“All that the palace shows you is how the elitist lived their lives with going to parties, and hoarding paintings,” she wrote in 2019 on Yelp.
“The place was all so godly which was tacky in my eyes,” she added and recommended people save their money and spend it on something less lame.
Another traveller named Crow F from Northwest Washington gave the Palace two stars but only because she felt bad about the Queen’s death.
“I would have given this place one star but I feel bad for your recent loss,” she wrote, adding that the people at the palace were “weird” and made her miss her home state of Ohio.
According to Jim B from Buffalo New York, the issue was that despite its reputation, the spot was uninteresting.
“The truth behind it all is that Buckingham Palace is well, boring. Some say it’s the most recognizable building in the world, but I think it’s rather dull,” he wrote in 2019.
In particular, American tourists were let down by The Changing of the Guard ceremony, which was supposedly crowded and took too long.
“Even during winter time, it was crowded and the change of guard took forever,” wrote Ester L from Los Angeles. “I thought it was a waste of time but I guess if you’ve never seen it before it’s worth seeing once,” she added.
Becky M from Rescue, California, described it as the biggest tourist trap letdown she had ever experienced. While she was excited to set the Changing of the Guards and arrived 30 minutes early, she realised tourists needed to arrive upwards of two hours early to get a good spot at the front of the gates.
You can’t get any pictures. And you really won’t understand what the heck is going on.”
Similarly, Pete F from Orange County, California, thought he would see a display of “pinpoint precision” that was solemn and rich in pageantry.
“Little did I know I would be waiting over an hour to watch what I would compare to a mediocre halftime college football marching band performance,” he wrote.
However, there were some thrilled visitors who happily gave the destination five stars and a glowing review.
Reviewers from Florida, New York, North Carolina and Washington all admitted the Palace was often “extremely crowded” and photography is banned in many spots but knew this is often the case with world-famous tourist attractions.
“A place where everyone in London knows and is a fairly busy place to be,” wrote Matthew U from Washington. “A total tourist trap as well, but not in a bad way.”
