Top Five Most Overrated Tourist Attractions

[JGolomb]

Here's the full story

Here's the list and some key commentary from the story:
Stonehenge
You cant touch it, you cant walk inside, you cant wander about its space and you have to pay an entrance fee to see it.

Petra
The tourism village that has grown up around Petra now threatens to outsize the ancient city itself.

Colosseum
Italys most-visited sight is often crowded and usually has long queues. The entire building is a traffic roundabout and the interior is too precious to host concerts. Your visit will be even more memorable if you fall victim to a pickpocket.

Machu Picchu
The journey to Machu Picchu is not pleasant, and the entrance fee has risen to more than $25.

Ankgor
Unfortunately, theres no escaping the crowds here. The days when Angkor was a remote and challenging destination are sadly long gone.


Personally, of the complaints rationalizing a site being named to this list, I think Stonehenge is the only one justified. The excuses are kind of weak.

[sylla]

With all due respect, I'm not a big fan here of timesonline top whatever lists; I would be far more interested in the personal opinion of other UNRV members regarding this issue.

[Centurion-Macro]

Well I always thought that the Colosseum would be a good place to visit, and I have always wanted to. I agree with the Stonehenge...it has never interested me. Sure it is a bit odd about how it was built and why it was built, but other than that it is not very interesting.

Also I think they pyramids are slightly overrated. I think they are very interesting and all that, but my mum went to see the great pyramid and she got video footage, and it was quite boring really after the first 5 mins of film. But then again, I never was interested a lot in Ancient Egypt.

[Ludovicus]

The Colosseum has ceased to be a traffic roundabout for

some time now. I found it well worth the time. Just do some

reading in preparation for the tour.

[JGolomb]

I visited the Colosseum two months ago with my wife and couldn't have enjoyed it more. I'd read and researched and my wife and I listened to a Rick Steves audio tour during the walk-around and I loved it. Reading and research to provide context makes any visit like that much more enjoyable and rewarding.

 

I've not been to Machu Picchu but have read quite a bit about it. And honestly, I think the "uncomfortable" trek to get there makes it much more genuine. It isn't, afterall, right in the middle of a city which is why it was "lost" for about 400 years. It's remoteness is one reason why it's at the top of so many visit-of-a-lifetime lists.

 

The Colosseum has ceased to be a traffic roundabout for

some time now. I found it well worth the time. Just do some

reading in preparation for the tour.

[Maladict]

I don't really see how a place becomes overrated just because you don't get to touch it or have it to yourself all day.

I'm not even talking about the 'too remote/not remote enough/have to pay/can't hold a concert in it' whining.

If you want an attraction, go to Disneyland.

[sylla]

I don't really see how a place becomes overrated just because you don't get to touch it or have it to yourself all day.

I'm not even talking about the 'too remote/not remote enough/have to pay/can't hold a concert in it' whining.

If you want an attraction, go to Disneyland.

Please excuse my impertinence, M.

 

Which would be your choice? (ie, the " Top Five (or X) Most Overrated Tourist Attractions")... especially regarding Classical Antiquity.

Edited September 1, 2009 by sylla

[Maladict]

Please excuse my impertinence, M.

 

Which would be your choice? (ie, the " Top Five (or X) Most Overrated Tourist Attractions")... especially regarding Classical Antiquity.

 

I don't know, I don't think I've ever been disappointed by an ancient site, but then again I tend to do my homework before I visit.

The only negative experience I can remember was being prodded out of Thurii by an attendant who apparently didn't want to be disturbed that day (I was the only visitor), and the occasional overcrowding at the usual suspects (Colosseum etc.).

But I never let that detract from the sites themselves.

Edited September 1, 2009 by Maladict

[Artimi]

I visited Stonehenge when one could go up and touch the stones. The day was grey and rainy, but the ghosts were absent, due to many tourists spending their 5 minutes with old stones. I still want to go back, and touch them once more and then maybe the ghouts will visit (benign ghosts that is)

 

I visited the Acropolis, but one couldnt even touch the massive base blocks of stone without a guard approaching, let alone walk into the Parthenon. We wander all over the Acropolis. But the highlight of being in Athens was seeing the Acropolis from a busy street some distance away. It was hazy sunlight and the Acropolis looked everything it should. At Epidaurus, another tourist stood centre stage in the amphitheatre and sang. It was absolutely wonderful.

