New research by Radical Storage reveals the cities across the world that induce the most stress and anxiety for travellers.
Taking a trip should be a time to recharge and relax, navigating a completely new environment can quickly become stressful. From overcrowded tourist hotspots to confusing public transport, the analysis of 97,409 reviews of tourist attractions in the 100 most travelled to cities has considered 31 indicators of anxiety to uncover the world’s most anxious cities for tourists.
Calculating the percentage of all reviews that indicate stress and anxiety, we can reveal the most – and least –stressful destinations.
The most stressful tourist destinations
Of the 97,409 reviews analysed in our study, one in ten (9.6%) highlighted anxiety and stress, with the most stressful cities reaching as high as 25.2% of total reviews, down to the least, which exhibited 1.6% in comparison. The main cause of anxiety on holiday is overcrowding, as the most frequent keywords found in the study were ‘crowds’, ‘busy’, and ‘overwhelm’ respectively. Unfortunately, it seems that many of the popular destinations are victims of their own success.
Japan appears to be its worst culprit. Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto are the top three most stressful destinations in the study. Japan witnessed a travel boom in the past decade. The country had 6.2 million international visitor arrivals in 2011 but in 2023 recorded 25.1 million.
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The top 10 most stressful destinations |
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|
Rank |
City |
Country |
% of reviews with words or phrases indicating anxiety |
|
1 |
Tokyo |
Japan |
25.2% |
|
2 |
Osaka |
Japan |
21.6% |
|
3 |
Kyoto |
Japan |
21.5% |
|
4 |
London |
United Kingdom |
17.7% |
|
5 |
Shanghai |
China |
16.7% |
|
6 |
Beijing |
China |
16.6% |
|
7 |
Phuket |
Thailand |
15.6% |
|
8 |
New York City |
United States |
15.4% |
|
9 |
Prague |
Czech Republic |
15.2% |
|
10 |
Paris |
France |
14.9% |
Tokyo tops the list as one in four (25.2%) reviews mentioned words and phrases related to anxiety. Tokyo is the largest city in the world and home to 13,515,271 people. It’s perhaps unsurprising that 60% of the anxiety indicators mentioned feeling crowded.
However, for some people, the intensity of Tokyo is part of its appeal. The Shibuya Crossing is the busiest interaction in the world, and people flock to the crossing to experience the rush. However, not all tourists realise what they’ve signed up for. One reviewer left a two-star review complaining that there were “too many people”.
Osaka, the third most populous city in Japan, came second overall with one in five reviews (21.6%) mentioning an anxious indicator. Besides its famous food scene and castle, another popular tourist attraction in the city is its Universal Studios theme park – the first to open outside the United States.
Completing the top three is Kyoto – with 21.5% of all reviews in the study being anxiety-related.
London ranks fourth, and was the most visited city in 2023 after Istanbul, counting more than 18,800,000 arrivals in one year. It’s perhaps not surprising that London is frequently described as ‘busy’. One visitor to the British Museum described their visit as ‘stressful right from the entrance’ and another visitor to Borough Market said it was so crowded they felt ‘crushed’.
The fifth moststressful destination is Shanghai, China.
Giacomo Piva Cofounder of Radical Storage comments:
“Visiting large cities can be incredibly overwhelming for tourists, navigating around places they have never been before, using transport, and finding tourist attractions can all be stressful.
We advise you to always plan out your visits to any vacation spot, look at transport options, and purchase tickets in advance. If you are prone to more anxiety in busier places, you can always take a look at the quieter times for these tourist hotspots on Google Maps, although these do tend to be earlier in the morning before the crowds gather.”
Featured Photo by Jezael Melgoza on Unsplash.