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!!!

The most disappointing place I've visited is Singapore. Over managed, over priced and under smog.

And apparently now no longer a democracy.

I had a very disappointing time in Stockholm, though it was 90% my fault, probably. We arrived at the same time as the Tall Boats, in July, so the city was absolutely heaving. We ended up in a total shit hole with someone else's children running up and down the corridors banging on doors. Gave up trying to sleep and went to watch TV, but Concorde crashed and so the news was bleak and nothing else was on. We'd been looking forward to Stockholm after the industrial grim of the south (seriously, never go to Gothenburg: the highlight of the guided tour was a building constructed to look like a lipstick... only it didn't) so it was extra disappointing. We left early for Norway, and came back crosscountry to avoid the cities we had disliked, spending several days in a forest/lake place with a name that sounds like a headmaster clearing his throat. Log cabins and rye bread. It was bliss.

Dubrovnik. Totally fucked up by all the cruise liners that visit.

Niagara Falls. Meh. I've seen Victoria Falls which was impressive, Niagara was over commerical, casinos everywhere and felt like a natural place had been spoilt. Wouldn't go again.

Juliet's balcony: load of old shite.

Juliet's balcony: load of old shite

Well, yes - can't imagine many would argue with that one! It's kind of hard for a fictional person to have a balcony, and I don't suppose Shakespeare ever visited Verona.

Blackpool. Took a trip to the UK with the parents and Dad kept going on about the wonderful holidays he had there as a child and the beautiful beaches. It was shit.
Madame Tussauds. It felt weird creepy and way over hyped.

Totally agree about Mme Tussaud's. I took DCs 1 and 2 because I had been as a child. Didn't bother again.

That's a shame @lucydogz that was on my wish list
I have to say that I've never understood why people go to tussauds - if doesn't remotely appeal to me yet always huge queues!

I remember going to Madame Tussauds as a teenager, so nearly 40 years ago, and thinking it was great. This was when you didn't get to see photos of your favourite stars on demand like you can now on the internet, so it felt almost like seeing them, if you know what I mean. The place wasn't particularly busy. Thought it was cool, had a good time.

Now you can look at photos of your idols whenever you like. You can be VERY well acquainted with what they look like so the likenesses in Tussauds are nothing like as impressive as before. And the format of Tussauds hasn't changed at all, still a lot of waxworks just, em, standing there - ok why should it change, it is what it is? But for a modern clientele it has highly limited appeal. Yet the place is rammed! And the models are clearly not even done to size, eg. Tom Cruise (notoriously short) was only about 2" shorter than Leonardo Dicaprio (6') - I noticed this as they were standing practically back to back.

It was absolutely dreadful, crammed full like a tube platform in rush hour, people in wheelchairs struggling to move let alone see anything.
Can't think what would happen if there was an emergency < shudder> Wouldn't go again if you paid me, it wasn't case of "not as good as I expected," so much as a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

All of them. It's always a bit...meh. Take a photo and then leave

Stratford Upon Avon. I expected it all to be very quaint and picturesque but what we found was Shakespeare's Birth Place surrounded by Poundland, McDonalds and selling anything possible.

It shattered illusions I have had since I was 14.

Sir Richard , the holy stone is a class one relic now. Space travel & stuff.

The Rock of Gibraltar. The barbary apes are horrible, clawy, scavengey pests who crap on your car and pull off bits. There is no view to speak of. The town itself is a pile of tat - like a British seaside town with more watch shops.

Oxford. What did they do to it?

Nellyphants I hear there's a great souvenir shop at the Holy Stone, they sell combs apparently.

The Pyramids at Giza. Now, they were amazing and ancient and everything we expected. However, they were situated or rather it had been allowed in "town planning" to stick a refuse tip on one side of it and high rise housing to the other. We wouldn't do that at Stonehenge now, would we?

Madison there's always a gift shop, holy statues, pens, magic combs....

New Zealand
A huge success for marketing a quite pleasant, but not outstanding, set of islands along way away.
Like parts of the UK for the country side, or for the fjords like a smaller Norway.
And hugely expensive too get to and away from.

Tate modern
Bethlehem
Australia
Gibraltar
All a bit meh

Looooove NYC

Not me, but a friend and I went to Venice. I thought it was stunning. They were deeply underwhelmed. Very nearly the end of a beautiful friendship. Funny thing is. when they talk about it now they say how fantastic it was. No accounting for folks

What a brilliant thread - crossing loads off my bucket list, you've saved me £££ Mumsnet!

In a reverse though, one thing I was unexpectedly stunned by was the Prince Albert memorial in Kensington Gardens. At night when it's lit up it's breathtaking.

Whenever I pass it on the bus I imagine if I was queen and my own DH died young, and
in a heartbroken state (which she was), erecting a beautiful gold statue of him in a park, I just well up.

Haven't read the whole thread but mine are:

louvre in Paris, the Mona Lisa is tony and you can't get near it for Japanese tourists

Trevi fountain in Rome, nothing special and surrounded by people trying to sell cheap tat.

Spanish steps in Rome, literally just some steps with some flower pots on.

My parents would say the leaning tower of Pisa, again, mobbed with people trying to sell cheap tat that has nothing to do with said attraction.

The Statue of Liberty.
She's tiny. Probably didn't help that we'd spent the previous day looking down on her from the one world observatory in the freedom tower 🙈🙊

What I thought was amazing and really filled me with a sense of awe, though you have to book tickets well in advance, is the ceremony of the keys at the Tower of London. I found it pretty amazing that they've done it every night at the same time for 100's of years, even during getting bombed in the blitz!

The Louvre, in part.

People only want to see the Mona Lisa and a couple of other famous sculptures and paintings. The rest of it is really interesting and worthwhile.

Most British private museums like Madame Tussauds and London Dungeon are a complete and utter rip off and squarely aimed at parting gullible tourists and hicks down from the sticks from their hard earned cash.