Don't Waste Your Time on These 12 Tourist Traps in Europe
Temple Bar, Dublin
Temple Bar is the cute cultural quarter of Dublin, full of colorful shopfronts, and of course, traditional Irish bars. Just to be clear, Temple Bar is an actual area of Dublin. The name can lead to some confusion though, especially after someone had the bright idea of naming a bar Temple Bar.
Judging by the constant herds of Guinness-toting tourists happily checking into the “famous Temple Bar” on Facebook, the Temple Bar bar is a case of both brilliant marketing and a blatant tourist trap.
Charles Bridge, Prague
In travel guidebooks, the Charles Bridge sounds dreamy and enchanting. 16 arches of centuries-old stone, lined by baroque statues, with unforgettable views of the city of Prague.
What none of these helpful travel guides are telling you, however, is that you will have to elbow your way across the bridge, fighting for space against not just other tourists, but vendors of tacky trinkets, “artists” offering to draw a cartoon portrait of your face, and hot dog sellers aggressively trying to hawk their wares to the throngs of visitors.
The magic you were promised is elusive at any time other than at the crack of dawn, making this one of the worst tourist traps in Europe. Thankfully there are plenty of other enchanting things to do when you visit Prague. It’s worth the trip there!
Temple Bar, Dublin Temple Bar is the cute cultural quarter of Dublin, full of colorful shopfronts, and of course, traditional Irish bars. Just to be clear,...
Sex Museum, Amsterdam
Amsterdam is famed for its hedonism, reveling in drug use and illicit pleasures of the flesh. Capitalizing on tourists’ fascination with Amsterdam’s sex trade and the Red Light district is the tacky — and anything but titillating — Sex Museum.
With photos and displays that would only make teenage boys giggle, you are unlikely to emerge from the experience with any profound new knowledge of sex.