 

In Jerusalem my tour included the 14 stations(I think it is 14) of the cross. All I could think of was that Roman soldiers walked these cobble stones and this way too. Masada is indeed a mystical experience even with 30 or 40 other people.

 

One day I hope to travel when it not like the movie, If it is Tuesday it must be Belgium.

And I would like to visit Rome, Etruria, Ravenna.

Edited September 1, 2009 by Artimi

[JGolomb]

I visited Stonehenge when one could go up and touch the stones. The day was grey and rainy, but the ghosts were absent, due to many tourists spending their 5 minutes with old stones. I still want to go back, and touch them once more and then maybe the ghouts will visit (benign ghosts that is)

 

I visited the Acropolis, but one couldnt even touch the massive base blocks of stone without a guard approaching, let alone walk into the Parthenon. We wander all over the Acropolis. But the highlight of being in Athens was seeing the Acropolis from a busy street some distance away. It was hazy sunlight and the Acropolis looked everything it should. At Epidaurus, another tourist stood centre stage in the amphitheatre and sang. It was absolutely wonderful.

 

In Jerusalem my tour included the 14 stations(I think it is 14) of the cross. All I could think of was that Roman soldiers walked these cobble stones and this way too. Masada is indeed a mystical experience even with 30 or 40 other people.

 

One day I hope to travel when it not like the movie, If it is Tuesday it must be Belgium.

And I would like to visit Rome, Etruria, Ravenna.

 

 

Artimi - your comment about the cobblestones in Jerusalem remind me of exactly how I felt when I was walking the Appian Way earlier this summer. I have a nice picture looking straight down at my feet on the large stones that made up the base of the 2000 year-old road. I also couldn't help but feel a little awe at where I was...and what had come before me.

 

Interesting what you write about the Acropolis. I think I'd definitely feel a little loss if I wasn't able to be IN the building itself. Being able to walk through the Colosseum, and see what so many had seen long before me, made the visit quite special. The Pantheon was just magical and touched me more than any other site in Rome or Venice (as you can tell from my icon, eh?). To be in a building of such renown, that's been continuously in use for 2,000 years. 2,000! That's almost more than one can truly understand. And the space itself is just so dramatic.

 

I was in Israel many years ago...too young to truly appreciate what I was seeing. The Wailing Wall was unique, but much different than the image I'd expected. As I'm sure you know, the site is split because women can't pray in the same place as men. In '83, there was kind of a cheesy faux paneled wall that separated the genders. I didn't expect there to be any separation (I guess I'd never thought about it) and the divider was so incongruous with the wall itself and other surroundings. There were also military personnel all around. And coming from America, you simply don't see soldiers with machine guns protecting public spaces like that. It was jarring.

[marcus silanus]

I visited the Colosseum two months ago with my wife and couldn't have enjoyed it more. I'd read and researched and my wife and I listened to a Rick Steves audio tour during the walk-around and I loved it. Reading and research to provide context makes any visit like that much more enjoyable and rewarding.

 

I've not been to Machu Picchu but have read quite a bit about it. And honestly, I think the "uncomfortable" trek to get there makes it much more genuine. It isn't, afterall, right in the middle of a city which is why it was "lost" for about 400 years. It's remoteness is one reason why it's at the top of so many visit-of-a-lifetime lists.

 

The Colosseum has ceased to be a traffic roundabout for

some time now. I found it well worth the time. Just do some

reading in preparation for the tour.

 

Without trying to sound deliberately contrary, on my first visit to Rome just over twenty years ago, I spent my first evening simply walking without paying much attention to where I was going. My pocket map was always going to get me back to the hotel so it was wonderful just taking everything in. I walked around a corner and there was the Colosseum, in the middle of the traffic, but quiet and majestic in itself. In those days, you simply walked in and out at will and this gave me many opportunities to enjoy this most famous of buildings.

