London pulls you in with its glossy brochures and Instagram-perfect snapshots. The red buses, the palace guards, the promise of fish and chips that’ll change your life. But here’s what those brochures won’t tell you: some of London’s most famous spots will leave you wondering why you bothered.
I’ve spent years watching tourists get herded through overpriced traps while missing the good stuff. You deserve better than that. Your time matters, and so does your money.
This isn’t about skipping London entirely. It’s about being smart with where you go, so you actually enjoy the city instead of feeling like you’ve been through a tourist processing plant.
Places to Avoid in London as a Tourist
Think of this as your insider filter for the capital. I’m going to walk you through the spots that sound amazing but deliver disappointment, along with what you should do instead.
1. Piccadilly Circus
Picture Times Square’s less impressive British cousin, and you’ve got Piccadilly Circus. Yes, there are bright screens. Yes, it’s been around since 1819. But standing in a cramped intersection surrounded by chain restaurants while dodging aggressive charity muggers isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time.
The screens themselves are just advertisements for products you can buy anywhere. There’s no magic here, just crowds and confusion. Most locals avoid this area entirely unless they’re passing through on the Tube. The statue of Eros in the middle? You’ll spend ten minutes trying to get a photo that doesn’t include someone’s elbow in the frame.
What makes this particularly frustrating is how many first-time visitors waste precious London hours here. They stand around, take a few photos, realize there’s nothing to actually do, and move on feeling vaguely disappointed. The surrounding streets are packed with overpriced tourist traps selling cheap Union Jack merchandise made in China.
Better alternative: Head to Leicester Square for actual entertainment venues and cinemas, or walk five minutes to Covent Garden where street performers actually give you something worth watching.
2. The London Dungeon
This one breaks my heart because people pay £35 or more for what amounts to a theatrical jump-scare experience you could get at any Halloween haunted house. The London Dungeon markets itself as a historical attraction about London’s dark past, but it’s really just actors in costumes trying to make you scream while rushing you through dark corridors.
The shows are cringeworthy rather than scary. The historical accuracy is questionable at best. You’re packed into small rooms with dozens of other tourists, and the whole thing lasts maybe 90 minutes if you’re lucky. That’s roughly 40 pence per minute for someone to yell “boo” at you while wearing a plague doctor mask.
London has legitimate historical sites where actual dark history happened. The Tower of London, where real executions took place, costs about the same and gives you hours of genuine historical exploration. The Dungeon feels like a theme park ride that forgot to install the ride part.
3. Oxford Street for Shopping
Every guidebook mentions Oxford Street as a shopping paradise. Let me be clear: it’s a nightmare. This mile-and-a-half stretch becomes a human traffic jam where you’ll move slower than you would on foot in most other cities. The shops are mostly the same chains you can find in any major city worldwide.
Pickpockets work Oxford Street like it’s their office, because tourists are distracted and tired. The air quality is poor from bus exhaust. The buildings aren’t particularly attractive. And here’s the real problem: you’re not getting deals. Prices on Oxford Street are often higher than the exact same items sold elsewhere in London.
During peak season, you’ll spend more time standing still in crowds than actually shopping. The experience is exhausting and unrewarding. Even finding a bathroom becomes an ordeal because everywhere charges you or requires a purchase.
Better alternative: Carnaby Street offers unique boutiques in a pedestrian-friendly area. Marylebone High Street gives you upscale shopping without the chaos. Or try Covent Garden for a mix of interesting shops and actual atmosphere.
4. Leicester Square for Dining
Those restaurants with the glossy menus displayed outside? They’re counting on you being hungry and tired. Leicester Square has some of the worst food-to-price ratios in London, and that’s saying something for a city that isn’t known for budget dining.
A mediocre chain restaurant meal that would cost £12 elsewhere suddenly costs £25 here. The quality doesn’t improve with the markup. These establishments know they’re serving tourists who they’ll never see again, so there’s no incentive to maintain standards or offer value. The staff often seem rushed and disinterested because they’re dealing with the same tourist churn every single day.
You can find a Bella Italia or TGI Friday’s literally anywhere. Why would you come to one of the world’s great food cities and eat somewhere you could eat in your hometown? The whole square feels like a tourist trap that forgot to disguise itself.
Walk three minutes in almost any direction and you’ll find better food at better prices. Chinatown is right there. Soho is right there. You have options.
5. The Hard Rock Cafe
Unless you have a specific nostalgic reason to visit a Hard Rock Cafe, skip this one entirely. Located near Hyde Park Corner, this branch follows the exact same formula as every other Hard Rock on the planet. Same memorabilia concept, same American-style menu, same loud music, same inflated prices.
A burger and beer will run you £25-30, and it won’t be the best burger you’ve had or even the best burger in London. The atmosphere is manufactured rock-and-roll with all the authenticity of a costume store. You’re paying for the brand name, not the experience or the food.
