There are plenty of attractions that you must see when traveling. You can’t go to Paris for the first time without seeing the Eiffel Tower, and few people want to come home from Yellowstone without photos of Old Faithful. But for every tourist destination that’s come by its iconic reputation honestly, there’s a crappy tourist trap that isn’t worth your time or money.
Sure, a lot of this comes down to personal opinion.
After all, one person’s tacky attraction is another person’s campy must-see perfect for Instagramming. Yet we feel pretty confident that the 15 places on this list are a total wash. Their lines are long, the crowds add hours to your visit, and the chances of having the time to genuinely take in what you’re seeing are very slim.Our advice: With the time and money you saved by giving these a miss, find some place more beautiful, compelling and unique to visit instead.
Plymouth Rock
et’s start where America started, except that America didn’t really start here, anyway.
Put bluntly, this attraction is massively lame. It’s just a rock, in a fancy canopy that’s way more impressive than the rock itself. As the story goes, the Pilgrims first disembarked onto this rock in 1620 when they arrived in what would become America. They quickly founded Plymouth Colony, which is recreated down the road in a tourist destination much more worthy of your time.
But the truth is that no one even claimed that this particular rock was the arrival point until the mid-18th century, so…yeah, it’s likely all made up. Also, Native Americans were here long before the pilgrims showed up, and besides, the pilgrims landed at what would become Provincetown, on the tip of Cape Cod, a month before Plymouth anyway.
Blarney Stone
Let’s move across the ocean from Plymouth to another big ol’ dumb rock: the Blarney Stone near Cork, Ireland. The deal with this rock is that you’re supposed to bend over backwards to kiss it, and thus receive the gift of “blarney” – essentially eloquence.
If waiting in line for several hours to plant your mouth on a rock slimy with the moisture of a million other lips touching it is your thing, be our guest. But we’d rather walk around the more interesting grounds, including a garden of poisonous plants.
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Stonehenge
Completing our tour of overrated rocks, we’ll scoot over to Wiltshire, England, in order to warn you to avoid Stonehenge.
It’s not that this prehistoric monument is a total waste, but it’s never quite as grand as you were expecting. The stones aren’t 50 feet high, and the crowds take away the sense of eerie wonder that must have entranced those who stumbled upon the mysterious circle back in the day.
We’ll be honest – there are tons of stone circles all over the United Kingdom, many of which are far more impressive in their location and beauty than Stonehenge. The Calanais Standing Stones on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland are a great example.
Niagara Falls
It’s certainly not true that the waterfalls themselves are overrated. In fact, they’re stunning, a majestic display of the power of water.
The problem with the falls is the entire mini-economy of tourist crap that’s been built up beside (and under) them. The Canadian side is a little better than the American, but still, it’s just an unending array of gift shops, tacky restaurants and tourist attractions, as if Branson, Missouri set up shop beside one of Earth’s natural wonders…and blocked the view.
Times Square
Times Square, the beating heart of New York City, is loud, tacky, overcrowded and not very much fun. That won’t stop most tourists from venturing into it anyway, only to break free, several minutes or hours later, gasping at how awful it is. Yep, we said it.
While Manhattan has made real efforts to improve this area with pedestrian-only sections and better traffic flow, it’s still insanity, so we can only recommend going there if you’re on your way to a Broadway show. Otherwise, the best way to see it, if you must, is to walk down 8th Avenue and take a quick peek at its humming activity.
Four Corners
Lest you think we have something against crowds, our next stop on the overrated tourism tour is one that’s remote and rarely very crowded. Four Corners is where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet, forming, well…you get it.
As you may be aware, states don’t have actual physical borders, so there’s not much here but a plaque in the ground and a bunch of state flags. If you’re driving by anyway, sure, stop, but don’t go out of your way, like, at all. At least it’s free.
Taj Mahal
This might be the most controversial inclusion on this list, and we get it: If you’re taking the time to go to India as a tourist, you’re probably going to go to the Taj Mahal. But don’t say we didn’t warn you.
