Most overrated tourist attraction ?
Jan 11th 2013, 7:20 am
#31
Banned
Joined: Jan 2011
Location: The REAL Utopia.
Posts: 9,910
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
Rainbow Beach, friends kept saying we just had to go to Rainbow Beach so we took the kids there just before we left Australia. After about an hour we thought we had mistakenly driven to the wrong Rainbow Beach, our kids said is this it ?
Jan 11th 2013, 7:24 am
#33
Daffyd Duck
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Paradise
Posts: 5,636
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
Bali is also OR
Jan 11th 2013, 7:30 am
#34
Banned
Joined: Jan 2011
Location: The REAL Utopia.
Posts: 9,910
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
We liked Bali, not the touristy bits but we got out and about into the real countryside.
Jan 11th 2013, 7:47 am
#36
Mostly Harmless
Joined: Jan 2010
Location: Semi-rural wonderworld, Brisbane
Posts: 15,109
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
After many years transiting LAX and not seeing any more of the city than the airport, I decided to spend some time there on my last US trip. We stayed down-town at the Millennium Biltmore and enjoyed a great five days exploring the down-town area.
The Library is absolutely outstanding and has been beautifully preserved with almost all the original art Deco fittings and architecture maintained in excellent order. The same can be said for many down-town building from the same period including Union Station which for me was one of the highlights of the trip.
L.A. is another city with an excellent public transport system, and if you are 'lucky' enough to be a senior, then most bus rides are 15c and the local train will set you back 25c
One Sunday we took the bus from down-town L.A. out to Venice beach and I have to say that the 25c bus ride down Santa Monica boulevard was worth every cent. Some of the down-town area is showing the results of the U.S recession and there was no shortage of people shoving their lives around in a shopping trolley.
But if you take the rough with the smooth and put it all down to the joys of vacation travel, then you should have a good time there, we had five days and felt that was just long enough.
The Millennium Biltmore cost us $129 a night and I don't think I've ever had better value. Here is what $130 can get you in L.A.........
http://www.millenniumhotels.com/mill...s/about-hotel/
The Library is absolutely outstanding and has been beautifully preserved with almost all the original art Deco fittings and architecture maintained in excellent order. The same can be said for many down-town building from the same period including Union Station which for me was one of the highlights of the trip.
L.A. is another city with an excellent public transport system, and if you are 'lucky' enough to be a senior, then most bus rides are 15c and the local train will set you back 25c
One Sunday we took the bus from down-town L.A. out to Venice beach and I have to say that the 25c bus ride down Santa Monica boulevard was worth every cent. Some of the down-town area is showing the results of the U.S recession and there was no shortage of people shoving their lives around in a shopping trolley.
But if you take the rough with the smooth and put it all down to the joys of vacation travel, then you should have a good time there, we had five days and felt that was just long enough.
The Millennium Biltmore cost us $129 a night and I don't think I've ever had better value. Here is what $130 can get you in L.A.........
http://www.millenniumhotels.com/mill...s/about-hotel/
I just remember it being a toilet populated by pretentious soulless wankers
Much like Surfers.
Jan 11th 2013, 7:56 am
#38
Chan eil aon chà nan gu le
Joined: Feb 2009
Location: On the ning nang nong
Posts: 22,437
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
Gold Coast, especially Surfers, reminds me of a good looking Blackpool.
Jan 11th 2013, 8:22 am
#39
BE Forum Addict
Joined: May 2007
Location: Perth
Posts: 1,179
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
Pinnacles was such a disappointment and having been there now and relayed back to my friends overseas they are taking it off their shopping list. Five foot high pointed rocks evenly spaced in a seamingly man-made desert ...
Seoul has very little to offer too and the locals just look unhappy most of the time.
I used to like Singapore but I now find it dull. Humidity is just something you have to put up with but I don't have to put up with the arrogance of the locals.
Seoul has very little to offer too and the locals just look unhappy most of the time.
I used to like Singapore but I now find it dull. Humidity is just something you have to put up with but I don't have to put up with the arrogance of the locals.
Jan 11th 2013, 10:35 am
#41
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2006
Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Posts: 1,717
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
Great Ocean Road, whilst being a perfectly nice drive with some lovely scenery it is certainly not the most spectacular drive in the world as the local tourist board would have us believe.
Jan 11th 2013, 11:37 am
#42
Banned
Joined: Jan 2011
Location: The REAL Utopia.
Posts: 9,910
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
Growing up in Geelong the GOR was almost the focal point of the area, Geelong has little to offer. When I got older and was riding motorbikes every weekend someone would ask if I fancied a ride down the Ocean Road, the first few times was great but not every bloody weekend 
Jan 11th 2013, 8:55 pm
#43
Still alive
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 28,994
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
Niagara Falls.
Jan 11th 2013, 10:06 pm
#44
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2006
Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Posts: 1,717
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
Bali is a wonderful place, just need to get away from the overddeveloped southern part. Stay in a private villa with maid and a cook, swimming pool. Rent a car with driver or drive yourself and get out into the countryside. The Balinese Hindu culture prevaids every aspect of life. I would be bored to death after a few days on a pacific island, bali has so much more depth.
Jan 11th 2013, 10:36 pm
#45
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Sydney, NSW
Posts: 7,580
Re: Most overrated tourist attraction ?
For me the worlds most overrated tourist attraction has to be da Vinci's "Mona Lisa".
For me it's a pretty ordinary piece of work to begin with, in it's present setting ( which is a great improvement on the security that was in place when I first visited ), it looks even more 'ordinary'.
I remember seeing a da Vinci sketch of the madonna and child at the National Gallery in London. They had it in a side room lit only by soft electrical light, and apart from a barrier rope no obvious security between the public and the art work. I still get a chill after all these years remembering that I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my life.
That poor sad thing in a glass box in the Louve doesn't qualify to be in the same league.
For me it's a pretty ordinary piece of work to begin with, in it's present setting ( which is a great improvement on the security that was in place when I first visited ), it looks even more 'ordinary'.
I remember seeing a da Vinci sketch of the madonna and child at the National Gallery in London. They had it in a side room lit only by soft electrical light, and apart from a barrier rope no obvious security between the public and the art work. I still get a chill after all these years remembering that I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my life.
That poor sad thing in a glass box in the Louve doesn't qualify to be in the same league.
Loved Singapore- took DD to the night zoo which was amazing, and DD and OH had the famous crab in one of the night markets. I enjoyed going to the temples, though DD was a bit spooked by the hindu one.
Bondi would rank as my no1 disappointment. The beaches in Pembrokeshire are better, less run down/druggie/drunks, less crowded, fewer bluebottles and more sand. (Better lifeguards in Aus though!)
Last edited by carolinephillips; Jan 11th 2013 at 10:39 pm.