Is “too touristy” a putdown or a valid warning?
Eiffel Tower – all to ourselves in late January
We’ve all had the conversation. You mention a place you’ve visited, or thinking you’d like to visit, and someone will respond, “Oh no, it’s way too touristy!” The implication is you might be a special sort of someone because you want to go or went there and :::gasp::: possibly even enjoyed yourself.
Paris? Oh no, too touristy. (I love it, Pete is like, “meh.”)Going up in the Eiffel Tower? You’ll wait forever. (We didn’t wait at all; it was in January.) Dubrovnik? Too touristy. (Stayed in the thick of the Old City and we both loved it.) Bruges? Too touristy by far, go to Ghent. (Could be true, loved Ghent, but didn’t make it to Bruges.) The Pyramids? Don’t bother. (Suspect we might feel the same.) Munich’s Hofbrauhaus or Englischer Garden? You’ll hate them, way too touristy. (We loved them! We’re German and we like beer.)
Now let’s face it, all of these places and many more can be considered too touristy, yet they are constantly visited by new and seasoned travelers alike. There’s a reason touristy places become popular. They’re significant – historical (London Bridge) or geographical landmarks (Niagara Falls), pieces of art (little Mona behind her plexiglas case), remembrances (Pearl Harbor), famous (Hollywood Walk of Fame).
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- This guy’s a tourist!
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- Seriously, stop the clowning!
So, we wondered, what makes a place “touristy” but not “too touristy” to consider a visit? And what about a place would deem it far “too touristy” to recommend or return? Let’s look: What does “too touristy” mean?
It was touristy to ask to take their pic, but I did anyway.
“Too touristy” can mean “too many people” are present. Big parking lots full of buses disgorging their passengers. Interminable queues. Crowded aisles and pathways. A gazillion gawkers in front of the disappointingly tiny Manneken Pis. Getting shoved off the sidewalk before you learn to invoke a “stand your ground” attitude. No place to park in crowded streets. Cruise ships pulling up and letting down the gangplank for the stampede.
Lots of tourists
Too touristy to care!!
“Too touristy” can mean the attractions are tacky or lowbrow – or perhaps lower brow than you, personally. It’s a moving target, in our opinion. We can’t stand the thought of a single minute more in Gatlinburg or Branson, but we know people who stop every time they’re within 50 miles. And Betsy never would have danced with Chubby Checker if we hadn’t gone initially.
Another “See Rock City” billboard would have had us nearly apoplectic, but we’ve stopped at Wall Drug to get bottled water and a free bumper sticker. Graceland? Well, we loved it!
So kitschy it’s cool!
This is way touristy
“Too touristy” can mean accommodations and other activities cost more than you think they should. You can’t blame someone for taking economic advantage of desirability. We passed, recently, on a weekend in London. Hotel rooms, in very short supply to begin with, were three times higher than they were on a Tuesday. A two-night stay in an already expensive city was going to cost us an estimated $1000 when everything we wanted and needed – meals, entertainment, a place to sleep, and transportation to get there – was factored. How about anything with Disney in front of it? World, land or store, it’s all way overpriced in our opinion, but they don’t seem to be impacted by the loss of our future business. We know folks who visit Disney on an annual basis, or even more often.
Pulling the lion’s tail? Yep, touristy. The other guy looks like he might’ve lost his arm doing it, so beware!
“Too touristy” can mean overly commercial. In Istanbul outside of the Grand Bazaar, we stopped for a quick bite in one of the open air restaurants. We couldn’t eat in peace because every couple of minutes some tout was shoving a box of Chanel No. 5 (yeah, right) perfume in our faces, or dangling a toy on a keychain over our plates. By the time we finished our meal, Pete was practically screaming at them all, and still they wouldn’t stop. We went into the Grand Bazaar, took one look at the streaming crowds in the first passageway, took this photo, and left.
Get me out of here! The Grand Bazaar is too crowded!
The Mall of America? Let’s not go there, or even say we did, except to duck into Nordstrom and duck back out again as was our habit when we lived in Minneapolis. Anything with “Outlet” in the name? Just, no. Yet these kinds of purely-for-shopping destinations have raving fans who return in every season.
Soooo hot and had to wait for a table. Too many tourists!
So clearly, “too touristy” is in the eye of the beholder, or the traveler who is self-aware. If you’ve built high expectations ahead of a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit a place you’ve heretofore dreamed all your life of seeing, you’ve got to be prepared for those expectations not to be met, we think.
Our guide actually encouraged this touristy shot in Belgrade!
Yet, we also believe that you shouldn’t rule out visiting that same place or doing the thing you dreamed of doing, because if you don’t, how will you know for sure? Will you honestly be able to say to yourself, “Oh, I dreamed of visiting Prague for years, but I decided not to because someone said it was too touristy” without a little twinge for what might have been? Or, shorter version: “Will I regret not having this moment?”
Was it a boneheaded tourist request to get my pic with this wonderful 90-year-old lady?
Over to you, which places have you visited, or would you never visit whether you have or not, because they’re “too touristy” and why?
