As the world is rapidly getting to the pre-Covid travel levels, more and more tourists flood famous and popular destinations, sometimes turning them into real tourist traps. But what is a tourist trap?
Definitions vary, but to me, it is a location that is so popular with tourists that their number eclipses the merits of the location itself. In other words, overhyped, and often overpriced for the reason of extreme popularity.
Tourist traps can be as small as a restaurant and as large as a city, and while generally, I would advise avoiding them like plague, there are a few that are still worth a visit despite being extremely popular. In this list, I would like talk about the fairly large tourist traps that are, in my opinion, still worth a journey.
10. Phuket, Thailand
I’ve written about Phuket several times in this blog, and as you could tell, I’m quite fond of this island. But the numbers of tourism to Phuket are simply staggering since all post-Covid restrictions have been lifted. So far, in 2023 there have been a mind-blowing 24.5 million visitors to this relatively small island with a population of about half a million people. While many of the visitors come on short-term holidays, a huge amount of them do stay for longer terms and even relocate to Phuket permanently. Russians in particular have an incredible fondness for Phuket, amounting to over 400,000 long-term visitors – nearly as many as natives. Some parts of the island feel much more like Sochi than Southeast Asia, and an overwhelming majority of customers in 7-elevens or supermarkets speak Russian. The traffic along the coastal road, especially in Patong and Bang Tao, in high season can turn into parking lots, taking over 2 hours to cover the 20km distance from the airport.
And yet, there is a reason you should still consider a visit. As I wrote in one of my previous posts, that reason is the beaches. While you can get Thai food, cheap massages and go-go girls (which is a big reason to visit for many) in many other parts of Thailand, the beaches are second to none. And you have more than one – about 20, in fact. So no matter where you stay in Phuket, you’ll be amazed at the water clarity, marine life, quality of beaches and those famous Andaman sunsets. My advice to you if you come as a tourist – stay away from the southern half of the island with its shopping malls and girly bars and stay closer to the airport, where the beaches are just as nice but the peace and quite have not yet been overly contaminated by the masses of foreign visitors.
9. Cancun, Mexico
Going from one famous beach destination to another, Cancun is famous worldwide, but particularly in the US due to its relative proximity to the lower 48 states and being a blissful winter-time beach paradise. Indeed, the narrow strip of the beautiful beach is overbuilt with 4 and 5-star hotels and all-inclusive resorts that attract millions of sun-seekers year round – over 8 million in 2023 alone. In Cancun “Zona hoteliera”, or the hotel zone, it’s almost impossible to feel as if you’re in Mexico, as everything is close in prices to the US, most people you’ll see around you are Americans, and the entire long road feels like a never-ending strip mall with hotels, restaurants, shops and bars.
But if you “do” Cancun right, you can enjoy all that and STILL get a taste of Mexican life. All you have to do is stay in Cancun town rather than Zona hoteliera, and take a cheap bus to the beaches. Yes, it’s a schlep, but keeping in mind that beaches in Mexico are all public property, you can pick and choose any part of the 24km-long strip of sand. And then, coming back to your local hotel, you can dine on more authentic local food than you’d get at Senor Frog’s. Better yet, you can take an easy ferry to Isla Mujeres. While no doubt touristy, it’s nowhere near the grandeur of Cancun itself. And of course, you can visit the amazing nearby Mayan sites, such as Chichen Itza and Tulum on your own rather than being herded in a tour bus.
8. Yellowstone National Park, USA
To be honest, many of American national parks could be described as bit of tourist traps, but Yellowstone has been there for quite some time now. The main issue is that, unlike in most other national parks, the most famous sights of Yellowstone, such as Old Faithful geyser or Grand Prismatic Hot Spring, can all be seen from basically the same narrow walkways or viewing platforms that you would share with huge crowds from bus tours, including massive numbers of Chinese visitors. In other words, it is impossible to separate yourself from the crowds by walking off into a lesser known trail, as in Yosemite, Zion or Acadia or Arches national parks. In 2023 so far, well over 4 million people have visited Yellowstone, so you can image how tight the space might feel on those narrow wooden walkways.
