“Bad Human Behavior Everywhere”: 60 Places That Are No Longer Worth Visiting Due To The Crowds

Popular tourist destinations are popular for a reason, but that often means that you are stuck battling hundreds, if not thousands of other travelers who all want to pose in front of the same statue, room, or fountain.
Someone asked “Which trip/location was ruined for you because of crowds?” and netizens shared their best (and worst) examples. We also got in touch with veteran traveler Lauren Juliff to learn more. So get comfortable as you scroll through, prepare to take some notes, upvote your favorites, and be sure to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.

More info: Never Ending Footsteps

10 PHOTOS

#1

As a Canadian, tourism in the Banff National Park is destroying the environment. Hard to enjoy when you're seeing such disrespect for it constantly around you.

#2

Most tourist attractions in China. People think they've seen crowds... they haven't seen crowds in China.

#3

“Bad Human Behavior Everywhere”: 60 Places That Are No Longer Worth Visiting Due To The Crowds
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Barcelona yet. We first went in 2003 and loved it. Lots of tourists, but it was under control. Went again in 2009 and it was more crowded, but bearable. Went again in 2017 and it was kind of insane. It was wall-to-wall tourism. It was like a theme park.

Pictolic got in touch with blogger and veteran traveler Lauren Juliff and she was kind enough to answer some of our questions. Firstly, we wanted to hear what travel tips she would have given her younger self.

“I would tell myself that everybody has bad experiences when they travel. When I first set out to travel the world, it felt like I had walked straight into disaster. I got heatstroke, I got lost, and I got scammed — all within the first month of my trip! It’s something that not many travelers write about online — on Instagram, everybody shares their highlight reel, but there aren’t many people who are willing to share that nasty bout of food poisoning they just encountered.”

#4

Santorini. Went in October and it was still packed! Some tourists were super rude too

Edit: just in Oia I meant!

#5

Yosemite. Go there for the peace and calm of a national park, to be greeted with filled parking lots, illegally parked cars blocking others, tik tokers going way off marked trails ruining nature, and bad human behavior everywhere.

#6

I'm shocked that no one has said Prague.
I've been to many of the places named in this thread, including Venice in the summer and Kyoto in April, but nothing was as bad as Prague in September. Wall-to-wall tourists and all the shops sold cheap tourist c**p. The main square was full of bad street performers that had nothing to do with Prague. It felt more like medieval Disneyland than a real city. We didn't like it at all.

“For a long time, I thought that the problem was me. I believed that everybody else was successfully traveling the world and having an incredible time, so I had to be doing something wrong. Of course, I wasn’t doing anything wrong! Everybody has bad things happen to them when they travel, whether it’s lost luggage, being pickpocketed, or missing a flight. What’s important is to stay calm when something terrible happens. Breathe, collect yourself, and strategize a response: what can you learn from this experience?”

#7

Kyoto. Just left the other day. I imagined Kyoto was some peaceful provincial antithesis of Tokyo. That is how it is marketed,anyway. But the crowds are intense. I’m talking 10s of thousands of people amassing at the popular sites: Fushimi Inari, Arashiyama, Nishiki, Kiyomizu Dera, and Ninenzaka / Sanneizaka. Nowhere to move. Nowhere to escape.

To me, Kyoto is the poster child of how Instagram (and the mass affluence of society) ruined nice things.

#8

The Vatican inside St Peter's Basilica. This was pre-COVID so the experience may be different now but there were so many people. I wanted to stay inside the Sistine Chapel to admire the ceiling paintings but I was being pushed along and it was so noisy.

It was still a fun experience but spoiled my experience of looking at the relics and paintings.

#9

Santa Monica in California. Used to be cool but now it’s just so packed it’s hard to even enjoy.

We also wanted to hear her opinion on how to figure out budgeting and time versus cost. “If you have the funds to allow you to make the most of your travels, then it’s worth doing so. Time is the only resource that cannot be replenished, so it’s important to make the most of what we do have. If you have limited vacation time each year and paying extra allows you to see more of the world, I can certainly understand why somebody would make that choice.”

“Paying more money allows you to avoid many of the stresses that travel brings: you can choose to skip long layovers, reduce your chances of lost luggage by flying direct, avoid crowded transportation, and stay in safer neighborhoods.”

#10

Angkor Wat. The first time I went there was in 2001 monks were all over and locals genuinely friendly. Now you’re a number and it’s so crowded and full of rules that it’s hard to enjoy.

Lastly, we were curious about what general tips she might have. “Make sure to read up about the destination you’ll be traveling to: learn a few words of the local language, research any common scams, and make sure you’ve packed the correct clothing if traveling to a conservative country.”

“Get travel insurance before you leave: it’s always better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to your health. As somebody who has been hospitalized in four different countries while traveling, knowing that I wasn’t going to end up with an enormous medical bill at the end made the whole experience a lot less stressful.”