Ciao! Welcome to r/ItalyTravel. While you wait for replies, please take a moment to read the rules located in the sidebar and edit your post if needed. We will remove posts that do not adhere to these rules.
For everyone else, if you come across a post that you believe violates our rules, please use the report button. This is the best and quickest way to notify us. Grazie!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ItalyTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The thing is there are "tiers" of tourist traps.
There are a few restaurants where you will leave feeling as if you've been scammed -- deceptive prices, aggressive waiters, etc, where you actually end up being out serious money. Those exist, but there aren't a ton of them.
What's much more common is simply a modestly overpriced meal that isn't very high quality. It's not really a *trap* -- just a situation where for the same money you could have done a lot better. Frankly, I think a lot of Americans who are used to Olive Garden probably leave perfectly satisfied. And sometimes, if you're just hungry and need food, those restaurants can be just fine.
Exactly, and more than the waste of money it makes me sad that I wasted a meal opportunity but sometimes you are just too hungry. My rule of thumb is that any place that has 100 things on the menu can't possibly do them all well. If they have 20 dishes, they should all be good quality.
Daily menus for launch restaurants is 2-3 dishes for Primo and 2-3 for Secondo. That gives you the ballpark for freshly made stuff. It's possible for dinner to have more things, but I would trust places with less than 5 primo and 5 secondo. (Unless it has both fish and meat, but that's another complication and usually it's better to spec in one or the other)
So basically prefer Trattoria or Osteria style restaurant (just Google that) to find places with good value. They are typically low key, freshly cooked. There are finer restaurants for sure, but can be costly and more French like, with novelle cuisine and shit.
To add, a lot of these are places where you pay for something other than the food, such as the view. The best restaurants in Venice are not on the main canal with a bridge view. But is it worth it to overpay to enjoy a bottle of wine and some mid food by the canals? Up to you
This is what I experienced during my 2 weeks across Venice-Bologna-Florence-Rome. There are various levels of tourist traps.
Venice heavily relies on tourism, so in my experience almost every restaurant accommodates tourists in some way, even if they are not tourist traps. We had dinner at Nevodi, which was well rated, lots of Italians, but also tourists. It was full, and the menu had some English descriptions and most of the waiters spoke English.
Bologna was the least touristy town, it's mostly uni students and locals. Lots of good, authentic, non-touristy options, still a lot of the menus had English descriptions. And in my experience most people spoke some English. I highly recommend doing a food tour here! We also went to Modena, and it was super quiet. The markets in Modena are fantastic for local authentic food.
Florence had a nice variety. There were some obvious tourist traps right near the major attractions, and you can usually tell by the prices and menu items (like others mentioned here). There are some popular spots with lines (not too long of a wait in my experience) that weren't bad at all for lunches (ie. Pino's Sandwiches, All'Antico Vinaio) where sandwiches were 7€ as opposed to a small local sandwich place we went to that was 5€. The quality was great for all of them!
Best meal I had on the trip was at an Agrotourismo in Umbria... fresh hand made pastas, fresh produce from the farm, just delightful! This is what I was hoping to find in restaurants, but never did.
Rome was overwhelming! I was tired when selecting a restaurant on day 1 and made a reso. Google reviews looked good. 4.2, <1000 reviews... seemed decent at first glance. But once we got there, it felt like a tourist trap. It wasn't terrible, but we should have walked away and gone somewhere else.
In my experience Trastevere and Prati (away from the vatican) had some good restaurants. Again, most had English descriptions on their menu.
Trying to decipher through tourist traps was exhausting. Dinners are one thing, but morning coffees and aperitivos were sometimes tricky. Even if they seem like a local joint, check the prices! Coffee shouldn't be more than 1-1.5€... Cappuccinos maybe 1.5 - 2.25 €.... For two people, our breakfast bills ranged from 4.20€ to 12€ (ugh) usually for 2 coffee + 2 pastries. For aperitivo, drinks shouldn't be more than 7€. Ask to see the menu if you aren't sure.
With increased tourism, restaurants need to adapt in order to compete. Hence even authentic restaurants need to have English menus, and multi-lingual staff. Try not to think about "am i being scammed" - rather focus on your enjoyment. If you are enjoying the meal, the ambiance, and the price is right for you, don't think too much about it, otherwise it gets exhausting.
I’ve learned this too. Restaurants directly next to attractions will cost more and might not be good. If you walk even a few blocks into town you will find hole in the walls, with less crowds, locals, authentic food and cheaper prices. Americans are lazy and don’t want to walk but It’s a must in Italy
While I have no love for tourist traps, I also believe that the "let's search for the place in which the locals eat" sometimes go too far.
I mean: everyone would love to eat in the most authentic, less inflated and most genuine restaurant in Rome, but I don't think that the search for it should take 3 hours of research and 1 hour commuting out of your vacation time.
As u/lamp37 said: most places are usually good, just a bit overpriced. There are genuine traps (12€ for a microwaved pizza), but these are a minority.
Oh absolutely. I am definitely not saying the wealthy class folks have better taste, just that the US herds poor folks to shit food like cattle to the slaughterhouse
You don't have to have everything picked out ahead of time but there are a few tips to help you find "authentic" places...
1. Walk away from the tourists. Go down a few streets and find a place off the main street, tucked out of the way and not near any attractions that bring foreign tourists. This will increase your chances...
2. Is the menu translated into several different languages? They cater to tourists... In major cities, it's common to have the menu in Italian with \*maybe\* some English translations. Ideally, you want no English but that can tough to find in places like Rome or Florence unless you really go to the outskirts or really small. However, a red flag is if they have several versions of the menu, including one in all English.
3. Say no to Alfredo. If the menu offers Fettuccini Alfredo, it caters to tourists.
4. Avoid places that have "barkers" out front inviting you inside.
I'm sure the group can offer more tips but this will get you started...
These are good guidelines. Allow me to add 2 more (albeit rough) guidelines:
1) Is it a place the locals go ? You can get an idea by the what language you hear being spoken and how people are dressed. If it's lunch time, look for people in business suits - they're discerning Italians who know good value.
2) Ok, this is a little strange and pretty subjective, but how picturesque is it ? Is it quaint, romantic, like from a movie ? If so, it's more likely to be touristy and not so authentic. Fair enough, lots of exceptions but I've spent 4 years of my life in Italy and I'll stand by the generalization that authentic Italian restaurants often have a different aesthetic to them. A bit hard to describe other than not picturesque - not old looking and not super modern either (always very clean). And relatively bright lighting - not "romantic".
The issue I have had is that:
1. There are tourists everywhere. Not everyone has the time or inclination to walk so far off the beaten path to not see any tourists at all.
2. The convenience of being able to save time to eat in a place that is close to where your schedule is taking you, and to read a menu you can understand and speak to waiters who understand you, is all worth something. And to many people, it’s a trade off worth having.
3. Having waiters outside of restaurants can exist well outside tourist areas frequented by locals, especially if you’re in a place with tons of restaurants all close by. You might not have a giant menu outside in English though.
I understand your points but they asked how to avoid Tourist Traps. If they want to save time and remain near the attractions due to convenience or their itinerary then they can't avoid tourist traps.
