Tourist Traps Worth Visiting

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Tourist Traps that Are Worth It
By Concierge.com

Colonial Williamsburg, Va.
Tourist trap cred: At its very core, Colonial Williamsburg is a bizarre gimmick: a perfectly nice Virginia town transformed into a theme park of American history with Renaissance Faire–style role-playing and Disney-caliber price gouging. Scores of costumed townsfolk roam the streets, many industriously engaged in their crafts (merchants, milliners, blacksmiths, innkeepers, printers, bakers), always staying strictly in character, and all wanting to engage you in conversation. Visitors are expected to play along—ordering victuals such as "game pye" and barnyard chicken from mobcapped serving wenches in the taverns, and paying 21st-century prices for reproduction 18th-century jewelry, housewares, and toys.

Why it's worth it: If you haven't been and you're tempted to dismiss Colonial Williamsburg as hokey and inauthentic, think again. Extraordinary execution makes it one of the most entertaining and effective museums in America—and kids dig it, too. The town's 88 original 18th-century buildings are augmented by hundreds more reproduced so faithfully it's hard to tell which are which. Depending on which of the site's four years (1773–76) is being reenacted that day, there may be battles, witch trials, or fife and drum parades. Leave your cynicism in the parking lot, and you'll enjoy every minute of it.

Insider tip: While a full day of time travel will reinvigorate your patriotic spirit, it'll also exhaust your body. The best remedy? A Colonial Herbal Experience at the Spa of Colonial Williamsburg—a two-hour, 18th century–inspired treatment that includes an aromatic footbath, a ginger-and-orange body scrub, an herbal wrap, and a massage.

Venice, Italy

Tourist trap cred: It may be pushing it to damn an entire European city — nay, a major civilization — as a tourist trap, but let's be real: No place on earth is as utterly transformed as Venice is each summer — from a magnificent city of canals, churches, cafés, and art to a seething pit of humanity. Venice has 60,000 full-time residents and an estimated 20 million annual visitors. The Serenest Republic? Not by our standards.

Why it's worth it: Frankly, it's hard to justify a visit in July or August, when tourists jam the bridges, museums, and piazzas. Come in November, however, when fog creeps through the picturesque alleyways and late-afternoon light creates mysterious shadows, and you'll swoon at the romance. This is the time to get to know the real Venice and appreciate its many treasures: the Tintorettos in the Doge's Palace, the Picassos at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a glass of wine in a dusky bacaro near the Rialto Market.

Insider tip: The touristy restaurants that line the main streets have done a grave disservice to Venetian cuisine's reputation. For an authentic taste of the city's pasta and seafood dishes, head off the beaten path to eateries like Alle Testiere or Anice Stellato.

Montmartre, Paris
Tourist trap cred: Montmartre is the Paris of romantic cobblestone streets, bohemian cafés, and atmospheric cabarets. Unfortunately, it's also the Paris of street mimes, overpriced restaurants with surly waiters, and mobs and mobs of clueless tourists. Said tourists wield their point-and-clicks most fiercely around the white-domed Sacré-Coeur basilica and the nearby Place du Tertre, the former haunt of Picasso, Modigliani, and Utrillo now occupied by beret-wearing "artists."

Why it's worth it: The reward for climbing the many steps — or if you're lazy, riding the funicular — to Sacré-Coeur, Paris's highest point, is an unrivaled view of the city's rooftops and landmarks. The interior of the Byzantine-style basilica, which includes one of the world's largest mosaics, is worth a look, too. While the area's pervasive nostalgia for the Belle Époque can get tiresome, Montmartre is the birthplace of kitsch entertainment: Its cabarets, dance halls, and ladies-of-the-night have been going at it for more than a century, so taking in a late-night cancan performance at the legendary Moulin Rouge earns you culture points.

More to add to my list of places to visit...

pasabay hon

Of course! Alin ang uunahin natin?

andami nyo palang friends in Japan..