Many tourists have a bucket list – a list of destinations or attractions they hope to see in their lifetime. Some of the most popular examples include a trip to the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Colosseum in Rome. In our recent study, we named the most disappointing countries to visit in the world, but what about the individual tourist attractions themselves? Which ones are oversold, have lost their magic, or are victims of their own success?
We analyzed 95,352 visitor reviews, across 200 of the most visited tourist attractions in the world, to find out which famous attractions are most and least likely to disappoint.
Originally a private estate belonging to an Earl, the grounds were opened in the 19th century to raise funds. [1] Inspired by Disneyland’s success in America, by the 1980s the park had transformed into a theme park. With 10 themed areas spread across 910 acres, Alton Towers is the UK’s biggest theme park. [2] However, almost half of reviews (49.4%) for the Staffordshire-based amusement park featured words indicating a negative experience. For context, the average rate of negative reviews in the study is 10.9%.
Looking more closely at the themes of negative reviews, Alton Towers had the highest percentage of reviews that specifically complained about value for money (18% of all reviews compared to a 2.8% average for the study). Inspecting the reviews, it’s not the rides that often disappoint customers, but the customer service. Common complaints include misleading ticket information, and expectations to pay for overpriced add-ons (such as expensive food and drink, or access to different areas of the park).
The Széchenyi Baths and Pool in Hungary’s capital Budapest is the largest medicinal bath in Europe and has been a wellness tourist destination since 1913. [3]
However, over a third (37.2%) of people who left a review of the baths online reported a less than satisfactory experience. Besides swimwear, visitors should also expect to pack some extra patience, as the baths ranked third worst in the crowd and accessibility category (16.8% of all reviews compared to the 4.4% average).
Siam Park in the Spanish Tenerife is Europe’s biggest water park. [4] The park is Thai-themed and was opened by the Princess of Thailand Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in 2007. [5] Thanks to the success of the park, Siam Park is set to get a sister park built El Veril, Gran Canaria.
However, a visit to the “world’s best water park” is not universally enjoyable. Reviewers frequently mention the rude staff and accessibility issues. [6] Some reviewers even mentioned feeling shamed due to their weight, and others pointed out that the park is not disability friendly at all.
Planned and built by the magazine Time Out (a British media and hospitality company) in 2014, Time Out Market Lisboa is the company’s first venture into food halls. [7]
In 2018 the project was awarded a prestigious award by The Hamburg Foodservice Award – one of the most respected awards in the foodservice industry. [8] But according to reviews, things may have taken a turn for the worse since. Over a quarter of reviewers (28.4%) have left underwhelmed or disappointed.
Why? It seems the Time Out Market Lisboa is a victim of its own success. The attraction had the greatest percentage of reviews mentioning crowds or access issues (18.4% compared to the 4.4% average).
The Fontana di Trevi is an iconic Baroque fountain in Rome and has been featured in popular films such as Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, and Wyler’s Roman Holiday. Every year, tourists throw an estimated €1 million into the fountain, and a coin tossed into the fountain is supposed to guarantee a return to Rome in the future. [9]
But if you are wishing to cast a wish into the fountain, you may want to time your visit wisely. After Time Out Market Lisboa, the reviews had the second greatest proportion of people mentioning crowd or accessibility issues (16.9%). The fountain was also closed for renovations for part of 2024, which may have contributed to some visitors’ disappointment. If looking for alternatives, visitors might want to consider a climb up the Palatine Hill, which has a much better score of 6.2%.
On average, the study found that around one in ten (10.9%) of reviews for a tourist attraction are negative. But considering the average rating of tourist attractions in individual countries, which nations are most likely to leave tourists feeling disappointed?
Including the countries in the study with five more tourist attractions in the study, UK tourist attractions had the highest percentage of negative reviews (12.3%) followed by Portugal (12%) and Canada (11.5%).
Considering the cities with three or more tourist attractions in the study, the data finds that when taking an average of all local attractions, Istanbul’s offering is the most likely to disappoint with a 16% negative mention rate. The most disappointing Istanbul attraction in the study is the aforementioned Topkapı Palace.
But not far behind is Bangkok with a score of 23.2%. The Grand Palace’s poor score of 12.6% (the joint 7th worst in the study) dragged the Thai capital down. Visitors might want to prioritise visiting Wat Arun instead – the Temple of Dawn – which has a much more favourable score of 9.4%.
Budapest comes third, with Széchenyi Baths and Pool (the most disappointing attraction) dampening the vibe. In fact, four attractions here came in under the study average of 10.9%: Fisherman’s Bastion (10.2%), Hungarian Parliament Building (8.6%), Shoes on the Danube Bank (7.8%) and St. Stephen’s Basilica (5.8%).
If you’re keeping to a tight trip budget you may want to take the following tourist attractions off your itinerary. Considering just the keywords indicating poor value for money (such as “poor value”, “rip-off” or “too expensive”) Alton Towers in the UK – the worst destination in the study overall – is by far the most overpriced tourist attraction. Nearly one in five (18%) of all reviews included terms related to money or value.