But is it still worth a visit? Absolutely. Yellowstone is the world’s second largest volcanic system (after the wonderful Lake Toba in Sumatra), and it manifests itself in spectacular geothermal activity, which is what mainly attracts all these crowds. It’s worth seeing regardless of how touristy the park might feel, but that’s not everything Yellowstone can offer – far from it. There are dozens of off-beaten path trails in the park that will see but a trickle of tour bus crowds, such as Lower Falls trail, Fairy Falls trail to Imperial and Spray geysers, Storm Point loop – and these are just a handful of the easy ones. There are plenty of moderate and difficult hiking routes that park officials will happily share with you. Beware of the bisons, however – these magnificent creatures are beautiful and generally peaceful, but you don’t want to piss one off by coming too close. Needless to say, the same applies to the bears.
7. Dubrovnik, Croatia
Dubrovnik was a popular destination even before Game of Thrones serial was ever released, but since then, numerous fans of the show have added to the already big tourist crowds. While Covid-19 slowed things down for a bit as it did everywhere, in 2023, nearly 1.5 million people have visited this town with a population of less than 50,000. It remains the most popular destination in Croatia, which is smack-full of top-notch sights, and one of the most popular European destinations for visitors from North America and Asia. Its medieval cobbled streets can seem like human ant houses on a typical summer day, with tour groups and cruise ship passengers flooding every square meter of the very compact town.
Still, I recommend visiting Dubrovnik, as long as you know what to expect and are prepared to mitigate the negative experience. How? Well, for starters, the best times of taking a stroll in its streets are either early morning or after dark, when the cruise ships are gone. Climb up the steeper streets to avoid the tour group sheeple and to catch a better view. Staying in Dubrovnik will allow you to rest during the day and take walks during unconventional times, but staying a bit out of the way will help you save money and encourage you to pay more attention to the surrounding Dalmatian coast. And by the way, there are several similarly beautiful but less visited medieval towns within a day’s driving distance, such as Ston, Korcula or Mostar in the neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina.
6. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
The legendary Ha Long Bay in Northern Vietnam will receive an estimated 2.6 million visitors in 2023, which, considering that all of them will come by water, can make the place feel like it’s swarming with tourist ships of all sizes. This boat frenzy results in both noise pollution and water contamination, making the waters of Ha Long Bay basically unswimmable. Most tourists that book their tours with a typical agency in Hanoi or elsewhere in Vietnam will follow a very similar itinerary where your only hope is that your boat will arrive a bit earlier or a bit later than the bulk. All of that can make it a rather subpar experience.
And yet, I believe it is still a worthy destination. The submerged karst landscape of Ha Long Bay is very special indeed – enough to be a part of UNESCO World Heritage list, and the dramatic scenery of limestone haystack rocks dotting the waterscape is one of a kind. Yes, there are rather similar-looking Phang-nga Bay in Thailand and Bacuit Archipelago in the Philippines, but none have the striking beauty of Ha Long, and at any rate, both are very touristy in their own right.
To mitigate the any negative impressions of your Ha Long Bay visit, consider staying on Cat Ba island for a couple of days. From there, there will be multiple excursions to Lan Ha Bay, which is basically the extension of Ha Long, albeit slightly less packed with those limestone rocks. However, you can arrange your own boat to Ha Long from Cat Ba’s northern pier, which might be the only way to experience it differently.
5. Paris
I know it’s a bit of a stretch to call Paris a tourist trap. It’s a huge bustling city, with multiple attractions. Sure, Eiffel Tower, Montmartre Hill or the Louvre are pretty close to being the quintessential tourist traps – overrun by crowds, overrated (well, to some degree) and overpriced. Paris has such a hyped-up reputation that almost everybody’s first visit there is a slight disappointment – expensive, noisy, full of rude locals and Chinese tour buses.
