# What "touristy" attractions live up to the hype? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 5, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263 "2016-01-05T20:30:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/61 "2016-01-06T15:21:50Z")
Visited Stonehenge in 1964 before they closed it to walking among the stones. Truly impressive. I liked Niagara Falls. Once. Eiffel Tower, L’Etoile, Notre Dame, Louvre, Musee de Cluny (underrated), Versailles. Kyoto, but the Temple of Chion-In there just blew my mind. Metropolitan Museum in NY, Natural History museum and Guggenheim. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/62 "2016-01-06T15:28:05Z")
I’ll plus the Grand Canyon, you could spend a career taking pictures there and never get the same light twice. I will add Carlsbad Caverns to the list. I went the first time thinking “Whatever, it’s an underground cave.” It’s an underground cave (The main chamber) you could have a concert in! The guide we had in the Queen’s Chamber had us extinguish all our lights and then turned off ALL the lights. I’ve never experienced dark like that ever or since. [Cathedral Grove](http://www.discover-vancouver-island.com/cathedral-grove.html#axzz3wTjPWdDf) outside Port Alberni on Vancouver Island lives up to the hype. Radium Hot Springs, totally worth it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/63 "2016-01-06T15:31:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The Grand Canyon. Pictures and videos don’t really do justice to just how _big_ it is. This. When foreigners say, “I am visiting the US, what should I do?”, this is my response. > [@JcWoman](#): > > I’m not a veteran and I don’t know anybody who fought in Vietnam, but the Vietnam War memorial is one of those places that just humbles you (unless you’re a stone)… Also this. It’s just… hard to describe until you walk it. But I have to say, my kid was bored. The other “hyped” place that stands out to me as something that I really enjoyed is Stonehenge. I was there about 20 years ago, I don’t know if it’s less accessible now or not. But it was just weird and chilling. ---
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/64 "2016-01-06T15:52:11Z")
The old Packard Plant (Detroit, MI) -the old Danvers Hospital for the Insane (Danvers, MA) -The toilet museum (watertown, MA) I’m a bit like bart Simpson (when asked waht he wanted to do for vacation);“I want to visit a screen door factory”.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/65 "2016-01-06T16:03:16Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Personally underwhelming: > Stonehenge I’ve never been to Stonehenge, but I’ve heard this from a number of people. That it’s smaller than pictures & TV shows would lead you to believe, and it’s way out in the boonies. On the whole, it sounds like Mt. Rushmore. I’d like to visit it, but only if I had some other reason to be in the area. > [@swampspruce](#): > > I’ll plus the Grand Canyon, you could spend a career taking pictures there and never get the same light twice. When I visited the Grand Canyon, I camped on the Southern Rim. (There’s a campground there, for those that don’t know.) When I woke up the next morning, the sky was overcast, with a couple of breaks in the clouds. I could see shafts of sunlight streaming down into the canyon. It was the most spectacular sight I have ever seen personally. I wish I’d been able to get a good picture of it. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/66 "2016-01-06T16:06:49Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’ve never been to Stonehenge, but I’ve heard this from a number of people. That it’s smaller than pictures & TV shows would lead you to believe, and it’s way out in the boonies. I think the attraction isn’t in the size or workmanship, but of having a connection to a long dead parent culture that left 0 explanatory record. We can only extrapolate their lives based on their accessories and projects. I think to fully appreciate it, you need to have a healthy interest in British pre-history with a sense of how Stonehenge may have been used. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/67 "2016-01-06T16:22:52Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Heh, interesting coincidence. May I ask out of idle curiousity what the occasion was? The building now houses a pretty fantastic exotic bird sanctuary (zoo?), and my 20 month old loves visiting. In one of the rooms they maintain a shrine of sorts to the Niagara Falls museum, explaining its history and curators. > [@Malthus](#): > > On his sickbed, the great Pharaoh Ramses I asked his priests what he could expect in his afterlife; after reading the stars, consulting the sacred tomes, and much meditation, the priests answered: “We see your withered corpse in a faraway land, hanging in a fun-fair, for children to gawp at for a cheap thrill as a sad distraction from a scene of great natural beauty …”. > > The next day, Ramses I had a new set of priests, who told a more pleasing tale. 😃 LOL! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/68 "2016-01-06T16:36:57Z")
Sydney Opera House never did much for me in pictures. In real life, it’s truly a thing of beauty. Seeing it in reality really made me appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/69 "2016-01-06T16:44:01Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > The other “hyped” place that stands out to me as something that I really enjoyed is Stonehenge. I was there about 20 years ago, I don’t know if it’s less accessible now or not. But it was just weird and chilling. I’m not sure when they started heavily restricting access, but you’re kept away from the stones, there’s a lot of fences around, and as many tourist fleecing ‘experiences’ as they could drum up. Considering the sheer number of less famous, but completely open and free access stone circles around the UK, I’ve never managed to get excited about Stonehenge. I’ve seen it from the road, that’s sufficient. The tourist attraction that I enjoyed far more than I was expecting was New Zealand’s [Tāne Mahuta](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%81ne_Mahuta), and his fellow trees. Eh, big trees, big deal. Saw lots of pictures in tourist brochures, and wasn’t very interested. I just happened to be driving past, and stopped off simply for a nice spot to eat my lunch, and thought I’d have a quick look. Not big trees; massive, crazily huge trees! Too big to look real, or alive. Just weirdly awesome. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/70 "2016-01-06T17:13:50Z")
