BootsnAll Travel Community

Kissing The Blarney Stone, Ireland.


OK, I'd concede that one expects some level of touristy factor in it, and can only be disappointed to a point. And, to go into why I was disappointed may be a "spoiler" for any who haven't done it.

SPOILER ALERT:
You go to the castle thinking some kind of cool, ancient 'stone' on some kind of special ancient table or altar, in some kind of special room---at least that's what I & the others in my group were thinking. The "let down" is maybe that it's not really a "stone" at all but a small little "section"-ish thing of this small defense wall on top of this old ruined part of a castle, a thing that you lay down on your back and have to scoot over to while some creepy old guy holds on to you...

The Guiness Storehouse Tour, Dublin, Ireland.

The view at the top is really, really cool...but the whole tour thing on the way up? What a let down. Just a bunch of glass/clear plastic signs w/ tons of reading, etc. Got to be a better, more interactive, more realistic way to show off the brew than that.

Other than these two posts on Ireland, I thought Ireland as a whole, especially areas like the West Coast & the Dingle Peninsula, were way, way, way ABOVE my expectations and would return there anytime.

Hong Kong Disney was pretty overrated...Small, expensive, not what I expected...

Seoul Tower - Seoul Korea; you can get much better views from the base of the tower and from other sites in Seoul than from the tower and I had to wait a while just to get up there.

Bucharest yuck

I second Bucharest. The city is just ugly. Even the so called 'sights' are ugly.

Cliffs of Moher (West Ireland) - so overcrowded. And because of this they had to build a 15 foot wide concrete path along the top. You see photos of the cliffs everywhere in guidebooks and brochures of Ireland, but its all a conspiracy, a giant tourist trap. Don't waste your time. There are miles of beautiful, secluded and unspoilt cliff-tops around the coasts of Britain and Ireland, so don't make the mistake I did by visiting the Cliffs of Moher.

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I'm sure Washington DC would be on my list but I'm savvy enough never to have bothered going there. Everybody know it's just about the worst dump in America.

I really couldn't disagree more. I mean, as a place to live it might not be great, but I think that the tourist experience: the Mall, the Smithsonians, the galleries, etc. is really quite spectacular. I've been to lots of capital cities and plenty of top museums, and D.C. as a cohesive tourist experience is one of the best.

You could spend a week there just visiting the sights on the Mall and spend all of $0 in admission fees. That's pretty cool if you ask me.

Oh and Bucharest? Really? Come on! It may be unpleasant but it's certainly not OVERRATED.

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Originally posted by Circuitloss:
Oh and Bucharest? Really? Come on! It may be unpleasant but it's certainly not OVERRATED.

No kidding! Doesn't something first have to be "rated" to be "overrated"? I've yet to hear anyone sing the praises of Bucharest. It just plain sucks.

Goa, without a doubt.
Maybe in comparison to some of the worlds shitholes it might not be to bad but compared to its competition as a holiday resort its dirty, it stinks, the locals are predatory, rude and perverted rip off merchants and the police are useless, pointless bandits.

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I'm sure Washington DC would be on my list but I'm savvy enough never to have bothered going there. Everybody know it's just about the worst dump in America.

I am surprised to read this. As an American, I don't know anyone who would avoid visiting DC because it's a "dump." But maybe it is different for international tourists. I didn't expect that much when I went to DC a couple years ago and I loved it. I was lucky to have beautiful weather (which, let's face it, can make or break a trip), there's free admission to amazing museums and Georgetown was a great place to hang out. The mall was beautiful. The only gross thing was the dirty water. Maybe if you hung out in a bad area - but you could hang out in a bad area of any town and get a bad impression.

Overrated:

Atlantic City - barf, gag, spit. I hate this place with a passion! Like Vegas, without the charm. I know - THAT bad.

Philadelphia - been there twice in the past 2 years and I still don't get it. Maybe someone can tell me what there is to do there. I also don't get the philly cheese steak - or maybe I just never had a really good one. However I have a little soft spot as "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is the funniest TV show in history.

(Minor, but..) Winston Salem. Tried SO hard to find stuff to do and found nothing.

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Originally posted by jv:

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Originally posted by Circuitloss:
Oh and Bucharest? Really? Come on! It may be unpleasant but it's certainly not OVERRATED.

No kidding! Doesn't something first have to be "rated" to be "overrated"? I've yet to hear anyone sing the praises of Bucharest. It just plain sucks.

Well yeh it sucks, but Lonely Planet rate it quite highly. Allow me to quote Lonely Planet's guide to Eastern Europe:

"Forget Prague, forget Budapest - Bucharest is where explorers are headed. This is Eastern Europe's secret - but it's about to get out."

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Originally posted by Sophie9:
I'm sure Washington DC would be on my list but I'm savvy enough never to have bothered going there. Everybody know it's just about the worst dump in America.

I'm always sorry for foreigners who spend a bunch of time and money and visa hassles going to America and want to see Washington DC. They always think they've been duped and mislead. They expect a suave and exciting World Capitol and they get one big, ugly, bad neighborhood. It's really sad to hear them tell of it.

I strongly disagree. I have family that lives down there and I have visited DC many times- it is a beautiful city! The monuments and museums are world class. DC in the spring with cherry blossoms booming is gorgeous. Hanging out on the mall on a summer day is quite fun. Georgetown is great. How can you judge a city if you have never been there? That seems ignorant to me

I seem to be the only person who thinks that San Pedro (the Lake Atitlan one) is an overrated hole. I loved Santa Cruz la Laguna, but the minute I stepped foot in San Pedro I couldn't wait to get out. What's the attraction of stoned or worse hippies with grey dreads selling drugs in a hissy hush hush voice?? Tourist bars full of old alcoholics offering techno music and junk food? And don't get me started on the clown pants...

