Uncover the Shocking Truth: 22 Tourist Scams You’ll Wish You Knew Before Your Next Trip
Travel. There’s a travel pass that’s never pushed to tourists because it was never designed for tourism, it’s a Monday-to-Sunday-only weekly pass (there’s a monthly one too that goes from the 1st of the month for longer stays) called the Navigo Découverte. You need a photo for the photo card, that part costs €5 on top, but even with that it’s cheaper to buy that weekly Navigo that the Paris Visite card that’s aimed at tourists …and you look less like a tourist too so you’re less likely to be accosted by sneaky people. This video explains everything about it.
Had some ladies pretend to be deaf in the plaza at the Louvre. They were deaf until I told them I had no money to give. They definitely heard that because they walked away pretty quick lol
If there is a host or hostess trying to lure you into a restaurant, walk away as quick as you can. Instead, ask the locals where they love to eat.
If you want a guided tour, arrange it ahead of time. A lot of popular sites are surrounded by unofficial tour guides. They may have a badge or an official-looking uniform, but if they approach you and ask if you want to hire a guide, it’s best to politely decline.
A lot of them have no idea what they’re talking about.
I had a guide at Machu Pichu who claimed that the Inca were “an ideal Communist society,” then he took a break half-way through the tour to try and sell us essential oils.
Real tour guides won’t approach you and give you a sales pitch. If you want a guided tour, arrange it ahead of time.
Navy Pier and the Sears Tower in Chicago.
If you’re a tourist in the city take an architecture boat tour instead and have a drink at the Signature Room in the Hancock and enjoy the view from there.
Do not go with the guy who says his friend is the owner of a nice hotel nearby. Most likely won’t be nice or nearby.
Women, if you plan to visit cathedrals I highly advise you to bring a scarf to cover your head. It’s just a rule of thumb always pack a scarf. I’ve seen it too many times where there are people at the front doors charging some absurd price like 15 euros for a cheap little scarf to be allowed to enter the religious place.
In Portugal specifically Lisbon pick pockets were rampant through the public transit. A family member was almost picked 3 times in the matter of a couple of hours. Keep your eyes peeled for people moving in tight groups and look like they’re up to no good.
In some countries I’ve visited, restaurants in tourist areas will have an English menu and a native language menu with cheaper prices. I usually ask for a native language menu then google translate the menu. Works most of the time in getting a better price.
Prioritize what you want to see. All tourist sites are technically traps I guess. If there’s one site where admission is super expensive try and save the money so you can see more or try to have a nicer meal one day. If you really want to see that one thing to say you’ve been there by all means go for it.
Always pay in the local currency when you can. A lot of restaurants especially in Europe will ask if you want to pay in USD or Euros and it’s usually cheaper for your credit card to pay in Euros. Just know what your bank and credit cards do when you’re abroad.
If you’re a young guy and some attractive women come out of nowhere thinking you’re cute and asking to go to a bar, don’t go.
There’s a very common scam where they’ll start ordering ridiculously priced alcohol for you all night. You only find out at the end of the night when you get a bill for hundreds of dollars.
We wanted to visit the Colosseum in Rome. All the way towards it from the tube station, there are dozens of people offering “discounted tours” – you join a group, they get you in for a reduced price, seems good. Except it isn’t. These tour tickets are about €20 per person, which seems reasonable until you get to the entrance to the Colosseum and see that it’s €12 for an adult, or €2 for a student. My wife and I got in for €14 because she still had a valid student ID.
The exact same thing happened on the way to the Vatican – people coming up to us insisting that it’s cheaper to get in if we buy museum tickets. It costs nothing to go into the Vatican! They rely on tourists who don’t know any better, see the queue for the Vatican museum and think it’s the queue to get inside the city. It isn’t.
If you go to Bangkok and are on the way to the grand palace, you will encounter very friendly guys falsely telling you that the grand palace is closed due to some ceremonies. They are very friendly and are good salesman. They offer to take you on a Tuk Tuk ride to other temples for a really good price. On the way to these other temples the Tuk Tuk driver will be very friendly and tries to win your trust.
After the second temple or so, he will start talking about some great promotion for a tailor that makes custom made suits, or about some promotion of emerald sales and will eventually drive you to one of those places and if you refuse to buy anything the friendliness changes. The Tuk Tuk driver will just take you the next temple and then disappears after you paid him.
How to avoid this scam: Be very suspicious of very friendly Thai people around the grand palace telling you that the grand palace is closed. The best is probably just to say thank you and not get involved into any conversation with them.
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