August 29, 2026, 11:34 am | Read time: 8 minutes

Everyone knows them, and almost everyone has likely fallen into one on their travels: one of the tourist traps that await foreign visitors with hard currency in many places. When it comes to marketing completely unattractive places or offers, the locals can get quite creative. I speak from experience, as I always bring something important with me on my travels: an insatiable curiosity. For this reason, I seem to fall particularly often for such scams, which leave me stunned to angry afterward. Here is my personal hate list of the biggest vacation flops.

Elephant Drama

The number one tourist trap worldwide involves animals. Unfortunately, the locals often don’t care how the animals are treated as long as they make plenty of money from them. However, contact with exotic animals is naturally very fascinating for vacationers, which is why the desire for such experiences remains strong. I made the mistake of falling for such an animal cruelty trap twice, ten years apart. The first time was in 2002 in Thailand, where I spent three incredibly beautiful weeks with my parents and then-girlfriend. One of my most lasting memories of that time is, unfortunately, a very unpleasant one.

We decided to try an elephant ride. Shyly, we approached the massive creatures, fed them bananas, and stroked their trunks. Like real royals, we climbed into howdahs strapped to the elephants’ backs. And then the drama began: The elephants were less interested in a walk with us and more in the bamboo along the path. As a result, they were beaten with sharp hooks by the handlers until their heads were bloody. Only after our shocked request to stop did the handlers reluctantly comply.

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The other elephant encounter also took place in Asia, on a trip with my sister to Sri Lanka in 2012. There, we visited an orphanage for the beautiful animals. First, the herd was driven to bathe in a river while we tourists watched and, of course, took plenty of photos from a viewing platform. Then it was time for a supposed highlight: personal photos with the baby elephants. The guides practically pushed us to pose for a hefty surcharge. However, “my” baby didn’t like it at all and gave me a hearty kick to my shin. Even if it seems tempting, try to resist such offers on vacation. Almost always, the animals will suffer.

Mao Misery

One of the most bizarre and somehow funniest tourist traps I ever fell into was in 2003 in China. Just finished with high school, I went on an unforgettable three-week trip with a group of exchange students. We visited the Great Wall of China, the tomb of Confucius, and spent the night on a sacred mountain. Stationed in Beijing, we naturally also saw the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. And on this square is perhaps China’s most visited site: the tomb of dictator Mao Zedong. Mao died in 1976, and since then, his preserved body has been in a shrine. Even today, it seems almost obligatory for every “good” Chinese person to visit it.

I can’t remember the details of our visit. For example, I don’t recall how much we paid for admission. But being charged for an audience with Mao is as certain as amen in church. What I will never forget, however, were the many flowers. Every local visitor who wanted to see Mao brought a bouquet of flowers to lay before the coffin. So did we. In this way, the room filled with bouquets at an astonishing speed. The operators of the mausoleum had a business-savvy idea. They eventually collected the flowers through a back entrance and sold them again at the front.

Coffee Catastrophe

And then there’s perhaps the most absurd of all tourist traps, Luwak Coffee in Bali. Coffee whose beans have passed through the digestive tract of the civet, an Asian palm civet species. The locals jokingly call it “Cat-Poo-Cino,” roughly translated as cat poop coffee. And although I never really understood why people would want to try such a thing, I fell for the scam one rainy day in a bar.

When it comes to culinary delights, I simply can’t resist an offer. Two of the civets were also charmingly playing behind the bar owner over the counter, posing for photos. And so I paid three times the price of a regular coffee for a sour, virtually undrinkable brew. This may have been due to the preparation, as it was actually the only bad coffee I drank in three weeks in Bali. However, you shouldn’t drink the world’s most expensive coffee at all, as research by PETA and other animal welfare organizations shows that civets are kept in cruel conditions in cages that are far too small for its production. Read more about it here:

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Cave Horror

Do you know the saying: “There’s nothing to see here”? Well, it probably applies to none of the tourist traps on this list as much as the Hercules Cave near the Moroccan city of Tangier. In 2024, I arrived there by boat from Spain and was immediately fascinated by the exotic charm of North Africa. The port city is the second largest in the country, a breathtaking metropolis and an adventure playground for daring travelers. Especially the old town of Tangier is a true feast for the senses. However, it can also be overwhelming, so I decided to leave the metropolis on my second day and head to Cap Spartel. This is where the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean meet.

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According to legend, the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean and Atlantic meet, was created by the mythical hero Hercules himself when he split the earth. And near Cap Spartel is a Hercules Cave that all tourist guides and local guides strongly recommend. Why, however, is completely beyond me. Five minutes in the tiny cave were already too long. And that for a price of 60 dirhams, almost six euros. Incidentally, the grotto has nothing to do with the mythical figure Hercules. Instead, it was supposedly a refuge for a pirate of the same name for 25 years. Truly a rip-off in every sense of the word.

Coffee Trip Scam

The most memorable tourist trap I ever fell into was so-called coffee trips. Incredibly cheap trips, such as a week in Turkey all-inclusive with flights for 150 euros–that’s how much or little it cost in 2009. There’s just one catch. On the tour, you’re repeatedly taken to shops for jewelry, leather goods, and carpets. My sister, for whatever reason, often received such offers at the time. And we thought we’d check it out live. The whole thing was truly unparalleled in its absurdity. Right at the welcome, the hosts intimidated the mostly older guests. Of course, you could just enjoy your vacation and not have to book the excursion package at a hefty surcharge. But then you’d have several significant disadvantages.

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Of course, you don’t have to go into the various shops you’re taken to during such a coffee trip. I remember that I usually just had a few beers with other equally annoyed guests. Unsurprisingly, we soon found out that the excursion package was a complete rip-off. We went to a temple complex on our own and paid just a tenth of what our poor fellow travelers were charged. The threat that the tour bus wouldn’t wait for defectors was ultimately nothing but a pathetic attempt at intimidation.

But the scheme did work, as I saw on my three total participations in such coffee trips. Guests, slightly tipsy, came out of the leather goods factory with absolute junk for several hundred euros. They even let themselves be talked into buying carpets, adding another zero to the end of the sum, and having them shipped home. The characters we met on our travels were sometimes absolute originals. Figures that no playwright could have invented. Today, I probably wouldn’t go on such a coffee trip again, but it was still an absolutely unique experience that I look back on fondly and with a broad smile.