And to some degree, there is all that, yes. But there is so much more. If you allow yourself time to explore it, learn some rudimental French and explore less than touristy neighbourhoods with their boulangeries, cafes and bistros, you will be able to experience it like locals do. Make your own itinerary – there are thousands of resources out there – and even when you visit the must-see sights such as the Louvre, make sure you do it in less than peak times and don’t try to do it all at once. Patience is the key virtue for Paris, and it will reward you richly.
And do visit some of my personal favourite sights: Pere Lachaise cemetery (which is my top favourite cemetery in the world), D’Orsay museum, La Tour Montparnasse, St. Eustache church, Centre Georges Pompidou… you can continue with your own list which can be as long as you are willing to explore this one of a kind city.
4. Bali
I have recently written about Bali and what a wonderful destination it is despite its immense popularity. Yes, it’s by far the most famous and touristy destination in Indonesia, but the nearly 5 million people have come here in 2023 for all the good reasons.
Beaches, volcanoes, rice terraces, waterfalls, jungle treks are all excellent in Bali. But what stands it apart from other similar destinations in Southeast Asia is the culture – a unique flavour of Hinduism that firmly shapes the local character and traditions, and appeals to millions of visitors in various forms, from temple visits to yoga and meditation retreats.
Southern Bali, where the absolute majority of foreign visitors base themselves can indeed look and feel like a massive tourist trap. Shopping malls, countless hotels and beach resorts, bars and massage parlours of the full spectrum of price ranges and shadiness, and most harrowingly, the extremely congested roads that clearly hadn’t been built with these tourist numbers in mind.
But drive away even a little bit north of the imaginary arc of Canggu-Ubud-Semarapura, and an entirely different Bali will present itself. The roads are suddenly a pleasure to drive on, traffic jams are non-existent, the hills get steeper, the air gets cleaner, and the scenery, including the coasts, is gorgeous anywhere you look. All that without taking anything away! Well, except maybe the noisy nightlife. So there’s no doubt in my mind that anyone can enjoy their Bali visit as long as they do it right.
3. Grand Canyon, USA
Another extremely popular national park on this list is Grand Canyon, the world-famous giant chasm carved in the Arizona desert by the Colorado River over millions of years. It may be not the world’s deepest canyon (that’s Kali Gandaki in Nepal) or the longest (that’s Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet), but it’s the most photogenic and by far, the most visited. Majority of visitors – well over 5 million each year – go the South Rim, where numerous viewing platforms can often feel like human monkeyhouses with thousands of gawkers shuttled around by the busload.
Sounds like a perfect tourist trap, right? Yes and no. While South Rim no doubt offers great views, its major advantage is accessibility, first and foremost, from Las Vegas and Phoenix. But drive a little longer to the North Rim, and you would be granted the same sweeping vistas with just a fraction of tourists. The catch? Well, it is a much longer drive, and on top of that, Route 67 that leads to it does close for winter months.
There are other ways to stay away from the tourist masses in Grand Canyon – for example, taking a hike. Yes, you can hike all the way to the Colorado River, but that’s a 2-day trek round-trip. If you don’t have that much time or physical fitness, take one of the day hikes suggested by the National Park Service, and you’ll see much fewer people along the way than at observation points. And if you are more into 4-wheeling than trekking, you can take a rather challenging drive to Toroweap Overlook – a point where the canyon narrows to less than a kilometer while preserving the same depth, creating vertiginous cliffs which you can walk to if you dare.
2. Las Vegas, USA
It’s only natural to mention Las Vegas right after Grand Canyon, as this is where the majority of visitors to the latter usually visit from. And what can be a better definition of a tourist trap than Vegas, the city that was basically built to extract money from the visitor’s wallets at every step?
