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!!!

I am very surprised at anyone mentioned the Taj Mahal as underwhelming.

Whereas Agra is no doubt a total dump, I though the Taj was utterly breathtaking.

I found Florence to be massively underwhelming as was Amsterdam.

To be fair to the NT lelly Stonehenge is English Heritage. But totally in agreement about Giants Causeway visitor centre. Totally ridiculous and basically just an enormous cafe and shop PLUS the Trust try and make you pay to go to the Causeway itself when you can just walk on to it for free.
It didn't help that we walked with the dog along the coast to get there (great walk) and it was raining buckets (NI is great but my god can it rain there) and there is no provision for anyone with a dog to sit under cover. You'd have thought the Trust would have thought of that.
Mind you, going to NI with a dog was a big disappointment. They don't let dogs in anywhere. We will go back, but without our pooch.

LivingTheHighlife - and its not just concrete, its concrete with heavy fill in the lower layers grading up to pumice at the top. And the unaesthetic arches you see on the outside are carrying the load round the bays. Its a brilliant piece of structural engineering.

Trajan's column surely impresses everyone but its even more remarkable if you give some thought to how the heck it might have been erected in that era, in what was then quite a built up space.

Not a famous landmark, but I was very underwhelmed with Harry Potter Studio Tour. It's too busy to look at everything properly and I don't like the way you're hurried out of the Great Hall and not told that you're only in there for a limited time.

Niagara Falls was disappointing. Thankfully it was a day trip as against a week holiday planned to "enjoy" it

Lots of these I loved. But for me:
Giant's Causeway
New York

The Taj Mahal was breathtaking and ph my goodness The Great Barrier Reef! An inderwater world of colour. Incredible.

The pyramids were a huge let down.

Up at the rack of dawn, expecting a wonder and they literally look like they’ve been plonked in town. Shops, Mac Donald’s, KFC, beggars everywhere. Rubbish all over.

Horrible.

Not really a landmark but the Central Park Zoo

The Taj Mahal and the Statue of Liberty both underwhelmed me

The Shard. Looking down onto roofs and cooling towers. And lack of seats for people with mobility issues. Had to ask for a chair for my husband and staff looked at me as if it was an unusual request. Overpriced.

Both smaller and grubbier than id imagined!

Stonehenge. My DH and MiL were utterly enthralled by it; I was really bored and underwhelmed!

Tian Tan Buddha 😬 lots of beggars and shops/stalls everywhere, very dirty also. The museum was good but the rest not so much.

Pisa for me, was nothing like I had imagined it to be. Town itself was filthy and the tower much smaller than I thought.

Bondi Beach.
Times Square in the day. (That night it was like a different place, and we loved it)

@lizzieoak

"Inniu - which side did you see them from? I've only seen the Canadian side and the town itself is appalling, but the falls are stunning. Powerful and beautiful. I'd love to see them in winter.

"I've heard the American side is a bit meh."
I've seen Niagara Falls from both sides and agree, they aren't much from the American side. From the Canadian side they are absolutely stunning and the sound by the horseshoe falls is thunderous. Constant rainbows from the mist and a ride near to the base of the falls on the boat 'Maid of the Mist' gives spectacular views.

The Roman baths in Bath!

I was generally underwhelmed by Rome and I didn't expect to be. I wouldn't go again though Ostia Antica just outside was amazing.

Four corners National Monument, USA. It's where the 4 states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet. It's just some slabbing with a few flat metal bits in it in the middle of bleeding nowhere desert land.

Empire state building

Laughed and laughed at this - the first time I even drove past Stonehenge my reaction was, is that it?

I was also underwhelmed by the size of Men al Tol, since the postcards make it look about the same scale as Stonehenge, so the actual stones were a bit of a shock. Great atmosphere, though, the autumn day a friend and I were lucky enough to have it to ourselves for a good 30 minutes.

And also, the Mona Lisa and bits of New York. And lots of bits of London which are just noisy and way too packed with people. But each to their own. Oh, and Exeter. Quite a nice place to live, but I was expecting lots of lovely Tudor buildings everywhere, like in York. And then someone explained to me that the Luftwaffe did a pretty good job of destroying the city and then various town councils finished the job.

Places that did live up to their expectations for me - Glastonbury Tor; Chalice Well gardens; Callanish; and Iona (though we did do more than a day trip). I used to love Lindisfarne too but people tell me it's rammed with tourists these days (by Northumbrian standards, that is). And when it comes to towns, Ludlow was lovely and I personally loved Edinburgh. Though I haven't visited for about 25 years, I'm sure it's changed.

I love how, despite people being disappointed with many a landmark, the Sistine Chapel was actually impressive and awe-inspiring.

It seems the infamous Sistine Chapel screamer had a point after all.

Another vote for Stonehenge. Didn't actually go to it though, was just driving past on the way to somewhere else and glanced over thinking "oh right, a couple of rocks on a hill."

I did love the Mona Lisa though. Was there off season and stomping through the Louvre looking for my teenage DD after an argument. Stumbled into a quiet space, just me and two other people, and there she was. She took my breath away, probably the total lack of expectation helped a lot.