Top Tourist Mob Scenes in Europe

Old May 1st, 2016, 12:23 PM
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Top Tourist Mob Scenes in Europe

I'm not talking about getting into the Louvre (or a Loo in city centers) but small heavily touristed towns that can be completely overrun in high season so that their ambiance is all but lost. For many visiting in summer in these places just is not worth it - but a visit at other times of year could be really nice!

These are tiny places that just cannot easily accommodate the masses who flock there for say a day trip.

Staying overnight in say a Bellagio can be nice as after the day trippers and bus tours have gone the town reverts to a dreamy specter - day trip out during the day and return to peace and quiet at night!

MY TOP TOURIST MOBS

(In no real order)

BELLAGIO, ITALY
SIRMIONE, ITALY
PORTOFINO, ITALY
ROTHENBURG, GERMANY
ALL CINQUE TERRE TOWNS, ITALY
BRUGES, BELGIUM
MONT-SAINT-MICHEL, FRANCE
LOURDES, FRANCE
CLOVELLY, ENGLAND
VENICE, ITALY (But this only applies to the beaten track most tourists take - much of Venice is quiet and these to me are its finest parts!)
ST .PAUL DE VENCE, FRENCH RIVIERA and pretty much all of the Riviera in August
ROCAMADOUR, FRANCE
SORRENTO, ITALY AND THE AMALFI COAST MAIN TOWNS
SAN MARINO, SAN MARINO
BENIDORM, SPAIN

Avoid these places if you can in July and August IMO.

WHAT TOURIST MOB TOWNS HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED?
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Old May 1st, 2016, 12:29 PM
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Dubrovnik - definitely check the port's website which lists cruise ship arrivals.

And if we're included mobbed parts of bigger cities (see Venice), the Ramblas and market in Barcelona. Even in late October.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 12:32 PM
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And if we're included mobbed parts of bigger cities (see Venice)>

And parts of Florence could come under this - the Duomo area is perpetually packed in summer but again this is a town big enough to find more quiet areas like Oltrano just across the river.

And the TREVI FOUNTAIN in Rome but Rome is so large that the huge influx of tourists can spread out - not the sardine-city that many of the smaller towns I listed suffer from.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 12:44 PM
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A few years ago I managed to spend most of a day in the Louvre and even if the rooms with the most famous icons were overcrowded, there were plenty of rooms with interesting things and few visitors.

I read in this morning newspapers that Italian railways are hiring ushers to block accesses to cinque terre stations when overcrowding on platforms is dangerous.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 12:50 PM
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For me, I have been too most of the places listed and AMBIANCE is not lost, only to the upper crust.

I AM THE MOB!!
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Old May 1st, 2016, 12:54 PM
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Arles, Avignon, St Remy, Conques, Volendam, Giethoorn, Riquewihr, Munster (Alsace), any number of villages along the Mosel.
Not a town, but Mount Snowdon with it's queues to stand on the top.

There is a reason we don't usually go away in peak season.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 01:08 PM
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hetismij2; I have been to Arles, Avignon, St. Remy, Conques and villages along the Mosel in peak times.

I don't believe in scaring visitors like Pal always does.

We are in todays world, not yesterdays.

Let visitors enjoy these wonderful places to visit.

Believe me, I understand the dynamics of Fodor's and the experience of posters, but I think we should just allow people to enjoy, relax and not be subject to all these experts.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 01:14 PM
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We visited the Mont Saint Michel a monday after the end of Xmas holidays in France. They amalgamated 2 groups of tourists because we wer not enough for a tour... they let us go to crypts they never show in peak season. We also saw it at peak season and said 'never again'.

We visited Riquewihr in mid october and could confortably seat drinking a gewurstraminer they had jus harvested.

We were in Brugge a day in winter (but even then the waiters were disagreeable).

We saw Serminone empty of tourists (when was that ?), same for Venice.

We went to Benidorm but don't remember : something to see there ? I have an idea of concrete buildings...

I visited Saint-Tropez when there were only two restaurants open... as well as the roads : half of these were being rebuilt - I guess maintenance teams considered it off season too ;-)
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Old May 1st, 2016, 01:21 PM
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Damn, I can only hope that pariswat agrees with me or else I'm in trouble again. lol
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Old May 1st, 2016, 01:23 PM
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Nobody goes to these places anymore. They're too crowded.

