I have to wonder...

People visiting places the likes of Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Venice, London, Dublin, Barcelona, Miami, Cape Town, and having difficulty entertaining themselves and/or finding interesting things, sights and, people and culture to experience. I find it odd.

Sure, Los Angeles is a concerte dump. Sydney is too new and lacks history. London is expensive. Barcelona has weird architecture. Venice has a plague of tourists. New York was dirty. Cape Town doesn't live up to Rio. Whatever...

But every place in the world offers something interesting; but it is not always served on a silver platter, and nor should it be. Then we would all be complaining about everything being trite, and touristy, and fake. Nor can you really compare places; they are all different and have their own character and unique qualities. If they were all the same, the world would be like Club Med. :eek:

One has to experience places and things for oneself, rather than expecting a guidebook to be the experience, or expect to really know a place within 24 hours. Maybe it's just me, but there are few places that have bored me enough that I would call it overrated... some places are better (in my own subjective reasoning) than others, but I don't think that makes them over- or underrated.

Oh bugger, I'm posting drunk again but I feel this has to be said...

I have to say, I totally agree. I don't drive but I always find a way to enjoy LA (yes, really). I have vertigo (can't do the bloody bridge climb) and I don't swim but I will always find a way to enjoy Sydney. Hell, I even thought Wichita (KS) was wonderful (I guess you have to work with the yocals to get that) yet it is bottom of the list of places to see in most tourists guides of the US. The truth is, if you approach just about any place with right attitude, you will enjoy it and learn from it (really ****ed off that I'm not going to get a break in Beirut, Damascus or Jerusalem this year; oh hum, maybe next year).

How can anyone really, seriously and objectively judge any place to be overrated?

I agree with the OP, Sydney quite boring especially in winter.

My vote goes to Zurich. I don't think I have seen this yet, so I may be in the minority. LOL

The most overrated city in the world...surely a very tricky question to answer.
It all depends what you are looking for when travelling really.
Personally I'm not a great fan of these overly touristic places with tons of tourists, souvenir shops, people taking photos in front of statues, or even worse, cities where people visit museums/places/monuments just because they are famous, no matter how dull they are.
I am one of those persons who just cannot understand how some people make such an effort to visit the Louvre in Paris just to take a photo of Mona Lisa, a small quite unremarkable picture, but completely ignoring the large galleries nextdoors which some stunning picture you can spend hours admiring.

Personally I tend to look for more unique places that have not been too exploited by tourists yet, or places where I get a chance to experience the local culture.

On top of my list I would have to mention Bangkok, I was not impressed.
Sure Grand Palace is beautiful and luxury accommodation is cheap, but there are just too many tourists, too much pollution, taxi drivers who love to take you for a ride if you don't pay attention to where they are going.
Overall Bangkok did not make a good impression on me and I was quite happy to leave after a few days.

Dublin would also be on my list. I can understand some people like the nightlife, but there is nothing spectacular about the city IMHO.
I really enjoyed the rest of Ireland though, Galway is a lovely city and visiting Arann Islands is a fantastic experience.

If we are talking about tourist destination I guess I could to some extent include London.
Yes I do live here and it's not like I dislike the city, but everything is incredibly expensive and some attractions are vastly overrated.
From a tourist point of view you get better value for your money and possibly a better and more unique experience if going elsewhere.
However I do advice people to get away from the tourist trail and visit some other neighbourhoods, those are the parts of London that I like.

I am a part time L.A. resident and I have a love & hate relationship with the place. Love the dining, coastline piers but hate the smog, the need to commute by cars in long distances, the ghost town that surfaces in the downtown area after dawn, and most of all the airport - LAX.

I was surprised how many people listed Los Angeles. Personally, I love it.

It's just that you must learn which parts are worth spending time in and how to get around. Walking down Hollywood Blvd, for instance, is a particularly disapointing experience. Oddly the disillusion that engenders is a fundamental aspect of understanding Hollywood though.

After having visited various cities in Switzerland over the past couple of years, it definately makes London feel alot less expensive. I have visited London for business multiple times this year and its beginning to feel less and less expensive.

Put me down for Los Angeles!

Too crowded, too dirty, to much noise!

My vote for most overrated goes to Nice, France.

One odd thing about L.A. is how so many people from so many other places have such negative feelings about it, yet the Angelenos seem largely unaware of this animosity. In particular, there is an SF-LA rivarly, but only SF knows about it.

The place has its problems, but one nice thing is that you'll rarely hear people in L.A. complain about other cities.

Its not unique--LA is URBAN SPRAWL. Nothing there of any substance...no history like these other big cities but I realize its a youn city. laguna beach is about 35-40 miles away--wouldnt say thats LA when it would take you over an hour to drive there with traffic. If thats the cas you could include Long island towns as parts of "nyc".

Quite often it takes over one hour to go from one part of the City of Chicago to another. Downtown to outlying suburbs can easily be 90 minutes at peak times.

So true, so true. You hit it right on!

[Apologies for responding to this MONTHS later!]

Actually, there was a really long stretch between Frederick Ashton running the company and Monica Mason!