Famous Edinburgh street named as ‘Britain's biggest tourist trap’ as tourists brand it '‘crowded’ and ‘dirty’

Two Edinburgh spots make it into the top 10 list of Britain’s biggest tourist traps

It is one of the most famous streets in Edinburgh, with the Castle at its head and the Palace of Holyroodhouse at its foot. But now the Capital’s Royal Mie has been given the unwanted honour of being named as ‘Britain's biggest tourist trap’.

It comes as the results of a worldwide survey undertaken by vacation rentals and property management company Casago, using TripAdvisor reviews to judge how many times people use the phrase “tourist trap”, were unveiled.

In total, reviews of the Royal Mile, which got its name from its tradition as a processional route for kings and queens for the last 500 years, contained 502 uses of the words “tourist trap” – vastly more than anywhere else in the UK.

Two Edinburgh spots have made it into a top 10 list of Britain’s biggest tourist traps - the Royal Mile and Witchery By The Castle.

Among the many negative reviews of the Royal Mile where words like “underwhelming”, “crowded” and “dirty”, with many visitors to the city saying it was full of shops selling “tartan tat”.

In second place was the London Eye, with 334 mentions of the phrase “tourist trap”, and plenty of negative reviews focusing on concerns about overcrowding and cost.

In third place was London's Covent Garden, described as a tourist trap by 156 people, followed by Land’s End (140), York's Shambles (120), The Needles in Totland (97), Stonehenge (96), The Cavern Club in Liverpool (96).

In ninth spot is Edinburgh’s iconic restaurant with rooms, The Witchery by The Castle (95), while in tenth place is Sally Lunn's Historic Eating House and Museum in Bath (89).

Casago's report found the number one tourist trap in the world was Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, which had a total of 1,049 mentions of the attraction being a tourist trap.