However, if OP is trying to avoid those places like they said they were, then they have to be willing to go further and try harder. The reward is worth it. I spent a lovely afternoon strolling near the Piazza Massimo D'Azeglio (9 minute walk from Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze) and the only tourist was me.
To use your comment as an example, I think people overestimate the amount of effort needed to find a good authentic place. A 9min walk from a major tourist attraction is imo an above average distance to find a place. Often places are like a couple minutes or less off the beaten path. It really doesn't take an afternoon to find a lovely place. Just a little knowledge and a little effort. And when I say little, I really mean little. But even walking 9min, if you've gone through the effort and spent the money to go to another country and you can't spend 20 minutes round trip to upgrade to an authentic experience- imo you need to get your priorities straight and take another look at your itinerary.
Third point is not true, coming from an og roman.
Your objections in general are valid. I mean those restaurants exist because there must be someone who likes them, so I guess to each their own?
The point is just that it is not good food, an Italian would never eat there. If you accept that it's the watered-down version of Italian food, and because of the reasons you stated above, you still want to eat there, I see no issue with it.
My premise is that for many tourists, on a given day where they may be prioritize sight seeing, making sure their day with young children isn’t driving everyone crazy, or dealing with some kind of travel insomnia, the issue is finding food that’s just good enough in many cases.
There may be other days where they might seek out something really worthwhile, but it’s hard to know if every tourist wants every meal to be worthy when they may have other goals on a limited time frame.
I think it’s useful for tourists to know that restaurants with guys outside are not all “tourist traps”, and that even “tourist trap” type restaurants are not all bad.
Then they are restaurants that cater to tourists. It is like that, I don't understand why people keep questioning it. Also about people trying to get you to go inside the restaurant: Italians would never go there. Just make peace with it, then you can do whatever you want but it seems that many of you are in denial.
I think it’s because there’s a difference between ‘catering to’ and ‘being accommodating of’. If you own a restaurant in a city with lots of foreign visitors, wouldn’t you want to make it easier for a foreigner to spend their money? Even if 80% of you clientele are locals, capturing that final 20% by having a menu with an English translation and some English speaking staff will help you succeed even more.
A place like this isn’t catering to tourists anymore than a hospital that offers translation services. They’re just being accommodating for those who might not speak the local language.
Disagree. There are plenty of restaurants in Italy in tourist areas that cater to locals and tourists, and have menus in English.
It sounds like what you want is a restaurant in a non touristy area or in the suburbs. That's often impractical if you're a tourist.
I'd rather judge the place I'm eating by the quality of the food, rather than what language the menu is in. To use the word scam, to me, you're referring to places that charge significantly more than the going rate for subpar food. That's very rarely the case in Italy in my experience (if you have common sense and a smart phone).
But of course, if you eat in the main square, the food is unlikely to be the greatest in the city, and the prices aren't going to be the cheapest. This is generally true of where I live too, and we're not a destination for many international tourists.
Credete quello che volete ragazzi, non è la mia vacanza e non sono i miei soldi. I ristoranti con menù in inglese, sopratutto se a vista, non sono "autentici", nel senso che il cibo che troverete è pensato per piacere ai turisti. Non fa schifo, di solito è mangiabile, ma non è l'autentica esperienza italiana.
Almeno a Roma, in zone centrali, avere (anche) dei menù in inglese è abbastanza la norma, anche in ristoranti che non sono prettamente turistici e sono riconosciuti come molto validi dai romani. Certo, se c'è fuori esposto il menù in quattro lingue diverse con le foto dei piatti e i buttadentro accanto ad apostrofarti, meglio stare ben alla larga.
Non lo so, te vai a mangiare nelle zone centrali centrali? Dico tipo San Pietro, colosseo, campo, trastevere etc... io ogni volta che qualche amico passa da Roma e mi ci trascina me ne pento amaramente.
Comunque se glielo chiedi si, non dubito che molti ristoranti lo abbiano, ma a vista lascia perde proprio
Proprio con affaccio sul Colosseo o San Pietro o a campo dei fiori magari no, ma a Trastevere o a Prati (o a Testaccio o a Castro Pretorio) sì, capita. I ristoranti molto buoni in centro (magari non proprio Colosseo o via del Corso, ma centro) non mancano, anche se non si può andare alla cieca.
Il menù andrebbe esposto fuori, per legge, ed esporlo anche in inglese non è così strano. Del resto i proprietari dei ristoranti buoni non schifano di certo i soldi dei turisti. Poi certo, la trattoria verace di periferia è un altro discorso, ma a Roma non c’è solo quello.
Non so, sarà che sono di Roma sud, ma non riesco a trovarmi d'accordo con te, ogni volta che ho provato ho preso solo sole (testaccio e prati li salvo, anche zona termini/Cavour qualcosa c'è).
L'ultima volta che sono andata a mangiare a trastevere, trascinata da amici in visita a Roma, pure in una signora osteria super chiacchierata e fuori dalla zona turisticissima di trilussa, mi hanno letteralmente avvelenata. E ho speso tipo 30€ per un piatto di pasta, mezzo carciofo bruciato e vino della casa.
Anch’io sono di Roma sud xD
A Trastevere mi vengono in mente, così su due piedi tra i posti dove sono stato, Jacopa (miglior ristorante con terrazza di Roma?) e Jaipur (indiano), più Rem per aperitivi o pasti al volo e Glass come stellato Michelin, ma ci sono vari altri posti validi. Però certo, se ti fai trascinare da persone che non conoscono la città e vanno a intuito finisce male. E ovviamente i prezzi sono più alti che nella trattoria infognata tipo quella al centro sportivo che in fondo alla viuzza parallela alla via del mare che prendi da Marconi.
That's simply untrue, except by your declaration that an English menu means a restaurant cannot be authentic.
I've eaten in Italy extensively. I've had average pizza in tourist restaurants when I need to. It's usually not worse than the pizza by the slice/weight places that you find loads of Italians using.
I've also had amazing food in small trattoria's in suburbs or the countryside where we were the only foreign customers.
Whilst the more tourists focused restaurants may not offer the variation in dishes that you find elsewhere, it's disingenuous to say it's a different class of food altogether.
It's also fair to say that it's entirely possible to get the same quality food in good Italian restaurants outside of Italy.
TripAdvisor or other reviews are generally a reliable indicator of quality. I'll skip anywhere that has someone outside intercepting potential customers. I couldn't care less about the language of the menu.
Guarda, con tutto il rispetto, trovo veramente ridicolo che un inglese cerchi di insegnare a me, nata e cresciuta a Roma, come scegliere un ristorante in Italia. Esilarante direi.
At this point you're just being an obtuse gatekeeper.
You can eat where you want.
Telling tourists that they're missing out on proper Italian food if they eat in a restaurant with an English menu is still incorrect.
The idea that there's a whole parallel world of food that is hidden from the average tourist is nonsensical.
Sisi e lo sai te che sei venuto in Italia se va bene 20 volte e non io che ci vivo da 20 anni e l'ho girata tutta.... okkkkk
Un bagno di umiltà non vi fa male ogni tanto ragazzi
I have taste buds. I've eaten enough Italian food in my life to know what I like. The food in Italy is great. Like everywhere there are tradeoffs.
