We’ve all been ensnared by tourist traps, those vacation “must-sees” that turn out to be overcrowded, overpriced, and inauthentic should-have-skippeds. If you’re planning your summer vacation, here’s how to avoid the biggest and worst tourist traps, whether you’re traveling in the United States or internationally.
The key to avoiding tourist traps is preparation
By far the most effective way to identify and avoid tourist traps is to do some research before you leave. Guidebooks and travel websites can be good resources, but they can also be influenced by advertising and marketing, usually by the kind of places you’re trying to avoid. So the best way to research a destination is to talk to someone who lives in the place you’re visiting, or who used to live there. Reach out to your friends in real life and online and ask “Is anyone from Yonkers? I’m going there in June.” People love to recommend cool places and steer you away from lame ones; plus, these are people who know you so they’ll know what you like.
If you aren’t connected to someone who has lived in your destination, use Reddit. Almost every city has a subreddit, so post a respectful query on r/Yonkers about what to visit, where to stay, and what to avoid. Give some information about your interests and get ready to wade through a ton of often conflicting answers and arguments; that’s the way of the internet.
How to avoid tourist traps after you’ve arrived
If you’ve arrived at travel destination without a plan and you want to avoid tourist traps, do so by avoiding other tourists. If you find yourself somewhere with no sign of locals, it’s probably an inauthentic experience designed to separate rubes from their cash as quickly as possible. Gift shops are another marker—too many opportunities to buy trinkets should send you in the other direction.
In terms of restaurants, go where locals go. Avoid places with menus in multiple languages, hawkers trying to lure you inside, and gimmicky food—these are all signs of touristy places.
My idea of the very worst tourist trap on Earth is any cruise ship. I know some people enjoy these kind of experiences—there’s an open bar and you don’t have to worry about much of anything—but a cruise ship is the definition of a tourist trap: The only people there are tourists, and you’re literally trapped. On a boat. With other people.
The world’s worst tourist traps
Website Casago recently compiled a massive list of the world’s biggest tourist traps. They dug through Trip Advisor’s user reviews and determined the place mostly likely to be called a “tourist trap” by online reviewers. it. It’s a blunt instrument, but I can’t argue with the results: Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco is the world’s biggest tourist trap. The Dole Plantation in Hawaii, number three on the list, is pretty bad too.
But...when I looked a little deeper, it made me question whether avoiding all “tourists traps” is actually a good vacation goal in the first place.
Is St. Peter’s Basilica actually a tourist trap?
The descriptor of “tourist trap” is almost always seen as a negative, but maybe some people are using the phrase wrong. Sure, some places that attract tourists are faked-out experiences designed to empty wallets as quickly as possible (I’m looking at you, Cheeseburger in Paradise). But tourists also go to places because they’re cool, interesting, and unique. There’s a reason so many folks visit the Parthenon, and are you really going to travel to Paris and not go to the Eiffel Tower, supposedly the biggest tourist trap in France? Do you want to go to Rome and miss the Trevi Fountain because it’s surrounded by t-shirt shops?
When you’re traveling, you are a tourist, even if you don’t like what that means, so it’s often better to just embrace it—go ahead and wear that fanny pack; no one knows you here. Visit the absolute dumbest tourist spots you can find with the full knowledge that they’re lame. You’re on vacation!
People like to pay lip service to the idea having an “authentic” experience while traveling, but that’s usually not possible unless you’re staying for a while to get the vibe of a place, or you’re friends with some locals. And even if you do know some guys in Bali, most of the authentic people in tourist locations work at boring jobs in the tourism industry, marking the days until they can go on vacations of their own.
