "Nooooooooo". I'm not into art or anything in the slightest, so I was so surprised at how I felt viewing him for the first time. Awestruck.

Oh my gawd, none! But I am full of wonder - yes I am aware how wanky and pretentious that sounds but I mean it. On the other hand places like the Burj Khalifa would never be on my list in the first place so doubtful I'd feel disappointed by them. Also, I've had the privilege of living all over the world, so, for example, I would never imagine somewhere like Burj khalifa would be the most interesting thing in the region anyway (again, apologies if that sounds wanky). I love love love history and even somewhere teeny, in the scope of things, has interest for me. For instance both the Quex Powell Cotton museum and Walmer Castle are relatively close to me and I have spent far too much time being engaged and interested in both than is probably healthy. I guess some people just don't view things in the same way. One of my favourite places to go and walk my dogs is a local EH site, Roman ruins at Richborough Kent. I nearly pissed myself laughing when I read a review of it on trip advisor that said 'it could have been tidied up a bit' - this in regard to 'bricks' and 'stones' just 'lying around '. Nope, sorry I can always find something interesting about wherever I am, and I often feel privileged that I've able to go there in the first place. Like Beirut for instance, that's a great place, amazing experience talking to the people who lived there through the years of our only knowledge of BBC news reports in the 80's and then the relatively stable later 90/2000s years. I'm sorry to say if something like this disappoints you, it might, kinda be, your fault.

The White House. The first time I saw it I thought it was a shed/outbuilding, it's so small.

The Pyramids were ok but I was totally underwhelmed by the Sphinx, I just remember it being a lot smaller than I'd imagined.

The Great Wall of China. Very misty/smoggy so no views, and up close it's just grey stone. The most fun part was the cable car up.

Tianenman Square was amazing though.

In the UK...lands end.

What an absolute miserable rip off

Another vote for the Mona Lisa. I waited for ages to see it too. It looked just like the postcards in the gift shop

Maiden Castle. Where's the maiden? Where's the castle? Sheep on a ridged hill. Bit niche for me I'm afraid.

I thought the views from the Burj Khalifa would be better, because you're so far up, but the reality was an awful lot of brown. I'm glad I did it (I love looking down at things) but it was underwhelming and I wouldn't do it again.

London, Big Ben...thought it would be bigger. Same for Mona Lisa in Paris.
Shocked by the level of graffiti in Rome.....inside the collide in ffs.

Yeah, Paris. Not a fan. Don't get it.

But bloody hell, the Grand Canyon is officially the least underwhelming thing I've ever seen, or maybe tied with the Northern Lights, which I saw by accident on a motorway and my first thought was that we were being attacked (Cold War childhood ).

White House. It's tiny. No idea how Trump fits his ego in there.

I have to say the Mona Lisa too...such 'Oh...that's it?' feeling when you fiiiiinally get to see 'her'.

I'm so shocked that the White House is small! All these years of American films etc portraying it as this vast, powerful building. Weird isn't it?

Leaning Tower of Pisa and The Sistine Chapel for me.

Edinburgh Castle. Too much of a military museum and not enough history.

I agree it isn't great. To be fair,a lot of what's there is 19th century, but I wouldn't pay to go in.

The most impressive thing is the view from the Esplanade. Plus walking out of Waverley and seeing a Castle perched on a volcano, in a city centre.

Vegas...
I just didn't get it

Sydney Opera House - small

Hollywood - awful, scummy, dirty, dangerous shithole

Great Rift Valley - cloudy and really fucking cold