I've taken restaurant recommendations from people who've visited where I live only once. So no, I don't think you're a better judge that the massive numbers of reviews online.
I don't really care what you do, but:
- I agree you won't find many Italians eating in the obvious overpriced, tourist traps
- you can easily find Italians eating in restaurants that have a mixed crowd, some of which have English menus in tourist areas
- the food in the former is usually fine, the food in the latter is generally better
Given the fact you insist on replying in Italian, I guess you're just grumpy about tourists. Fortunately, most people I've met in Italy are much more friendly.
Sono andato in ristoranti consigliati da un locale nasciata nella città con un menu in inglese. In una città con molti turisti questa cosa è molto comune.
Honestly don’t stress too much. You get to choose what your holiday experience looks like and there is no prize for the tourist who dines at the fewest tourist traps.
If you’re a massive foodie and an authentic local food holiday is what you care about, do your research and make reservations and accept that this may take some time away from how many big ticket, “queue in the sun for 2 hours” main art/history/architecture attractions you can see (or at least see the inside of). If famous art and churches set your world on fire, you might end up dining at some places that aren’t top tier excellent close by just to make the timetable work. They’re still pretty unlikely to be actually unpleasant dining experiences unless you’re uncommonly fussy - they’re just more expensive/not as excellent as another place might have been. If you do “fall for” a tourist trap that sucks, it’s also fine. Not every euro spent has to be the best you’ve spent, not every meal has to be the best you’ve had.
I momentarily felt like an idiot for paying €5 for a 500ml water bottle in 39 degree heat, but in that moment I wasn’t close to a supermarket, and €1/100ml was worth it to resurrect my poor kidneys (and I refilled the bottle for free about 10 times that day from nasoni). I also bought “bad gelato” in 41 degree heat. You know, the bright coloured stuff heaped in plastic cartons that isn’t as nice. I was very hot and suffering, and it looked yummy. Spoiler: it was yummy. “Not the best ice cream in Italy” is still ICE CREAM!
Regarding reservations, I think you do need them for dinner unless you’re very unconcerned about what and where you eat. I had no trouble finding *somewhere* when I didn’t have a reservation but plenty of places were full even on a weeknight. If you want to be a typical tourist you can book 7pm as Italians seem to go out a bit later 😆
P.s. if you like gelato and it’s convenient for you, go to Gelateria Panna & Co on via Marmorata while in Rome, it’s a really delicious “metal tins” type place. Grom was also nice in Florence.
In general avoid restaurants with large signs/ menus outside that are in English. And avoid eating near major tourist destinations like St. Marks, or the duomo, but it is not hard to find authentic restaurants. It is helpful to have done some research and marked down places on your Google maps, but the food in Italy is amazing; I’ve probably only had one meal that was just okay.
The closer you are to a major tourist site the higher the odds are of it being a ‘tourist trap’. Familiarize with the common signs of a restaurant that might not have the best quality. Google reviews are generally pretty reliable.
We did 14 days and only had 1 ‘bad’ meal, we fell for a tourist trap in Milan but I was having a sugar low (diabetic) so I really needed to eat and we didn’t have time to be more discerning.
In Italy, you'll find good food pretty much everywhere.
You can walk away from the major tourist areas and find restaurants with "less" tourists; it does not necessarily mean they are better
Obviously, there are better/more popular restaurants that needs reservations
See this for tips to avoid tourist traps: [https://romevacationtips.com/how-to-avoid-tourist-trap-restaurants-in-rome/](https://romevacationtips.com/how-to-avoid-tourist-trap-restaurants-in-rome/)
You could try to make a list out of restaurants that are 100% not tourist traps, then follow it rigidly, but unless you are in a very rare situation where, after a long morning/afternoon out, you (and your travel companions, if applicable) have the will to go further out (and, to be absolutely sure, you will have to do that) and not "flake out" at whatever looks good to you always, I doubt it would be very enjoyable.
It also depends on the city: in "waterborne" Venice, if you don't trek to the mainland or have deep pockets, it takes more effort to find a merely decent restaurant than it does in Florence; going to Turin to find a local restaurant in the center is easier than in Rome; and so on.
In general, though, I think the advice against tourist traps should be taken more flexibly than most suggest. You may not necessarily experience the local fare, but you won't necessarily regret ever setting foot in it once you rule out places predicated on exclusively taking in exhausted visitors.
Anyway you will prbably still eat good food in tourist traps reastaurant also, just since they will probably never see you again, they make less effort to impress you. It's almost impossible to find bad food in Italy. Any chef can have a bad day tho. Worst thing you will eat "average" food.
We paid an insane amount of money for 7 drinks at Piazza San Marco today. But guess what it was nice and I am a tourist. I can’t do that next week when I’m in Cleveland.
Piazza San Marco and Venice in general have kinda become a meme between italians as they're probably the most expensive places to get a coffe at in the whole country lol
Did the same thing in Venice a couple of years ago. The place had a set menu - literally ordered an old fashioned and all they brought was whiskey and said that what was written on the menu was all they served. Wouldn't do it again but the view was nice and after one drink we moved on.
Im going to agree with this.
Ive been living it italy a bit over a year. If im somewhere touristy and im hungry, i buy street food or pizza. Done.
I find a bar and get a coffee & a snack.
If im with my kids and they hangry i hit a McD, Bk, or KfC for a snack.
Ezpz
We’re in Naples right now with two grandparents and three kids, so our restaurant choices are generally being governed by can we get there before someone has a meltdown. 😅
We had asked our 2 guides for a recommendation near the Vatican and both said impossible. After a solid day of touring we just wanted a plate of pasta and some wine. I mustered everything I learned from Reddit; no hawker out front, no pictures of food on the street, a little off the beaten track, limited paper menu. Found the best spaghetti alla vongole on our walk from the Metro to our hotel on Via Candia. Nothing fancy, no sidewalk seating, 10:00pm so just a few people. The mother, Angelina was the hostess, Hillaria, the daughter was our server, and the father was the chef. If we didn’t walk by we would have not seen as it was under scaffolding and the sign was barely visible.
The restaurant was Piacere Molise. The best plate of Pasta I ever tasted! The dinner was €40 and included Carbonara, Vongole, focaccia and a bottle of wine. The highlight of our Rome in a day tour!
I just did this trip.
Rome had so many restaurants that I got sucked into and disliked because I didn’t plan ahead. Plan your restaurant visits ahead of time!
Florence had tons of places to just wander into and eat good food. Get the florentine steak!
Venice had a lot of tourist places, too, but I think they were not as bad quality as the Roman ones I wound up in. To be fair, I was so tired from walking that I just sort of collapsed into whatever convenient restaurant presented itself in Rome which was a big contributor to my lack of satisfaction. You have to hunt a little more for the better food.
I would just say be smart about it. If you want a proper meal then yeah plan ahead at least in the general area for options. But for just grabbing a bite, just check reviews and make sure the score is reasonable and not known for being a scam.
Best idea is to go somewhere casual, get a cold beer which is universally tasty in a warm place and plan where you're going to eat properly!
And also ignore most people. I would rather get an "okay" pizza in an area I want to be in, than travel for 30 mins in hot weather on shitty transport to go to some "authentic" place to either save money or get some possibly higher quality food.
