To ask what tourist sites you’ve visited that met or exceeded expectations?

[VenerableFreed]

AIBU to ask what tourist sites you’ve visited that have genuinely lived up to expectations and have gone beyond them?

For me, it was seeing Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in person in Milan. I’m not particularly emotional, particularly about art, but it was genuinely moving to see the real thing. Visitor numbers were restricted, meaning you actually got a good look and there were no distractions. The setting, in a darkened room in an old convent, really helped too. It felt really intimate and special.

9/11 memorial and museum in New York
Smithsonian museum Washington
Smithsonian air and space museum

Three places have forever stayed in my mind as they were so special and moved me to tears

Grand Canyon - the first glimpse is awe inspiring. Even more stunning, are the lush green forests and waterfalls at the base (along the river).

Lake Morraine in the Canadian Rockies - went with two friends and we just sat there in silence for an hour.

And finally...

Ayutthaya, ancient capital of Thailand. Went alone by train from Bangkok. It was virtually deserted and the most serene, stunning place I have ever been. It's my "happy place".

The Larraine motel in Memmphis (where Martin Luther King was shot). Sun Studios (again Memphis), Nashville and Milan (the architecture of the cathedral blew me away, and I'm not even religious!)

Damp afternoon in April being completely alone in Pompeii.

I do this in two categories
. Natural/Mother Nature - Blue Grotto, Malta. It's the most southern point in Malta. Went there last year. You must go on the boats that go around the grotto. It was €5.

. Man Made - Alhambra and St Peter's Basilica. I was going to mention Sistine Chapel but it was ruined by Japanese tourists taking photos and talking. Yet signs all round the entrance in picture form said no photos or talking.

Nan Tien Temple at Wollongong NSW. I've never been anywhere so peaceful.

Teotihuacan, the National Museum of Anthropology, Chichen Itza, Tulum, and the Palancar Reef in Mexico.

Taj Mahal for me too. Just magical, beautiful, can't describe how awe inspiring it was.

Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

Alhambra and the mezquita in Cordoba.

Made me laugh that among all the beautiful sites posters have mentioned someone has said Disneyland Paris in all seriousness😅

Splendid tea rooms 🙂

Avebury stone circle and village, with Silbury Hill and West Kennet long barrow, Wilts.

Literally awesome, but only if you like that sort of thing.

Ta Prohm, Cambodia. truly breathtaking

We went there on a school trip (it's about an hour away from where I live), the whole place creeped me out...but that might be because there was a kid's program on around that time set in Avebury...as I recall it was called "Children of the Stones" or some such...scared the bejaysus out of me.

Iceland is like a magical Nordic fairy land, isn't it?

The first thing you see on the drive into Reykjavik from the airport is that other-worldly lunar landscape. I even liked the vaguely sulfuric smell from the tap water - something earthy about it!

I was last in Iceland more than 10 years ago however, and I've heard it has become massively overtouristed since then, such that you'll barely hear Icelandic spoken and every other building in Reykjavik is an Air B&B. I'm glad I went when I did.

Hampton Court blew my mind, the fact that Henry V111 had walked those corridors was hard to comprehend

My favourite part was finding all the little "A&H" crests which somehow survived the 'clean sweep' after Ann Boleyn's downfall. But the whole place is spectacular.

Guernica is devastating in the flesh, isn't it. I couldn't look away, horrifying as it is.

Macchu Picchu is absolutely no. 1 on my bucket list 😊 As soon as my kids are old enough we are going to do the Inca Trail.

The most awesome place I’ve ever been is the Atacama Desert in Chile. Incredible place, really otherworldly.

Pretty well everything in Iceland. I had 3 nights there on an Iceland Air package. It included 2 coach tours - one of the Golden Circle and another Northern Lights tour. I normally avoid coach tours like the plague. However, they were absolutely fantastic. The guides were incredible knowledgeable and fun and of course Iceland is incredibly beautiful. We were also very lucky with the weather - we had wall-to-wall sunshine in early March. It was very cold and there was snow everywhere. The locals were lovely and the food was amazing. We went mainly to cheaper restaurants that were aimed at backpackers and locals and they were all excellent and not too pricey.

Yes stunning. One of the best places I've seen

Agree. It's quite overwhelmingly gorgeous.

I got there and it's crazy. Not sure how much they've excavated now but when I went in 2016 we had to trek for 3 days to get to it and the archeologists allowed us under the tarp to watch what they were exposing and how they work and it was unlike anything I've ever seen. The archeologists used to get a helicopter in to the site. Back then the trek was also dangerous and really basic and one of our pack donkeys ate a poisoned caterpillar and died. It was a very unusual trip!

No, I get you. I haven't actually been, but from pictures the cathedral is staggering.

Thought of another one - much closer to home, and FREE (you pay to park).

The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffs. Well worth a visit if you haven't been.
I would definitely splash out for a guide book, or book a guide though, there is so much though that has gone into the placement of the memorials, from the 'Shot at Dawn' one, position where the sun rises, to the main one where the sun shines through the gap at 11am on 11th November. You'll walk miles and miles, but well worth it.

Ellis Island, NYC. The exhibition was fantastic.
Canterbury Cathedral - £5 tour. Awesome.
Angkor Wat - just go and roam.

The rockies. Huge. Like nothing you can imagine. Stunningly beautiful. Moraine lake. Maligne lake. The hike to St Agnes teahouse and mirror lake. Sunshine meadows hike on a sunny day just us and a guide. We had it to ourselves.
Also love pompei. It was pretty spectacular. We went in May before the busier season.