Do you live in a tourist hot spot?

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If so, how unbearable do you find it? With exchange rates still a bit rubbish and the memory of last summer's heat I can well expect this one to be even more intense.

Last summer I ventured down to Cornwall a few times and my mind was blown at how rammed it was. Of course it always has been but it seemed to be turned up a notch further than I've ever seen before. If I had to contend with that to get through my everyday life I'd probably go batty.

Up north the locals seem ever more disillusioned with the North Coast 500 - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/eu...

Is it time to book that mini break in Hull or Port Talbot instead?

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Integroo said:

We did the North Coast 500 last year and it is not so much the number of people that is the problem, but the very narrow and poorly maintained (in places) roads and the complete lack of appropriate accommodation, restaurants etc..

I think I'll reserve that for winter in future when you have it all to yourself. I well remember the standard of driving and the capacity long before it got packaged up and hawked. It must be hideous now.

I seem to recall Applecross asking if they can be removed from the route altogether.

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Evanivitch said:

If you like mountain biking and water sports, there's plenty to do near Port Talbot! Adam Valley, Ignore by Sea, Porthcawl etc

Cowbridge and the Vale of Glamorgan are quite nice places with good coastlines, good food and nice cottages. Cars and Coffee in cowbridge in September is a nice morning with the whole highstreet filled with a variety of old and exotic cars.

Not the Welsh tourist board, honest!

It would be my duty to combat over tourism by not leaving it while staying there. I'm particularly interested in the motorway junction they're trying to close so my week will be spent in a camping chair looking at it.

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NDA said:

I grew up in a tourist spot in North Devon. Rammed with caravans in the summer and nothing but candy floss and amusement arcades.... absolutely dead and fully shut down in the winter. Pretty awful to be honest - the tourists were needed, but hated. I left as soon as I was able!

I'm Exmoor way. Even at the absolute height of summer the amount of tourism is pretty negligible apart from the obvious honey pots. In a way I think it's a shame that more people don't bother with it and head straight to more obvious places, but I'll take it all the same.

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Roger Irrelevant said:

we had a family get-together near Croyde in August a few years ago and before going I did worry that it might be a bit busy for my liking, couldn't have imagined how mad it was though. I'd planned to visit all sorts of places when we were there but after two days of averaging sub-central London speeds when driving about I gave up. I have been back since out of season and it's great but I'll avoid it like the plague in the summer hols.

That whole outcrop is utterly dire in season. The roads were designed for a fella walking his livestock to market, not 1000 Bodens and surfers an hour.

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Mark Benson said:

Yorkshire Dales here.
We need the tourists for the local economy to function, but March to October can get unbearable thanks to the Baby Boomers in their gigantic motorhomes.
Not only do they travel the roads at 30mph everywhere, but then they stop in the villages and spend 20 minutes trying to park the thing just so they can make a cup of tea (so no income for the tea shop then) and enjoy the view.

They're not the only ones, but by God they've increased in number considerably in the last few years and it seems to be getting worse.

The real explosion is in Scotland, but they do seem to be breeding elsewhere. They always look so completely and utterly miserable on the road and the people all look identical too.

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sas62 said:

I did a coast to coast walk last year in May including Exmoor- superb weather and the place was empty - couldn't believe it and couldn't understand why.

I've always been quite intrigued as to why it's so. I guess it's not an easily identifiable patch like a peninsula, doesn't have many settlements of note and it's on the way to the rest of the SW.

You might see 10 foreign registered vehicles in an entire year whereas they're everywhere in Scotland.

The odd thing is that it juts into North Devon and that will be utterly seized for several months of the year. The Exmoor ponies must produce some sort of force field for the sake of a quiet life.

A pal of mine retreated to a hut on the two moors way slightly out of season and saw three people walk past in six weeks.

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kowalski655 said:

I used to live in Blackpool and apart from the quality of tourists, it wasnt too bad if you stayed away from the front where most congregated to get pissed. Except during illumination season when half the roads in/out were at a standstill

I went to Venice a while back. While it wasn't absolute peak season, what struck me was that if you wander a block or two beyond the obvious thoroughfares the crowds and madness pretty much evaporated.

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Echo66 said:

I used to work (early90s) with a chap who lived in the middle of Holmfirth (where that load of crap Last of the Summer Wine was filmed).
During the tourist season he'd regularly have day trippers trying to get into his house for a look around. Said he was mowing the small front lawn at one point, back to the gate, when he finished went back inside & there was a group of foreign tourists photographing his living room.
The majority of the tourists seemed to think the whole village was a stage set & no one actually lived there.

I was in Bibury in the Cotswolds a while back and couldn't figure out why it was absolutely rammed with Japanese people. I didn't see them anywhere else, but there were hundreds there.