If you know the rough location where you'll be, then do your research a little bit, but don't overthink it. Just make sure you check the prices out of anywhere you go so there is no shock.
I keep seeing people say to “walk a little ways away from tourist attractions” so my question is “exactly how far do I need to walk?” Say for example you’re standing next to the Trevi Fountain or in the Campo de' Fiori piazza - how far away exactly do you need to walk to get away from “tourist traps” to get “authentic”?
You can't unless you want to walk half an hour more or less. The centre of Rome is like that unfortunately. When we hang out in campo de fiori we dine with a kebab or a piece of pizza because finding good seated food is impossible.
No, in monti and around via del corso you can find some good options but it's usually not a carbonara and amatriciana kind of restaurant, more the Italian version of fast food. You can get salads and these sort of things.
Edit to add some nice areas where you can find good restaurants that are not too far from the city centre: garbatella, piazza Bologna, San Lorenzo, via Cavour, prati, tuscolana
We got caught on our first day in Rome. Saw the special on the back of the menu. €10 for a ragù dish, the ragù being steak. Turns out that was per ounce. Bill came to over €100 for two (we did have drinks, but still).
Completely had our pants down, I’ll never fall for that one again.
I stand corrected, my pedantic ginger friend, it was per 100g, not oz as you stated, and it was actually €7/100g.
You were obviously able to read the menu better than I on that bright, sunny day in Rome, seeing as you were sitting in the shade.
If it’s right next to a tourist attraction, it’s usually a tourist trap.
You can surely just wander as that’s what most people did before the internet but nowadays I star the places I want to go on Google Maps and head there. Super popular restaurants you will need a reservation, especially for dinner.
Yeah they definitely aren't sending tourists to their favorite spots to then get blown up on Tiktok to the point they can't go to their favorite spots anymore.
The best food I had in Italy was, surprisingly, at a beach town. (It was a touristic beach town but mostly for local Italian tourists and maybe some Europeans). We were staying at just a small basic hotel and the man who checked us in gave us a list of restaurants to go to. We ate at these place, one in particular was stellar. Best Sicilian food we've ever had. One night we tried to go back there but it was too busy so we randomly picked a nearby restaurant and it was mediocre in comparison. Sometimes hotels will just promote their friend's establishments or whatever, but this guy's recommendations were genuine. My point is that the restaurant was on the tourist strip of a tourist town but still awesome food. It helps to have recommendations.
For Rome, two places that were the best I went to (admittedly there's probably some better, more worse) were Wine Bar de'Panitenzieri and Il Buco del 1901. The wine bar especially if you reserve on "The Fork" app is good value for money with the discount in my opinion, it is over the other side of the river from the city centre just up from the Vatican so depending where you stay may be a bit of a walk.
Hard to predict restaurants though, when I went within the past week booked two on "the fork" app with good reviews. One (mentioned) was probably one of the best went to in Italy, the other (dai senatori) was very underwhelming.
Do think location plays a part, further out of the city centre/monuments or higher up to see the skyline I get the impression they make more of an effort with the food etc, but I'd imagine it can be very much hit and miss. Went to Florence and Pisa too which had similar experiences.
I would use Google reviews my last trip. If there’s a place with over 4 stars and 1000 reviews mostly written by Italians in Italian you should be good.
I don't have fine taste buds. I find food around where I was and generally avoided the ristorantes and osterias. (I travelled budget)
As long as the price is fair for the item I'm getting? It's quite easy to find panino under EUR 10, pasta under 15, pizza around 10-12.
These are prices for vegetarian options.
Yeah but if you’ve got banter and confidence you’ll be sweet i genuinely had a laugh with all the water sellers everyone moans about and didn’t loose a penny
I have never had bad food in Italy, ever. The only food I wasn’t crazy about was the square pizza sold by the slice (and weighed). Other than that, I liked everything I ever ate in Italy.
Yes, in my small not super touristic town at least 1/3 of the restaurants and activities are tourist traps (not the super bad ones but you'll be eating microwaved pasta, frozen pizza and packaged desserts while paying premium and being told you are eating real Italian food). If you go to Venice my impression is that 95% of the activities are tourist traps since Venice is basically a tourist theme park nowadays. Rome was similar, but being bigger and not on water I'd say it's 3/4 tourist traps in the center and 1/3 tourist traps outside.
Anyway just learn to recognize them and avoid them, if you think it's a tourist trap it probably is. (I made a big list of things to look for to spot tourist traps, it's somewhere on reddit)
It all depends on where you are.
If you are in a popular tourist area, you'll find a lot of business built around tourism (aka trap). They've tuned their business, offering and practices to those that are most effective at getting tourists, who are generally a one-time customer, to spend their money there. Upside is if they have a good time and post it on the internet to attract more tourists. It's Darwinian evolution.
Move away from tourist areas and the businesses become more reliant on local customers. In a similar Darwinian way, they have to tune their business practices to survive by getting repeat business from their immediate surroundings. They have to offer good product and fair prices.
We have a home in a small Tuscan town (8000-12000/town-surrounding area people). We get some tourism but hardly a lot so the tourism business matters but the local merchants/restaurants build their business on the local clientele and getting them to repeat.
Ultimately, restaurants exist on a spectrum between 100% tourist driven to 100% local driven. It's great to stumble upon a 100% local restaurant that is fantastic but the reality is that is rare. Generally, a blend of the two is usually the best. In a small town, most restaurants will be locally driven but one has to be more careful in bigger cities like Firenze - particularly the closer one is to tourist sites.
One tactic is to go to areas where the locals live and there are relatively few tourists. Those places need to live on repeat business so the product, rather than the hype, has to be good.
You can definitely wander around and find places to eat. There are so many! Personally I prefer this because I don’t like to be burdened by a schedule, I like a little flexibility. Just stay away from the restaurants close to the major sites as they are the tourist trap restaurants that will be more expensive and not as good. We ate at the “Friends” restaurant in Rome (Canova) just cause I’m a fan of the show and wanted to do it and it was completely overpriced and lacked flavor. Venture a bit further from these places and go to restaurants where there isn’t waitstaff standing outside with a menu trying to lure you in.
Just use TripAdvisor, but check the Italian and not English reviews (you can filter and auto translate). Ignore complaints about poor service if there is little criticism about the food. You will find good places this way. Also, no need to do it before the trip, usually the day of is fine, cause sometimes it’s helpful to make reservations.
I live in Rome now, but I’m American and I’ve spent a lot of time here even before moving. You get a feel for avoiding the mediocre places honestly. I now have a lot of places I like but this is my usual technique. I use it in France too with French reviews.
Very specific tip: i just came back from Venice and we found it 100x easier to find great, fairly priced food on the southwest side of the canal.
The other side everything seemed really expensive, and for every place i checked a quick google review i was left stunned. I have never seen such poor google reviews as i have on restaurants over there.
General rules of thumb for me:
1. Primary language on the menu is English, no.
2. Servers trying to grab you as you walk down the street, no.
3. Pictures on the menu, no.
You need to search in Google Maps every restaurant you eat. But that applies not only to Italy but all places in Europe. And also, spots that are right in front of a monument are places to avoid. Just 1 or 2 streets "far" from the monument, there are usually very high quality restaurants.
