The World's Most Overrated Tourist Traps, Ranked

A new analysis shows which popular tourist attractions aren't impressing visitors much.

There's nothing worse than planning half of your entire vacation around trying to see something that's promised to be magnificent only to realize that you've actually wasted a ton of time and money just to be really let down by something unspectacular. It's the difference between a tourist trap and a tourist attraction. The sensation of feeling trapped is not one anyone wants on their trip, especially if it's trapped in some overcrowded kinda smelly, kitschy destination.

Fortunately, USA Today just analyzed over 23.2 million Google reviews of the 500 most popular tourist attractions in the world, to determine which ones are the least worth the trip. According to USA Today research, the Four Corners Monument, at the intersection of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, is the biggest tourist trap in the world. The Salem Witch Museum in Massachusetts, and the Calico Ghost Town in California also ranked among the biggest tourist traps in the world, meaning it was an American sweep of the podium.

Meanwhile, Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon was named the most overrated tourist attraction in the world. The other top five most overrated attractions, based on the analysis, are:

  • The Little Mermaid in Denmark
  • The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove in Japan
  • The Manneken Pis sculpture fountain in Belgium
  • The Hollywood Walk of Fame in California


Check out the data below to learn additional details on the world's biggest tourist traps, the world's most overrated tourist traps, and the most overpriced tourist traps.

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Opheli Garcia Lawler is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @opheligarcia and Instagram @opheligarcia.