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What ruined the trip
One sentence each, from people who were there. The thing they wish somebody had warned them about. Read them before you go; add yours when you get back.
By city: Accra Amsterdam Athens Banff Bangkok Barcelona Berlin Boracay Budapest Buenos Aires Buzios Cairo Cancun Cape Town
185 warnings so far.
“It is still expensive by any normal measure, and the evening bill is in another bracket entirely. The counter is formal and the pace is not yours to set. Booking is needed and the popular slots go early.”
★★★★★ Ginza Kyubey, Tokyo
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“The evening tasting menu at 85 euros plus pairings adds up quickly. It books out, particularly for the garden. Porta Nuova is a business district, so the surroundings are corporate rather than characterful.”
★★★★★ Ratana, Milan
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“A 35 euro per person no-show penalty and a two-hour table limit on the early seating. Genuinely hard to find, even with a map. Small enough that booking weeks ahead is normal, and it closes for a summer holiday.”
★★★★★ Antiche Carampane, Venice
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“The queue on Avenida de Mayo is real and often long. Service is stretched. Prices are high for Buenos Aires and the food is beside the point, which nobody tells you before you order.”
★★★★ Cafe Tortoni, Buenos Aires
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“It is on the tourist circuit near the port and the service can be brisk about it. Portions are large and priced accordingly. The room is grand rather than intimate, and on a busy night it is loud.”
★★★★ 7 Portes, Barcelona
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“Very expensive even by Reykjavik standards, and the snack prices are a warning shot. It books out in summer. The dark, heavy room is not to every taste.”
★★★★★ Grillmarkadurinn, Reykjavik
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“Five hundred and thirty-five crowns for a continental breakfast is a Prague-expensive price. It is popular enough that weekend mornings mean queueing. Mala Strana puts it across the river from the Old Town.”
★★★★★ Cafe Savoy, Prague
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“It is a heavily touristed institution and the cooking reflects that. The set menu is lunch-and-early-evening only. The Napoleon's hat display leans into the museum register rather more than necessary.”
★★★★ Le Procope, Paris
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“The seating politics are real and being sent upstairs feels like what it is. Service can be curt to visitors. The cooking is reliable rather than a reason to travel.”
★★★★ Brasserie Lipp, Paris
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“It is squarely on the tourist circuit now, and the service moves accordingly. The room is bright and busy at all hours. The trotter divides opinion sharply, and nobody should order it expecting a chop.”
★★★★ Au Pied de Cochon, Paris
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“It is loud, and the hard surfaces make it louder. Booking is needed and the popular slots go early. Prices have climbed with the neighbourhood.”
★★★★★ Cochon, New Orleans
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“Small, so tables go quickly and walk-ins are optimistic. Prices are at the upper end for Krakow. The Grodzka location means the street outside is a constant procession of tour groups.”
★★★★★ Miod Malina, Krakow
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“Among the most expensive hotels in Italy, with no published rate card. The Spanish Steps are one of the busiest spots in the city, so stepping outside means stepping into a crowd. Rooms vary considerably in size and out…”
★★★★★ Hassler Roma, Rome
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“Standard rooms are genuinely small at 200 sq ft. The history draws people who want to look rather than stay, so the lobby is busy. No published rates, and accessible rooms cannot be booked online at all.”
★★★★ Hotel Chelsea, New York City
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“Alcantara is west of the centre, so everything is a taxi or a tram ride. The scale means it can feel more like a resort than a city hotel. No published rate card, so budgeting means asking.”
★★★★★ Pestana Palace Lisboa, Lisbon
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“Loud, busy and full of tourists at peak times. Swiss prices apply, so a plate of veal and rosti is not cheap. Shared tables are the norm, which not everyone enjoys.”
★★★★ Zeughauskeller, Zurich
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“Booking months in advance is not optional. The seating windows are narrow and fixed. It is very expensive by any standard and by Peruvian standards it is extraordinary. The altitude framing can feel like a lecture if yo…”
★★★★★ Central, Lima
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“Expensive, and shellfish prices climb quickly once you start adding. Being on the first floor makes it easy to walk past. It fills with the festival crowd in August, when booking becomes essential rather than advisable.”
