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Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Conventional wisdom says tourist traps should be avoided, but some are worth visiting, and we should surrender to the silliness. After all, we can’t always be serious.

Tourist traps are often colourful and noisy, tacky and predictable, and there are times when that’s just what we need. Don’t like tourist traps? Maybe there’s something wrong with you, rather than the millions of other people who are clearly getting enjoyment out of them. Maybe you’re the one out of step, rather than thinking the band is out of tempo.



Besides, consider this: aren’t all tourist destinations essentially traps? They provide the narrative and razzle-dazzle we want, and allow us to ignore the realities. Beaches are always pristine, European castles romantic, Africa giraffe-filled. All travel is escapism, and nowhere does escapism better than a tourist trap.

Anyway, such places became traps for a reason. Often, behind all the superficiality and souvenir shops, they have an interesting history and culture, or gorgeous looks, for anyone who cares to notice. Shelve your inner Grinch, plunge in, and enjoy.

The colours of La Boca. Credit: iStock This working-class harbour district on the River Plate, six kilometres south of downtown, was a first port of call for early 20th-century Italian immigrants. They say La Boca is inconveniently located, impoverished, tacky, a terrible experience and a complete waste of time, according to so.

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