cd

I'm with Melissa, I love everyplace I've ever been, well except for the Wisconsin Dells which I thought just plain cheesy.
I've always thought that tourists adds to the flavor of a great city or place. I love watching people as they enjoy the same thing I'm enjoying. I compare it to going to church and finding only a few people there, it's just not the same as going and finding it full. Or a great concert,etc...

WTnow

Carcasson!! We went in low season in October and it was horrendous and our least favorite place so far on our family world tour.

Usually going off season has worked well. I would really hate to see that place in high season.

We made the most of it, but the touristy feel and crowds certainly did not leave a good impression. We were sorry we went out of our way to see it.

Disneyland or seaworld in July are the worst places in the world to be. Sadly I had to learn that the hard way when we decided to risk it because we were in the area with a child.

http://www.soultravelers3.com

Clifton

What I see as "break my heart" touristy is whan I find myself comparing a place to what it could be or once was. I don't do this with Disney or Las Vegas. They are exactly the way they're "supposed to be". And I like a little cheesiness too sometimes (small doses), but not at the expense of what historical or scenic possibilities. Pretty much anyplace you can buy a place-specific fridge magnet inside of a 200+ year old building or within a live action postcard view.

So, I'll agree with USNR about Bran Castle in Transylvania. A nice, but not really mind-blowing castle, with a bogus Dracula story and a field of plastic to wade through.

Several parts of London would qualify for me.

I could see that Killarny in high season could be off-putting. But it's really not so bad in April or May.

Turns out I didn't like Ronda all that much. Very pretty place. The atmosphere though felt kind of stuffy, a little tourist-weary and maybe even a little pretentious (at least compared to Granada. It essentially closed up by 10pm, which I though unusual for Spain. Even in the new town, most restaurants were closing there doors just as we were looking for a place to eat. Not sure if that's just a way Ronda works, or if it's scheduled around tourist's habits.

I'll have to disagree about Angkor Wat. We did find lots of kids chasing down tourists, true, but they were rather engaging and it wasn't like it was institutional-grade, store-front shopping. Just poor people with a bag of stuff to sell. Touting is pretty standard in developing countries. If not to tourists, then to each other (the trays of fried spiders brought onto public buses, for instance, are for locals but it's still touting). The people, whether selling or not, were some of the sweetest, in general but with consistancy, I've ever met. Fell in love with the place. But with 200+ elaborately carved ancient temples in various states of restore or decay, the sights aren't bad either.

On the other hand, the d'Jemaa El Fna in Marrakech can suck in a tourist from 100 paces. Odd thing is, the majority of the people in the square are locals, and it's like a party that's been in progress for a thousand years. So that's cool. But as a tourist, you have a *giant* bullseye on your forehead. People will literally RUN at you with drums, food menus and live snakes to wrap around your neck and demand money. And I mean right now. It's very confrontational. Even the souks are high-interactivity pursuits. You just have to keep saying "no, no, no" the entire walk through. But it's something I will always remember and always be glad I did. However, it's the city of Fez in Morocco that I'll return to. It's what you think Marrakech is.

And then there's Branson. I grew up in Missouri. What did they do to my quiet little trout fishing town in the Ozarks? Those b&$#&rds!

kenav

We try to go in the off seson or the shoulder season. The down side is that sometimes "things" are closed then. No real problem with cities, though. They're always open!

If it's a great place, of course thre will be other tourists there. That's not the problem. It's if the tourists and tourism overruns the place so that you feel that you don't get the experience you were looking for. Is it more touristy than authentic? What's the balance? And, even if thre are hundreds of tourists was it worth it anyway?

Just came back form Hungary - Budapest and Eger. Had a great time. Hardly any touristy stuff there. Oops - I've let the cat out of the bag. There goes the country.

ekscrunchy

I have to agree about Angkor being fabulous. The comments by Girlspy about the large gap between tourist hotels and people living in shacks could apply to many places on many continents...there is a reson that tourists throng places like Borobudur, the Taj, Angkor, the Forbidden City, the Giza Pyramids, Chichen Itza, the Vatican, Mont St, Michel, Compostela, and on and on....most of these places have been tourist attractions for centuries and for good reason!

You can avoid the worst of the hordes by going in the off season...which in Europe does not include October. If you have to travel in season, get to the site early in the morning before the masses descend!

laustic

For pure concentration of tourists in one spot I'd have to say the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam. Didn't ruin my experience at all though. Waiting in line was totally worth it and I would recommend it to everyone.

Second to that would probably be a tie between Notre Dame Cathedral and then Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. And again not a problem for me, would recommend both places.

But if the definition of touristy isn't about concetration of tourists in one spot and more about "tacky, cheapness" then the number one place has got to be Las Vegas!

noe847

In several European city centers we've found that all the people around us were tourists, the businesses were all geared to tourists, and the cities themselves were almost (very beautiful) backdrops:
Salzburg, Edinburgh, York, and especially Prague. We enjoyed all of them, but they did not feel as <i>real</i> (at least the old towns). I think their spectacular beauty is what makes them attractive to tourists.

Because of the advance billing, I expected the worst from Bran Castle. The stalls were actually a bit more tasteful and less Dracula-oriented than I anticipated. We were pleasantly surprised with the castle itself, which does not capitalize on the tenuous link with the historical Dracula.