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.

A bit parochial compared to some of the answers here, but Exmoor blew me away. So quiet and unspoilt and of course stunningly beautiful.

Loved walking around Rome just taking it all in.

It really is, would love to go back

What we need is someone with far too much time on their hands to put all these ideas on a spreadsheet, so we can choose to sort by Country, or by 'type' such as Cathedral / Basilica or 'Artwork' or 'Load of old stones' or 'Sad / Moving but a must see' or 'nature' or whatever

I'm adding this to my 'watch list' but would love to be able to filter to those I realistically might see and those I'm never going to get to.

I haven’t been yet, but when in Cairo Museum some 30 years ago (early in the day and in the first week of January) DH and I had Tut’s death mask all to ourselves.
I had been a big “fan” of Ancient Egypt since childhood, and had a picture of it on my wall!
I may have had a sob.
Loved the sphinx and pyramids too.

Also loved the Medina in Marrakesh: utterly bonkers, beautiful and with such contrasts.

We’ve just come back from British Columbia. Spent a week in Vancouver and a week in Whistler. It was stunning. I thought it would be beautiful but we fell in love with it. Vancouver was fantastic.

I always wanted to see St Basils cathedral in Moscow. It was everything I expected it to be.

Venice without a doubt, my favourite place on the planet.
The Imperial Palace and Summer Palace in Beijing.
Pretty much the whole of Luxor, apart from the shakedown by tourist police in the Valley of the kings 🙄
Landing by helicopter on the Mt. Cook glacier in NZ was unforgettable, as was Hobbiton on North Island - the attention to detail was amazing, can’t believe we sat and had a drink in the Green Dragon.

Biggest disappointments were Giza, the Pyramids were a literal shit-hole with the minor ones used as toilets by the locals and the bull pits were full of rubbish. The Sphinx was like a gypsy market on the viewing walkway.
Also Chitchen Itza in Mexico, for similar reasons, it felt very unsafe with people grabbing you.

You do know it was flattened in WW2 don't you? It was beautiful before then but sadly unlike German cities it wasn't rebuilt brick by brick. Quite an offensive remark about a city that was destroyed in WW2 due to its engineering heritage. And no I'm not from Coventry.

Stumbling across the amphitheatre in Pompeii. Just me and then DH, in a massive space.

Verona amphitheatre.

Olympia, running its short track.

The Pantheon in Rome, the Pantheon in Paris (very different buildings).

The Paris Catacombs.

The Corpus Clock in Cambridge.

The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford.

Anne Frank’s House and Our Lord in the Attic Museum in Amsterdam.

On a boat, emerging from fog across the lagoon in Venice in winter.

The Elgin and Winter Garden stacked theatres in Toronto.

The old courts in the Old Bailey.

The Hall of the Livery Company of Stationers in London.

Too many.

Perhaps because the poster read the OP to say where places had gone beyond expectations (as I did) and she’d had low expectations of Disneyland Paris so was pleasantly surprised ?

Palmyra in Syria before it was destroyed. It was incredible - absolutely magnificent ruins and we were virtually the only people there when we went. All we could see for miles and miles was unspoiled deserts. Now I believe it’s covered in landmines and the lovely guy who looked after the place was executed by IS😢. Feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to go.

Other than that, the Empire State Building. Worth the money, especially at sunset.

I’ve been very lucky to visit many wonderful places and have always researched very carefully but there are definitely some which exceeded my expectations.

Agree with….

Yosemite
Grand Canyon (also agree with a pp that Bryce is breathtaking too)
Niagara Falls (fabulous view from the Embassy Suites Hotel)
Moriane Lake (better than Lake Louise, in my opinion)
Sagrada Familia
Terracotta Warriors
Beijing – Forbidden City and Summer Palace
Chateau de Chenonceau
Bayeux Tapestry (coming to the British Museum Sept 2026 – July 2027)
Carnac and other similar sites in Brittany

Don’t think these have been mentioned…..

Monet’s Garden
Les Machines de l’île, Nantes
Le Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval, Hauterives, France
Cirque de Gavarnie, Haut-Pyrenees
742 through Kananaskis Country (Brokeback Mountain)
Baelo Claudia (Ancient Roman town in SW Spain)
Las Vegas strip – tacky but worth the long evening walk to see the sights, especially the Bellagio fountains,
Antelope Canyon, Arizona
Arches National Park, Utah
Durango – Silverton Railroad – husband’s choice but I loved it.
Colorado National Monument (fabulous rock formations)
Yellowstone NP (scenery, hot springs, rivers and waterfalls, and animals)
Zion National Park
Nine Mile Canyon, Utah (Petroglyphs)
Goblin Valley State Park -we only visited because all the National Parks were closed due to the Federal Govt shutdown in 2013.
New Zealand – everywhere we went exceeded expectations.

