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.

The UK has lots of gems.
Mull and the islands near it - such wonderful wildlife. The outer Hebrides, especially north uist and south Harris.

This year we’ve been constrained in where we could go by health issues but were delighted by Conwy - lovely town encircled by its wall with a magnificent castle and a very interesting Tudor courtyard house, nice shops and places to eat, little harbour, shore walk.

A bit more local but

The Kelpies in Scotland
Northumberland beaches
National Gallery in London - one picture - Whistlejacket

And a bit further away

Chicago - the whole city. Loved it all, especially the waterways, cityscape and the L

I’d love to see these! We went to the standing stones in Lewis which were amazing. We were the only ones at one visit, but when we went again we were surrounded by American tourists taking pics and videos ‘for the ‘gram’ 😆

The Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an.
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Abu Simbel and Karnak Temples, Egypt
Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

I was coming in to say Westminster Abbey! We spent about 4 hours there, it was amazing. Yes, busy but still far more extraordinary that I was expecting.

I do have to mention St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, both absolutely stunning!

DH & I had a four day child free trip to London and decided to visit places we hadn’t been to. It allowed us to really soak up the atmosphere, no rushing around due to dc being bored!

I felt quite emotional after seeing so many events from these two beautiful buildings. So much history in both too.

Also loved our tour guide around Highgate Cemetery, would definitely go again.

The Wild Atlantic Way. It never stops being a feast for the eyes. Sunset at 10pm in June in Galway is something you have to witness.

The Duomo in Milan. You come out of the metro station and it’s just there and it’s breathtaking.

Phoenix Park in Dublin. A park that size in the middle of a city and the deer just roaming around.

Delphi. You have to go up early before the crowds. It's like nothing else I've ever experienced.
Capri, away from the crowds it's just beautiful.
The Palatine hill in Rome.
Venice, most of it.
The French riviera - mostly not that expensive, and away from the big name places beautiful and full of French people on holiday in the summer.

Venice, Florence, Lake Como, etc. I think despite how busy it can be, it's difficult to not find Italy absolutely stunning.

Flying over Angel Falls in Venezuela was the most amazing sight ever for me (although flying back to the airport in a small 8 seater plane in torrential rain was the most terrifying experience ever).

I’m not well travelled at all, and can only dream of going to some of the places mentioned so far, but my favourite place that blew me away was the Alhambra in Grenada.

The Vatican. 9pm. Dark and rainy so no one around. The rain made everything shiny and it was just stunning.

Baan Dam museum Thailand

Da Nang night market near dragon Bridge Vietnam

Marakesh market at night

Tulemben Liberty ship scuba diving Bali

Chaing Mai water festival Thailand

Drift scuba diving along enormous coral walls in warm seas

Northern lights

Scottish landscapes & weather

Glow worm caves New Zealand & Hells Gate geyser site

Tinguley museum

Egypt historic sites

Too many to mention !

I have three: the Sistine Chapel, the blue mountains in Australia and the penguins on Phillip Island. The latter was nearly spoilt by some Chinese tourists taking photos of the penguins even when there were many announcements both in English and Chinese telling people not to as it hurts their eyes, however on balance I think it's still worth it.

Petra in Jordan. Again, especially the day we spent exploring ourselves a little away from the central area. Just incredible.

Chichén Itzá, Mexico
it was incredible

Taking the 30-40 minute panoramic Mont Blanc cable car across from the top of the Aguile du Midi in Chamonix to Pointe Helbronner in Italy. It’s stunningly beautiful and so peaceful - especially of you get the car to yourself (max 4)

Tutankhamen’s tomb in Egypt. We went in 2017; tourism had plummeted, we had the entire place to ourselves. I’d wanted to go since I was a really little girl- it was so good I cried!

I went there as a child (about 7?) and it made a huge impact on me. I remember when we went back to school and had to draw pictures of where we went for our summer holidays everyone else drew beach scenes and I attempted to draw this abbey on a hill and everyone laughed at it . I really want to go back, and my DH has never been, but I'm also worried about it being too busy and being ruined for me.

Bryce Canyon in Utah.

The Grand Canyon was amazing but I expected it to be, iyswim. Whereas I knew nothing about Bryce and when I saw it for the first time, it was so unexpectedly breathtaking.

The Alhambra for me too. It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve visited and on the day I was there the smell of the roses just helped towards the specialness of it. I hope to go again.

A cemetery in Thailand on a tour to the Death Railway. We were a small group of 6 . Two ladies from Manchester, us and a German couple who remained by the minibus.
it was so quiet. The inscriptions on the gravestones were so moving. Some of them probably had no real idea what the men had gone through and maybe few had had the chance to visit the graves. I felt quite privileged to be able to do so.

Another vote for the Grand Canyon. I didn't even want to go - "It's just a valley after all" - and then I saw it

Also Venice and Paris; so many sights are a disappointment when you finally get to see them, but these are the two places which were exactly as I'd always imagined them

Lake Superior from the Canadian side. I walked down a tiny sliver of sand with the lake on both sides. It was so massive, it's hard to believe it's a lake.
When I got to the end of the sand bar the water went from pale blue to dark in about a foot and something big swam in front of my toes. Absolutely amazing. Very few people about. It was around 35 years ago now.

Grand Canyon. When we went down in the helicopter I felt like I was travelling back to when the dinosaurs were around.
Great Wall of China also stunning. You can see it wiggling off into the distance.
Minack Theatre in West Cornwall is adorable.

Seville Cathedral, incredible to think of the work which went into it .