 

On my last visit a year ago, the experience of the Colosseum from the previous year led me to give it a swerve. There was the hassle from groups who offered to fast track you through the long lines, that ultimately we stood in for a couple of hours still having to argue the toss over our EU residency all combining to having had enough almost as soon as we got in.

 

I suppose the Rome authorities have done what they needed to do in commercialising the major monuments; after all the revenues raised have funded an immense amount of research and archaeology as well as maintaining the viability of the well known attractions. I just have a bit of a romantic memory about the many free trips to the calm Colosseum in the middle of the frantic traffic island.

[JGolomb]

Marcus - you're not being contrary at all. Thank you for your perspective.

 

The Colosseum was at the top of my list of sites to see in Rome. So I made my wife get up early on our first day so we could get in as soon as it opened. We stayed for about an hour and by then the roving tour groups of 10-20 people led by their microphoned tour guides were already swarming. But for the most part we had the place to ourselves. I think we lucked out by visiting early in the tourist season and during a down economy.

 

But since we're on the topic of the condition of the Colosseum, I thought you might be interested in this thread from one of the other UNRV forums based on a blog post by Mary Beard:

Can the Forum Get Any Worse?

 

 

I visited the Colosseum two months ago with my wife and couldn't have enjoyed it more. I'd read and researched and my wife and I listened to a Rick Steves audio tour during the walk-around and I loved it. Reading and research to provide context makes any visit like that much more enjoyable and rewarding.

 

I've not been to Machu Picchu but have read quite a bit about it. And honestly, I think the "uncomfortable" trek to get there makes it much more genuine. It isn't, afterall, right in the middle of a city which is why it was "lost" for about 400 years. It's remoteness is one reason why it's at the top of so many visit-of-a-lifetime lists.

 

The Colosseum has ceased to be a traffic roundabout for

some time now. I found it well worth the time. Just do some

reading in preparation for the tour.

 

Without trying to sound deliberately contrary, on my first visit to Rome just over twenty years ago, I spent my first evening simply walking without paying much attention to where I was going. My pocket map was always going to get me back to the hotel so it was wonderful just taking everything in. I walked around a corner and there was the Colosseum, in the middle of the traffic, but quiet and majestic in itself. In those days, you simply walked in and out at will and this gave me many opportunities to enjoy this most famous of buildings.

 

On my last visit a year ago, the experience of the Colosseum from the previous year led me to give it a swerve. There was the hassle from groups who offered to fast track you through the long lines, that ultimately we stood in for a couple of hours still having to argue the toss over our EU residency all combining to having had enough almost as soon as we got in.

 

I suppose the Rome authorities have done what they needed to do in commercialising the major monuments; after all the revenues raised have funded an immense amount of research and archaeology as well as maintaining the viability of the well known attractions. I just have a bit of a romantic memory about the many free trips to the calm Colosseum in the middle of the frantic traffic island.

[Artimi]

I visited Stonehenge when one could go up and touch the stones. The day was grey and rainy, but the ghosts were absent, due to many tourists spending their 5 minutes with old stones. I still want to go back, and touch them once more and then maybe the ghouts will visit (benign ghosts that is)

 

I visited the Acropolis, but one couldnt even touch the massive base blocks of stone without a guard approaching, let alone walk into the Parthenon. We wander all over the Acropolis. But the highlight of being in Athens was seeing the Acropolis from a busy street some distance away. It was hazy sunlight and the Acropolis looked everything it should. At Epidaurus, another tourist stood centre stage in the amphitheatre and sang. It was absolutely wonderful.

 

In Jerusalem my tour included the 14 stations(I think it is 14) of the cross. All I could think of was that Roman soldiers walked these cobble stones and this way too. Masada is indeed a mystical experience even with 30 or 40 other people.

 

One day I hope to travel when it not like the movie, If it is Tuesday it must be Belgium.

And I would like to visit Rome, Etruria, Ravenna.

 

 

Artimi - your comment about the cobblestones in Jerusalem remind me of exactly how I felt when I was walking the Appian Way earlier this summer. I have a nice picture looking straight down at my feet on the large stones that made up the base of the 2000 year-old road. I also couldn't help but feel a little awe at where I was...and what had come before me.

