Tourist traps on vacation: How to recognize bad restaurants

A balmy evening, good food, a delicious drink – nice restaurant visits make a vacation perfect. But especially in popular holiday resorts, they lurk everywhere: tourist traps that serve you mediocre food at exorbitant prices.

The good news is that these restaurants are easy to spot – if you know what to look for. We'll tell you how to spot bad restaurants and find real culinary gems instead.

Pasta in St. Mark's Square or tarte flambée with a view of the Eiffel Tower? While that sounds tempting, it's usually not a good idea. Restaurants located right next to landmarks or on large squares may offer beautiful views, but unfortunately, they also come with high prices for often mediocre dishes.

Reisereporter tip: Turn down a side street. It's usually more authentic—and cheaper.

Restaurants in St. Mark's Square in Venice have steep prices. Here, you're paying primarily for the view.

Source: IMAGO/NurPhoto

It sounds trite, but it's 100 percent true: Wherever the locals go, the food is generally good. Look for restaurants where you hear the local language spoken, or just ask – for example, shop assistants, taxi drivers, or your host. They often know where to find really good food for less.

Wherever the locals go, you will usually not be disappointed.

Source: IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire

Before you sit down, take a look at the menu. Is it posted outside? Good. However, if it's littered with colorful photos of the dishes, poorly translated text, and touting a mix of different culinary worlds, then you should move on quickly. A lovingly designed menu with a clear focus—ideally in the local language—is often a sign of quality.

If pasta, paella, pad Thai, and pancakes appear side by side on the menu, beware. Sure, variety sounds good at first, but it often means that none of it is fresh; much of it comes from the freezer.

A short menu with changing daily specials or a cuisine that focuses on a particular region is a good sign – as is a handwritten menu.

The menu of a restaurant in Aveiro, Portugal.

Source: IMAGO/VWPics

If the map is only available in the local language, this often indicates authenticity. A translation app like iTranslate or Google Translate will help you avoid unpleasant surprises.

Restaurant reviews on Google, Tripadvisor, and other sites can also be helpful in your search. When choosing, don't just rely on the stars; pay attention to the content of the reviews as well. If they're overly praising the restaurant or seem fake, you should be skeptical. Authentic reviews usually contain specific details about the dishes, service, or ambiance—you should look for those.

The final tip for avoiding tourist traps is simply not to eat in restaurants. Of course, you want to treat yourself on vacation and not have to stand in the kitchen yourself. But there's a third option: let locals cook for you or take a cooking class where you learn how to prepare local delicacies.

There are various apps for this. Eatwith, for example, has more than 50,000 registered hosts from over 130 countries, inviting people to dinner in their homes or offering cooking classes. You can also book culinary experiences like a pasta-making class in Emilia-Romagna or baking pastéis de nata together in Lisbon through well-known platforms like Airbnb, GetYourGuide, and Viator.

Such experiences are a great opportunity not only to sample authentic dishes from your destination, but also to interact with locals and other travelers. Especially if you're traveling alone and don't want to sit down at a restaurant alone, a social activity like this is a great option.

What do travelers need to know right now? You can find all the important vacation news at reisereporter , and the latest travel offers on our deals page .