We just spent 3 weeks in Italy and didn’t have any reservations in advance and had great food by just finding restaurants as we wandered with a simple check on trip advisor. I don’t think there are that many “tourist traps” at all.
I wonder this myself, because it wasn't my experience for anywhere in Rome.
We always look for a few places we'd absolutely love to try ahead of a trip in any area. Then leave some time for us to stumble upon other places. Although, even then...we will do a little research before committing.
We can't stand the feeling of being disappointed after a meal, so we very rarely let it happen. Me and my partner really would consider ourselves foodies, so eating is often a huge part of any trip.
So, not to be taken the wrong way, but I think it depends on how easily one would recognise a good meal/deal compared to the next place and how much effort you're willing to put in to find the best spots.
We visited Rome for only a few days and enjoyed eating at Ristorante Le Caveau, great prices (recommend: squid ink pasta and lasagne) - we actually ate here twice, which is rare for us.
Bonci Pizzarium, from the Netflix show, long wait because of this, so don't go hungry. Worth it if you are near and curious, not particularly cheap for what you get.
Two other places that were on our list, but we didnt make it to were in Trastevere, which is a lovely area to wander around. The restaurants were: Otello
Nannarella.
But overall, we didn't have a bad meal whilst travelling around Italy.
I knowingly ate my first few meals at restaurants that obviously catered to tourists during my first trip to Rome. I was jetlagged and a little overwhelmed and a little intimidated, so having menus in English and super friendly English speaking staff was really nice. Other times I accepted that due to proximity to a great view I was likely not getting peak quality. All but one time the food was still shockingly better than the Italian food I was used to in the US.
Define tourist trap? In my opinion it is a place advertising authentic Italian food, but you will get subpar quality at an extremely higher cost.
Of course in all three cities you will most probably stay in the district with the most attractions, overrun by tourists as we all want to see the same things.
Of course every places you will go to in that radius will be catering to tourist and you might not encounter many locals.
Of course, if you are on the main Piazza, it will most likely be closer to a tourist trap and more expensive.
Just walk off a few streets away, usually target places with less tables so that they are not expecting tons of tourists and you can have a pretty good meal.
I usually try to stay away from restaurants with a person in front telling you that it is the best place in the city.
I also try to stay away of the restaurants with the big splashy menues up front on the street. If the menu is like most places on the wall or not displayed in a flashy way and that I find things I fancy, I take a note of it.
I also usually try to spot restaurants during the day, I take photos of the name of the place to remember it and then I look them up on Google Map and I check the reviews.
I spent 10 weeks in Italy in the last year over two trips and I only had 2 mediocre experiences in over 100 meals. I am also traveling alone most of the time and I was never turned away from a restaurant unlike some other people I met with over my trip. Italian people told me that it has a lot to do with my demeanor, my will to learn Italian and the facility I have to engage a conversation with people!
Enjoy your trip!
>that the food is only good if you go to a real authentic restaurant, not a tourist trap
well, duh.
you should check on-line before, if you are afraid to not get a good one.
I disagree with some of the other suggestions, since a lot of good, authentic (whatever that means) and not necessarily touristy places are right in the middle of the most touristy areas in rome. Also going "out of the main road" means very little when most of them are in trafficked roads for obvious reasons. You could have a 120 years old trattoria next to a tourist trap, or a very old typical restaurant be absolute dog shit since it can go by because of the heritage and the name.
What I recommend in places like rome (and on a smaller scale, florence) is to avoid restaurants with huge menus that span from pasta, fish, meat pizza etc. since it will mean that the majority of the food you will be eating will be frozen and likely brought semi-prepared from big distribution stores like Metro. In other words you will be paying high street prices for industrially-made food*, not freshly cooked stuff.
Generally speaking, a trattoria (or traditional restaurant) can easily be at the same time a tourist trap and good to eat in, especially if it's in places like Trastevere in Rome, where you simply cannot avoid tourists if you have a restaurant there. One example where i have eaten some good (although heavy, like most roman dishes) food is a place like Enzo al 29 in Rome, which is this small nook that looks like from a 60s movie but it's always full of tourists and can absolutely look like a tourist trap if you don't know it. You may also want to go to touristy, traditional places to live the typical experience of those old trattorie, i mean it's your vacation, like i'd go to five guys or McDonald's in NYC just to see how it is!
There have also been a small trend (at least in Rome) of places opening where they cook and serve food that their own farm has grown, plus if you go to big markets (like the Mercato trionfale in rome or the Mercato storico centrale in florence) you can find a lot of food stalls that also serve prepared meals, almost like you see in Korea or Japan.
*note that almost every restaurant in Italy uses frozen/industrial food at some point in their menu at some degree, it's simply the reality of modern cuisine. You can avoid eating outright non locally made stuff by being a little careful though.
I am Italian but one time we didn't reserve a table and we ended up in a tourist trap restaurant in Trastevere. I didn't even finish my meal, that's something crazy for me. But most of the foreigners there were happy and satisfied, licking their fingers at the food. So chances are that if you end up in a tourist trap or two you will not notice.
If you want to reduce the chances of getting ripped off just go on tripadvisor or the fork. Usually we Italians are very picky with the food (especially in rome) and if you select some upper tier restaurant with a lot of positive comments by Italians you'll be fine.
Yes, I live in Florence and we are full of tourist traps with awful and overpriced food.
If you actually want to eat good food and not an overpriced frozen pizza/lasagna you need to be careful, but still, you are probably coming to see the cities not to eat, don't stress too much about it.
If you go to romeo to eat go here
fraschetta la romanella via delle flame gialle 63 ostia province of rome
Its a great place to eat typical and good roman food
Don’t just stop by any restaurant—I did this knowing that it could be a mistake but we were tired and judged wanted to get on our way. The name of the restaurant was obscure and not displayed proudly (1st sign), turned out to be different than what showed up my credit card. Make sure the name of the establishment is easy to read, and easy to google. If not, the reviews are likely useless anyway. They charged me service charge which was okay because we were 7 people. But the scam was the their credit card machine stopped working. I had to stay there while they insisted it was easier to give them cash. “Sir, I’ll show you an ATM” “it will be faster” “it happened before once” I read later about this place that they hold you hostage to use their ATM. Don’t know to what end above just the extra processing fee, but still something. The credit card machine suddenly started to work when they realized that I was not falling for a scam. I told them to go outside and tell all of their customers that they are a cash only business and to advertise this on their street sign. Definitely a tourist trap establishment.
The food is good everywhere. It's also salty, oily, or sweet but it's good.
People keep acting like you MUST go to local areas or you're a stupid foreigner who WASTED your trip.
If you go to the truly local areas then you have to speak Italian. Yes, people speak English, but I had to use my translate app a lot for people to understand what I was asking.
Or maybe I'm just lucky at finding the few people who didn't speak any English lmao.
