Whats the most underrated and overrated place in the us for Tourists?

28 comments

  5. My standard “overrated” answer is Arches National Park, though it’s really the biggest example of overrated Western national parks as a whole. Don’t get me wrong. They are nice – beautiful, even – but they’re also completely overrun with tourists 9-10 months of the year to the extent that it’s hard to enjoy yourself. Surrounding non-park federal and state lands have much of the same scenery with a fraction of the crowds.

    Underrated…that’s a harder one to answer. I’d probably need a category. But an underrated *concept* would be just road tripping at random without a plan. Most of the country yields itself very well to this, and you can discover quite a bit that you would have missed with a rigid itinerary.

  6. Underrated: Visit US territories instead of the states.

    Overrated: Anything your country already has.

  7. Underrated – Colorado National Monument and The Grand Mesa.

    Overrated – The Strip in Vegas

    We spent the day in the monument and only ran into one other couple. We ate lunch in a designated picnic area with tables and grills; the entire parking lot of about 100 spaces had one car – ours.

    The Grand Mesa is only 70 miles away and is the largest flat top mountain in the world, it’s a beautiful place. Ran into the science team stationed there to study climate change at breakfast at our hotel. My wife was about to shoot me after nearly an hour of talking about volcanos past and present and possible world changing events

  9. Underrated is the mountain west, at least by foreign tourists. They seem to flock to California, New York, and maybe Florida.

    Overrated is Florida. I was tempted to say Vegas, but Vegas is fun in small doses. Not a place to go for more than 4-5 days.

  10. Underrated: Alaska it’s absolutely gorgeous in the summer

    Overated: imo Florida/Miami area. Just don’t like it

  11. NYC is way overrated. At the same time, I highly recommend upstate NY and the Finger Lakes. NY state parks are awesome.

  15. Overrated: Florida in general. I admit I’m biased because I’m not fond of hot weather or beaches.

    Underrated: Chicago. People talk about it, but New York or San Francisco always come up first when people talk about where they want to visit. I prefer Chicago over either of those two cities.

  16. Overrated: Crater Lake, it’s a lake made by a crater a long time ago, but it’s just a round lake. Nothing much else.

    Underrated: The Great Lakes, including the UP in Michigan. The Great Lakes are basically inland seas, but no salt and no sharks.

  17. I think a lot of underrated spots are national parks. Petrified Forest, Saguaro, Guadalupe Mountains, Dry Tortugas. Alaska has a lot of the least visited national parks, but it’s understandable considering they are so difficult to get to.
    I think overrated spots are a lot of cities. NYC, LA, Hollywood, Chicago, Philly, Orlando… Cool to see maybe once… but after that, I don’t get why people want to always go back.

  18. Underrated? Small southern mountain towns.

    Overrated. Times square. It’s a square. It’s not even a park or something it’s just a place in New York.

  19. Overrated: The coasts and the megacities that dot the coasts.

    Underrated: The Midwest, excluding Chicago, St. Louis, KC, and Memphis, TN.

  20. Overrated: Plymouth Rock. It’s a disappointing, small rock, and not likely to have had any significance to the people on the Mayflower.

    Underrated: Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Air and Space and Natural History get most of the crowds and attention; American History deserves more.

  21. Los Angeles is both overrated and underrated.

    Some of LA’s sites are extremely overrated. Hollywood Blvd, Walk of Fame in particular

    But dear lord the views from the Getty Villa or the Griffith Observatory are spectacular. The food is absolutely amazing . There’s some awesome nature, both within the urban core and on the edges. Union Station is a very cool Union Station as well and I feel a lot of tourists don’t experience that as they arrive by driving or LAX rather than by train.

    And besides accommodations you don’t really have to bust your budget when in LA. I’m sorry Chicago I love you, but I always feel like I am reaching deep into my wallet whenever I visit your museums. Same goes for you, San Francisco. But stuff like the Getty Museum, the Getty Villa, and Griffith Observatory are fucking free.

  23. Overrated: Chicago – It’s not a bad place to visit, but it’s really just a larger midwestern city which doesn’t deserve a “top10 places in the US to visit”

    Underrated – Branson, Pidgeon Forge, Washington DC. Branson, and Pidgeon Forge are “americana” style tourist places that I feel really get looked over in terms of international tourist destinations. Washington DC for the Smithsonian museums alone. If you like museums the Smithsonian museums are the best in the world. DC also becomes a bit of a hub for US, and international cultures. If you’re not from the US you can find good regional cuisine from anywhere in the US to try out. If you’re from the US you can find more examples of international foods than anywhere else in the country.

  25. Overrated: Any nature destinations east of the rockies. Your tiny little mole hills you pretend are mountains are just not that impressive. Flat landscapes are just really boring to me

  26. I think Disney Parks are more niche than they come across. I blame the US solely adapting them as some sort of bizarre vacation status symbol, which has hurt them more than benefited them.

  27. Overrated is Disney World/Disney land

    Underrated are road trips in the middle of the US with no particular place to go. I particularly love to drive in Wyoming, and North and South Dakota and just see what I can find.

  28. Underrated: Anywhere on the Lake Superior shore

    Overrated: Florida – a hot, humid hellhole

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