Eleven favourite sights you shouldn't visit

Every year, millions of travellers flock to tourist attractions in search of a magnificent view, a cultural experience or simply a beautiful photo opportunity.

While some attractions deliver what they promise, others may leave tourists feeling frustrated or stressed - either because the attraction is less spectacular than expected or because a long queue spoils the good mood.

Reviews from travellers on the internet can help to avoid tourist traps - thus reducing stress and annoyance on holiday. Analysts from the language learning platform Preply looked at the reviews of over 80 popular tourist attractions on two relevant review portals.

They explicitly searched for words such as ‘overrated’, ‘disappointing’ and ‘tourist trap’. The result is a ranking of the most disappointing sights in the world.

1. Times Square, New York

For many travellers, Times Square, with its brightly lit billboards, is one of the first places that comes to mind when they think of New York. It is undoubtedly an eye-catcher. Its legendary status attracts around 330,000 people every day. Which makes it an uncomfortable place for many tourists. In almost 1,800 reviews, Times Square is described as «overrated», «disappointing» or a «tourist trap». Many comments say it is overcrowded, dirty and simply boring.

2. Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie, a historic border crossing through the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1990, glaringly stands out in second place with 1,425 rather unpleasant ratings in the German capital, Berlin. Visitors frequently describe it as «disappointing» and «small». Indeed, there is not much more to see of this historic site than a replica guardhouse at a busy road junction.

3. Eiffel Tower, Paris

The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower is undoubtedly unique. Nevertheless, many visitors are unimpressed by their visit to the Parisian landmark. Almost 1300 reviews are range from negative to very negative, with particular criticism directed at the long queues. One tourist stated on Google Reviews that he had waited over an hour to get to the top of the tower, describing it as «one of the most overrated tourist attractions».

4. The Little Mermaid, Copenhagen

The Little Mermaid in the Danish capital of Copenhagen has almost as many negative reviews as the Eiffel Tower. Since its unveiling in 1913, it has been one of the biggest tourist attractions in Europe. However, not all visitors are enthusiastic about her. The terms «overrated», «disappointing» and «tourist trap» appear in over 1200 comments. Numerous reviewers are disappointed by the size of the statue or complain that the backdrop is not as picturesque as they would have liked.

5.  Las Ramblas, Barcelona

The Las Ramblas pedestrian zone in Barcelona rounds off the top 5 most disappointing sights. While some visitors describe the atmosphere on the 1.2 kilometre-long stretch as lively and exciting, others find it unpleasant. In just over 1200 of the reviews analysed, Barcelona's most famous street comes off badly. Many visitors find it too crowded and overwhelming.

The following places in the list of the most disappointing tourist attractions also mainly feature European sights. In 6th place is the Belgian capital Brussels with the Manneken Pis, a little naked boy peeing in a fountain. In 7th place is the Blue Lagoon near the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.

For once, 8th place was taken by an attraction outside Europe: the Hollywood Walk of Fame left many tourists feeling disappointed, frustrated, or stressed. Following closely behind in 9th to 11th place are the London Eye, the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, and Park Güell in Barcelona.

The analysts not only scrutinised the most stressful sights, but also the most stress-free destinations in the world. Here, Lake Cauma in the canton of Graubünden comes out on top. Of all the ratings analysed, only one contained the keywords «disappointing», «overrated» and «tourist trap».