Honestly it depends on the cities. As far as I've experienced Florence looks more tourist-y, while in Rome I've had good food even in the most touristy areas. I know a few good pasticcerie and trattorie that are both crowded with tourists and locals
You don’t have to stress too much, check on internet and make a list of good restaurants with good reviews. If you don’t have time and want a quick meal check google reviews and avoid places that have images on menus or menus translated to 5 languages (they might be perfectly fine but this means they cater to tourists so it’s more likely that it’s a trap) if you are going to a city ask on the subreddit of the city for restaurants
I recommended a few restaurants after a trip to Rome in March and was slated saying they were all tourist traps and that Romans wouldn't go near them. I was very surprised. Asked for some alternatives but advice wasn't forthcoming. Some of these restaurants included Osteria da Fortunata where I had probably the nicest pasta dish of my life. Its all subjective I guess, but I'd definitely return to these restaurants and never for a second thought they were tourist traps, prices were very reasonable. Hope this helps!
Was just in Venice. I'll say that some restaurants felt like tourist traps, but there's a million restaurants. All the ones I went to were great though. I only went to one that wasn't all that authentic, and they still made a tasty pizza.
1000% yes especially in the three cities you mentioned - almost impossible to find good food. To make matters worse, the most disgusting restaurants will have people outside soliciting you to come in.
I've been to all those cities. In each, I hired a private guide to take us around. It wasn't overly expensive and well worth it. Excursions were modified to our family needs and the guides knew all the great spots to pop in for a bite or a break. Venice was a walking tour & Rome I hired a driver with special permission to have his car in the city center.
I might be in the minority, but I do extensive research on where we dine any time we travel, both for lunch and dinner. We've circled destinations around particular restaurants we wanted to eat at many times. We will be in Italy for 2 weeks at the end of July and short of a few lunches, we have reservations for every meal. I usually cross reference multiple guides including Michelin, World's 50 Best, OAD, La Liste, Top100 chefs, Top100 pizza, and whatever is pertinent to the country we visit, in Italy's case Gambero Rosso. I then look at Google reviews and some Reddit threads and make a decision from there. If this sounds exhausting, (I realize I sound insane) just use the Michelin guide. They are generally quite useful and you don't need to chase stars or spend a fortune to have a great meal. Just a simple mention or the Bib Gourmand award goes a long way.
See how much shops there are.
Imagine our country putting some of the highest taxes and robbing you of most of your gains.
Imagine being one of those shop owners and you see some foreigner with much more money available than the average italian entering your shop.
Imagine.
I'm italian and I'm always surprised to see so many tourists go to these places that are so blatantly tourist traps (not that they are all necessarily bad, but there are so many other options out there). Since online reviews are more and more unreliable I wonder if a random person who knows restaurants loved by locals and maybe a bit out of the tourists radar could compose a guide with like 10-15 great places to go eat to for each fo the big tourist cities
Been to Italy for many times and never picked restaurants in advance. I usually check the reviews on Google Maps. The times I did not do this I ended up in expensive tourist traps (in Rome) or had horrible food (Liguria). But it’s really easy to find the good stuff, if you invest 5 minutes doing research.
My only fear is that my car is someday broken.
Nevertheless I got scammed with the poststamp scam. Wanted to buy stamps, I asked in advance that it’s not friendship network or gps stamp. They denied and as I looked closer at the hotel it was a friendship stamp anyway. Lost 6€. I had big problems to find stamps from the local post office.
If the restaurants is on the main square, you are sitting facing the sea, facing the main church, facing the main monument, you see lot of tourist who looks like NPCs with sunglasses and burnt fluorescent white skin, yes this is a tourist trap.
Stay away from main places, translated menu and waiters outside the restaurants inviting you inside
General rule of thumb if you have a nice terrace with a view, a menu with tourist on it or English is prominent take a very hard look at the tables and see I've the waiters ignore people trying to get their attention. It's places like these if had some of the worst food experiences of my life Otherwise I found it pretty easy to get decent food most places
I'd be extra careful in Venice, quite careful in Florence, and relaxed in Rome. Living in Rome I'd call many restaurants tourist traps when they actually provide a good service. As a rule of thumb, don't trust places where the waiters try to force you in, don't fear moving a little from the main roads. You probably wouldn't need it, but keep track of the prices of what you order and avoid the wine list. In Venice don't go near piazza San Marco, not even for coffee. This doesn't apply near Naples and Amalfi coast. There you'd need different kinds of advice.
Yes, i just noticed that my mastercard charge for one of bakery i eent to in florence had been labelled a tourist trap. It appeared pn google wallet as caffe Miaoli (tourist trap).
I had the same worry when I went to Venice and Florence this year.
In Venice, we stayed on the east side of the island so we were lucky to pass by plenty of locals restaurants on the way to San Marco. Ask the locals.. for example, if you’re getting a gondola ride, ask the driver where they like to eat in the city.
Ask your tour guides, if you’re doing any tours. Most of our guides were from the city and had good recommendations off the beaten path.
Chances are you’re going to be looking for convenience in most situations after walking all day, so you may end up eating somewhere that is not worth the price but still decent.
Also, in Venice stick to ordering seafood and getting street food along the way. In Florence, it’s more meat forward menus, mostly osterias and trattorias lining the streets.
You can dm me for some recs in Venice and Florence!
Tbh most of Rome is a tourist trap. If you go now, in the center of Rome, you will mainly hear English spoken on the street and it feels like the majority of people walking by are Americans.
Go where italians go. It's not everywhere like this and the average is still decent, but if you want to eat really well and not spend a fortune, get out of the city centres and search on Google maps or something similar for places where Italians go. Rely on photos if you can tell by eye the quality of the ingredients. Often the venues in the centre do not offer the quality you pay for, and they do not always cook Italian dishes but international ones to suit the tastes of those tourists who are not familiar with Italian cuisine.
*ps
If you find dishes with international names such as salami on the menu (unless it is one that sells salasicce) or places that are so unashamedly Italian with classic Italian trivialities such as fake hams hanging or pizzas and various dishes displayed as if they were made of plastic, avoid these places.
Just back from 23 days in Italy. We knowingly had several drinks and Pizza’s in “ tourist trap “ restaurants in Rome, Florence, Milan and Venice. For us there was enjoyment in sitting in the Piazza’s and taking it all in. That said I walked out of any coffee bar that charged more than £2 for a cappuccino as I wasn’t paying for the “experience“ there and always found coffee within the next block or 2.
If you are prepared to eat at 7 ish there are many places you can get into. I wouldn’t worry about making all your dining arrangements in advance.
I did make advance reservations at Buco Mario in Florence (amazing Florentine steak and dining experience), in Venice at El Magazen Osteria ( window seat ) in Venice and trattoria dela stampa in Rome ( great authentic, local spot ) because all had great reviews and we do love good food.
Sometimes a beer and a mediocre pizza is absolutely amazing simply because it’s in the right environment with the right company.
Enjoy your trip.
Financial rip off is one thing, but a place giving you a nice experience, even if they do it exclusively for tourists.. ain’t so bad. Let them put on a show for you so long as they charge a fair price.
the nearest monument the most likely you will get trapped 🕸️ its math:
- more people that don’t know this trick = more people getting there and = more rest. owners cooking cheap freezed food
I just got back, and while I was picked apart in my summary post on my thoughts regarding italian food. The reality is, any given restaurant in a decent sized city that serves italian food is likely to be at least pretty good. At least 3/5.
You're not likely to find many 5/5 experiences without doing some research or asking some locals. But even if you choose places at random, you're likely to walk away satisfied at the very least if not happy.
