Most overrated/underrated tourist attraction

[+ JEC]

Aren't there nice hotels in the middle of the Seine. In Paris. I stayed in one of those hotels right after 9/11. Not sure if the hotel is still open

There are a few hotels on Isle de la Cite and and Isle St Louis (the 2 islands within the city of Paris). Lovely places to stay. We have also rented apartments in the Marais area, and loved it.

[+ Pensant]

It's worth it, both cities are fantastic.

Actually, the Russian Federation eased the visa process recently. I was in Ukraine and Belarus two years ago and decided against Russia for that very reason.

[+ Charlie]

I once dated a ballet dancer who lived in a tenement building in Alphabet City. The kitchen had an actual clawfoot bathtub. Way too bohemian for my taste, but the german ballet dancer made up for the inconvenience of staying in the walkup.

In the 1960s I knew a gay "physique" photographer who lived in a tenement in SoHo, with a clawfoot bathtub in the living room.

[Guest]

There are a few hotels on Isle de la Cite and and Isle St Louis (the 2 islands within the city of Paris). Lovely places to stay. We have also rented apartments in the Marais area, and loved it.

Whenever I go to Paris, I always have dinner at the Gai Moulin in the Marais. I'm crushed right now to learn it closed permanently some months ago, victim of the pandemic. Hopefully once Europeans get immunized and things open up again, it will re-open?

https://paris.gaycities.com/restaurants/60616-le-gai-moulin

[Epigonos]

During my last visit to Paris I rented an apartment, for three weeks, in the Marais. Great location with outstanding bakeries and cheese shops nearby. Walked nearly everywhere. I am a huge believer in renting apartments for two or three week in cities like London, Paris, Madrid, or Rome. Using these cities as a base one can make overnight visits to all sorts of interesting places. From Madrid I once flew up to Santiago de Compostela for three nights. During one of my last trips to France I rented a car and drove a thousand miles through Burgundy and the Loire Valley. Tired to spend at least two nights in each stop over. I absolutely LOVE driving back roads through the French countryside.

[+ JEC]

Longest we have stayed in Paris is 2 weeks for my 40th which was not too long after 9/11. Rented a sweet apartment across the street from the Open Cafe. Housing was really affordable b/c everyone was afraid to travel still. But, we did the "home base" thing and did some day trips by train to Versailles, Lyon and Brussels. Never get tired of Paris, though haven't been now in several years as we focus on ticking other destinations off the "bucket list". I think a London-Paris-Chunnel trip is in the not too distant future....

[+ WilliamM]

Longest we have stayed in Paris is 2 weeks for my 40th which was not too long after 9/11. Rented a sweet apartment across the street from the Open Cafe. Housing was really affordable b/c everyone was afraid to travel still. But, we did the "home base" thing and did some day trips by train to Versailles, Lyon and Brussels. Never get tired of Paris, though haven't been now in several years as we focus on ticking other destinations off the "bucket list". I think a London-Paris-Chunnel trip is in the not too distant future....

A friend and bought a car in Amsterdam and spent too much tine driving through Europe. Mary great experiences except in Spain.

 

We sold the car in Paris!

[+ Charlie]

During my last visit to Paris I rented an apartment, for three weeks, in the Marais. Great location with outstanding bakeries and cheese shops nearby. Walked nearly everywhere. I am a huge believer in renting apartments for two or three week in cities like London, Paris, Madrid, or Rome. Using these cities as a base one can make overnight visits to all sorts of interesting places. From Madrid I once flew up to Santiago de Compostela for three nights. During one of my last trips to France I rented a car and drove a thousand miles through Burgundy and the Loire Valley. Tired to spend at least two nights in each stop over. I absolutely LOVE driving back roads through the French countryside.

One summer a good friend of mine was teaching at the Sorbonne, so he rented an apartment in the Marais. I usually stayed at his flat in London, but that year I took advantage of the chance to really see Paris, and I spent two weeks in the Marais. I was lucky to have friends who did that sort of thing and would invite me to stay with them; e.g., when a friend spent a sabbatical in Copenhagen, I was able to spend a couple of weeks with him one summer, immersed in local gay life there. I also found that taking summer school courses at European universities was a great way to have a local base to get to know a city.

