25-03-2025
Europe's most (and least) spoilt destinations, according to Europeans
Around 1.4 billion international holidays were taken by residents of planet Earth in 2024. Of those, 747 million involved a European country. To put it another way, Europe accounts for just 6.8 per cent of the planet's land area – but 53.3 per cent of its selfie stick-wielding, pavement-clogging, Airbnb-browsing tourists. Given these figures, it's not surprising that so much of the continent has lost its authenticity, and is in the grip of an anti-tourism movement. It's also slightly surprising to learn that so much of Europe hasn't been spoilt, and does retain its character.
We asked our experts in seven of Europe's most popular destinations (France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Turkey and Portugal) to reveal the most spoilt parts of their country – of which savvy travellers should steer clear – as well as the most charming, crowd-free place still off the tourist radar. Here's what they had to say…
Explore:
France
Spain
Italy
Greece
Croatia
Turkey
Portugal
Anthony Peregrine
Most spoilt: Saint Tropez
On a high summer day, St Tropez, a village of 3,586 full-time residents, may be, and often is, inundated by 80,000 visitors. You read that right: eight and four zeros, per day. Last time I had to drive there in August, it took me two hours to do the final two miles into town. I was overtaken by ladies with Zimmer frames.
The entire Riviera is crowded in summer, but St Tropez's numbers are off the scale. The village is aware of this. Mayor Sylvie Siri was recently quoted thus: 'Don't come in summer. Come in spring, when it's like the St Tropez of our childhoods.'
Depends when your childhood was, of course. By the 1950s and 1960s, St Tropez had already evolved from a little fishing and commercial port to a sort of St-Germain-des-Près-on-sea, thick with unfettered artists, singers, writers and associated bohemians. Then the international flotsam and jetsam, with their airhead excesses, started rolling in followed by, well, everyone else, all anxious to bathe in the spin-off sheen.
