REVEALED: THE BEST AND WORST PLACES TO VISIT IN 2024
The new year brings a whole set of resolutions. For a traveller, the idea of marking a new place on the world map brings excitement. Creating a bucket list of must-see destinations for someone who loves exploring is a little gift in itself.
And to help your plans, a recent study, by Vision Direct, looked at 106 locations (with a minimum of 5,000 Trip Advisor reviews) that regularly appear on bucket lists - and the ones which travellers said were not worth the trip.
Each was scored on percentage of poor, terrible and average reviews, average rating, number of Instagram hashtags and number of TikTok views.
Worth the trip: The 5 locations with the wow factor
1. Centro Historico De Cusco, Cusco & Machu Picchu, Andes Mountains, Peru
A quaint, historic city sat in a lush valley in southeastern Peru, Cusco sits at 3,400 metres (11,152 feet) above sea level, attracting visitors all year-round.
Boasting cathedrals, churches and stunning ancient buildings, only 2.37% (Machu Picchu) and 3.03% (Cusco) of reviews for these locations were terrible/poor/average, meaning the historic centre of this small city definitely deserves a place on your bucket list.
2. Central Park, New York, USA
The fifth-largest park in New York City connects Manhattan’s Upper West Side and Upper East Side – a perfect and serene green rectangle among glinting skyscrapers when viewed from above.
So much more than just a park, this city-centre nature spot is revered for its beautiful landscape architecture and idyllic scenery. The park boasts only 3.14% of its reviews as negative, which out of over 133k ratings isn’t bad at all.
3. The Taj Mahal, Agra, India
This majestic marble mausoleum is considered to be a masterpiece of architecture and art.
In fact, it’s revered for being the single greatest Indo-Islamic architectural achievement of all time. This landmark’s reviews were only 3.77% negative/average, which shows it is definitely worth a visit.
4. Bagan, Mandalay region, Myanmar
Considered the most important of all Myanmar’s historical sites, this incredible ancient city (pictured) has an almost mystical feel, with many ancient murals, monuments, and pagodas to explore.
The origins of Bagan are debated – some say it dates back to around the 9th century while others argue its roots go all the way back to the second century AD.
It’s one for history lovers and those in search of a truly awesome, mind-bending experience. It also has an impressively low percentage of negative reviews, with just 1.8% of the 6,493 reviews falling into the terrible/poor/average categories.
5. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, USA
It’s safe to say that this is one of the world’s most impressive and eye-catching bridges, with its imposing towers, punchy orange colour and stark industrial design.
Although some may argue a bridge is not a destination, this icon is on must-see lists for many, indicated by the fact the bridge itself has over 49k reviews, with only 4.43% being average or negative.
The study also revealed the most underwhelming landmarks that should be crossed from bucket list destinations.
Berlin TV Tower in Germany came out as the most underwhelming attraction scoring an underwhelming score of 94%.
The ratio of poor/terrible/average review to the overall number of reviews was 26.7% and the most frequently mentioned words or phrases in the negative reviews analysed for this location were “expensive”, “disappointing”, “poor”, “overcrowded”, “rude” and a “waste of money”.
In third place was the Tegalalang Rice Terrace in Bali, Indonesia, which had an 89% chance of disappointing visitors.
Commonly used words in reviews of this location include “tourist trap”, “commercialised”, “overexploited”, “disappointing”, “overrated”, a “rip off”, and “cheesy”.
Many reviewers singled out the overwhelming amount of photo ops ruining this would-be stunning location.
Here are the 20 most under-whelming bucket list destinations:
Rank | Sightseeing | Location | Country | Underwhelming % |
1 | Berlin TV Tower | Berlin | Germany | 94.2% |
3 | Tegalalang Rice Terrace | Bali | Indonesia | 89.4% |
4 | The Grand Palace | Bangkok | Thailand | 87.3% |
5 | Atomium | Brussels | Belgium | 78.9% |
6 | Toyko Tower | Tokyo | Japan | 76.9% |
7 | Seoul Tower | Seoul | South Korea | 75.7% |
8 | The White House | Washington DC | USA | 70.6% |
9 | The Great Buddha of Thailand | Phuket | Thailand | 67.6% |
10 | Guggenheim Bilbao | Bilbao | Spain | 65.5% |
11 | Royal Palace of Madrid | Madrid | Spain | 64.1% |
12 | Basilica Cistern | Istanbul | Turkey | 63.9% |
13 | Hallgrimskirkja | Reykjavik | Iceland | 63.4% |
14 | Tian Tan Buddha | Lantau Island | Hong Kong | 63.2% |
15 | The Hollywood Sign | Los Angeles | USA | 63.0% |
16 | Taipei 101 | Tapei | Taiwan | 62.0% |
17 | Cerro Santa Lucia | Santiago | Chile | 62.0% |
18 | Eden Project | Cornwall | England | 61.8% |
19 | Château de Versailles | Versailles | France | 59.0% |
20 | Seattle Space Needle | Seattle | USA | 58.6% |