[MikeBiDude]

During my last visit to Paris I rented an apartment, for three weeks, in the Marais. Great location with outstanding bakeries and cheese shops nearby. Walked nearly everywhere. I am a huge believer in renting apartments for two or three week in cities like London, Paris, Madrid, or Rome. Using these cities as a base one can make overnight visits to all sorts of interesting places. From Madrid I once flew up to Santiago de Compostela for three nights. During one of my last trips to France I rented a car and drove a thousand miles through Burgundy and the Loire Valley. Tired to spend at least two nights in each stop over. I absolutely LOVE driving back roads through the French countryside.

The *best* way to learn a city!...I rented an apartment in Florence for two weeks once. So rewarding, marketing, cooking, laundry....day-to-day life while enjoying all the art and food.

[KrisParr]

Over the last couple of decades, I have learned that I cannot judge a city by its airport. The reason is that probably 90% of all big city airports are terrible and are in inconvenient locations. The following examples should suffice. Kennedy, LAX, Miami, Houston, London (Heathrow), Amsterdam (horrible name), Paris, Milan, Bangkok, and Rome. This is assuredly not a complete list. They are all in impossible locations and are nightmares to navigate. The only big city airport that is nice is, in my opinion, Singapore.

 

The airport for Greater Cincinnati is 14 miles from downtown in the state of Kentucky. Problem is, the one main bridge to get there (about 4 miles to cross the Ohio) has backups that often take 45 minutes to navigate - in rush hour, it can take well over an hour. Makes LAX and LaGuardia look like a piece of cake.

[marylander1940]

Overrated: Rosslyn Chapel

[+ WilliamM]

Ho Chi Minh City

The American Embassy

[Luv2play]

32 minutes ago, WilliamM said:

Ho Chi Minh City

The American Embassy

Do they have a cocktail lounge on the roof now? They could call it Last Chance Saloon.

[lonely_john]

On 3/25/2021 at 10:19 PM, azdr0710 said:

Though I'm not much of a Native American ruins nut, this place is exceedingly significant.

Pocahontas lived there?

[marylander1940]

On 3/25/2021 at 11:38 AM, Epigonos said:

Marylander1940 your post regarding how underrated Galician seafood is really struck home for me. I had some of the best seafood I've ever eaten, in my life, in Santiago de Compostela at "A Taberna do Bispo". The waiter was absolutely over the top with wonderful suggestions and just plain fun. We had such a great meal and such great fun that we went back again the next night. When the waiter saw us enter he rushed up to the hostess and insisted that she seat us in his section. That night he came up with a completely different assortment of wonderful dishes. As I remember it we tipped him an obscene amount. Ah such memories!!!!!

Food of Galicia: Percebes (Goose Barnacles) | Travel Blog | DriveSpain

 

 

[lonely_john]

On 3/22/2021 at 5:55 PM, WilliamM said:

Most overrated - Aukland, New Zealand

Why? I've been for a long time thinking of retiring there ...

[+ WilliamM]

18 minutes ago, lonely_john said:

Why? I've been for a long time thinking of retiring there ...

I liked  Christchurch more because of all the national parks relatively close by.  I do agree that Aukland  is a much more lively city.

Edited June 28, 2021 by WilliamM

[lonely_john]

On 4/7/2021 at 3:27 PM, thedanNYC said:

Paris has never been and will never be overrated. Anyone who thinks differently should just stop traveling and spend their money on something else.

Paris is not overrated but expensive and also not very friendly to Americans. Even if you speak some French, if they detect you are North American - because they don't even like Quebecois much either 😱 - they won't be friendly.

Edited June 29, 2021 by lonely_john

[lonely_john]

On 4/7/2021 at 3:37 PM, CuriousByNature said:

I'd like to do 5 days in St. Petersburg and 5 in Moscow, but I've heard the process to get a visa is kind of complicated, including sending away your passport.

They don't like gays. I've heard St. Petersburg is more open minded but Russia is not a country I'm desperate to visit.

[lonely_john]

On 4/9/2021 at 11:15 AM, MikeBiDude said:

The *best* way to learn a city!...I rented an apartment in Florence for two weeks once. So rewarding, marketing, cooking, laundry....day-to-day life while enjoying all the art and food.

Any bello ragazzi?