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I’ve actually never not gone to a place because it was ‘too touristy’. But I enjoy stuff that is camp. And, I don’t have a well-defined sense of highbrow. Sure, I hate the commercial aspect when you get the hard sell – but how many places are ‘real’? We are all just passing through any place you visit in my opinion . It takes years to get to know anywhere and even then, there are still elements you miss. I have been in London 17 years and I still don’t understand why many people in England don’t wash the soap off their dishes. (I kid you not – people soap a dish but then don’t rinse, but stick in the drying rack). So I consider myself still a tourist in England.
Hi Shobha – I didn’t know that about no-rinse dishwashing – or washing up as they say – in England! Good point about we’re not seeing the “real” anyway, too. I love it when people get up off the couch and go to new places. Just don’t shove a box of fake perfume in my face when I’m trying to eat. 😉
Really interesting article! I generally define touristy places as ones that are pretty famous and popular among travellers – they therefore tended to be crowded, have lots package or tour groups and are consequently more expensive. Generally I avoid them like the plague. However, my recent visit to Uluru in Australia (Ayres Rock) proved me wrong. I was so glad I went to see this amazing monolith – it really does exceed expectations and I saw hardly any tour groups!
Hi Steph – Your definition is pretty much what mine would be, and I think we’re right to anticipate it wouldn’t be a fun experience. Except there you go, proving us wrong! 🙂
There are some places that are touristy that we won’t go to again (Telluride, Colorado – two visits, ever and Sun Valley, Idaho) and others that we will stop in every chance (Jackson, Wyoming and Estes Park, Colorado – multiple times over the years for both). All of those are places that some people might see as too touristy, and I can understand that point of view. I guess it just comes down to what clicks for folks. (Notice all of these are in the Rockies – our number one favorite region – imagine that.)
We’ve been to the Orlando are several time and probably won’t make it to the Disney or other theme parks again. It’s not that they are too touristy for us. I just don’t care for the cost. Interestingly, one of the last business trips I went on was for a multi-day meeting held in one of the Disney Hotels. We had fun on that trip and a couple of other business related trips to the Orlando area — and, yes, we did do the theme parks.
Hi Mike – I’m with you on Jackson and Estes Park. Love them both. And we, too, have been to Orlando (and Vegas for that matter) a sufficient number of times. Not that we wouldn’t accept an assignment to either, similar to what you’ve indicated, it’s just that under our own steam, we’ll head elsewhere.
Sometimes, the crowd just ruin the moment. My partner and I prefer definitely to find non touristic spots so we can enjoy it, get some nice shots (without any people in our pictures!). Crowd also means tourist traps on some points… and this is sad. I’m glad that I saw the Eiffel tower, but I really don’t regret not waiting to climb it. 🙂
Hi Melissa – Oh, I hear you on that. I am not a fan of crowds, and once I pass into semi-panic about the number of people, there is no comeback for me other than escape.
Hahaha. I LOVED this!!! I find myself so guilty of “complaining” about spots or attractions being too touristy.
And I often get emails asking for “not too touristy” suggestions.
Seeing the word touristy used so much, I started to question if it was an actual word or did we make it up as travelers? Haha.
Great read! Definitely put things in perspective for me 🙂
Hi Gloria – So glad you enjoyed it. Everyone, it seems, wants to avoid places that are “too touristy” but no one can agree exactly on what that means. 🙂
Always a funny topic to look at. I have started to embrace the ‘too touristy’ thing as a positive, touristy things attract tourists for a reason. In general I head to non-touristy areas often (currently in Minsk, Belarus).
My definition: Too touristy happens at the point where it’s simply too many people for the size of the attraction. If one person extra visits, it effects the overall feel negatively.
Woah, feel like I was thinking about Supply/Demand back in economics writing that lol
I really hate crowds, so I never travel in the summer, staying home in Toronto.
I’ve done lots of the tourist things and have no regrets about any of them. Yes, I have a picture of me on a camel between the pyramids at Giza. The touts were oppressive, but that had much to do with the complete lack of tourists.
Niagara Falls, Ontario is about as low-brow as you can get, but I’ll be there this weekend, for the nearby Shaw Festival.
Disney, and anything related, I will never do.
Hi George – Yes, I think we all have our “will do” and “won’t do” preferences. We don’t like crowds, either, but we loved Dubrovnik in August. Go figure.
Sometimes places are touristy for a reason – off the beaten path can be nice sometimes but some places have few visitors because there is nothing appealing there.
I love some touristy places a lot. Rome, Yosemite and the Disney parks are all places I would visit again tomorrow. But I try to avoid the busiest times of year when I visit heavily touristed places, and when I can’t do that I plan my days to avoid the biggest crowds.
Hi Cath – Yes, and all these aspects are subjective. I couldn’t care less about ever setting foot in a Disney property again (although I probably will try and finagle a trip somehow if we ever have grandchildren, but just once!). And even though we’ve recommended avoiding the busiest times (such as when we wrote about Mallorca), we very much enjoyed Split and Drubrovnik at the height of tourist season – August. There’s definitely a reason places are popular. Halong Bay comes to mind – there wasn’t any way we weren’t going to see it, and even though there were lots of boats and people there, it was amazing. 🙂