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So I saw an article on Ranker the other day talking about the 28 worst tourist traps out there.  Okay okay I know that it’s just one of those clickbait style slideshow posts, but it did get me thinking about some of the crazy tourist traps out there.

a tourist trap is an establishment, or group of establishments, that has been created or re-purposed with the aim of attracting tourists and their money.

Some of the biggest tourist traps I’ve been to

Looking through that list, I definitely had to agree with some of the tourist traps in the list, starting with #1 on the list – Plymouth Rock

plymouth-rock

Not to mention that there is a decent amount of skepticism as to whether the Pilgrims even landed at Plymouth Rock.  We visited Plymouth Rock back in 2001 and you get there and it’s pretty much like “Yup, that’s a rock”.  You can’t even get anywhere close to it as it’s under glass in an enclosure.

A couple of other of the tourist traps on the list that I’d been to (and agree with) were #3 Hollywood Walk of Fame, and #5 Salem, Massachusetts, which they described as “This town was basically invented to separate tourists from their money. If you really feel like being cursed with the spell of ‘moneyus spengingus’ go in the off season; Salem is a nightmare from September through October” – something I totally agree with.  We visited Salem back in 2001 (on the same trip as Plymouth Rock) and it was pretty lame.  #25 The Tower of London was something we visited when we were in Europe last year and I’m glad we just checked it out from the outside.

We also just got back from #10 The Space Needle

And of course, I’ve already written about #11 Four Corners

(SEE ALSO: Four Corners: Bucket list worthy or total ripoff?)

Branson, Missouri is not on the list but is another place for tourists that is famous for…. having a lot of tourists.  But when we were there a few months ago, we ended up having a lot of fun at the various things to do in Branson.

Still, a couple of places on the list seemed like they weren’t very tourist trap-py – things like #13 Times Square, #15 the Taj Mahal, #23 the Great Pyramid of Giza. My son and I were in Giza a few years ago and while yes, there were lots of people there, it didn’t really feel like a tourist tap per se.

(SEE ALSO: 1 Day in Cairo Egypt (Pyramids, Sphinx and traffic))

How many of the 28 worst tourist traps have YOU been to? From the Space Needle to Plymouth Rock, here are 28 of the worst tourist traps you'll find when looking for things to do when you travel.

How many of these 28 tourist traps have you been to?  What’s the biggest tourist trap you’ve ever been to?


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