Have you ever been underwhelmed by a place you visited?

Here are a few examples we've received:

"Aruba. Flat, hot, and dry. I just prefer more lush islands like Kauai, St. John, Tortola, Jamaica, etc."

"Mount Rushmore.
Crazy Horse Memorial made up for it in immeasurable heaps with devastating truth."

"I was so excited to see The Grand Canyon, but it just didn't do it for me. When I rode mules along the rim, it was definitely a fun experience."

"Plymouth Rock-if you have been there-you know what I am talking about."

We'd love to hear your stories!

Frequently.

Occasionally. But not that often.

Carcassonne, the most underwhelming famous site ever.

Dublin. I love small towns and rural areas in Ireland (and just about everywhere). But a city has to have something, in order to make it memorable and worth the inherent issues (crowds, higher prices, traffic, chain businesses) that come with cities around the world. Dublin just doesn't cut it for me. Temple Bar -- the area where the city's tourist nightlife is centered -- is the pits. It's like 5 Bourbon Streets in one area. The food in Dublin is better than it used to be, but still not close to Continental standards. The museums are very meh, and the weather... is Irish. I'd skip Dublin in favor of Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Prague, Stockholm -- and certainly Paris -- any day of the week.

Don't get me started on London...

Ditto IMO re Dublin. There are some real Dublin cheer leaders on Fodors, but it is a 1.5 or 2 day city at most IMO. Unless one is of Irish heritage, it isn't nearly as much fun or interesting as say Edinburgh, or Glasgow.

You mention the Grand Canyon - I think staying a couple of nights makes all the difference in the world. Day trippers see the worst of the crowds and the least of the scenery. Early morning and sunset - just a different world.

One real 'underwhelming' area for me is the Napa Valley. 30 years ago it was great but now it just seems soooo full of itself. If one must go to a North Bay wine region, Sonoma is better. But there are many other terrific wine regions all over California where it is cheap or free to taste and one gets to actually talk with the wine makers (and this is from someone who loves good wine and belongs to two fairly posh winery clubs in the Napa Valley -- I just don't visit them)

Thanks for making it clear that you are, in fact, a legitimate representative of Fodor's!

I'm not sure why, but but Rome just didn't do it for me. I did enjoy the big sights, but overall the city just seemed tired and dirty and not as quaint and beautiful as other European cities I've been to.

If you want to stand on the Great Wall of China, you have to go there, however, once you've seen 10 buddhas and shrines, you've seen them all. The gardens are amazing among the cities many buildings. Shanghai, interesting but so big you can't really appreciate it.

So over crowded and trashy, maybe if your a 20 something and your only interest is to get drunk or getting laid otherwise IMO avoid

Iceland. I know I'm in the minority here, but I found it cold, dark and charmless in the late fall.

Tallinn. I read numerous posts describing it as a little gem and even comparing it to Prague (some posters said it was better than Prague). Nice place to visit but no comparison to Prague.

The GRAND CANYON "didn't do it for them"... oh brother

No, I can't top that.

Ditto for Iceland, but not because it was dark (in fact it never seemed to get dark in May). Overhyped, overrun, overpriced, underwhelming. For us anyway.

I LOVED Iceland! One place that actually exceeded my expectations

The Vatican and St Pauls were just dull large empty space, only slightly better in the evening when the drunks and homeless came back.

We were so excited to go to Rome, but we were really disappointed by the crowds and the rudeness we encountered everywhere, We felt like everyone just wanted our money and honestly didn't meet one genuinely friendly helpful person in the whole town. Even staying at a very expensive hotel, we found the staff rude and uncaring. Our room was so hot and noisy at night that we could hardly sleep. The ruins were fabulous but everything was spoiled by the crowds and rudeness. We were glad to move on to our next experience.