Tourist sites 'prove turn-offs'

But the ancient monument rates no worse than the Eiffel Tower, which tops the list for overseas tourist destinations.

The Virgin Travel Insurance poll found the Statue of Liberty to be almost as uninspiring as the Angel of the North.

More than 1,200 adults voted on the best and worst attractions at home and abroad, with Northumberland's Alnwick Castle taking the UK's top spot.

MOST DISAPPOINTING SIGHTS
UK:

• Stonehenge
• Angel of the North, Gateshead
• Blackpool Tower
• Land's End, Cornwall
• Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, London

• The Eiffel Tower, Paris
• The Louvre, Paris
• Times Square, New York
• Las Ramblas, Barcelona
• Statue of Liberty, New York

Of the Eiffel Tower one respondent complained: "So long to get to the top and when you get there it's not even impressive.

"The queues are ridiculous and the lasers beamed from it at night just make it look super-tacky."

People volunteered their views in an online survey, making their selections from a list of 24 locations in the UK and 25 abroad.

Travel writer Felice Hardy described Stonehenge as "an isolated pile of rocks in a usually muddy field".

She said: "It's easy to be swayed by brochures that opt for the mainstream and focus on cliched tourist sights around the world, but many of them are overcrowded and disappointing."

Another survey respondent was unimpressed with Stonehenge's location "next to a motorway, hardly the most spiritual of settings.

"Watching the traffic fly didn't contribute to my enlightenment."

Stonehenge director Peter Carson said he was waiting for the government to decide whether the A303 could be diverted through a tunnel where it passes the monument.

He said: "There is no doubt that Stonehenge is a must-see destination even though the current visitor facilities are inadequate for the number of people who visit each year."

MUST-SEE SIGHTS
UK:

• Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
• Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, County Antrim
• The Royal Crescent, Bath
• Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London
• The Backs, Cambridge

• The Treasury at Petra, Jordan
• The Grand Canal, Venice
• The Masai Mara, Kenya
• Sydney Harbour Bridge
• Taroko Gorge, Taiwan

Planning permission for a new visitor centre at the Wiltshire site was granted in March 2007 and in July Stonehenge made the finals on a new list of wonders of the world.

But Jason Wyer-Smith of Virgin Travel Insurance sympathised with people's disappointment when famous features did not live up to expectations.

He said: "The key to holiday heaven could well be seeking out the hidden gems rather than joining the crowds in holiday hell."

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