Granted, I didn't spend more than a few hours there, but it made such a bad impression on me that I can't even think of the town without shuddering.

Other than in the case of San Pedro, I try to enjoy places for what they are, even LA, Vegas and Disneyworld has a certain charm

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Originally posted by Craze_b0i:
"Forget Prague, forget Budapest - Bucharest is where explorers are headed. This is Eastern Europe's secret - but it's about to get out."

The only reason I can think of, why LP is coming up with such statements, is that parts of Europe, not so long ago, were terra incognita for Aussies (the editors of the guide book).
Just six years ago, visiting Qantas office in Alice Springs, I looked at the map of Europe in their broshure, where the eastern part of Europe was a blank area, no borders, no cities, nothing.
Now, the farther east the more exciting it gets, even if the place is a dump.

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No kidding! Doesn't something first have to be "rated" to be "overrated"? I've yet to hear anyone sing the praises of Bucharest. It just plain sucks.

if the darn public transport would be better, i'd give the city a chance but as a Romanian I managed to get lost there!

Let's see...it's crowded, it's polluted, everyone has something to swear abt, if you ask for directions you get as many answers as many ppl you've asked...BUT despite all I like 2 parks: Herastrau and Cismigiu. Granted they are packed in summer when 100 F is the "norm" anyway in the city.

And i didn't get lost in Budapest and I speak cpl of phrases ONLY in Hungarian! Oh yeah, Budapest cannot be compared to Bucharest. I've been fascinated by Hungary's capital and honestly, I can't find that much to be fascinated abt Bucharest even if i try VERY HARD!

Keep fingers crossed for me, I have to be in Bucharest on Sun morning and then again on Wed...yikes! I can withstand a small 'dose' of Bucharest but a week there managed to give me headaches - literally - last summer

I find it hard to believe so many American posters are claiming Washington DC to be overated. When I visited there 20 years ago the only thing wrong was I did not allow enough time to more than scratch the surface of what there was to see & yes I did see some of the rougher sections due to taking a wrong turn when leaving the Capitol.

I thought Washington was an amazing city, Las Vegas definitely worth the visit as was New York city, haven't been otside the airport in LA so can't comment.

The most overated place I have been would be Niagara Falls with it's outlandish prices. No value for the price & the pathetic Falls View Casino, give me Vegas any day or my Nevada favorite town Laughlin.

Might have some thing to do with living too close (2 1/2 hrs away) & been there too many times with charters but to me Niagara is just tacky.

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Originally posted by busman7:
The most overated place I have been would be Niagara Falls ...........to me Niagara is just tacky.

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That's an interesting statement - let's start a new topic.
"overrated or spoilt"

I started a new topic:

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It made me wonder when reading the other topic on this branch, and one of the replies said:
busman7:
"The most overated place I have been would be Niagara Falls ...........to me Niagara is just tacky."

So, where else have you been where $$$ and commercialism have spoilt the exceptional beauty of unique nature, local culture or architecture?

... and it got closed by the mods.

Anyway, there is a difference between an overrated place or a tourist trap, and a place that is genuinly unique, but has fallen a victim of its own success.
Two examples - one each:

Overrated: The marmaid in Copenhagen, the symbol of the city.
I saw it on many postcards, with Copenhagen in the background, accross the water. It was a spectacular view (on a postcard). Then I saw it in reality when I visited Copenhagen. It looked very small and abandoned. I couldn't help and said to myself "WTF is that it?"

Spoilt: Niagara Falls.
The falls are one of the most spectacular views (at least amongst waterfalls) I've seen on my travels. Yet, the mass tourism and commercialism have spoilt the whole surrounding area, making the waterfall itself just a small part inside a very touristy place.

Not overrated and unspoilt:
Salar de Uyuni and Lagunas in Bolivian altiplano.
When I stood at one of the lakes, of undescribable blue and yellow colour, looking at hundreds of flamingos, the vast landscape and the majestic mountains in the background, I tought to myself "had it been somewhere in the modern world, there would be huge parkings, Pizza Hut and McDonalds, tacky souvenir shops, warning signs and fences".
Luckily, not yet.

The mods are a little sticky on that point, overlapping threads. I see their point, but there are times when the old thread is buried under dozens of pages, so it's tough for someone new, and with a good idea, to find it. Glad you found this one.

D

I notice that many of the comments on this thread referred to sight-seeing instead of cultural experiences. And much of it had to do with expectations which will kill an experience every time. I have lived in LA and NYC and have been to many of the other places mentioned both in the U.S. and international in the last 6 years of backpacking. At the beginning of the thread I thought many comments were just silly but toward the end I lamented the shallowness.

However, I did agree with the poster who talked about Egypt...a woman I think. "You want banana?" "30 minutes I give you banana!" And to my husband, "you want new wife?" I would never go to a middle eastern country again without being on a tour. And I am a confirmed independent traveller!

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At the beginning of the thread I thought many comments were just silly but toward the end I lamented the shallowness.

Am I understanding this right - you are calling most of the posts shallow? That's not a good way to build a trusting, honest community. I disagreed with many posters but respected them enough to not label them as shallow. Or maybe I misunderstood you?