I don’t usually go to any “touristic sites” unless I am traveling with companions who want to go and see them. Last summer, on a six week trip, the only thing I bothered to go and see (since it was three blocks from my hostel) was the Potempkin Stairs in Odessa, Ukraine. A few things come to mind that I’m glad I saw: Ganvie, Benin, West Africa. The remote desert forts in Jordan. The Karst district in Guangxi, China. The art-deco architecture in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Chile’s Atacama Desert. When I visited the pyramids in Egypt, you were still allowed to climb them, which was worth it. "The treasures found in travel, the chance rewards of travel which make it worth while, cannot be accounted beforehand, and seldom are matters a listener would care to hear about afterwards; for they have no substance. – H M Tomlinson, “The Sea and the Jungle” ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/71 "2016-01-06T17:38:47Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Considering the sheer number of less famous, but completely open and free access stone circles around the UK, I’ve never managed to get excited about Stonehenge. I’ve seen it from the road, that’s sufficient. I’ve always found [Avebury](http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/avebury/) more interesting than Stonehenge–big stone circle around a whole village and you can walk right up to them and all around the ring. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/72 "2016-01-06T17:45:08Z")
I’m going to go out on a limb and say Disney World. Yes, it’s completely artificial. But it’s a place that was designed by an army of highly skilled professionals to be fun - and they succeeded in their mission. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/73 "2016-01-06T18:30:48Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > I’m not a veteran and I don’t know anybody who fought in Vietnam, but the Vietnam War memorial is one of those places that just humbles you (unless you’re a stone). > > By contrast, the Korean War memorial which is nearby is very haunting and beautiful but I’d never heard of it before I saw it. It counts as under-hyped and under-appreciated in my opinion. > > Back to touristy things: the Scottish highlands Both the Vietnam War memorial and the Korean War memorial are stunning in their own ways. When I saw the Korean War memorial, I came up on it from the back of the statues. (That is, walking in the same direction as the soldiers were walking.) There is a statue at the very back of the patrol with his hand out and face turned, as if he is telling the visitor to “Hush! Pay attention!” Absolutely sobering. I agree it is under-hyped and under-appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/74 "2016-01-06T18:52:12Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > I will add Carlsbad Caverns to the list… I’ve been a couple of times and I have to say walking down into the natural entrance first thing in the morning with the cave swallows swooping and chittering all around is one of the most fantastic experiences I’ve ever had in a National Park. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/75 "2016-01-06T18:53:45Z")
Washington DC is on my short list of places to visit soon. I went on the ubiquitous Safety Patrol field trip in elementary school and never went back. I do remember being impressed by the Vietnam memorial, but a 5th grader can only grasp so much historical and emotional significance. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/76 "2016-01-06T19:01:36Z")
Many will probably disagree, but the Freedom Trail in Boston was something I thoroughly enjoyed walking over the course of a couple days with my wife a few years back. I’ll re-up the Vatican/St. Pete’s, and throw in the Uffizi in Florence. By far the best art museum in Florence, and that’s saying something. The British Museum, Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London/Crown Jewels are all excellent and highly interesting. Can’t really speak to St. Paul’s as every time I’ve made it over there, they were closed for services, renovations or I got there 5 minutes too late and they were just closed. If you like Roman stuff, the museum in Bath, England is pretty neat as well. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/77 "2016-01-06T19:15:00Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I’ll also say Grand Canyon. I wasn’t too excited to go, having seen many, many photos of it before… > …but I was speechless when I got there. You have NOT seen the Grand Canyon if you have only seen it in video or photos, trust me. Seeing it in real life is a whole different thing. It stuns you. Watching it on cam or in a photo still is just 2D, in a way, but when you’re there and it surrounding you and stretching as far as the eye can see, hundreds of miles in every single direction, your mind suddenly can fathom just how huge it really is. I couldn’t believe it. > Again, if you have only seen this in photos, I’d argue that you have never seen the Grand Canyon yet. My dad retired to Phoenix and on a visit there about ten years ago I made the trip up to the Canyon. Yes, it is overwhelmingly huge, but I also knew that I couldn’t really grasp the size of it just by looking down from the rim. A few years later, and after some tricky planning, I hiked across it. From the South Rim to the bottom in one day, another day (and part of the night) to hike up to the North Rim. It’s an amazing place to look at, but it is another level of appreciation to feel the toll it takes on a body; the next day I could barely move. ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/78 "2016-01-06T19:23:06Z")
Cool Places I’ve Been: Texas Ranger Museum in Waco - Maybe this is just my niche interest in the Old West talking, but I thought this was pretty cool. I’ve been more than once. It’s a small facility, but there are soooo many guns to see. Douglas MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk - I have some very deep criticisms of MacArthur as a General, but the museum is very informative and has some nifty stuff. It is all built around his mausoleum. If your family isn’t interested in military history, there is a gigantic shopping mall next doors. Monterey Bay Aquarium - This place is amazing. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/79 "2016-01-06T19:29:50Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Washington DC is on my short list of places to visit soon. I went on the ubiquitous Safety Patrol field trip in elementary school and never went back. I do remember being impressed by the Vietnam memorial, but a 5th grader can only grasp so much historical and emotional significance. The Smithsonian really is something special. This past weekend, my wife and I took advantage of the warm weather to walk along the Mall and just pop in to any museum we wanted to. It’s always jarring when I go to another city and you have to pay to go in a museum and kind of plan your visit; being able to just walk in and look around really changes your relationship with the museum. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263/80 "2016-01-06T19:42:31Z")
> [@Murf](#): > > The giant redwood trees in California are spectacular. They are like the Grand Canyon in that pictures just can’t capture their magnificence. They have to be experienced first hand. I also want to add the Sequoia trees at Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs. The mountains have massive pine trees, but then you see a Sequoia in the midst of them. Right in the middle of the road are the Four Guardians, four giant sequoias all in a row. I dare you not to stop your car and take a closer look. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-touristy-attractions-live-up-to-the-hype/742263.md?page=5)