Positano - Interesting read

Ugh. This summer, I was in Positano was with hoards. I don't know if it was Instagram, revenge travel or if it's always that way. i just know it was too many people in a very small but very beautiful place.. It was more crowded than any other town we went to on the Amalfi Coast. Might have been pretty but instead it was an ordeal.

Nice to read an article that is self-aware. This quote stands out: "The problem of travel at this particular moment is not too many people traveling in general, it is too many people wanting to experience the exact same thing because they all went to the same websites and read the same reviews."

When younger and visiting countries for first time I tended to target the major cities and traditionally recognized sites and then always made sure to include some lesser known off the tourist track type of places. Now that I am older and retired I find myself trying to avoid most of the traditionally visited sites and finding smaller lesser visited smaller places. I hate being in massive crowds. On my last trip to Sicily I was appalled at the masses of people at both the temples of Agrigento and at the Roman Villa Casale. The crowds really discolored my experience at both of those places. I appreciated what I saw there but did not enjoy it. I think that when younger my focus was on seeing the major sites, now it has evolved more into an emphasis on slower experiences in lesser frequented places off the traditional tourist trail.

I travelled with my teenage kids this summer ( paris, nice, venice, dolomites, milan, swizerland)

I dont think they will ever be swayed by instagram and the “popularity” score again.

They saw first hand that unknown places in dolomites were far more enjoyable than visiting places like Eze Village in Nice, which gets overrun with tourist buses (literally!) starting at 10 am.

One more lesson learnt - u can still have an memorable experience these popular places - between 5-8 am. Most tourists dont bother to get up that early.

Thats how we were able to really enjoy walking around San Marco’s square, Bridge of Sigh’s etc in Venice

Well that’s just great, Steve - now EVERYBODY is going to get up early!

I had a wide variety of cities in Italy where I stayed this summer since I was making up for lost years and went to Italy twice. I went solo on the first trip in June and stayed in 11 cities - mostly the ones off major tourist routes. The second trip was taking my adult daughter for her first time to Europe. That trip was mainly the tourist cities, plus Ferrara & Salerno.

My daughter & I saw first-hand what the “influencers” do at the main sites. (I didn’t see any on my first trip, and we noticed the contrast at some of our cities together.) They each had two people photographing them while they draped themselves around a stairway, etc. The crazy thing we noticed was that they never actually saw & enjoyed the sites! It was just used as a backdrop and then on to the next location - quite sad really. The worst was one young lady at the Amalfi Duomo on the church steps thinking she was the center of the universe while there was a wedding party entering the church!

That just adds to the crowds, and their photos feed the desire to experience what the viewers at home thought this person was actually experiencing.

I read that article in Vox and it is so true. Many of us go to these places now and come away disappointed as it’s not like what we saw in the photos. We ourselves were oversold by the media on Capri which we visited this spring. And Ravello and Amalfi were so much more crowded than when we went 20+ years ago. I also think tourism brochures sell unrealistic images to sell their tours, of course. My husband and I often remark that we are glad we went to the major tourist places in Europe years ago before the crowds. Now we also try to go to less touristed places or where crowd numbers are controlled. @Pat I am sorry it was crowded when you were in Sicily. We were there in April and it was not crowded. I am now of the mind that if I want to revisit any places in Europe that are overcrowded with tourists that we will travel earlier in the season or even off season. We have also noticed more Instagram influencers doing their thing in Europe this past year.

That’s exactly what I do too, AMann.

For example, we stayed in an amazing small town “near Cortina” while in the Dolomites.

Unless someone specifically asks me where I stayed in Dolomites, I really dont mention the name of the town and Hotel we stayed at.

When we're taking a break and people-watching, it's always fun to watch when the pouty selfies are taken. Geeze, that's what selfie sticks were made for! I also noticed lots of people with perky outfits, processed hair and wearing TONS of makeup despite heat, wind and transportation conditions. The templated eyebrows and the lineless face that doesn't match the neck is a sure giveaway. I'm sure they photographed well but I go on vacation to get away from that. I'm melted, creased, windblown and happily so, in about two minutes.

So this guy went to Positano, one of the most famous and picturesque destinations of the world, for the first time, complained about the crowds, and now tells other people they shouldn’t also experience it, like he had the opportunity to do, because it wasn’t enjoyable to him, due to the crowds.

“I’ve seen it people! It’s not that great! Too crowded with dead common people! Y’all stay away. Let those who can afford it go, so that we can enjoy it better. You stay home or go to Disneyland instead!”.

Yes. Many locals can’t afford the luxuries of Positano. The same can be said about San Francisco or NYC or pretty much any place in the world. However when the “wealthy tourists” disappeared from Positano in 2020 because of the pandemic, every single day in the Italian news you could hear the “locals” desperately crying that they were going to die of starvation since all businesses had to close and jobs (and incomes) disappeared. Ask the locals, who can’t afford Le Sirenuse, if they would like to experience another year like 2020, and see what they tell you.

The crazy thing we noticed was that they never actually saw & enjoyed the sites! It was just used as a backdrop and then on to the next location

This sounds like most of the people I saw in the Van Gogh museum last month. 🙄

I was going to cut and paste the same quote as Stan, but he beat me to it. Instead I'd like to once again thank all the Instagrammers and their sheep for clearly outlining their what's, where's and when's so I can move in a different direction. A good plan even works at Disney if you're willing to try.

Hope I don’t get blasted for this comment, but to some extent the popular guidebooks from our favorite traveler, RS, have over-popularized specific locations in Europe, too. One step of my trip planning now after narrowing down my possible locations is to see which, if any, are in the RS guidebook. There’s a positive & sometimes a negative aspect of being listed in the guidebook.

Actually Instagram is indeed today’s equivalent of yesterday’s guidebooks or popular TV Travel shows. There is no difference between the effects of the former on Positano and the effect of the latter on the Cinque Terre. That’s the way it is. Let people enjoy the popular places they’ve never been to. I don’t care to go back to the Cinque Terre given the crowds, but I would not discourage someone who’s never been from going. I’m sure they won’t regret it.

Savvy, seasoned travelers don't fall for this crap. But this year, maybe the result of pent-up demand coming out of Covid, the chaos is extending into right now. I know 4 sets of friends either in France or Italy as we speak. Just this morning my cousin sent me a pic from the large room in the Louvre where the (small) Mona Lisa is hung. They were packed like sardines, as they say. Yuck.

For years I've been traveling to Europe in February & March. Walking across the Seine with a brisk late winter wind is not for the faint of heart, but it's tons better than teeming crowds in 90+ degree weather any day of the week.

First week of March 2017, we took the SITA bus from Sorrento over to Positano. Got off the bus a stop early, but it was a happy accident as we walked the beautiful final mile, slightly downhill, to upper Positano, which was deserted except for a tiny cafe built into the side of a mountain. We sat outside, and at the only table, a rickety one at that, dined on a great hamburger and the best fried calamari imaginable.

Off-season. Travel when the rest of them don't. Period.

Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded - Yogi Berra

This just in, Venice gets very crowded and lots of people go to the Louvre ...