Brits should avoid these 11 European cities if they don’t like to be surrounded by crowds of tourists, experts have suggested. A study identified the European cities with more visitors than residents, and the top 11 have at least 9 tourists for every one resident, making them extremely crowded for locals and visitors alike. If you don’t like the stress of being in a crowd, then you should avoid these 11 cities. 

Travel experts at Holidu, a holiday lettings company, have conducted a study which identified the most crowded tourist cities around the continent. Among them is the one that’s most rammed with tourists, with hundreds of cruise ships pulling in every year and massive crowds that spur comparisons to Disneyland. The data was taken from Euromonitor International, a market research provider. The study listed the top 36 cities in Europe “overloaded with tourists”, but the top 11 have a staggering nine or more tourists per resident. 

Coming out on top is Dubrovnik. The Croatian city draws huge numbers of visitors for its historical attractions, charming seaside scenes and its Game of Thrones fame. However, locals have expressed frustration over huge visitor numbers, and officials have introduced several measures to manage numbers, such as new rules for cruise ships. 

Dubrovnik is overwhelmed with tourists, as this study found it gets 27.42 tourists per one resident. Second on the list is Rhodes, Greece. This stunning city sees 26.33 visitors for every one resident. 

It is followed in the list by Venice, with more than 21 tourists per resident, and Heraklion, with 18.43 tourists per resident. 

The full list of the 11 most crowded European tourist cities is:

1. Dubrovnik, Croatia
2. Rhodes, Greece
3. Venice, Italy
4. Heraklion, Greece
5. Florence, Italy
6. Reykjavik, Iceland
7. Amsterdam, Netherlands
8. Lisbon, Portugal
9. Porto, Portugal
10. Dublin, Ireland
11. Athens, Greece

Several other cities follow on the list, but they have significantly fewer tourists and residents than the above cities. For example, Paris, France, has 7.41 visitors per one resident, according to the study. 

Two UK cities make the top 36 list. The study ranks Edinburgh at number 18, with 4.51 tourists per one resident. Meanwhile, London makes the number 30 spot on the list with 2.49 tourists per one resident. 

Bath, the historic Roman city in the UK known for its excellently preserved streets and architecture, gets overwhelmed with visitors, with locals describing the massive crowds they face regularly. 

Locals in Edinburgh have also described the effects of high levels of tourism in their city, particularly calling attention to the number of short-term rental properties compared to houses and flats available for long-term rent. 

Overtourism has been a hot topic of conversation over the past few years. In particular, Spain has seen a slew of protests from locals who are frustrated with high visitor numbers.

Demonstrations have taken place in hotspots like Barcelona, Tenerife and Lanzarote. In fact, a ‘no-travel’ list was recently released by experts, and the Canary Islands were included in the list.

Some destinations have taken interesting steps to tackle massive crowds. In Rome, for example, a new charge has been introduced when visiting the famous Trevi Fountain in a bid to manage the huge number of tourists that flock to see it.