23 Tourist Traps and Famous Places That You Should Probably Avoid

Just because someplace is famous, doesn't mean you need to visit. Here are 23 places you don't need to go.

By Toonacious

Published 1 year ago in Creepy

Traveling may sound like an extremely fun activity, but sometimes it can be one of the worst experiences you'd have. From long lines, difficulties navigating a strange place, dangerous areas, and picture-perfect destinations that don't live up to the hype, it can be quite a let down sometimes.

Just because someplace is famous, doesn't mean you need to visit. Here are 23 places you don't need to go.

1
Traveling may sound like an extremely fun activity, but sometimes it can be one of the worst experiences you'd have. From long lines, difficulties navigating a strange place, dangerous areas, and picture-perfect destinations that don't live up to the hype, it can be quite a let down sometimes.

Here's a list of 25 note-worthy places that you should avoid at all costs, in the opinion of AskReddit.

2
“Platfotm 9¾ in King's Cross station, London. Stupid metal statue on a straight wall, a horrible queue to taking a photo with you on it, and another hundred-meter long queue to the small and very expensive Harry Potter shop. I was there middle of the day in off-season, don't want to even think about it on high season.”

3
“Sherlock Holme's house on Baker street in London. Of course I love Sherlock Holmes, so as a tourist I took the tour. Not far into walking around the house it dawned upon me... this is a fake set of a fictional character. What am I doing here????”
4
“Atlantic city. Monopoly got me good”

5
“Plymouth rock Massachusetts. Despite all the rage it's still just a rock in a cage”
6
“Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales. Nothing there except an Edinburgh Wollen Mills shop. Which is just silly as Edinburgh is nearly 300 miles away.”
7
“Hollywood, it's seedy and disappointing. It's full of entire industries (*cough scientology *cough) that take advantage of starry-eyed twits.”

8
“Lands End, UK. Heralded as the 4th most disappointing attraction in the UK. It's not even disappointing enough to win an award.”
9
“Hollywood Walk of Fame. It's a sidewalk and outside of maybe big events where they may clean the ones around where photos may be taken, it otherwise is just covered in dirt from people's shoes and some are barely legible because they haven't been cleaned in ages.”
10
“In 3rd grade a meteor crashed in the backyard of a kid’s house in my neighborhood. He talked about it everyday at school and said people weren’t allowed to see because NASA was collecting samples. A few days later he said we could go see but everyone had to pay $5. Me and a few friends paid him and went over his house later that day. When we got to the backyard we saw a ~3 foot deep hole that was clearly dug by a shovel. We called him out on it and he said something like, “that’s where it landed but the scientists dug around it with shovels to take samples”. Worst $5 I’ve ever spent. I have no idea where you are nowadays but fuck you, Benji.” - Mnemonic22

11
“I’m traveling to Cairo in June and have to admit I’m having a bit of buyers remorse after reading all the stories. Still—I think it’s worth putting up with the crap to see such a marvel of human history.”
12
“Time Square on New Years Eve. Just forget it. It has *never* been worth it.”
13
“Egypt. Its like if phone scams were a materialized location. You get there and right away the airport is going to start scamming you, take your electronics away and tell you that you need permits for them (which they will gladly sell you, and then tell you that its the wrong one and have you buy another one), the hotel you stay at will check your bags again like the airport did and again tell you that you need permits or whatever random thing they decide they can get away telling you needs one. The police will extort money from you if they think they can. Fake police will come up to you and fine you or tell you to follow them to different sites where they will charge you. Children will run up to you and ask if you want to ride their camel very aggressively (they will cut you off with their camel and not let you move forward) tell you its free, and then try to charge you insane amounts of money and call their camel pimp over to deal with you if you don't pay. If you don't get on the camel they will often even get the camel to attack you. It's all pretty wild, it's not worth it.”

14
“Native Buffalonian here. The Anchor Bar, the home of the original chicken wing, does not have the best wings in Buffalo. It’s a total tourist destination.”
15
“Camelot. It is a silly place.”
16
“Maybe less famous than the question meant, but about fifteen years ago my friends and I took a road trip to Centralia, Pennsylvania (the abandoned town with a decades-long mine fire burning under it that the Silent Hill movie was loosely based on). We thought there would be tons of abandoned buildings to look at, creepy places to see, adventure to be had- we were so excited, and we were like six or seven hours away so it sounded like a fun trip. We got there, and there was just... nothing. All of the buildings are gone, the creepiest thing we found was a very-well-taken-care-of cemetery, and the only really "abandoned" thing to see was the stretch of interstate that had been routed around (which had a little bit of fun graffiti on it back then, but in years since it's become just a giant paint stain). We ended up driving to Gettysburg instead and going on some ghost tours, so it was still a fun trip, but there was like... nothing to see in Centralia, at all.”

17
“Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. It used to be the border between the US and Soviet sectors, but all that's left of it is a shack and a sign, and the only thing you can do is pay to get your photo taken with someone in uniform. There's a frickin' McDonald's next to it.”
18
“While the Louvre is amazing and can consume entire days of walking, don’t bother fighting the crowds to see the Mona Lisa. It’s tiny and has a crowd of tourists dozens deep all taking pictures. “No flash photography” be damned, so all you see is flash reflecting off the protective glass. Also, rumor has it that the real Mona Lisa is in a basement and that the one you see is just a very convincing replica.”
19
“You can see Mt Rushmore perfectly fine from the road... No need to pay to see it”

20
“The Liberty Bell. You can see it just fine from the sidewalk, and that's about as close as you would get to it inside too. No need to wait in line to see it. Plus, there's tons to do in Philly besides look at a bell.
21
“Niagara falls is a really cool site but its not worth a trip if youre staying on the American side. The Canadian side is way better and has more things to do”
22
“Dubai is a twisted parody of everything wrong with modern society and I judge anyone who goes there for their insta pics.”

23
“Nelson Mandela's house in Soweto South Africa”
24
“Myrtle Beach, SC. It's the arm pit of South Carolina.”
25
“Miami Beach. It’s a parade of scumbags driving flashy cars (most likely rentals) and insanely overpriced restaurants and bars.”

26
“Venice during the season. Good god, the place is crushed with people. You can hardly move at certain times and you are always bumping into folks. Other places with the same problem during the season/summer. Yellowstone, Yosemite, Zion, and any Amusement Park.”