What’s overrated: lists of overrated destinations
The LA Times article about the most overrated destinations makes me a bit sad. I’m not saying that I’ve never had my own ‘overrated’ moment. But that’s just it—it’s personal and subjective, based on my personal expectations and experiences.
One of the places mentioned in the article is Paris. We’ve all been fed images of Paris just by living and breathing—from movies, books, and friends who have visited—which can make the real thing nearly impossible to live up to. Sure, I’d tend to agree that the Champs-Élysées is overrated, but give me the stained glass windows of Sainte-Chapelle or the side-streets of Montmartre and I’m one happy traveler. I, for one, would not consider Paris overrated.
Is it a matter of high expectations, or wrong timing, or overgeneralizing and missing a piece that’s amazing? They all make or break an experience. What could’ve been a bad experience at Angkor Wat (too many people the first day) was redeemed for me by a second visit (nearly empty at sunrise the next day). And I’ve traveled to countries where I didn’t know much about the cultures—dare I say blissfully ignorant?—and I came back blown away.
Besides Paris, the cities that make the article’s overrated list are Athens, Dubai, Prague, and Moscow. Then there are the reader choices, which read as cranky rants that turn golden destinations into coal simply because of bad travel companions, weather, and circumstances. The Grand Canyon, Reykjavik, and Lima are among them. Anyone care to disagree? Someone didn’t just list a city or region as overrated, but an entire nation: Italy. (All of Italy? Do you know how varied the country is? Just ask any Italian—they’re vehemently proud of the individuality of their cities.)
Rather than focusing on designating someplace as overrated, why not think about ways to enjoy it? Maybe all it takes it changing expectations, looking at it with different eyes, and finding a common connection.
December 10th, 2008 at 4:15 am
As an Italian I take the “Italy overrated” idea as a compliment: people have very high expectations when they visit a country that – as you said – is not just the common Rome, Florence and Venice tour. But that again is the same for every country. There are popular (crowdy) destinations – worth visiting nevertheless – and much quiter places in the countryside or smaller cities. And Italy is full of them. Unfortunately in the Bel Paese prices went up a bit in the last 4-5 years compared to other destinations in Europe.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:00 am
“Is it a matter of high expectations, or wrong timing, or overgeneralizing and missing a piece that’s amazing?”
Would you say that any one particular thing is most likely to cause a poor visiting experience? For instance, I have often thought that the very novelty of a thing increases greatly its appeal and diversion. Would you have any suggestions on how to keep a place novel that may otherwise be considered “overrated”?
December 14th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I’d argue that there is judgment implied in labeling a place as ‘overrated’—as in bad. I’m just saying that any place can be enjoyed—even after expectations have been set too high and you’re ready to hop on the next plane out of town. When you notice the equivalent of a man pulling the strings behind the red curtain in the corner, be creative. If it’s not quite working for you, come to grips with that and find other ways to connect. Maybe your Venetian gondola ride was crowded, on foul water, and under the helm of an annoying gondolier. You might not return home with the flowery gondola stories that you expected, but you can tell a few other stories about the mask-makers that you met or the fun in getting lost in the winding alleyways because you didn’t give up and sit in your hostel room, too focused on the disappointments of the gondola.
December 24th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
I hated Italy. The people were rude and resented Americans. The African immigrants were constantly being mistreated, and no one knows how to drive. Never again will I spend my money there. I’l stay in the beautiful USA.
December 27th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
The Venice – Florence – Rome trip is known among tourism professionals as the “tourist pipeline”. Just like common pipelines, they are crowded and there hardly are leaks… Luckily for petroleum – unluckily for tourist, who could visit something “off the beaten track”, where there are hardly no expectations to rely on (or to be influenced by…).
I agree with Allison: the term “overrated” implies something negative – Would you be happy if someone doesn’t meet expectations at work or in life?
Even Merrian Webster agrees on the negative sense of this expression.
https://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/overrate
@ Noella. What do you mean by “Italians resenting Americans”? I have never seen any widespread hate against Brazilians, Mexicans, Canadians and such… or even against USA citizen (I presume you meant this). And this despite a few not so nice events, such as US fight plane pilot knocking down a cablecar in Italy, killing innocent people (and getting away with it), or an Italian secret agent being killed by a US marine in Iraq, or illegal kidnapping of people by the US Secret Service (just to name a few, recent, proven instances which could cause -but not justify- some resentment).
Given the current internal political situation, we, Italians, tend to make a difference against human beings and their governments (or representatives)… Of course, you may have met the wrong, idiot persons, but, believe me, saying that people in Italy hate Americans (be it US citizen or all the inhabitants of the so-called New World) is, in my opinion, a bit too much. As of mistreatment of African immigrants, there have sadly been many examples of this… Such as many illegal immigrants are being mistreated in the US. Regarding driving manners – well, it depends on what you mean by “know how to drive”. 😉
Many people visiting Italy expect to eat pasta, pizza and listen to mandolino – but some also think they’d meet a mafioso, see a gun fight, and being robbed, or kidnapped or both. Should the latter experiences be delivered as well, in order to “live up to expectations”? :-/
And where is the border (if any) between expectations and prejudice?
August 17th, 2011 at 4:40 am
I do find Italy overrated to the max to the point that some of the cities are just washed up and flooded with masses of tourists.
Florence is pretty but TOO FULL OF TOURIST TO ENJOY!
Venice, see Florence
Rome: is ok but wouldn’t live there as it is too chaotic and dirty!
Another European country that has been overrated to the max, perhaps the epitome of overratedness is France…. from french wines, to french meat, to french cuisine, to french culture… everything that people claim the french are great at is nothing but french propaganda in order to promote tourism.
French fries are belgian, not french and the proper name is frites.
The wines are better in south america, california and spain
the cuisine, bleh small portions of little pieces of ingredients put together… I’ve found much more exciting cuisines!
The french coast, OVERRATED…. found croatia much more beautiful
le joie de vivre… overrated…. in Spain people have more fun and it’s more alive.