KDS777

Glad I am not alone in my sentiments.

iahphx

Yeah, I noticed that too. But I suppose lots of cities have hyped dessert "experiences." But I was surprised on a recent visit to New Orleans that the beignets at Cafe du Monde were good and not very expensive.

I know why you don't like Waikiki. It does seem insane to me that people would fly thousands of miles to a beautiful tropical paradise for an urban beach -- when there are so many great alternatives in Hawaii. That said, Waikiki is actually a good beach: the problem is that there is too much development on it. And while it's not my favorite destination in the world, I don't mind a couple of days in Honolulu. If my routing from the mainland takes me to HNL, I'll usually stay a couple days before heading to a Neighboring Island. I would submit that if you want to understand Hawaii and Hawaiians, you have to spend a little time in Honolulu.

HawaiiO

haha ya totally underwhelming.
Get a better view from Kerry Park and it is free!

That said, Space Needle in Seattle getting a work over and reopening soon i think.
All glass panels everywhere.
Looks decent so far but hope they dont charge too much.

Annalisa12

Dog on the Tuckerbox (Gundagai, Australia)

Artpen100

Outside of historic central Brussels, it is pretty much like any other city that is not particularly charming. Though I like the beer.

Which reminds me to add the Heinekin Experience in Amsterdam as a truly overrated place to visit. Makes the Guinness museum in Dublin look like the Louvre.

blueferrari

Kuta, Bali. no explanation needed.

Low Roller

Liberty Bell. It's small, it doesn't do anything. I guess you need to be American to appreciate it.

Stonehenge has been mentioned to death on this thread but it really is underwhelming.

On the other hand, the Grand Canyon was alot more impressive than I expected for a hole in the ground.

dalehill

Or if someone really does need an explanation, I recommend googling "kuta bali worst place ever"

beachmouse

So I was scrolling down and was like, 'eh, not much different than Panama City Beach, Florida when the college kids invade'. And then I saw the descriptions of the mass amounts of garbage washing up on the beach...

darthbimmer

On days when they allow foreign tourists in they don't do the show where a bald eagle pulls the cord to ring the bell.

jcp3rd

Xerri's Grotto, Gozo, Malta

(natural caves are cool, colored lights and caves, less so, especially when there are many other interesting things nearby)

Annalisa12

you've just offended a few hundred thousand yobbos!

hotturnip

Forgive me, but saying that the Louvre is "overrated" is just preposterous. If you don't like art, then no, you won't like it. But it is NOT overrated. Yes, it's crowded, and can be hot and uncomfortable in certain places and times. But that applies to almost ALL tourist attractions. Once they become attractions, they're crowded.

The Louvre's collection is both massive and of the highest quality. Take your time, don't try to see everything. Pick an area that interests you, and avoid the crowds in front of the Mona Lisa. There are many galleries in the Louvre that are quite sparsely populated with visitors. It can be a lovely and pleasant experience if you don't try to just check it off your bucket list, but instead let yourself learn from it. (You can also take an art historian like me with you--I've been told that makes art museum visits quite interesting!)

MaxBuck

You suggest that if one loves art, one must like the Louvre. Not true; I love art and art museums, but still regard the Louvre as overrated. Its collection of paintings and sculpture is indeed vast, but very limited in style and time scale; nearly everything here is from the 17th through 19th centuries, and martial art dominates the displays. And the average quality of the works on display pales IMO in comparison to the Met and the Uffizi, both of which in my opinion are far superior art museums. Personally, I'd also rank the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum above the Louvre, but I admit that's completely subjective. I've not yet visited the National Gallery, Rijksmuseum or the Hermitage, but plan to see the latter two this summer.

None of this means that an art lover should bypass the Louvre when in Paris, of course, but there are many other delightful art havens in that glorious city that also are worth a detour.

Giggleswick

I can easily understand liking art and still not liking the Louvre--as stated above, it can be hot, crowded, and uncomfortable--but I can't understand this statement, unless you are referring only to the French painting galleries on the first floor of the Denon wing and most of the French painting galleries on the second floor. There are extensive collections of Egyptian, Near Eastern, and Classical antiquities on the lower floor and parts of the first floor. There's the excellent Islamic collection, plenty of pre-17th century painting, including northern European paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries and Italian Renaissance art, medieval decorative arts, early French sculpture, and lots more. At the Louvre, I always have to spend time with the floor plan, prioritizing and mapping out what I want to see, because there's much to choose from and it's easy to end up exhausted.