★★★★★ Ondine, Edinburgh
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“Two thousand nine hundred krona before wine, and the pairings roughly double it. Small, so it books out. Everything tastes of smoke to some degree, which is the point and will not suit everyone.”
★★★★★ Ekstedt, Stockholm
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“A 20 euro per person deposit and fixed shifts, which is a lot of commitment for lunch. Tight, loud and cramped. It books out weeks ahead, and the shift system means you eat quickly whether you want to or not.”
★★★★★ Roscioli, Rome
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“Expensive for a sandwich, and it has become a destination as much as a deli. The ticket system baffles first-timers and losing the ticket carries a penalty. Queues run down the block at weekend lunchtimes.”
★★★★★ Katz's Delicatessen, New York City
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“The menu runs to pages and much of it is ordinary. Prices have crept well above what the room implies. It is inside a commuter terminal, so the noise and the churn at 6pm are considerable.”
★★★★ Grand Central Oyster Bar, New York City
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“It is very expensive whichever menu you take. The cheese supplement at 29 euros on top of a 95 euro lunch is steep. Parnell Square north is a quieter and scruffier part of the city than the price suggests.”
★★★★★ Chapter One, Dublin
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“Formality that can tip into stiffness. It trades heavily on its own history. The City Park location means a metro ride from the centre, and the immediate surroundings are park rather than city.”
★★★★ Gundel, Budapest
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“The cooking is solid rather than exciting. The historic-guest roll call is laid on thick. It is small, so a table needs booking, and the Nikolaiviertel around it is a postwar reconstruction that some find twee.”
★★★★ Zur letzten Instanz, Berlin
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“Closed Sundays, which catches weekend visitors. It is small and busy and the tables are tight. Being next to the meat market means the surrounding streets are not pretty.”
★★★★★ Ta Karamanlidika tou Fani, Athens
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“No a la carte and no menu published in advance, so dietary requirements need warning. Fifty-five euros before wine for lunch is a commitment. The greenhouse is hot on a summer afternoon, which is what greenhouses do.”
★★★★★ De Kas, Amsterdam
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“The cake queue outside is constant and can make arriving with luggage awkward. The decoration is maximalist and dark. Among the most expensive hotels in Vienna and, as with all of them, no fixed rate is published.”
★★★★★ Hotel Sacher Vienna, Vienna
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“Queues at Wollzeile that people join without realising the other branch exists. It is pork, not veal, so anyone expecting a Wiener Schnitzel in the strict sense should order accordingly. Service is efficient in the way …”
★★★★ Figlmuller, Vienna
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“The food is the weakest part and priced as though it were not. It is overwhelmingly tourists, and the staff process them accordingly. Loud to the point where conversation is work, and finding a table on a summer evening…”
★★★ Hofbrauhaus, Munich
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“The room is bright, white and loud, which people either love or find punishing. The menu is genuinely offal-heavy and does not apologise. Smithfield is dead quiet at night, so the walk to and from it is bleak.”
★★★★★ St John, London
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“Prices are high for what is fundamentally traditional cooking. The dining room is dark and closely packed. It is in Covent Garden, so the surrounding streets are a tourist crush from noon onwards, and the dress code is …”
★★★★ Rules, London
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“The takeaway queue is long and visible and pulls people into it unnecessarily. It is in Belem, a tram ride from the centre, and the whole area is heaving by mid-morning. A packet of six is a commitment.”
★★★★★ Pasteis de Belem, Lisbon
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“Four and a half thousand kroner before drinks, and the pairings add another two thousand. Booking is a newsletter lottery, not a reservation system. Closed three days a week. Refshaleoen is a taxi or a long cycle from t…”
★★★★★ Noma, Copenhagen
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“Very expensive, and the published rates are promotional rather than a real price list, so budgeting means getting a quote. Kongens Nytorv is a working square with traffic and, in summer, a constant flow of people. Grand…”
★★★★★ Hotel d'Angleterre, Copenhagen
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“Out-of-state visitors pay five dollars more than residents for the same museum. City Park is a long way from the Quarter and the streetcar takes its time. The building is grand but the galleries are conventional.”