The Taj Mahal was incredible and so worth the journey

I don't know, how pleasantly surprised can you be by Disneyland? Don't get me wrong, I thought it was fine but I wasn't exactly cloaked in wondrous awe as I set eyes on it

My favourites are:

Basilica di San Clemente, Rome - absolutely stunning. So many places on Rome would make this list. It feels like home every time I go there (I’m not Italian, I just fell in love with it immediately). I also found visiting behind the scenes at the Basilica incredible and an honour.

St Ives, at sunset, outside of tourist season.

The White Mountains, New Hampshire. Just wow.

Paris Catacombs, particularly when it’s quiet and you’re alone.

Mutter Museum, Philly.

Auschwitz (Auschwitz I in particular, for me. The haunting beauty of the silver birch trees against such a place of horror.

Forgot to mention Vienna - a beautiful city, very clean and compact, and the architecture is amazing. Also the Spanish Riding School is well worth a visit - expensive but the skill of the riders and horses is incredible.

For me, anything over a 1/10 for Disney anywhere would be pleasantly surprised. A bit like the Las Vegas strip.

Oh, yes, the White Mountains and the ride on the Mount Washington Cog Railway. Standing on top of the world !

Exactly. I took DD to DLP many years ago and I was less than enthusiastic about going. When we got there it really wasn't as bad as I'd imagined, so in that respect DLP did exceed my expectations.

Edinburgh - just so beautiful, historic and fun.

Pere Lachaise Cemetery. The highlight of Paris for me. I went to see Jim Morrison's grave, but spent ages there wandering around. So interesting.

The hotels in Las Vegas - wasn't expecting them to be so amazingly OTT!

Alcatraz - lived up to my high expectations.

Driving down the west coast of America - so many beautiful deserted and dramatic beaches. It really was like something out of 'Play Misty For Me'.

Boppard Wine Festival - the best nights of my life!!

I was just coming on to say this. I was impressed with the commentary, and children of all ages also enjoyed it.

I would never go to a Disney park because they sound like my idea of hell, but joy is hard to come by! Especially unexpected joy! So it's really mean to tell someone their unexpected enjoyment doesn't count whatever it is!

Thanks to the wonder of modern technology - here is a top 50. Not sure it picked up everything but there's enough here to keep everyone busy :) I thought everyone on MN hated Paris....

Venice
Grand Canal / canal views
Murano
Burano
St Mark’s / St. Mark’s Square
Vaporetto rides between islands
Lido

Paris
Paris Catacombs
Saint-Denis Cathedral
Pantheon
Pere LaChaise Cemetery
Disneyland Paris
Notre Dame

Rome
Pantheon (Rome)
Vatican
Colosseum
Roman Forum
Trevi Fountain
St Peter’s Basilica (Vatican)

Pompeii
Pompeii amphitheatre
Pompeii ruins

Amsterdam
Anne Frank’s House
Our Lord in the Attic Museum
The Night Watch (Rijksmuseum)

New York City
9/11 Memorial & Museum
Ellis Island
Top of the Rock
Empire State Building
Brooklyn Bridge

Iceland
Blue Lagoon
Northern Lights

Grand Canyon
Helicopter into the Grand Canyon
Colorado River raft
General canyon views

Florence
Florence Cathedral / Duomo
David at the Accademia
Uffizi Gallery

Matera — Old town / Sassi di Matera
Petra
The Treasury (Siq to the Treasury)
Wadi Rum desert
Taj Mahal — 4 mentions :
Mont Saint-Michel

Spain:
Sagrada Família and other Gaudi buildings (Barcelona)
Alh Mezquita (Cordoba)
Alhambra (Granada)
Guernica (Madrid)
Park Güell (Barcelona)

Salt Mines (Krakow)
Cinque Terre
Last Supper (Leonardo da Vinci)(Milan)
Jerash ruins (Jordan)
Pamukkale pools (Turkey)
Great Wall of China
Terracotta Warriors (Xi’an)
Jerusalem Old Town
West Coast of Ireland — Coastal scenery and coastline drives
Culloden battlefield
Wadi Disah Canyon
Neuschwanstein Castle
Wells Cathedral
Bayeux Tapestry
Sana’a Old City
Hagia Sophia
Stonehenge
Acropolis
Cappadocia — (balloon views, cave landscapes)
Iguazu Falls
Bryce Canyon
Grand Teton National Park
Yosemite National Park
The Bund (Shanghai)
Versailles
Westminster Abbey
Forbidden City (Beijing)
Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm (Cambodia)
Uluru (Australia)
Glen Coe (Scotland)
Great Barrier Reef
Krak des Chevaliers (Syria)
Machu Picchu — 2 mentions :
Inca Trail
Machu Picchu
Ha Long Bay - scenery and boats
Ayutthaya — ruins
Marrakesh — Medina and contrasts;

@MissAmbrosia Good work!

All those recommending Venice, any suggestions on hotels/apartments. Heading to either venice or Budapest in April for my 40th (1st time child free in 16 years)