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Overrated tourist attractions

Notre dame. Whether from the inside or outside, I found it completely so so. On the other hand, koln cathedral had me in awe. Think it's one of the finest structures I've ever visited. The way it towers over the city, the fine gothic architecture..it's everywhere you look.


Seine, Paris. I was a bit disappointed. It doesn't have much of a 'riverline'. It made me think the thames in central london has a much more interesting skyline - modern meets old.

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Unpopular opinion time: Rome. All of Rome's attractions. I'm not saying they're bad, all of the monuments themselves are an awesome sight to behold, but Rome as a city has a way of driving that wonder into the back of your mind after you've just queued for four hours to see each of them. Add to that the layer of consumerism that's been applied to the entire city's surface that feels borderline inescapable, and there's very little left of the magic I was hoping Rome would fill me with. I went three times with work last year, the first time was peak summer season and the amount of time in queues and traffic was infuriating. The second time, well outside of school holiday season, was just as bad. The third time I didn't bother getting off the ship.

For anyone wanting to go to Italy for the experience of going to Italy, there are much better places you can go. Florence is my favourite.
Damn son.

I was planning to go to Rome this spring..

Everyone I know who has gone said it's great!
London's a shitehole
Original post by tehforum
Damn son.

I was planning to go to Rome this spring..

Everyone I know who has gone said it's great!


I'm sure you'll still have a good time if you go, just don't try and do all the touristy stuff in one day :yep: it's all subjective, and it's just one of the places I liked the least of the 30+ European cities and towns I went to last year.
Bloody hell.

You mentioned a cruise.
What do you do?
Original post by tehforum
Bloody hell.

You mentioned a cruise.
What do you do?


Just retail, it's boring as hell work but it's the position that gets the most time off on shore of any position that doesn't involve singing and dancing :yep:
Living life eh
Original post by tehforum
Living life eh


Yep, there are worse ways to make a living.
London in general.

Everything was dirty, grey and somewhat bland. It's the grey-est city I've ever been in and all I could see were dark clouds, pigeon poo and chewing gum on the pavements. The London Eye was kind of cool to look at but London's pretty damn expensive to visit so it wasn't enough to justify the cost.

Prices - that's another thing. Even a bottle of Coke was something ridiculous like £3 when it's £1.20 where I live. The accommodation prices were insane purely because of the city it was in and the demand.
the giants causeway, its just a day of looking at rocks and being outside in awful weather
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Slough. That Holiday Inn advert was pretty misleading.
What I really look for in a destination is to be able to stop at an average neighbourhood/city centre bar or restaurant and think: "I can go in here fairly sure that I'll eat or drink something local and tasty and not get ripped off for it". Paris and Rome, beautiful as they are, certainly don't do that for me, in fact practically nowhere in France or Italy does. I definitely have to scope out restaurants there for reasonable prices. I felt the same in Switzerland and Austria. Virtually every city in Spain I've been to however offers that abundance of places where you can just sit down for a few minutes and a few quid. Germany is also better for better hospitality at lower prices.

Past the iron curtain the situation gets dream-like until you get to Russia. Even in Prague which is getting dearer by the minute, there's a promise of a cheap cold beer on every street corner.
Original post by tehforum
Damn son.

I was planning to go to Rome this spring..

Everyone I know who has gone said it's great!


I'm weighing in on behalf of Rome - it's magnificent. I think the trick is to go out of season - the weather is much more amenable to touristy stuff, and the queues are significantly shorter. Having lived there for a while and also done the tourist thing, I've seen both sides of the coin - April is a very good time to visit.
I wasn't overawed with the Palace of Versailles. Very bling bling. I preferred Chatsworth.
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Original post by DylanJ42
the giants causeway, its just a day of looking at rocks and being outside in awful weather


Agree and disagree. The actual rock formation didn't do much for me, but I'm glad I visited as a day trip from Belfast because I got to take in the scenic antrim coast, and walk across a rope bridge, and at the causeaway it was nice to walk along the cliffs to get there (as oppossed to walking down the road or taking the bus), plus the wind and the sea was violent and raw it had so much character.

I generally think Northern Ireland is massively underrated for visting.
Original post by Reality Check
I'm weighing in on behalf of Rome - it's magnificent. I think the trick is to go out of season - the weather is much more amenable to touristy stuff, and the queues are significantly shorter. Having lived there for a while and also done the tourist thing, I've seen both sides of the coin - April is a very good time to visit.


I can't imagine going to most European places in the summer.

Too hot, and too busy.
The acropolis and parthenon at Athens. Looks fab in night time photos when it's lit up with no tourists:




The reality when tourists are added in the afternoon heat of mid-summer looks like this:

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Original post by rockrunride
What I really look for in a destination is to be able to stop at an average neighbourhood/city centre bar or restaurant and think: "I can go in here fairly sure that I'll eat or drink something local and tasty and not get ripped off for it". Paris and Rome, beautiful as they are, certainly don't do that for me, in fact practically nowhere in France or Italy does. I definitely have to scope out restaurants there for reasonable prices. I felt the same in Switzerland and Austria. Virtually every city in Spain I've been to however offers that abundance of places where you can just sit down for a few minutes and a few quid. Germany is also better for better hospitality at lower prices.

Past the iron curtain the situation gets dream-like until you get to Russia. Even in Prague which is getting dearer by the minute, there's a promise of a cheap cold beer on every street corner.


This is why I'm not keen on visiting countries like Italy - it seems to be devoid of anything approaching value. For less than the price of a hostel dorm bed in Florence, you could sleep like a king in bucharest, as I did. One of the finest en suite private rooms I ever stayed in and cost me around £20 a night. For that price in an Italian hostel you'd be sharing a sleeping bag with 20 other people!

And Spain is fantastic to visit. Very tourist friendly and reasonably priced and great sights and culture. You can't go wrong. Haven't been to Barcelona though, which may be the most expensive/overhyped part.....
(edited 7 years ago)
Stonehenge is a complete waste of time.

Barcelona is full of dickheads who give you a disgusted look if you try and speak to them in Spanish. Beautiful city though, and good food.

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