★★★★ New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans
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“The upsell is relentless: three package tiers, extra experiences and a submarine simulator, all priced separately. It needs a full day and most visitors give it three hours. The tone is celebratory in a way that flatten…”
★★★★★ National WWII Museum, New Orleans
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“Twenty euros is at the top of the Italian range for a picture gallery. The hang assumes you know your Renaissance schools. The Brera district around it is expensive enough that lunch afterwards costs as much as the tick…”
★★★★★ Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
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“The ticket structure is genuinely confusing and there are at least five combinations. The queue for the terraces at midday in summer is brutal. Bare shoulders and knees are refused at the door and people arrive dressed …”
★★★★★ Duomo di Milano, Milan
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“It is too large to see properly in a day and most people try. English labelling is inconsistent. It sits in Chapultepec, so the walk in from the road is longer than expected, and Sunday is free for nationals and corresp…”
★★★★★ Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City
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“Three hundred and twenty pesos is the highest museum price in Mexico City and roughly double what residents pay. No tickets at the door means an unplanned visit is impossible. The rooms are small and the timed slots sti…”
★★★★★ Museo Frida Kahlo, Mexico City
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“Fifty soles is at the top of the Lima museum range. Pueblo Libre is a taxi ride from Miraflores and Barranco where most visitors stay. The erotic ceramics gallery is signposted in a way that guarantees crowds.”
★★★★★ Museo Larco, Lima
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“A hundred and ninety dollars is high by Hong Kong museum standards, where the public museums charge a fraction of it. Session-based ticketing means you commit to a time slot. Closed Mondays.”
★★★★★ M+, Hong Kong
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“There is no collection, nothing old and nothing that will surprise a sceptic. A hundred and sixty-nine dirhams is a lot for roughly ninety minutes. It sells out days ahead, and the ticket is date and time specific with …”
★★★★ Museum of the Future, Dubai
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“The permanent collection is not large and can be walked in an hour. Argentine prices move fast, so anything printed about the cost is out of date quickly. Palermo puts it a taxi or a long walk from the centre.”
★★★★★ MALBA, Buenos Aires
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“The crowds are the worst of any museum in Europe and the one-way route means you cannot escape them. The Sistine Chapel is a slow shuffle with guards shouting for silence. Booking online costs 5 euros more, not less, wh…”
★★★★★ Vatican Museums, Rome
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“Almost all labelling is in Italian, and English support is minimal. The Crypta Balbi has been temporarily closed. Monday closure. The neighbourhood immediately around Termini is the least appealing part of central Rome.”
★★★★★ Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome
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“Twenty euros fifty is a two-tier price: residents of Rome now enter free, so visitors pay for a museum locals do not. Labelling is thin in places and the layout across two palaces linked by an underground passage confus…”
★★★★★ Capitoline Museums, Rome
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“Eighteen euros is high for Lisbon, and the ticket tiers are confusing: the museum, the modern art centre and the combinations all cost different amounts. Closed Tuesdays. It is a metro ride from the tourist centre, whic…”
★★★★★ Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon
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“Twelve euros for a fairly small permanent collection, and temporary exhibitions can push the ticket to 14. Closed Tuesdays. The Kolonaki setting means everything around it is expensive too.”
★★★★★ Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens
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“Byzantine art is an acquired taste and the museum does little to ease you in. It closes at 15:30 on most days, which catches people planning an afternoon. Tuesday closure is easy to walk into.”
★★★★ Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens
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“The permanent displays are dense and text-heavy, and the story of the Confederation assumes more prior knowledge than most visitors have. Closed Mondays. The park behind it is pleasant but small.”
★★★★ Swiss National Museum, Zurich
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“Swiss prices: CHF 31 for a major show is among the highest in Europe. The two buildings are linked underground in a way that is easy to get wrong, and the cloakroom charges CHF 4 unless you bought online.”
★★★★ Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich
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“Dark, loud and emotionally heavy, and not remotely suitable for young children. The layout is confusing and easy to walk out of order. Closed on Tuesdays, which is not obvious to visitors used to Monday closures.”