First, you will drive forever to get there. Then, you will stand in line forever to get in. And then, once you’re in, you and approximately one million other people will pour through the palace, utterly ruining its serenity by chattering, taking photos and generally missing the entire point of the place, which was built to mourn and honor a lost love.
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The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Your enjoyment of this attraction will really depend on how much you’ve taken in the title of the place, because it says it all: There is a tower in Pisa, and it leans. That’s about it.
Oh, you can climb it, too, if you like waiting in line to exert yourself near utter strangers in order to glimpse an ok-ish view of the Italian countryside. Also, it’s 18 Euros (about $20) to do so.
Westminster Abbey
It’s not that Westminster Abbey isn’t impressive – it is. Here, you can visit the graves of famous Brits like Charles Dickens and Darwin, and explore the aisle where royal luminaries such as H.R.H. Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge walked on their wedding day.
It’s just that the church is so darn crowded, with guides leading herds of tourists around while braying out information. Also, a heads up before you go in: This is not the place where Prince Charles and Princess Diana got married (that’s St. Paul’s Cathedral) and it’s not where Jane Austen or William Shakespeare are buried (Winchester Cathedral and the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford, respectively).
There are a lot of famous churches and cathedrals in the UK; make sure this is one you really want to see.
Madame Tussauds
There are a bunch of these strange wax-figure museums in cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Paris, Sydney, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York and Las Vegas. All of those cities are known as tourist destinations, which should give you all the warning you need.
This is, at best, a sort of weird place, and at worst, a hugely depressing slog which will make you question just why our society values celebrity so much. However, if interacting with creepy, poorly rendered copies of famous people is your thing, at least you know you have myriad opportunities to do so, as long as you’re willing to cough up some cash (generally between $20 and $35, or more if you want to tack on attractions like “Ghostbusters: Dimension Hyper Reality Experience”).
Versailles
Versailles might be the most depressing tourist trap on this list, because it could be a beautiful and intriguing destination if it weren’t so filled with other tourists. But because so many people want to see Louis XIV’s palace about 30 minutes outside of Paris, and because the folks who run this place seem to have never heard of fire code guidelines, you’re almost guaranteed to see more of the back of strangers’ heads than the palace itself.
If you must go, explore the idyllic and less-crowded grounds instead, timed to when the fountains are on.
Wall Drug Store
About 10,000 signs alert you to the fact that Wall Drug is ahead when you drive across South Dakota, probably on your way to or from Mount Rushmore. The signs are fun, giving you something to look for while you drive what seems like an endless highway.
But just keep on driving and don’t stop: Once a gimmicky but real drug store, Wall Drug is now a shopping mall that specializes in crap. Imagine fake cowboy hats, fake cowboy boots and tacky t-shirts, not to mention overpriced food, as far as the eye can see. The only thing worth stopping for is the jackalope (a made-up jack rabbit/antelope cross-breed) statue, and the still-free cup of water.
South of the Border
Then there’s this place off three well-trodden highways in South Carolina, which makes Wall Drug look like the epitome of taste and subtlety. Like Wall Drug, South of the Border was designed to trap tourists (and their money), but it doesn’t have Wall Drug’s history.
It was developed in 1950 to be intentionally campy, and boy, did the owners succeed. Attractions include a video arcade, a tiny amusement park, fireworks stores and a statue of “Pedro,” a crude caricature of a Mexican bandido.
This place is truly depressing, like the underbelly of American consumerism flipped over and left to burn in the sun.
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Manneken Pis
Lest we start to think Americans have a lock on the tacky, Brussels steps up.
This inexplicably famous statue shows a little boy urinating into a fountain. Let’s be honest: If you go to Brussels, you’ll probably go to see him. But at least you won’t expect much. It’s a little boy. Peeing. That’s it.
The “Mona Lisa” at The Louvre
Millions of people flock to the Louvre in Paris every year, and a huge portion of those millions make their way to Room 711 to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous “Mona Lisa.” We’ve been there. And we can tell you, it looks exactly like you were expecting, except smaller.
Is it worth it to wait in line for hours to peer through bullet-proof glass to see it? That’s up to you. But we can tell you that the Louvre has thousands of other pieces, almost all of which are beautiful and easier to see.
