- Travel is also a matter of taste but there are many major attractions that are incredible for the wrong reasons. These are the ten most disappointing tourist draws that don't deserve the attention they get:
- It's one of the world's most photographed statues and it's on every postcard in Brussels. It must be quite impressive, right? Not exactly. It's so small, that you often miss it if you blink, as it's usually found hidden behind a group of tourists holding up their cameras. Yes, it's the image of a little boy urinating into a basin, so what? But at least unlike Copenhagen's mermaid, this statue is found right in the center of the city..
- It's dazzle at first sight with all the flashing lights and replicas of several of the world's icons. Then you realize it looks more like a tacky theme park than a city, and notice it's nothing more than one long boulevard. You end up asking yourself "is this really all there is to it?" The grand, tasteless hotels and casinos may appeal to a large segment of the nouveau riche but Las Vegas is really only worth the trip for the "you gotta see it to believe it" experience that should last no more than 24 hours.
- Oh come on London, do you really need to turn a Ferris wheel into one of your top attractions? You're a city with some of the world's greatest museums and while your historic monuments pale in comparison to those of Paris or Rome, the solution is not an amusement-park-like attraction. Or maybe it is: This is the UK's most popular paid tourist attraction. Perhaps because to many people "the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe!" sounds like a must-do.
- Don't expect any glamour on this famous street. It's an otherwise ordinary street with massive crowds taking pictures of the sidewalk. Around them are celebrity impersonators and tacky souvenir shops. No, you won't spot any real celebrities -- you're more likely to see a homeless guy a few feet from all the tourist excitement.
- Now that it exists in well over a dozen cities around the world, why waste your time in a major city destination to see wax figures of celebrities? Some look quite real, others like blow-up dolls, but many people do seem to get a lot of enjoyment out of posing next to them.
Sure there's a certain beauty in seeing the intense blue of the water in
this famous sea cave, but to see it you have to take an expensive
motorboat and then a rowboat across the island. Not only is it an
overpriced logistical hassle, it's not worth going to Capri just to see it -- it's often inaccessible due to weather conditions.