★★★★★ Warsaw Rising Museum, Warsaw
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“It is aimed squarely at children and is loud and busy accordingly, particularly at weekends and during school holidays. Tickets are timed and sell out. The planetarium costs extra on top.”
★★★★ Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw
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“Thirty-five euros at the door is among the highest museum prices in Italy, and Piazza San Marco in July is a scrum from the moment it opens. The one-way route means you cannot go back for a second look, and the Bridge o…”
★★★★★ Palazzo Ducale, Venice
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“Special exhibitions are ticketed separately and often carry the queues. The site is large and spread across several buildings, so a full visit means a lot of walking. English labelling is good in the Honkan and thinner …”
★★★★★ Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo
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“A hundred and sixty krona is at the upper end for Stockholm. The building is large enough that a short visit feels rushed, and payment is card or Swish only, which catches cash-carrying visitors.”
★★★★★ Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
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“A hundred and seventy krona is not cheap, the permanent collection is smaller than the reputation suggests, and Skeppsholmen is a fifteen-minute walk from anywhere with a metro station.”
★★★★ Moderna Museet, Stockholm
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“Thirty-three hundred krona is real money for a two-hour museum, though everything in Iceland costs this. The building is a plain 1950s block on the university edge of town, and the walk out is dull in bad weather.”
★★★★ National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik
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“Six hundred crowns is a serious price in Prague terms, the circuit is busy for most of the year, and the narrow cemetery path funnels everyone into single file. The Old-New Synagogue is not included in the basic museum …”
★★★★★ Jewish Museum in Prague, Prague
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“It is too big to see in a day and the phased renovation means sections close without much warning. Signage in English is inconsistent in the older halls, and the sheer volume of exhibits with limited interpretation can …”
★★★★★ Deutsches Museum, Munich
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“It is small, dark and extremely popular, and timed slots sell out days ahead in summer. Sixty zloty is at the top of the Krakow museum range. Visitors expecting the film's story leave disappointed, and the crowding in t…”
★★★★★ Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory, Krakow
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“A hundred and forty kroner is steep for a museum you can see in ninety minutes, and Copenhagen is expensive enough already. The collection is narrow by design, so if you are not interested in objects you will be finishe…”
★★★★★ Design Museum Denmark, Copenhagen
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“Labelling in English is thinner than in Hungarian, and some rooms assume you already know the outline of Hungarian history. The full-price ticket at 3,500 forint is double what an EEA citizen pays, which is legal and co…”
★★★★ Hungarian National Museum, Budapest
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“Twenty-nine euros for an adult at the opening slot makes a family visit expensive. It is out at Parque das Nacoes, well away from central Lisbon, so it costs a metro trip each way. Weekends and school holidays are very …”
★★★★★ Oceanario de Lisboa, Lisbon
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“It is a twenty-minute walk from the Plaka in a workaday part of the city, which is why so many visitors skip it. The building is large and the labelling is uneven, so some outstanding objects are easy to walk past. Ther…”
★★★★★ National Archaeological Museum, Athens
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“Thirty euros is a significant increase on the historic price and there is a further ticket if you want the Acropolis Museum below. There is essentially no shade on the summit. Midday closures in summer heat are real and…”
★★★★★ Acropolis of Athens, Athens
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“The hall is deliberately dim and humidity-controlled to protect the timber, which makes photography hard and the space feel crowded faster than its size suggests. Two hundred and forty kronor is real money if you are al…”
★★★★★ Vasa Museum, Stockholm
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“Four institutions under one roof means uneven signage and visitors missing whole sections, particularly the basement design museum. Closed Mondays. Sundays are busy for the obvious reason. The Kunstareal district around…”
★★★★ Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
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“Contemporary art is divisive and this collection makes few concessions to visitors who are not already interested. Fifteen euros at the desk is avoidable by booking online, which not everyone realises. The Raval immedia…”
★★★★ MACBA, Barcelona
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“Twenty euros is on top of the separate ticket for the Acropolis itself, so seeing both is a real outlay. The building is busy from mid-morning through the afternoon in season. The reduced rate stays at 10 euros in winte…”
★★★★★ Acropolis Museum, Athens
