Places you’ve been which have been insanely busy

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Friends have just come back from Santorini and they said that in one town (I can’t remember the name), they were literally queuing to walk around. They couldn’t actually walk, but just shuffled along behind the people in front. It’s my idea of hell. My parents said similar about the old town in Barcelona and parts of Lake Garda. Where have you experienced this?

rome was horrendous at the same time santorini wasnt too bad

@SchoolDilemma17 I think the fact you know you can get parking is amazing. Sometimes it's impossible in other seaside places.

North Berwick on a sunny Bank Holiday.

I think its good that they have notices miles up the road saying that the beach car park is full - also think you might have book the car park the day before during the summer / weekends?

I often time my visit when the tide is out as the beach is huge. I also go early arrive by 9am or late after 4pm and only stay for 3 hours which involves a nice long walk. Its not a swimming beach.

Edinburgh. Hordes and hordes of teenage tour groups who just stop dead right in the middle of the pavement and then look at you like you've mortally offended them when you ask (politely) to get past. Or people stopping in the middle of the road for selfies. Smart move when a double decker bus is about to flatten you.

As for the scrum at Waverley station when the platform for your train is announced- its very much a case of sharpest elbow first.

Bellagio on Lake Como
Venice - cannot understand why anyone would think it was romantic given that you trudge everywhere in single file (in the rain with one shoe letting in water in my case)
Sistine Chapel - insanely packed
Whitby
Most underground/metro trains at rush hour

Sistine chapel was one of the only things I’ve seen that was 100% worth braving the crowds for. Beautiful.

Florence - a lovely place absolutely ruined by crowds. It’s not built for it unlike large cities like Rome. I also didn’t enjoy Venice.

Cambridge was crazily busy on the weekend. I've never seen so many Japanese tourists in my life. They literally took over the pavements. Great city to visit though.

The SouthBank in London on a summer's day/evening specifically - but if you walk 10 mins downstream towards The Globe its glorious.

Camden Market.

Yes, Santorini is the obvious one. I did the Amalfi Coast in October and it wasn't so busy. Did get some rain though.

Agree about St Ives - such a shame as it could be a really charming town but was just ruined by the numbers of people there (of course we were part of that!).

Also Christ the Redeemer in Rio was so busy you could hardly breathe when I was there.

St Ives in August can be like this on the main shopping street in August, still love it though

Did I mention August

Skye. NC500 route, this time of year.

friends live there, unreal. Absolutely unreal.

I wouldn’t have believed her had she not sent me photos.

Bangkok was horrendously busy but in a culturally interesting way. Phuket & Patong were horrendously busy and well, just horrendous. One of the most unpleasant places I’ve ever been. Thankfully we were only there for a few days.

Also - Alton Towers

I haven’t been to Santorini, but Barcelona was fine both times I visited in summer.

Split.
Lindos.

Always go to Venice out of season,it’s wonderful then.Also places in Italy like Capri,so much nicer in the quiet months.

Visited the Cinque Terre in the 1970’s,lived in Milan at the time,it had only just become accessible by road,before then it was by boat.My eldest son was a baby and we stayed a Month in Manorola,in a fisherman’s cottage with only cold water.it was completely unspoilt,few tourists,I wouldn’t return now,I know how crowded it gets.

Bruges. Victim of it's own success, it was rammed anyway and people were still pouring into the place.
It must have been bin day too as there was loads of cardboard outside every shop. There were also loads of dogs and horses and my ds is frightened of dogs.
So we went back to the station and got the train to Ostend, which was much much nicer and far less crowded.

Venice in December, Amsterdam in July

Santorini is fine depending what time you go. My dh and I did a long sailing trip from Athens to Rhodes just the 2 of us. We got into a port the other side of the island one evening and had been sailing hard so relaxed that evening buying some fish off some local fisherman to cook aboard and had a leisurely morning and went into Santorini late lunch time when it was insanely busy then about an hour later somewhere around 3pm ish we blinked and we were like what happened and it was suddenly empty and it was wonderful. Had a lovely evening there before heading back to our yacht late evening.

Rocamadour in France. Beautiful but insanely packed

Have to disagree. We went five or six years ago and DS 15 was stunned by the number of bodies. Rows upon rows from the many coaches as well as cars in the car park. We like a beach where there is only one row of people. Been spoiled by Northumberland and Scotland, yes even in school holidays.

Such a shame.

Venice, Taormina, Lake Maggiore.

Carcassonne in August was absolutely heaving during the day. We left fairy quickly after going round the castle and walls but came back in the evening and had a much better time exploring the town in the dark when it was cooler and the coach loads of tourists had left. The walls were lit up and it was really magical.