 

Interesting what you write about the Acropolis. I think I'd definitely feel a little loss if I wasn't able to be IN the building itself. Being able to walk through the Colosseum, and see what so many had seen long before me, made the visit quite special. The Pantheon was just magical and touched me more than any other site in Rome or Venice (as you can tell from my icon, eh?). To be in a building of such renown, that's been continuously in use for 2,000 years. 2,000! That's almost more than one can truly understand. And the space itself is just so dramatic.

 

I was in Israel many years ago...too young to truly appreciate what I was seeing. The Wailing Wall was unique, but much different than the image I'd expected. As I'm sure you know, the site is split because women can't pray in the same place as men. In '83, there was kind of a cheesy faux paneled wall that separated the genders. I didn't expect there to be any separation (I guess I'd never thought about it) and the divider was so incongruous with the wall itself and other surroundings. There were also military personnel all around. And coming from America, you simply don't see soldiers with machine guns protecting public spaces like that. It was jarring.

 

Our tour took in the Wailing Wall. There was no separate walls, people just seem to know where to go once told about the 3 areas, women, mixed, men. I didnt go up to the wall, there many people there and some having religious experiences. If there had been no crowd I would have. and yes our purses etc were checked etc. and there machines attached to people.

 

I envy you your visit to the Pantheon in Rome. There is something truly emotional/even spiritual about that place, even in pictures.

[Kosmo]

Which would be your choice? (ie, the " Top Five (or X) Most Overrated Tourist Attractions")... especially regarding Classical Antiquity.

 

Gizah would be one of them for several reasons. Cairo has grown to close of it, I expected the pyramids and the Sphinx to be in the desert not so close to hotels and gardens on one side. The place crawls with beggars, camel/horse riders etc so if your not used with oriental hustle it will be annoying. On the inside the pyramids are bare and boring, the inside space it's small, crowded and poorly ventilated so it's an awful smell.

From Petra the only preserved things are the tombs cut in the desert rock. You walk for some kilometers in a beautiful desert gorge then suddenly it opens up and you see a magnificent carved hillside. That first tomb it's the the nicest and best preserved. The inside is bare and the other tombs are much less spectacular. After the great start the site it's less interesting and after the long hours spent in the bus in the boring desert it's a bit disappointing. Maybe coming from the other side it's better. Start with the city's small ruins, then the other tombs and finally the nicest one and the gorge. For a romanophile in Jordan the site at Gerasa it's heaven, huge and excellently preserved it's much better then Petra's tombs.

The Parthenon was being renovated when I was to Athens so I also liked more to see the Acroplis from the city below, especially in the evening, then seeing it from close.

These places are beautiful and nice to visit but maybe I placed too much expectations on them. They also give you everything from the first glimpse so there is little satisfaction from exploring them further. The Colosseum, on the other hand, exceeded my expectations but if somebody does not like it Rome has a huge number of other monuments, museums and sites to see from a unique variety of times and stiles, great weather, food, wine and places of entertainment. The person who made that list it's not very smart.

[Melvadius]

I don't really subscribe to top/bottom 5/10 etc. so don'tt expect such a list from me but I found some of the alternative options listed in the original article interesting.

 

I suppose Pula is a possible alternative to the Colosseum, although despite its complete triple tier exterior wall its interior doesn't appear to be as well preserved. Personally as an alternative I would have suggested El Jem which is closer to the size of the Colosseum and in my view is well worth the trip to Tunisia.

 

Personaly I've never felt a great desire to commune with stones although I did get to wander through Stonehenge years ago before the present visiting rules were inaugerated on a fairly recent visit the stones were still imposing when you realised that they were all in their original location and had been moved by mucle power. From an Archaeological standpoint I do have concerns about Avebury as an 'alternative' experience. Most of the stones in the circle at Avebury are known to have been either reerected or even moved significant distances from where they originally stood so in my view cannot really be considered as 'real' an experience as visiting Stonehenge.

Edited September 2, 2009 by Melvadius