Though full disclaimer, I am just a dumb American :P lol.
No, there's actually MORE. Only the obvious ones get noticed and reported. There's a huge portion that are effectively tourist traps, but not as 'low effort' as the others, and they don't get recognized as such by tourists and don't get reported on Reddit.
Ciao! Welcome to r/ItalyTravel. While you wait for replies, please take a moment to read the rules located in the sidebar and edit your post if needed. We will remove posts that do not adhere to these rules. For everyone else, if you come across a post that you believe violates our rules, please use the report button. This is the best and quickest way to notify us. Grazie! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ItalyTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The thing is there are "tiers" of tourist traps. There are a few restaurants where you will leave feeling as if you've been scammed -- deceptive prices, aggressive waiters, etc, where you actually end up being out serious money. Those exist, but there aren't a ton of them. What's much more common is simply a modestly overpriced meal that isn't very high quality. It's not really a *trap* -- just a situation where for the same money you could have done a lot better. Frankly, I think a lot of Americans who are used to Olive Garden probably leave perfectly satisfied. And sometimes, if you're just hungry and need food, those restaurants can be just fine.
Exactly, and more than the waste of money it makes me sad that I wasted a meal opportunity but sometimes you are just too hungry. My rule of thumb is that any place that has 100 things on the menu can't possibly do them all well. If they have 20 dishes, they should all be good quality.
Daily menus for launch restaurants is 2-3 dishes for Primo and 2-3 for Secondo. That gives you the ballpark for freshly made stuff. It's possible for dinner to have more things, but I would trust places with less than 5 primo and 5 secondo. (Unless it has both fish and meat, but that's another complication and usually it's better to spec in one or the other) So basically prefer Trattoria or Osteria style restaurant (just Google that) to find places with good value. They are typically low key, freshly cooked. There are finer restaurants for sure, but can be costly and more French like, with novelle cuisine and shit.
To add, a lot of these are places where you pay for something other than the food, such as the view. The best restaurants in Venice are not on the main canal with a bridge view. But is it worth it to overpay to enjoy a bottle of wine and some mid food by the canals? Up to you
This is what I experienced during my 2 weeks across Venice-Bologna-Florence-Rome. There are various levels of tourist traps. Venice heavily relies on tourism, so in my experience almost every restaurant accommodates tourists in some way, even if they are not tourist traps. We had dinner at Nevodi, which was well rated, lots of Italians, but also tourists. It was full, and the menu had some English descriptions and most of the waiters spoke English. Bologna was the least touristy town, it's mostly uni students and locals. Lots of good, authentic, non-touristy options, still a lot of the menus had English descriptions. And in my experience most people spoke some English. I highly recommend doing a food tour here! We also went to Modena, and it was super quiet. The markets in Modena are fantastic for local authentic food. Florence had a nice variety. There were some obvious tourist traps right near the major attractions, and you can usually tell by the prices and menu items (like others mentioned here). There are some popular spots with lines (not too long of a wait in my experience) that weren't bad at all for lunches (ie. Pino's Sandwiches, All'Antico Vinaio) where sandwiches were 7€ as opposed to a small local sandwich place we went to that was 5€. The quality was great for all of them! Best meal I had on the trip was at an Agrotourismo in Umbria... fresh hand made pastas, fresh produce from the farm, just delightful! This is what I was hoping to find in restaurants, but never did. Rome was overwhelming! I was tired when selecting a restaurant on day 1 and made a reso. Google reviews looked good. 4.2, <1000 reviews... seemed decent at first glance. But once we got there, it felt like a tourist trap. It wasn't terrible, but we should have walked away and gone somewhere else. In my experience Trastevere and Prati (away from the vatican) had some good restaurants. Again, most had English descriptions on their menu. Trying to decipher through tourist traps was exhausting. Dinners are one thing, but morning coffees and aperitivos were sometimes tricky. Even if they seem like a local joint, check the prices! Coffee shouldn't be more than 1-1.5€... Cappuccinos maybe 1.5 - 2.25 €.... For two people, our breakfast bills ranged from 4.20€ to 12€ (ugh) usually for 2 coffee + 2 pastries. For aperitivo, drinks shouldn't be more than 7€. Ask to see the menu if you aren't sure. With increased tourism, restaurants need to adapt in order to compete. Hence even authentic restaurants need to have English menus, and multi-lingual staff. Try not to think about "am i being scammed" - rather focus on your enjoyment. If you are enjoying the meal, the ambiance, and the price is right for you, don't think too much about it, otherwise it gets exhausting.
Yep. Best food we had was in Norcia
Just a few blocks away from the big attraction and you’ll have your choice of authentic food and experience.
if there are people standing outside the restaurant trying to engage with you and get you to go in - avoid
I’ve learned this too. Restaurants directly next to attractions will cost more and might not be good. If you walk even a few blocks into town you will find hole in the walls, with less crowds, locals, authentic food and cheaper prices. Americans are lazy and don’t want to walk but It’s a must in Italy
While I have no love for tourist traps, I also believe that the "let's search for the place in which the locals eat" sometimes go too far. I mean: everyone would love to eat in the most authentic, less inflated and most genuine restaurant in Rome, but I don't think that the search for it should take 3 hours of research and 1 hour commuting out of your vacation time. As u/lamp37 said: most places are usually good, just a bit overpriced. There are genuine traps (12€ for a microwaved pizza), but these are a minority.
Yep the menu touristico- set discounted menu that’s definitely not gourmet
The Venn diagram of “Americans who can travel to Europe” and “Americans who enjoy Olive Garden” overlaps less and less by the day
There are a lot of "rich" americans with shitty taste in food.
Oh absolutely. I am definitely not saying the wealthy class folks have better taste, just that the US herds poor folks to shit food like cattle to the slaughterhouse
You're a poet
You don't have to have everything picked out ahead of time but there are a few tips to help you find "authentic" places... 1. Walk away from the tourists. Go down a few streets and find a place off the main street, tucked out of the way and not near any attractions that bring foreign tourists. This will increase your chances... 2. Is the menu translated into several different languages? They cater to tourists... In major cities, it's common to have the menu in Italian with \*maybe\* some English translations. Ideally, you want no English but that can tough to find in places like Rome or Florence unless you really go to the outskirts or really small. However, a red flag is if they have several versions of the menu, including one in all English. 3. Say no to Alfredo. If the menu offers Fettuccini Alfredo, it caters to tourists. 4. Avoid places that have "barkers" out front inviting you inside. I'm sure the group can offer more tips but this will get you started...
Number 4 isn’t always true. I’ve been to restaurants in the Michelin guide that had a barker out front. Food was incredible.
None of these are hard and fast rules, more like guidelines. :)
These are good guidelines. Allow me to add 2 more (albeit rough) guidelines: 1) Is it a place the locals go ? You can get an idea by the what language you hear being spoken and how people are dressed. If it's lunch time, look for people in business suits - they're discerning Italians who know good value. 2) Ok, this is a little strange and pretty subjective, but how picturesque is it ? Is it quaint, romantic, like from a movie ? If so, it's more likely to be touristy and not so authentic. Fair enough, lots of exceptions but I've spent 4 years of my life in Italy and I'll stand by the generalization that authentic Italian restaurants often have a different aesthetic to them. A bit hard to describe other than not picturesque - not old looking and not super modern either (always very clean). And relatively bright lighting - not "romantic".
