Paris is a magical place. The smell of cigarettes and urine on the street creates the perfect ambiance for enjoying a croissant, and seeing the Mona Lisa through dozens of cell phone screens is exactly what every child dreams of. Times Square is just as enchanting, with hordes of Midwesterners pushing through to see screens of ads for Broadway musicals and people dressed up like Pikachu and Mario on the street…
While it’s inevitable for famous attractions to bring huge crowds, it’s important to have reasonable expectations when visiting some of the world’s most popular locations. So Reddit users have recently been sharing all about the “most disappointing, tourist infested” places they’ve ever been to. Keep reading to also find a conversation with travel expert King Siu of Solo Traveler, and be sure to upvote the replies you’ll keep in mind when planning your future travels!
#21
I’ve been to Las Vegas twice and both have been very underwhelming.
Everything is basically a giant fake a*s tourist trap that tries to imitate the real world locations, with slot machines stuffed everywhere up to the eyeballs, manned by fat old people trying to p**s away their life savings.
Clubs were fun, but the rest is a solid 6/10.
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39points
#22
Venice in August, I felt bad being there. Luckily was only a day trip but it was like something from a horror film.
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27points
#26
The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen was...underwhelming. To be fair though, I shouldn't really have expected to be whelmed by a little mermaid statue.
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26points
#28
Oxford Street, Central London. The place for you if you enjoy:
Claustrophobic levels of crowding, overpriced / borderline fraudulent retail, traffic that barely moves, groups of roadmen/hood teens everywhere
22points
#29
The leaning tower of Pisa.
A field of tourists trying to take a picture of the tower without other tourists in it and souvenir shops trying to sells those tourists stuff.
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19points
#30
Niagara Falls, overrun during the summer. The Ontario side is the tackiest of tourist destinations, the NY side is a great place to get shot in the face.
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17points
#31
Rome. People complain about Paris, but I really enjoyed it. Rome, on the other hand, was horrible. Amazing art and architecture everywhere, ancient ruins, the opulence of the Vatican... it's all there, but absolutely ruined by the thousands of tourists, the locals, and the overall dingy unkempt depressing nastiness of the city. Sorry, didn't love it.
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16points
#32
Cabo San Lucas. It's certainly pretty, and the tourists aren't the problem, it's that you can't go anywhere in town or on the beaches without being constantly hounded by people trying to sell you stuff.
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15points
#33
Dublin… nothing Irish about it. Every pub is Americanized to the max, to include a dude with a guitar playing the same American “hits” from the last 40 years.
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8points
#34
Downtown Reykjavík. Any Icelander knows what I'm talking about.
Quirky cute little downtown area thats just overswarmed with tourists and stores selling cheap puffin trinkets
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6points
#35
All the hottest places in Tokyo. I spent 3 weeks in Japan and loved 90% of it but Tokyo was a massive disappointment. Even in March, when international tourism was still slow to pick up, places like Harajuku, Shibuya, and Kabukicho were way too touristy and boring for my tastes and every other tourist seemed to have no idea what they even wanted to do or see, there. On the other hand, I endured tourist-infested areas of Kyoto well because the sights to see were extremely worth it. Kiyumizu-dera? Gorgeous. Totally worth the 9am crowds. Probably would not have felt the same at 1pm, who knows. Dotonbori in Osaka? Totally f*****g worth every crowd, it was so much fun. Tokyo? Not even close.
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6points