London has an incredible live music scene with actual history. Venues where legends actually played, pubs where musicians got their start, places with real soul and stories. The Hard Rock feels like eating at a museum gift shop.
6. M&M’s World
Four floors dedicated to candy-coated chocolate you can buy at any corner shop. That’s the pitch. The reality is somehow even less exciting than it sounds. This Leicester Square attraction draws crowds for reasons I genuinely cannot understand.
You’ll wait in line just to get inside during busy periods. Once you’re in, you’re surrounded by overpriced M&M’s merchandise, personalised candy services that cost a fortune, and walls of candy organised by colour. It’s the same M&M’s you know, just presented in a way that somehow makes them less appealing.
The building takes up prime real estate in central London, and after five minutes, you’ll wonder what you’re doing there. Kids might enjoy it briefly, but even they’ll get bored faster than you’d expect. There’s no story here, no history, no reason this needs to exist in one of the world’s greatest cities.
That time could be spent at one of London’s many free museums, historic markets, or parks. Literally anything else would be more memorable.
7. Madame Tussauds
For £35-40 (and that’s if you book ahead), you get to stand in line, then walk past wax figures while trying to take photos as crowds push past you. Madame Tussauds has become a conveyor belt attraction where the goal seems to be processing as many tickets as possible rather than providing a quality experience.
The figures themselves are impressive from a technical standpoint, but the whole experience feels hollow. You’re essentially paying top dollar to take selfies with statues. The queues are long, the crowds inside are overwhelming, and the whole thing takes maybe an hour if you really try to stretch it out.
London offers world-class museums where you can see actual historical artifacts, real art, and genuine cultural treasures. The British Museum is free. The National Gallery is free. The Science Museum is free. But somehow Madame Tussauds convinces people to pay premium prices for wax.
If you must go, book the absolute earliest entry time possible and get there right when they open. Otherwise, you’ll spend half your visit waiting and the other half being jostled by crowds.
8. Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
This might be controversial, but hear me out. The ceremony itself is fine if you can actually see it. The problem is you probably won’t. Thousands of tourists crowd the palace gates hours in advance to secure viewing spots. Most people end up watching the backs of other tourists’ heads while occasionally glimpsing a fuzzy hat.
The ceremony happens at 11 AM on select days (schedule varies by season), and prime spots get claimed by 9 AM or earlier. You’ll stand for hours, possibly in rain, to see something that happens at other locations with better viewing. The whole experience often leaves visitors feeling like they didn’t really see anything worth the wait.
Better alternative: Watch the Horse Guards Parade changing ceremony at Whitehall instead. It happens daily at 11 AM (10 AM on Sundays) with way fewer crowds and better viewing angles. Or visit Windsor Castle, where you can see guards and actually tour a working royal residence.
9. Borough Market on Weekends
Borough Market is genuinely excellent. The food is fantastic, the atmosphere is historic and authentic, and the vendors are often passionate about what they sell. But on weekends, this Southwark gem becomes almost unusable due to crowds.
You’ll shuffle through in single file, unable to browse because the person behind you is pushing forward. Taking time to decide what you want becomes impossible. Eating anything requires finding a spot to stand, which means hovering awkwardly near trash bins while guarding your food from aggressive pigeons.
The market still has the same great food on weekday mornings with a fraction of the crowds. Local office workers grab lunch, serious food buyers shop for ingredients, and you can actually have conversations with vendors. The weekend scene turns it into just another overwhelming tourist experience where you’re too stressed to enjoy the food.
Visit on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning instead. You’ll get the full Borough Market experience without feeling like you’re in a stampede.
10. Harrods Food Halls (Just for Looking)
The Harrods food halls are undeniably beautiful. The tiled ceilings, the displays, the sheer abundance of it all makes for impressive photos. But if you’re not actually buying anything, you’re essentially wandering through an upscale grocery store taking pictures of food you’re not going to eat.
The crowds in this section rival any other tourist hotspot in London. Security gets annoyed if you’re clearly just gawking without purchasing intent. Everything costs multiples of what you’d pay elsewhere, and while some items are exclusive or rare, most of the food halls stock luxury versions of ordinary items.
A small sandwich costs £12. A coffee costs £5. You’re paying Harrods markup in one of the most expensive stores in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Unless you’re genuinely shopping for luxury food items or gifts, your time is better spent at one of London’s incredible food markets where you can actually afford to taste things.
The rest of Harrods is worth a quick walk-through if you’re curious about extreme luxury retail, but the food halls specifically draw crowds who treat them like a free attraction, which they’re not really designed to be.
Wrapping Up
London has enough genuine magic that you don’t need to waste time on the disappointing bits. Every hour you spend in a tourist trap is an hour you could spend in a real London pub, a free world-class museum, or a neighbourhood where actual Londoners live and work.
The city rewards curiosity and punishes guidebook checklist syndrome. Skip the obvious traps, do a bit of research, and you’ll find the London that residents actually love. That’s the city worth visiting.