40 million visitors come to Las Vegas every year – a staggering number, even if you consider that about 10% of them come for various business and trade conventions that are held there continuously. And the apotheosis of all this tourist influx is basically one road, a 4.2 mile section of Las Vegas Boulevard better known as the Strip. It is here where the majority of the world’s most famous casino hotels are situated. Who in the world hasn’t heard of the Bellagio, the Mirage, the Caesar’s Palace, the Luxor? And those are just a few of the absolutely grand casino-accommodation-entertainment complexes that line the Strip’s entire length. Vegas may have lost its top spot in casino revenue to Macau for obvious reasons, but that doesn’t make it any less famous world-wide.
So unless you are a gambling addict or a party animal with cash to throw away, why on Earth would you come here?
Well, I used to think that way too, and avoided Vegas like plague for years. But after a couple of visits with friends or on business, I got drawn to its monumental and ultimate representation of human arrogance, as someone said. Remember, observing it doesn’t mean participating in it, and there is plenty to observe and partake in here besides gambling. World’s most famous entertainers such as Cirque du Soleil, Celine Dion, Adele, Garth Brooks, Kylie Minogue all have residencies in Vegas, meaning they have regular shows that you can catch any time you visit. But yes, they aren’t cheap. Not to worry – Vegas has something for every wallet. The magnificent hotel lobbies are all worth looking at even if you don’t stay there, and the free shows like Bellagio’s fountains are a treat. And whether you play at a high-roller casino or not, you are welcome to eat at numerous reasonably-priced (well, compared to California or New York) buffets that seem to be on offer at every hotel.
And don’t forget that Las Vegas is a living, large American city, with majority of residents rarely setting their foot on the Strip. It might not be the most exciting one, but it’s an excellent stepping stone for multiple amazing natural and man-made attractions, such as the Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire, Mount Clarleston, just to name a few. And even if gambling is your thing but you can’t stand the fanfare and the neon lights of the Strip, just about any motel and convenience store in Nevada will have a casino or at least a few slot machines. So go on, try your luck!
1. Venice, Italy
Venice receives over 20 millions of tourists every year. Just think about it. This is not the rather big island, such as Bali or Phuket, nor is it a spread-out desert city like Las Vegas. It’s a rather small town covering with a population of just over 50 000 people living in the historical part. There are about 200 000 more living in the mainland part of Venice but that’s not the area receiving the lion’s share of the tourists.
Isn’t it the definition of a tourist trap and at the very least, overtourism? I would completely agree with the latter. I cannot even imagine visiting Venice at the height of the summer holiday season. I don’t think the daily number of tourists can physical fit in the town’s narrow walking pavements along the canals without falling in. You can forget about visiting anything inside, and as for dining, I’ve been told that Venice has the worst food in Italy. That’s a big statement, but it makes sense, as perhaps 90% of restaurants cater to the people they would never see again. We are not just talking European tourists or independent travellers. No, Venice also attracts massive numbers of tour groups from the Far East and cruise ship passengers by tens of thousands.
So, despite all this, why would I recommend visiting it? I mean, it’s pretty obvious what brings all this tourism to La Serenissima, as Venice is endearingly called. It’s absolutely unique. No other self-proclaimed “Venice of this or that”, such as Amsterdam, Stockholm, St. Petersburg Kyoto – you name it – comes close to the real thing. I cannot think of another city in the world that is as beautiful and cozy and romantic and charming at the same time. And that’s before you even visit the very beautiful outlying island communities of Venice Lagoon, such as Burano, Murano or Lido.
Then how to visit it without being traumatized for life by extreme overcrowdedness? Well, first of all – avoid summer months. Visit in late autumn or winter, but before the famous Carnival, unless of course, you want to watch it (and the crowds that do, too). If you must visit during the peak periods, spend more time in the city at night. And of course, stay well outside San Marco precinct and instead opt for slightly more local – again, relatively speaking – Dorsoduro or Santa Croce districts. If you can find accommodation that doesn’t break your bank, of course!