[+ WilliamM]

4 minutes ago, lonely_john said:

They don't like gays. I've heard St. Petersburg is more open minded but Russia is not a country I'm desperate to visit.

If you cross off major countries that "don't like gays". You may miss a lot

Few Russians in St. Petersburg speak English so in 5  days there are world class museums to see

[EastCoastBtm]

Underrated - One of the largest collections of Impressionist Art in the world....and no one knows its in.....PHILADELPHIA.  For certain artists, they have more paintings than the Louvre. The collection is worth $25 BILLION.

The Barnes Collection

https://www.barnesfoundation.org/

 

[lonely_john]

I see most of the posts are about modern cities and natural landscapes. I'm kind of an ancient ruins nerd so here goes my contribution:

OVERRATED - CHICHEN ITZA .- It's just a big open area with few ruins around the pyramid which we were not allowed to climb. The site is located in a spot in the middle of the jungle, completely isolated from the rest of the world. Only accessible by bus or car in an area partially controlled by narcos (we heard stories of tourist buses being assaulted, tourists robbed, women kidnapped and men killed) so it's only advisable to go there during day time. Once you get there it's crowded as f*ck, there are not available tourist guides because most are already busy, and there is more infrastructure destined to tourist shopping than anything else. Getting back to the closest city or town takes 2 to 3 hrs.

UNDERRATED - TULUM & WATER PARKS .- Dozens of structures in a HUGE area, you can spend 2 hours walking and you won't cover everything. The landscape, sunset, and the beaches just by the ruins are unique in the world. A big plus is its proximity to NATURAL Water Parks / Resorts such as Xcaret and Xel-ha. I must come back!

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by lonely_john

[mike carey]

6 hours ago, lonely_john said:

Why? I've been for a long time thinking of retiring there ...

 

6 hours ago, WilliamM said:

I liked  Christchurch more because of all the national parks relatively close by.  I do agree that Aukland  is a much more lively city.

I haven't spent much time in Auckland, but it recently topped the Economist Intelligence Unit's most liveable cities list (the top 10 were all in Aotearoa, Australia, Japan and Switzerland). Being liveable isn't the same as interesting or exciting for tourists, so status on that list isn't relevant to the topic of this thread. Of the main cities in the country, I like Wellington the best (from what I've seen). Like Auckland, Wellington has a scenic harbour, but Auckland is pretty flat, while the capital is hilly, which I prefer (not the only reason, I hasten to add). Christchurch is nice too. Both cities are half the size of Auckland.

If you're retiring there and planning to travel internationally, long-haul flights from Aotearoa operate only from Auckland (Wellington and Christchurch have non-stop flights to Australian cities, and there was a direct Singapore Airlines fright from WLG-SIN via MEL).

[Guest]

6 hours ago, lonely_john said:

I see most of the posts are about modern cities and natural landscapes. I'm kind of an ancient ruins nerd so here goes my contribution:

OVERRATED - CHICHEN ITZA .- It's just a big open area with few ruins around the pyramid which we were not allowed to climb. The site is located in a spot in the middle of the jungle, completely isolated from the rest of the world. Only accessible by bus or car in an area partially controlled by narcos (we heard stories of tourist buses being assaulted, tourists robbed, women kidnapped and men killed) so it's only advisable to go there during day time. Once you get there it's crowded as f*ck, there are not available tourist guides because most are already busy, and there is more infrastructure destined to tourist shopping than anything else. Getting back to the closest city or town takes 2 to 3 hrs.

UNDERRATED - TULUM & WATER PARKS .- Dozens of structures in a HUGE area, you can spend 2 hours walking and you won't cover everything. The landscape, sunset, and the beaches just by the ruins are unique in the world. A big plus is its proximity to NATURAL Water Parks / Resorts such as Xcaret and Xel-ha. I must come back!

 

Ridiculous. Chichén Itzá is one of the most spectacular archeological sites on the planet, and much larger than Tulum. Incidentally, it's pronounced chi-CHEN eats-AH, and does not rhyme with "chicken pizza," as said in the video. It's 740 acres, or 300 hectares in size, much larger than Tulum. So it's far from Cancun. There's an excellent tollway. Tulum can be seen quickly, 2 hours at most, and most people do, indeed, spend the rest of the day in either Xcaret or Xel-Ha. Xcaret has a great show which they perform in the evening.