Advice please RE: touristy areas

[0rion]

Hi,
I would like to ask people for their experiences of living in a touristy area, whether it's a town or the countryside (UK).

I have been offered a new job and it will involve a house move. I'm getting cold feet about it as the area I am moving to is quite touristy. How do you feel about the crowds of visitors; do they make you feel proud of living somewhere everyone wants to visit or is it overwhelming?

Considering my options as to whether to move right to the centre of it all or a bit of a drive out and your thoughts will assist me greatly!

Thank you for reading this.

My cousin lives in Cornwall and says that July and August are a nightmare for getting around.

I grew up in Cornwall so was absolutely used to tourists in the summer. It was a way of life and we saw the winter as 'quiet' rather than the summer as 'busy' IYSWIM.
Did it impact on day to day life? Yes a little. In the winter I could get to work in about 20 mins (5 miles, mainly single carriageway A road). The same journey could take up to 1.5 hrs in the summer holidays. In fact it was quicker to walk 😂. But it was worth it to live in beautiful part of the country and the disturbance was minimal in the great scheme of things - 6 weeks in the summer, May BH and Easter weekend were the only real awful times for crowds. The rest of the time we had beautiful beaches to ourselves.

The thing I find most annoying is the pedestrians randomly stopping in the middle of the pavements to take another bazillion pics of the buildings. No awareness of anyone else around them!! I tend to avoid city centre on the weekends.

I live in a popular touristy area. I only really see a difference during school holidays when traffic builds up.
I think many of the residents here now are former tourists!

I live in a tourist area.

July and August can be a bit of a pain, but not terrible

Traffic can be quite bad at the height of the season, but I don’t find travelling to and from work too bad.

If the weather is crap I avoid our local big town as tourists tend to head there and it’s packed

We tend to avoid the traditional touristy places - I’ve been to them a million times anyway

I love the summer - I like the buzz and how the place comes alive, and then I like it when everyone goes home and it’s quiet again

Where I live the tourists mean that our tiny town can sustain several independent shops and a lovely cafe. For me it's worth the longer journeys in peak season and it's easy to assume you'll get stuck behind a caravan and just leave a bit earlier.

It helps that the tourists we have here like the same things as me: history, walks in the countryside, cake and fancy local gin. I don't think I'd feel the same way living in Blackpool as I don't have any desire to spend my weekends living through someone else's hen night.

Thank for all for your thoughts. The idea that there is a 'buzz' during the summer does appeal to me. I currently live in a rural area where a lot of people from the towns move to and they are the type that would rather escape into thier house when they see people instead of continue working in the garden and simply saying "good morning!".

At least there will be seasonal work for the DCs; plenty of holiday cotages to clean and tea rooms to work in!

I am also a tourist to the area, so I suppose I'll fit into Finfintytint 's description! It will be interesting having perspective from the other side of the coin.

I work in a touristy area - London. The difference between Mon-Thurs and Fri-Sun is so noticeable. During the week people walk with purpose, and town is a lot less busy. At the weekends it is horrible. I work on Saturdays and it takes twice as long to move anywhere. Families stand six abreast blocking the pavement. It’s coming up to stag and hen season where you have countless groups walking round town pissed with a 6 foot high inflatable penis. I bet half these groups would not walk around their local high street at midday like this. As soon as I finish work at the weekends I get out as quickly as I can

I have lived in two very different touristy places. There are 3 things that are irritating:

1. Walking really really slowly blocking my way when I’m trying to do things. Also, abruptly stopping.

1. Getting pissy when you walk through their photos. If I stopped for every photo I wouldn’t get anywhere.

1. Struggling to park to do daily things like shop during peak tourist season.

However, the trade off Is I live in a beautiful place with lots going on.

I used to dislike people looking through my windows, as if my home was one of the attractions.

I live just outside of Brighton and have done all my life! Summer and sunny weekends are v busy and I tend to avoid the town centre. But otherwise I love that there's always things going on, free events and stuff to do. Getting by on public transport is easy and cheaper than running a car.

You soon learn quieter places, cheaper cafes and when the best times to go shopping etc are. E.g. the beaches near me are super quiet and cleaner than the ones tourists visit :)

Ditto. I live near a gorgeous traditional seaside town and in the summer it’s heaving but the rest of the year we get to enjoy the fabulous independent local shops and cafes. It’s a beautiful place, it’s very popular and I’m lucky that I get to enjoy it all year round. The beach is particularly stunning in the winter and as long as you’re dressed for the weather, a dog walk along there is heaven, you can almost have the entire beach to yourself. Enjoy your move!