Coming second is Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. In total 14.7% of reviews of this large museum and library felt that the price of entry was too high. Visitors to Istanbul may want to consider a visit to the Blue Mosque instead which is entirely free.
In third place are the Dubrovnik City Walls in Dubrovnik, Croatia. According to the city’s tourism website, people often wrongly assume a visit to the city walls is free. [10] In fact, a ticket costs 250 Croatian Kuna, which is about £27 or $36. It’s no surprise then that 14.4% of all the reviews of this tourist attraction mentioned being disappointed about the cost.
Completing the top five are Snowland in Brazil (with 13%) and Széchenyi Baths and Pool in Hungary (11.2%).
Nestled above the busy streets of New York’s Manhattan district is an elevated park – free and open to the public. The success of the 1.45-mile-long linear trail has inspired other cities to redevelop abandoned infrastructure as public spaces. [11]
With only 1.6% of reviewers mentioning something negative about their experience on The High Line, this attraction goes above and beyond.
With just 1.9% of reviewers expressing disappointment, the company’s invitation to “Experience the #1 Distillery in the U.S.” rings true. [12]
This distillery located in the Sugarlands Valley of Tennessee opened in 2014 and has been distilling moonshine and other strong spirits. Tastings and tours vary from a 20-minute tasting of 12 different spirits or a 30 minute tour of the distillery rounded off with two hand-crafted cocktails.
Paulista Avenue is one of the most famous streets in São Paulo. A stroll down Paulista Avenue will take you past the São Paulo Museum of Art and a native forest park. The street is also the location of the world’s largest LGBTQ+ Pride Parade. [13]
Reviewers call it “One of the most elegant avenues in the city” with plenty of character. They also recommend visiting on Sunday, when the road is closed for cars.
Another entry from the Americas is Lago Negro (the Black Lake) located in Gramado, Brazil. An artificial lake created in 1953, Lago Negro is named after the reflection cast by the surrounding pine trees. [14] Impressively, only 2.4% of all reviews had something bad to say about the experience.
Reviewers comment on how romantic the surroundings are, and suggest a leisurely journey on the pedalboats.
The New York train station has become a tourist attraction in its own right thanks to its distinctive and opulent architecture. Built in 1913 in the Beux-Arts style, this station has more platforms than any other in the world. [15] Even if you haven’t taken a trip to New York you may already be familiar with the station. The building has featured in many big movies including Superman, Armageddon and Men in Black. [16]
Reviewers mention not only the grandeur of the building, but also the food market inside. Overall, only 2.6% of all reviews included a negative keyword.
Sharing joint fifth position (with just 2.6% of all reviews being negative)l is Stanley Park in Vancouver, Canada. At 405 hectares, this park is larger than New York’s Central Park and is home to as many as 230 bird species. [17]
Visitors to the so-called ‘urban oasis’ compliment the totem poles, ocean views and the accessibility. Stanley Park is a nice place to visit all year-round, but it’s recommended to visit between March and May when the spring flowers are in bloom. You may even catch a glimpse of a migrating whale from the shoreline.
We collected 95,352 reviews from the 200 most-reviewed tourist attractions in 34 countries around the world.
This was narrowed down from a list of 5,832 different tourist attractions in 50 of the most visited countries EuroMonitor’s Top 100 City Destinations report and Mastercard’s ‘Global Cities Index’.
Attractions were discounted if they had less than 2,000 reviews, Russia and Ukraine were removed due to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Israel was removed due to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Data was collected in December 2024.
To analyze which attractions are most disappointing, we looked at the occurrence of a set list of keywords to determine the words that are most frequently used to describe a destination. 90 keywords were included in total, and the study discounted false positives (e.g. ‘not disappointing’).
[1] Alton Towers, ‘Alton Towers Heritage’
[2] Blooloop, ‘Top theme parks UK’
[3] Blooloop, ‘Europe’s largest health resort Széchenyi’
[4] Canary Lands, ‘Siam Park’
[5] World List, ‘Siam Park – World List’
[6] The Sun, ‘World’s best water park set to open second attraction on Spanish island – with 100ft slide tree and elephant experience’
[7] Time Out, ‘Who we are | Time Out Market Lisboa’
[8] Time Out, ‘Time Out Market Lisbon receives international Award recognising it as one of the most visionary concepts in the European foodservice sector’
[9] Euronews, ‘Tourists throw over €1 million into Italy’s Trevi Fountain each year. Here’s what happens to it’
[10] Rewind Dubrovnik. ‘A Guide to Walking Dubrovnik’s Walls’
[11] High Line ‘The High Line’
[12] Sugarlands Distilling Company, ‘Experience the #1 Distillery in the U.S.’
[13] Flightgift, ‘Top 10 Gay Pride Festivals 2024 worldwide’
[14] Webcam Taxi, ‘Gramado Centre, Brazil’
[15] Telegraph, ‘The world’s 20 most spectacular railway stations’
[16] IMDB, ‘Advanced title search | Grand Central Station’
[17] City of Vancouver, ‘Stanley Park wildlife’
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