Alton Towers, not UK.
The United Kingdom and Canada appear as the countries with the highest percentage of disappointing attractions, followed by the USA. But a disappointing Spanish park also makes the Top 10.
Everyone who has ever traveled knows that not all tourist attractions that make it onto typical “not to miss” lists meet expectations.
A new one from Radical Storage, an international luggage storage network, analyzed almost 100,000 reviews from visitors to iconic locations around the world and concluded that crowds, high prices, difficult access and sub-par experiences continue to spoil visits to some of the best-known destinations.
Now, for the second year in a row, Alton Towers, not UKappears at the top of the list of the most disappointing tourist attractions.
The theme park, located in the English county of Staffordshire, received 38.2% negative reviews, a proportion well above the average of 5.2% recorded among all locations analyzed, according to data cited by .
The study was based on an initial list of 5832 tourist attractions in 50 of the most visited countries, based on the Top 100 City Destinations report, by Euromonitor, and the Global Cities Index, by Mastercard. The team then excluded locations with fewer than 2,000 reviews, as well as attractions located in Russia, Ukraine and Israel, due to ongoing conflicts. In total, 99,547 visitor opinions were analyzed.
To build the classification, the researchers looked for 90 keywords associated with negative experiences, such as “boring” (“boring”) or “inaccessible” (“inaccessible”), and eliminated, of course, false positives, such as expressions like “not disappointing”. The percentage of negative comments was then used to order the attractions.
In the case of Alton Towers, the criticisms are not so much focused on the entertainment itself, but on the surrounding experience. Many visitors complain about poor value for money, capacity, misleading information about tickets and the feeling of being forced to pay successive extras, from expensive food and drink to access to certain areas of the park. Still, there is an improvement compared to the previous year: in 2025, 49.4% of the reviews analyzed were negative.
Second place belongs to Georgia Aquarium, in Atlanta, United States. Despite housing tens of thousands of sea creatures, the aquarium has accumulated 19.6% negative reviews. Among the main complaints are overcrowding, access problems and the perception that the price does not compensate for the experience offered.
Following is the Horseshoe Casino, Louisianaalso in the United States, with 18.6% negative opinions. The space, which combines gaming tables, slot machines, poker and restaurants, appears associated with comments that include expressions such as “boring”, “degraded”, “overvalued” or “in need of restoration”.
Europe enters the list with Termas e Piscina de Széchenyi, in Budapest. The largest medicinal thermal spa in Europe is one of the Hungarian capital’s hallmarks, but 16.6% of the reviews analyzed report negative experiences. Crowding and accessibility are the main problems highlighted, appearing in 7.2% of opinions — more than triple the global average for this category.
Soon after, we returned to North America. In fifth place appears the Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, em Toronto. Canada’s largest indoor aquarium, with more than 20,000 aquatic animals and several interactive exhibits, received 16% negative reviews. Overcrowding is again one of the most cited factors, followed by poor quality-price ratio.
The list of the ten most disappointing tourist destinations also includes Universal Islands of Adventure, em Orlandowith 15.6% negative reviews.
And in seventh, here next to Portugal, the Siam Park in Tenerifewith 13.4% negative reviews. People complain about long queues, overcrowding, lack of rest areas and are often concerned about animal welfare.
Space Needle, em Seattlee Graceland, em Memphisboth with 12.6%, and the Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine in Kyotowith 12% closing the Top 10.
The study also identifies some trends by country and city. The United Kingdom and Canada emerge as the countries with the highest percentage of disappointing attractionsboth with 7.9% negative reviews, followed by the United States, with 7.5%. Among cities, Seattle leads, with 8.9%, ahead of Budapest, London and Bangkok.
