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!!!

Bangkok was the place I'd wanted to visit all my life and I detested it. Obviously I knew about it's seedy side, but thought it might be a bit more restricted to certain areas rather than infesting the whole place

Bar girls, fat western men on the prowl, beggars, scammers (even the police are in on many scams), you name it. To make things worse I got stuck there for an extra six days due to the ash cloud, and in the end - I still can't believe this - I didn't even leave the hotel

York Minister is amazing!

But yy to the Giant's Causeway (the stones were much smaller than I expected...) and the Mona Lisa (also tiny and a bit drab....)

The Roman Forum. Could have been I was all cultured out by that point though. There was a little american girl, clearly all cultured out too, who I overheard muttering "its nothing but a bunch of dumb broken stones". I saw her point.

Pps underwhelmed by THE GREAT BARRIER REEF!!!
Wow!!!

I loved the Grand Canyon but Niagara Falls was a yawn. Maybe because I went so often as my grandparents lived nearby.

Grand canyon and the hoover dam.
Brown rocks. Boring!

Pisa. I was expecting there to be more than a little field with a tower (which, to be fair, is leaning), a church, and a baptistry, surrounded by a few shabby shops. This was whilst the tower was closed to the public too, so it literally took ten minutes to see it all, tops. Should have stayed in Florence and saved my bus fare.

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.

Moscow for me. Desperate to visit for years and then felt so let down. Dirty, unfriendly, difficult to communicate, such a disappointment. I believe St Petersburg is far better.

I LOVED Giants Causeway!

The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. "Is that it.....?"

The Mona Lisa. It is a source of much amusement to my husband that when we went to see it he asked me what I thought and the best I could muster was "Well, the frame is nice."

What on earth were you expecting?

Actually I liked the town itself more. Reminded me of Tallinn. Definitely didn't go there to see the church, so didn't actually expect to see it at all, if it makes sense.
During that weekend we went to Scarborough as well and I was blown away by everything there. So not as difficult to impress me, as you might think.

Westminster Cathedral and Land's End.

Madame Tussauds was actually the most disappointing time of my life.

Most of the major landmarks in Barcelona. The famous Las Ramblas was a busy paved street with shitty cafes and shops on it. I was like this is it?!

I liked Stonehenge but then I nearly did an archaeology degree.

I found the Eiffel Tower very underwhelming and actually, much of Paris itself. I felt it was all quite overhyped; I found myself diaappointed with the feel of the city. Saying that, I had a lovely time and I did enjoy the Palace of Versailles, a boat trip and a few of the galleries.

*disappointed!

Moscow for me. Desperate to visit for years and then felt so let down. Dirty, unfriendly, difficult to communicate, such a disappointment. I believe St Petersburg is far better.

I skipped Moscow because I had heard that about it. I did St Petersburg though and it was magnificent. You must do it.

I love the Little Mermaid!

The Mona Lisa is terribly disappointing.

On the other The Lady with the Ermine is spectacularly lovely - goodness knows how Mona gets all the acclaim.

The Lady with the Ermine is in Krakow. They move it around the museums and it is currently housed in a branch of the Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie (the National Museum of Krakow) just outside the Old Town- and possibly the most spectacularly hideous museum you will ever see.

The contents are amazing but the building itself is one of worst (or possibly) best examples of brutalist Communist architecture. Equally impressive is the truly hideous and enormous "Palace of Culture" building just in front of Warsaw central station, which was a "gift" from Stalin to the people of Poland.

And speaking of odd former Communist things Lenin's tomb with Lenin embalmed was strangely impressive. The precision of the changing of the guard outside the mausoleum was genuinely impressive.

To get back on theme- another no vote for all that Guadi stuff.

The Little Mermaid. It's that "Doh!" moment when you realise it is exactly what it says it is. A. little. mermaid. at the end of a long walk Cute but nothing more.

Brussels the first time. No time to visit the Grand Place. Saw the Atomarium but not impressed, got covered in dog mess, left PDQ. Revisited years later and lucky enough to see the Christmas market and St Nicholas parade. Could barely believe it was the same place.

Oh - the Mannequin Pis in Brussels.... Walk for ages to find a sculpture by a renowned artist depicting a famous incident in the town's history.... Fight our way through gazillions of bits of tourist tat depicting said statue.... Oh - is that it??

I'm amazed at the people under amazed at York Minster and the Gran Canyon.....

We visited York Minster early in the morning and the choir were rehearsing. Walking around the Minster to the background of those wonderful young boys voices was magical.

The silence and stillness at the Gran Canyon was almost magical to me. The colours of the rocks and the sheer size of the Canyon was incredible.

Oh yeah Lass we got very fed up with Gaudi in Barcelona, we loved Sagrada and Park Guell but everything else was a bit boring and overrated!

Venice. Might be quite nice if it weren't chockablock with tourists.

Pps underwhelmed by THE GREAT BARRIER REEF!!!
Wow!!! I know!

Can't think of any that have underwhelmed me off the top of my head, but one that overwhelmed me was The Kelpies in Falkirk. Absolutely stunning.

Agree with most of the comments on here so far (as far as i'm able to anyway).

Used to live relatively near to Stonehenge and it is very disappointing to visit as a layman. Avebury stones are a much better example although they have unfortunately built a road through them (years ago I must add). One of those white horse things gets annoying as well after a while too. Could see it from window and really couldn't understand the fuss.

Haven't seen pyramids but heard they are disappointing, dirty and too close to touristy and littery areas. This is a shame as I'd like to see them but couldn't put up with some of the experiences I've heard (and reiterated here).

I've always wanted to visit Copenhagen and little mermaid. I know from friends that it is not as impressive as i may think, but to read it mentioned on here so prevalently makes me put a visit off even longer.

Paris is always a disappointment to me. Nice enough place, but does not live up to it's reputation. Eifel tower is best viewed from the ground - any view from the top is not worth the hassle getting up there. Palace of versaille is ok, but the gardens and grounds are much more enjoyable.

Oh. And all greek ruins look the same 😜