(I couldn't resist this nod to the great philosopher Lawrence Peter Berra).
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Old May 1st, 2016, 01:33 PM
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Daughter said Rome at end of Sept. was just awful. Couldn't imagine the Sistine in full summer?
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Old May 1st, 2016, 01:35 PM
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I read in this morning newspapers that Italian railways are hiring ushers to block accesses to cinque terre stations when overcrowding on platforms is dangerous.>

Yes those stations are so small because the train goes out of a tunnel - stops at the station area - and then goes right back into a tunnel in most of them- no room for expansion.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 01:36 PM
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"Daughter said Rome at end of Sept. was just awful."

As it has been for the past 2,000 years.

If you don't like people, don't holiday in real cities.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 01:46 PM
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Iris opines and criticizes:

We are in today's world, not yesterday's.

I don't believe in scaring visitors like Pal always does.

We are in todays world, not yesterdays.

Let visitors enjoy these wonderful places to visit. I don't believe in scaring visitors like Pal always does.>

I believe in objective information - if going to say to Bruges in early June is possible over mid-summer most will have a much better stay.

I think novice trip planners should be cognizant of what awaits them - a thread last week said friends told them Venice was not worth it because of the crowds they experienced in August.

So you may consider me a Crying Cassandra but,like theft problems- not meant to scare but to inform so individuals not familiar with Europe can make an informed decision.

And I rather like tourist mobs actually - I thrive on them but I think I am the odd duck in that (and many other!) regards.

In the theft thread I started I kept saying that knowledge of the situation makes the problem largely go away (with appropriate precautions taken) - this can reassure folks who may have heard stories not scare them even more - and again in umpteen years of travel I have never had anything of substance stolen or lost.

I don't believe in scaring visitors like Pal always does.

We are in todays world, not yesterdays.

<Let visitors enjoy these wonderful places to visit.> Irish admonishes me and others too I guess - well IMO most will enjoy those places MUCH better at other times than the busiest super-crowded times> - I believe Irish is in the small exception to think the time of year makes no difference. Pariswhatnot seems to think so - he/she only visits the places he/she mentioned in the off-season it seems.

Really a Bellagio that it literally elbow to elbow in the main square when ferries ejaculate their loads every hour or so and since there is so little place to spread out the mob scene is perpetual during the day.

so I agree to disagree with Irish and who knows who is right or wrong - that is a subjective matter but most folks I am sure will....be glad to went at other times of the year if possible.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 01:46 PM
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First I agree with Iris and we can re-write that lovely paean to friendship and love written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, "We Are The Mob."

The worst place for me is Florence near Il Duomo. You never hear Italian spoken there.

La Familia Sagrada in Barcelona has become so crowded timed tickets are necessary.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 01:55 PM
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I've been to plenty of places that were mobbed on market day but that's why I was there too so how can I complain?

The only place I really hated because of the crowds was Siena. I'm sure I would have loved the town in a normal situation but it was a very hot summer day and the square was absolutely jam-packed.

And we couldn't even go to San Gigimiano (is that spelled correctly?) because we couldn't find a place to park the car.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 02:01 PM
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Capri. It's probably beautiful if you stay overnight, but during the day it is horror.
Ditto Cesky Krumlow - until 11 a.m. it is a fairytale town, but when the day trippers from Prague arrive, it is horror.

I am glad that I saw Florence intensively (spent several months there) in the early 90's, under current circumstances I have no desire to visit again.

Passau's old town is on the brink of being ruined by the river cruise boom.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 02:27 PM
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Yeah, flanneruk. Rome has been ghastly for 2,000 yrs, but I think what this thread is talking about is how much more ghastly the tourist numbers have become in recent years. I did my major traveling before this era, TG, but am happy for those who at long last can visit these necks of the woods
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Old May 1st, 2016, 02:35 PM
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I agree with you whole list except Clovelly????? And would add the Charles Bridge in Prague (like Macy's ground floor at Christmas). And Times Square on New Year's Eve (a million people in one place IMHO is too many.

Our solution is not to travel in July and August unless we are forced to - and then we will usually do Scandinavia or perhaps Germany (but mostly we stay in NY and go to the Hamptons - also crowded but in a different way since day trips there are not convenient).

We do Italy only in May (after that it's too hot for me) and for Spain we stick to April or late Oct (except San Sebastian).
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Old May 1st, 2016, 02:37 PM
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Flanny writes:

Daughter said Rome at end of Sept. was just awful."

As it has been for the past 2,000 years.

___________________________________
Yes, I recall the time he bravely criticized Caligula for attracting too many people to his excessive public displays.
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