Travelers Are Calling Out The Overhyped Tourist Destinations That Are Actually Super Underwhelming

Recently, redditor u/ElisaBelloo asked, “In your travels, which city was the biggest letdown?” Travelers from all over the world took to the thread and were refreshingly (and sometimes brutally) honest about the travel destinations that didn’t quite live up to their expectations. So, here are 15 popular vacation spots that — according to fellow travelers — actually might not be worth the money and hype:

1.“Dubai. It’s like Vegas with no soul. I never thought Vegas had a soul, then I visited Dubai.”

— u/dbag127 “It’s like Vegas but for business. Huge advertisements everywhere. Big, gaudy towers and shopping places seemed to be the main attractions. And zero people doing any work are from there. It’s just a big, bright, and expensive facade. No soul at all.” — u/Dewthedru Dblight / Getty Images

2.“Hollywood. If ‘who hurt you’ was a city.”

— u/Formal_Yesterday8114 “I realized after my trip that you really need to research where to go in LA. My usual travel style is to just show up without much of a plan and wander around, but that doesn’t really work in LA. The famous tourist locations like Hollywood Boulevard and Venice Beach are disgusting.” — u/EmeraldIbis “I live near Hollywood, and trust me, it’s one of the shittier parts of LA.” — u/AnjoonaToona Mitch Diamond / Getty Images

3.“LA is terrible if you don’t have a local to show you around.”

— u/FapCabs “Los Angeles is a horrible place to visit but a wonderful place to live. Beach and snow-capped mountains that can be driven to in the same day. Everything a big city can offer and the best weather on earth. I miss it so much.” — u/Billymillion1965 Miles Cui / Getty Images

4.“Niagara Falls, Ontario. Not the falls themselves — they’re spectacular. The town is awful.”

— u/Charlie9261 “Tacky, touristy hellhole next to one of the most beautiful natural wonders in the world. I guess if you’re a family with young kids, there’s plenty to do aside from the falls, but otherwise, ugh.” — u/veebs7 “It used to be the #1 honeymoon destination for Americans before it was over-commercialized. Supposedly, during the Victorian era, it still had a wild and magical aura about it, but it was lost once it became developed and touristy.” — u/Imaginary_Airport_43 Bloodua / Getty Images

5.“Reykjavik, Iceland. I loved Iceland, but Reykjavik is very touristy. The rest of the country is absolutely amazing, though.”

— u/CheCazzoFaciamo Powerofforever / Getty Images

6.“Cairo, Egypt, without a doubt. Anyone who hasn’t been: Just google it and the horror stories will keep you away.”

— u/MenlaOfTheBody “My disappointment when I got to the Pyramids…and directly across the road was a Pizza Hut. Dafuq?” — u/emmadilemma Stockbym / Getty Images/iStockphoto

7.“Daytona Beach, Florida. I was SO excited to go to Florida in high school. There were cockroaches in the hotel room. A biohazard bag in the water. All the scummy touristy stuff. No thanks. I worked at the school store and saved my money all year to afford the trip just to be disappointed.”

— u/Padmei “Daytona is the trashiest city in America. Florida has many beautiful beaches, but Daytona is the absolute worst place I’ve ever been.” — u/Sippinonjoy Philippe Turpin / Getty Images/Photononstop RF

8.“Naples, Italy. Rome had a reputation for being messy and smelly for decades, which I saw firsthand. They’ve since cleaned it up, and it’s as beautiful as you’d hope. Naples, on the other hand, feels like a slum for the most part. It’s messy, unwelcoming, and doesn’t honor its history the way much of Italy does.”

— u/uselessscientist Avsinn / Getty Images/iStockphoto

9.“Venice, Italy in the summer. I was there in February, and it was an amazing time. Summer, though? No.”

“I don’t know what was happening, but there were loads of fish dying in all the channels, and the place reeked wherever we went. My wife tried the water taxi and, normally, she would’ve probably been fine, but the dead fish smell mixed with the waves made her incredibly seasick for a while. It just turned into a crappy time for the few days we were there.” — u/Halfwayhome22 Thierryhennet / Getty Images/RooM RF

10.“Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s all fun for two nights, but we made a mistake and stayed for four nights. Couldn’t wait to leave.”

— u/flacao9 “You arrive bright-eyed and full of energy. You leave dehydrated and don’t open any banking apps until you get paid again.” — u/ositola F11photo / Getty Images/iStockphoto

11.“Austin, Texas. For all its ‘keep Austin weird’ crap, it’s simply not weird.”

— u/Responsivity “Austin in the early ’90s was still fun. Now it’s all glass high rises.” — u/tadhg555 Benedek / Getty Images/iStockphoto

12.“Atlantic City, New Jersey. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, as in I’m never going there again.”

“The most heartbreaking sight was all the kids on the steps of the casino, waiting for their parents who ‘just went for a quick spin of the roulette wheel.’ Those poor kids were waiting nearly all day and night. The boardwalk is full of the kind of people you hope don’t sit next to you on a plane: loud, drunk, and opinionated. Never again.” — u/Brain_Tourismo Appalachianviews / Getty Images/iStockphoto

13.“San Jose, California. I think it actively tries to be as boring as humanly possible.”

— u/rockit454 Walter Bibikow / Getty Images

14.“Dallas, Texas. I cannot believe how boring that city is. I’ve had much more fun in every other Texas city I’ve visited (Austin, San Antonio, even Fort Worth!).”

— u/LA_Snkr_Dude “I grew up in Ft. Worth. This is so accurate. DFW is a huge suburban sprawl where the character has been sucked dry. San Antonio is the best city in Texas for tourism.” — u/TheBigC87 “For all of its hype and local pride, Dallas is a disappointment. I went there for business once. It’s historic and fun, people said. They were wrong.” — u/r0n0c0 Joe Daniel Price / Getty Images

15.And finally, “Berlin, Germany. The most unfriendly place I have been in my entire life, and I’ve been to Paris.”

— u/Wafflehouseofpain Sylvain Sonnet / Getty Images

Travelers of BuzzFeed, now it’s your turn! Have you ever visited a city you were super excited about, only to learn it’s an overhyped tourist trap or simply not worth the trip? If so, tell us the destination and why you felt that way in the comments below.

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.