We’ve all been there. You (a tourist) are raging because too many other people (also tourists) decided to visit the exact same place as you at the exact same time. There’s truly nothing like being squished next to a total stranger to get you in the holiday spirit.
If you’re keen to avoid that at all costs, holiday rental company Casago set out to discover the world’s worst tourist traps. Those places that are teeming with overpriced souvenirs, overhyped restaurants and crowds cramped together like sardines.
Casago’s researchers scoured through thousands of TripAdvisor reviews to find the attractions with the highest number of mentions of the phrase ‘tourist trap’.
Edinburgh’s Royal Mile topped the list for the UK. During the Fringe in particular, you can barely see the cobblestones beneath all the foot traffic. One visitor called it a ‘tourist trap of world-leading proportions’, while another gave it two stars, describing it as ‘overcrowded and vulgar, the street has been given over to commercialism and has lost its soul’. Ouch.
If you can overlook the sheer number of people, though, many TripAdvisor reviewers say the historic street is definitely still worth a visit. Someone who gave the attraction five stars wrote: ‘Face it. This is a tourist trap. But a good one.’
The London Eye came second, with 334 mentions of ‘tourist trap’, followed by another London hotspot, Covent Garden, and then Land’s End down in Cornwall.
These are the UK’s worst tourist traps, according to Casago:
- Royal Mile, Edinburgh
- London Eye, London
- Covent Garden, London
- Land’s End Landmark, Cornwall
- Shambles, York
- The Needles, Totland
- Stonehenge, Salisbury
- The Cavern Club, Liverpool
- The Witchery by the Castle, Edinburgh
- Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House and Museum, Bath
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