I like
town centre has successful businesses in it
hearing lots of different languages spoken
feeling proud that people want to come to where I live
some shows wouldn't happen if it was only locals who went to them
a variety of shows and events

Can you say where? Touristy city and touristy countryside have different challenges.

We live in a town whose main purpose/economy is tourism.
I often wonder if the tourists who have travelled half way round the world are thrilled by the place or slightly let down?
It is very busy in the summer and you just learn coping strategies to get round the tourists.

We made the mistake of visiting Windsor for my dds birthday two weeks after the royal wedding. Jesus wept, the crowds, mostly of Japanese people by the looks of it. Would love to see it again without the people.

We've just sold our house because of the influx of tourists. Where we lived went from being a secret place of beauty to somewhere hordes of people began to visit all year round. The noise, litter, traffic, dangerous parking and lack of respect for the area turned it into a nightmare, and at times it was almost impossible to leave home due to the way idiots abandoned their cars in our tiny lane. We were also near a well known tourist town and again the increase in tourists over the years and the traffic made our lives miserable. We will never live anywhere touristy again.

I live in a tourist seaside town and I really love it. The only downside is the lack of jobs, I commute and there's very little office/professional jobs available in a 20 mile radius and the ones that are pay significantly less than what you'd get in the nearest cities. I know you've said you're moving due to a job but it may be worth investigating in case you decide to change or look for promotion further down the line.

Our high street is pretty pants but we do have a lot of nice independent places tucked away and it's great for youngsters wanting seasonal or part time jobs as there's loads.

Tourists don't really get in the way, parking and traffic can be terrible but the perks outweigh this. Like a few other seaside resorts we do have a problem with homelessness and drugs, pretty much localised to the town centre but it may be worth considering any crime reports etc.

Grew UK in Central London - SW1 - very busy all year round, summer worse, but it’s just what we were used to. Londonderry just live with it, walk a lot instead of using the tube for 2 stops, and largely don’t visit the flagship museums that often!

Lived 2 years in the Peak District - the only road for us the go anywhere was the road along the bottom of the Hope Valley, and we had a very popular footpath along the side of our house. The Peaks can’t absirb tourists as much as London obviously, but I felt so lucky to live at the bottom of Lose Hill, in such a lovely place, that bank holiday traffic was only ever an occasional annoyance. I got used to cycling places, as parking could be a problem.

My sister lives in a very touristy village in the Lake District. The traffic is a bit of a pain at times. But she takes it as part of the price you pay to live and work in such a lovely place. She also loves stereotyping all the tourists.

I live in an area that is busy with tourists. Cons are heavy traffic in the summer and nowhere to park.

Pros - lots going on/lots to do all year round, beautiful place to live.

Pros far outweigh the cons for me.

I feel blessed we live all year where most others only get to visit for a week. Yes we avoid the busy areas at peak times but last summer we had breakfast on super quiet beach for 9 Sundays in a row with Swim & kayak in the sea leaving at 10am when all holiday makers arrived. My kids love it but equally they don’t know any different. I grew up in a very busy city never again would I chose to live in that environment as I hated the noise & hubbub. So for us the 9-10wks ish a year when it’s manic is worth it to live here Year round, plus my kids will easily be able to get seasonal jobs around studying but I do worry longer term jobs will probably need them to move.

I grew up in a south coast tourist town. Bit different as it's a fairly big place and all the tourists are staying in the town centre hotels and hanging out on the beach. You get to know the best parking places and times. If we go to the beach, we travel a mile or so down from the main bit, and get there super early to park, we're leaving after lunch when people are arriving! There's still lifeguard cover, toilets, pub etc but much quieter as it's mainly just locals.

However there's lots to do, lots of events and good public transport.

I used to live in a tourest area and it drove me mad. Parking was a nightmare, the price of parking went up ( my wages didn’t).
Caravans are not designed for country roads and the drivers of these caravans really should try and reverse them before having to ,for the first time on a country road.
The slow driving, yes it’s beautiful, but 20mph under the speed limit gets boring!
The stopping on pavements to take pictures.
The amount of visitors you get , wanting to stay at your house, so yet another week of me sleeping on the floor ( my parents thought I should always give up my bed for guests).
The benefits are spring and autumn when it’s still nice without the people!!!

I lived on the seafront until 2 years ago. Personally, I preferred winter to summer for obvious reasons but was still more than grateful about all those pesky tourists spending their money to keep my town alive.