Maybe they couldn’t solve their Rubik’s Cube or got fined by Vlad the Validator but I’m standing up for Budapest against the naysayers.
Those reviewers who marked the Hungarian capital and its famous baths down in a luggage company survey.
Why the experts on the Radical Storage luggage storage firm should pick on the magnificent Magyar city on the Danube you’d have to ask them.
Perhaps they too had been fined £60 when someone forgot to validate their ticket before boarding the train and were collared by the huffy Hungarian guard.
Or were kept waiting by your other half in the steamier of the two outdoor pools at the Szechenyi Baths.
Neither challenges should, of course, detract from your enjoyment of what is truly a unique experience.
A lot of bull about Istanbul
The 95,352 rambunctious reviewers seem to have it in for the Hungarian capital as a whole.
And placing the Baths at fifth most overpriced attraction, and at £12 or £14 on weekends for a multi-thalasso treat they’re tough to please.
Now we can’t count here for Alton Towers in Staffordshire in England, considered the worst for price and value or Snowland in Brazil, fourth on the list.
But we’re digging our heels in here too for Topkapi Palace (£15) in Istanbul and the Dubrovnik City Walls, the same price although it does shoot up to £30 in high season.
The madness continues when it comes to the world’s most disappointing list.
Water mistake about Trevi Fountain
With inexplicably the Trevi Fountain fifth biggest letdown, shared by a former colleague who described it as just a fountain. Mamma Mia!
The best pint in Dublin, alongside we’re contractually obliged to big up cousins’ The Workshop bistro, is at the Guinness Storehouse.
But some curmudgeons put it down in seventh for most disappointing attraction.
And those wet fishes place our Hungarian baths at No.10 alongside the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC which is actually out of this world.
Hit and list
And just to spell that out in hard facts for you here…
| Most Overpriced Tourist Attractions | |||
| Rank | Attraction | Country | Negative Mentions about Costs and Value |
| 1 | Alton Towers Resort | United Kingdom | 18.0% |
| 2 | Topkapı Palace | Turkey | 14.7% |
| 3 | Dubrovnik City Walls | Croatia | 14.4% |
| 4 | Snowland | Brazil | 13.0% |
| 5 | Széchenyi Baths and Pool | Hungary | 11.2% |
|
The World’s Top 10 Most Disappointing Tourist Attractions |
||||
|
Rank |
Attraction |
Location |
Country |
Percentage of Reviews with Negative Mentions |
|
1st |
Alton Towers Resort |
Staffordshire |
United Kingdom |
49.4% |
|
2nd |
Széchenyi Baths and Pool |
Budapest |
Hungary |
37.2% |
|
3rd |
Siam Park |
Tenerife |
Spain |
31.2% |
|
4th |
Time Out Market Lisboa |
Lisbon |
Portugal |
28.4% |
|
5th |
Fontana di Trevi |
Rome |
Italy |
24.6% |
|
6th |
Horseshoe Casino |
Las Vegas |
United States |
24.0% |
|
=7th |
Guinness Storehouse |
Dublin |
Ireland |
23.2% |
|
=7th |
Gardaland Park |
Lake Garda |
Italy |
23.2% |
|
=10th |
Topkapı Palace |
Istanbul |
Turkey |
23.0% |
|
=10th |
National Air and Space Museum |
Washington D.C. |
United States |
23.0% |
Turk that
Digging deeper, we don’t know if it’s an Orban or an Erdogan thing but the raspish reviewers vent their spleens at Istanbul and Budapest again and Bangkok in the following scroll of dishonour.
The Cities with the Most Disappointing Tourist Attractions
1. Istanbul (16%)
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.
2. Bangkok (15.9%)
But not far behind is Bangkok with a score of 15.9%. 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%.
3. Budapest (13.9%)
Budapest comes third (13.9% overall), 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%).
You can see the full list of the cities with the most disappointing tourist attractions on the main study page.
We’ll tease you here with the world’s least disappointing as reviewed in this survey by saying Leith, Scotland’s Royal Yacht Britannia is on it.
But today is for standing up for Budapest and our other maligned favourite places.