Is London just a tourist trap? Capital named one of the worst on planet

A UK travel website has named London one of the 13 worst tourist traps on the planet.

TNT Magazine reports that Wanderlust wrote the UK's capital wasn't 'that special' and listed popular attractions around Europe, such as the Louvre Museum in Paris, Stonehenge and the Leaning Tower of Pisa as big fat tourist traps.

Writer Simon Goddard of the blog post, who is from cheap flight booking website Just The Flight, blamed the weather for the city being a place to avoid and said: 'It's stuffy in the summer, freezing in the winter.'

He wrote: 'OK, so maybe it's just me having lived in London for a time and also having frequented it many times in my life, but seemingly everywhere I go, there are tourists EVERYWHERE.

'What's the deal? Seriously tourists, London's not all that special; it's crowded (no thanks to you) ... its transport system is notoriously slow and unreliable, people are not friendly, traffic is a nightmare, things are expensive and the traditional tourist sites are frankly boring.

'Buckingham Palace? Really? I wouldn't bother if I were you, but I hear that Paris is beautiful this time of year...'

The article urged holidaymakers to avoid Paris's Louvre Museum because the Mona Lisa is 'tiny', while Britain's Stonehenge is 'essentially a bunch of big stones in a field.'

The list includes Rome's Colosseum, The Statue of Liberty, Prague's Astronomical Clock and the Great Wall of China.

Wanderlust users came to London's defence and left a series of comments about the city being wrongly put on the list.

London-Bedouin wrote: 'Seriously putting London on the list - I'm assuming that was a joke right? London along with New York are the only two Alpha ++ rated cities in the world and as the saying goes 'bored with London bored with life' so I can only conclude you're a very bored and fed-up person my friend!?'

Satkinson wrote: 'As for saying London is overrated, well that is just a ridiculous thing to say! As for the justification, what a load of generalised rubbish! I can understand saying that a specific site/sight might be overrated, but an enormous cultural city? Pah!'

Read the Wanderlust article here

Do you agree with Wanderlust writer Simon Goddard? Is London just a tourist trap? Which other cities do you think should be named as tourist traps? Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts below.

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