Every house had a sign up in Japanese in very large letters.

I had no idea what was going on but when I looked it up it turns out Emperor Hirohito hung out there so it's become a weird pilgrimage for Japanese folk. Judging by the fencing and signs they must require schooling otherwise they crawl into peoples' baths while they're having one or locals find them hiding in their cupboards or dinner.

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I reckon the lakes would be more than I could cope with. I've been there a few times on the edge of the season and that is not a place designed for the free flow of large amounts of people. I'm sure there are lots of hideaways if you know where to look.

I do plenty of my UK tourism well out of season. It's way nicer to have it all to yourself. I've never quite understood why people shoot down the idea of popping somewhere pleasant just because it's a bit milder and greyer.

Last October I did the best hotels on the Isles of Scilly which were less than half the cost of peak time.

Edited by bloomen on Wednesday 10th April 17:33

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funinhounslow said:

City of Culture 2021 isn't it

In all seriousness the two cathedrals are worth a look as is the excellent (free!) transport museum nearby.

Not with a special trip but if you're in the area anyway, Coventy would certainly be worth a visit...

I used to like going on safari to Wood End. The kiddies would rip things off your car if you went too slow just like the real deal too.

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Skyedriver said:

Used to live on Skye.
7 months of total peace and 5 months of lunacy.

Would you say it got worse the longer you were there or was it always pretty consistent? Skye appears to be a prime gripe zone and I don't remember that being the case long ago.

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Alpacaman said:

It has got a lot busier over the last three years, though there are some people feeling it has died back a little after all the bad publicity. I think we will have to see this year, though it is generally focused in a limited number of points that have been highlighted on social media. My journey to work is starting to get longer already.

I just watched a Telegraph doc about Skye. They went about 10 metres away from the fairy pools and had the entire area to themselves. I find this rather tragic.

As a crustie once said to Julian Cope 'no one goes anywhere any more unless there's a sign for it'.

This instagrammy/ bucket list rubbish has a lot to answer for.

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sidekickdmr said:

North Devon here too, Woolacombe beach and Ilfracombe on my doorstep, we have owned here for 3 years but this is the first full summer living here, so only time will tell.

On a sunny days in the school holidays cars will cue past the end of our road for woolacombe beach, that’s about 2-3 miles of standstill traffic

I find Braunton the absolute traffic beast in that part of the world. I've spent many a sweaty chunk of time there. That really needs a roundabout rather than those traffic lights but there doesn't look like enough room.

If you know your back lanes there are plenty of ways out inland. It's the coastal bits that get painful.

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troika said:

Indeed. Having grown up there, they generally bite the hand that feeds them. Spend your hard earned money elsewhere with people who appreciate it.

Part of me can see where they're coming from.

No one has a hope of affording a home. The most successful businesses are likely to be run by incomers. In return for your future there being stomped on you get some crappy job that lasts a few months of the year.

There's no going back now, but it's hard to say tourism has made the life of the average person there better.

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troika said:

They or their parents were happy to sell out to incomers. Virtually all of my mates from school (Truro boys) have left. The few that stayed set up their own businesses and have done exceptionally well for themselves.

Which kind of enforces the notion. 1-1.5 generations took the one time windfall and rogered everyone who'll come after who does not inherit.

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OblongPea said:

It's manageable on normal weekends but I don't even bother going out at certain times because of the traffic. Too overpopulated as it is, let alone with tourists.

I've noticed that the one place you can almost guarantee to be nailed by traffic on the M5 is ALWAYS Weston. It's almost as inevitable as the sun coming up every morning.

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p1stonhead said:

maybe move? It’s never going to change and you seem very angry about the people who help considerably in the income of up your part of the country.

If I were forced to move to Glenrothes just for the sake of a bearable life I wouldn't be best pleased.

The only place that seems to be up to meeting the demands of an ever increasing influx of visitors is Mecca but they seem to have no qualms about demolishing everything.

Elsewhere I guess the locals are stuck with the creaking infrastructure.

Edited by bloomen on Tuesday 16th April 21:08

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yellowjack said:

And while we keep building new towns and villages, or expanding the ones we have, there is a finite number of desirable holiday destinations, so the ones we have will just keep on getting busier and busier until they become so damnably unpleasant that people stop going there.

This is a very good point and one that hadn't fully occurred to me.

As publicity and knowledge about places grows the pressure builds up. More nationalities will get richer and want to hit the same places too.

No one ever arrived at Heathrow demanding the way to Stevenage.

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schmalex said:

We went to Bournemouth today. What a sthole the town centre is.

I grew up near there and have fond memories of the place but it’s changed beyond recognition in the 20 years or so since I moved away

Changed into what?

For some reason I've been to Poole a hundred times. Never been to the centre of Bournemouth in my entire life.