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“Twenty euros is real money if you do not qualify for the concession and are already paying Venice prices for everything else. The labelling is sparse and largely assumes you know the painters. Booking online is through …”
★★★★★ Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
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“Thirty-five dollars for a weekday adult is steep next to Central Park, which is free. It is in the Bronx, so it costs a train ride and most of a day. The all-garden pass and grounds-only admission are different products…”
★★★★ New York Botanical Garden, New York City
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“The Ninomaru Palace interior is a single one-way route in socks with no photography permitted, so it moves at the pace of the group. The Honmaru Palace requires a separate advance reservation and its own ticket. Coach t…”
★★★★★ Nijo Castle, Kyoto
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“Turning up without booking costs 4 pounds more per adult for exactly the same visit. The route is fixed and one-way, so you cannot linger where you want to. The palace closes to visitors entirely during royal visits, wh…”
★★★★ Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh
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“It is relentless, text-heavy and takes concentration, and there is no light way through it. The indoor exhibition is a single dense hall that gets crowded in bad weather. The outdoor trench exhibition is exposed, so a w…”
★★★★★ Topography of Terror, Berlin
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“The collection is narrow by design, so visitors expecting a general modern art museum can find it thin. The first Wednesday is correspondingly busy. It sits in Kreuzberg away from the Museum Island cluster, so it needs …”
★★★★ Berlinische Galerie, Berlin
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“It is small, and if Hundertwasser does not interest you there is not much else. The deliberately uneven floors are genuinely awkward for anyone unsteady on their feet. It sits away from the central museum cluster, so it…”
★★★★ Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna
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“Fixed admission times mean the visit has to be planned around. The route is one-way and busy through the middle of the day. The gift-shop version of Sisi outside the museum flatly contradicts the honest account inside i…”
★★★★ Hofburg Imperial Palace, Vienna
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“The main space is enormous, cold and largely empty, which some visitors find impressive and others find a waste of sixteen euros. The dome climb is seasonal and closes in bad weather. The crypt is dimly lit and the labe…”
★★★★ Pantheon, Paris
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“The 1 euro Sunday is well known locally, so Sundays are correspondingly busy. Closed Mondays, which catches visitors out. The building sits in a museum quarter rather than a lively part of the city, so there is little a…”
★★★★★ Alte Pinakothek, Munich
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“There are no objects at all, which disappoints anyone expecting a conventional museum. Twenty-two euros is a lot for a screen-based experience in a city with several free national museums. Walk-up costs 2 euros more tha…”
★★★★ EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, Dublin
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“The architecture is deliberately disorienting, with slanting floors and dead ends, which some visitors find powerful and others find exhausting. Certain temporary exhibitions are charged despite the free core. It is a h…”
★★★★★ Jewish Museum Berlin, Berlin
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“From 29 euros is a lot for a single apartment building, especially if you are also paying for Sagrada Familia and Park Guell on the same trip. The route is one-way and the roof is small, so a full slot feels full. The P…”
★★★★ La Pedrera (Casa Mila), Barcelona
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“The room holding The Kiss is congested for most of the day and people queue to photograph it rather than look at it. The 23 euro ticket covers the Upper Belvedere only, so a full visit to both palaces costs more. The re…”
★★★★ Upper Belvedere, Vienna
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“Thirty dollars is a lot if you are 26 or over and do not qualify for any of the free routes. The collection is narrow by design, so if American twentieth-century art is not your interest there is little else. Free Frida…”
★★★★ Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
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“Everything is behind glass, so there is no open-air option at any price. The four-tier ticket ladder from 44 to 74 dollars makes the real cost hard to pin down before you start. The lift presentation and the routing thr…”
★★★ One World Observatory, New York City
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“Tickets start at 44 dollars and a 5 dollar booking charge is added to every transaction, so the advertised price is never the price. The upsell ladder from main deck to 102nd floor to flex tickets is aggressive. Queues …”
★★★★ Empire State Building, New York City
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“Thirty-three pounds is expensive and 37 on the day punishes spontaneity. Opening is seasonal, so the visit is unavailable for much of the year. The route is fixed and busy, and photography is restricted inside the State…”
★★★★ Buckingham Palace State Rooms, London
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