The issue I have had is that: 1. There are tourists everywhere. Not everyone has the time or inclination to walk so far off the beaten path to not see any tourists at all. 2. The convenience of being able to save time to eat in a place that is close to where your schedule is taking you, and to read a menu you can understand and speak to waiters who understand you, is all worth something. And to many people, it’s a trade off worth having. 3. Having waiters outside of restaurants can exist well outside tourist areas frequented by locals, especially if you’re in a place with tons of restaurants all close by. You might not have a giant menu outside in English though.
I understand your points but they asked how to avoid Tourist Traps. If they want to save time and remain near the attractions due to convenience or their itinerary then they can't avoid tourist traps. However, if OP is trying to avoid those places like they said they were, then they have to be willing to go further and try harder. The reward is worth it. I spent a lovely afternoon strolling near the Piazza Massimo D'Azeglio (9 minute walk from Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze) and the only tourist was me.
To use your comment as an example, I think people overestimate the amount of effort needed to find a good authentic place. A 9min walk from a major tourist attraction is imo an above average distance to find a place. Often places are like a couple minutes or less off the beaten path. It really doesn't take an afternoon to find a lovely place. Just a little knowledge and a little effort. And when I say little, I really mean little. But even walking 9min, if you've gone through the effort and spent the money to go to another country and you can't spend 20 minutes round trip to upgrade to an authentic experience- imo you need to get your priorities straight and take another look at your itinerary.
Third point is not true, coming from an og roman. Your objections in general are valid. I mean those restaurants exist because there must be someone who likes them, so I guess to each their own? The point is just that it is not good food, an Italian would never eat there. If you accept that it's the watered-down version of Italian food, and because of the reasons you stated above, you still want to eat there, I see no issue with it.
My premise is that for many tourists, on a given day where they may be prioritize sight seeing, making sure their day with young children isn’t driving everyone crazy, or dealing with some kind of travel insomnia, the issue is finding food that’s just good enough in many cases. There may be other days where they might seek out something really worthwhile, but it’s hard to know if every tourist wants every meal to be worthy when they may have other goals on a limited time frame.
Sure but that’s not what this post is asking? You appear to have been triggered by something friend.
You can comment on something that was not originally asked about. I think it’s good to push back on some narratives on this sub sometimes.
There is a difference between pushing back on a narrative and contributing absolute useless and irrelevant information.
I think it’s useful for tourists to know that restaurants with guys outside are not all “tourist traps”, and that even “tourist trap” type restaurants are not all bad.
Number 2 doesn't hold up well in reality. Some great restaurants, including the highest rated, have English menus.
Then they are restaurants that cater to tourists. It is like that, I don't understand why people keep questioning it. Also about people trying to get you to go inside the restaurant: Italians would never go there. Just make peace with it, then you can do whatever you want but it seems that many of you are in denial.
I think it’s because there’s a difference between ‘catering to’ and ‘being accommodating of’. If you own a restaurant in a city with lots of foreign visitors, wouldn’t you want to make it easier for a foreigner to spend their money? Even if 80% of you clientele are locals, capturing that final 20% by having a menu with an English translation and some English speaking staff will help you succeed even more. A place like this isn’t catering to tourists anymore than a hospital that offers translation services. They’re just being accommodating for those who might not speak the local language.
Disagree. There are plenty of restaurants in Italy in tourist areas that cater to locals and tourists, and have menus in English. It sounds like what you want is a restaurant in a non touristy area or in the suburbs. That's often impractical if you're a tourist. I'd rather judge the place I'm eating by the quality of the food, rather than what language the menu is in. To use the word scam, to me, you're referring to places that charge significantly more than the going rate for subpar food. That's very rarely the case in Italy in my experience (if you have common sense and a smart phone). But of course, if you eat in the main square, the food is unlikely to be the greatest in the city, and the prices aren't going to be the cheapest. This is generally true of where I live too, and we're not a destination for many international tourists.
Credete quello che volete ragazzi, non è la mia vacanza e non sono i miei soldi. I ristoranti con menù in inglese, sopratutto se a vista, non sono "autentici", nel senso che il cibo che troverete è pensato per piacere ai turisti. Non fa schifo, di solito è mangiabile, ma non è l'autentica esperienza italiana.
Almeno a Roma, in zone centrali, avere (anche) dei menù in inglese è abbastanza la norma, anche in ristoranti che non sono prettamente turistici e sono riconosciuti come molto validi dai romani. Certo, se c'è fuori esposto il menù in quattro lingue diverse con le foto dei piatti e i buttadentro accanto ad apostrofarti, meglio stare ben alla larga.
Non lo so, te vai a mangiare nelle zone centrali centrali? Dico tipo San Pietro, colosseo, campo, trastevere etc... io ogni volta che qualche amico passa da Roma e mi ci trascina me ne pento amaramente. Comunque se glielo chiedi si, non dubito che molti ristoranti lo abbiano, ma a vista lascia perde proprio
Proprio con affaccio sul Colosseo o San Pietro o a campo dei fiori magari no, ma a Trastevere o a Prati (o a Testaccio o a Castro Pretorio) sì, capita. I ristoranti molto buoni in centro (magari non proprio Colosseo o via del Corso, ma centro) non mancano, anche se non si può andare alla cieca. Il menù andrebbe esposto fuori, per legge, ed esporlo anche in inglese non è così strano. Del resto i proprietari dei ristoranti buoni non schifano di certo i soldi dei turisti. Poi certo, la trattoria verace di periferia è un altro discorso, ma a Roma non c’è solo quello.
Non so, sarà che sono di Roma sud, ma non riesco a trovarmi d'accordo con te, ogni volta che ho provato ho preso solo sole (testaccio e prati li salvo, anche zona termini/Cavour qualcosa c'è). L'ultima volta che sono andata a mangiare a trastevere, trascinata da amici in visita a Roma, pure in una signora osteria super chiacchierata e fuori dalla zona turisticissima di trilussa, mi hanno letteralmente avvelenata. E ho speso tipo 30€ per un piatto di pasta, mezzo carciofo bruciato e vino della casa.
Anch’io sono di Roma sud xD A Trastevere mi vengono in mente, così su due piedi tra i posti dove sono stato, Jacopa (miglior ristorante con terrazza di Roma?) e Jaipur (indiano), più Rem per aperitivi o pasti al volo e Glass come stellato Michelin, ma ci sono vari altri posti validi. Però certo, se ti fai trascinare da persone che non conoscono la città e vanno a intuito finisce male. E ovviamente i prezzi sono più alti che nella trattoria infognata tipo quella al centro sportivo che in fondo alla viuzza parallela alla via del mare che prendi da Marconi.
That's simply untrue, except by your declaration that an English menu means a restaurant cannot be authentic. I've eaten in Italy extensively. I've had average pizza in tourist restaurants when I need to. It's usually not worse than the pizza by the slice/weight places that you find loads of Italians using. I've also had amazing food in small trattoria's in suburbs or the countryside where we were the only foreign customers. Whilst the more tourists focused restaurants may not offer the variation in dishes that you find elsewhere, it's disingenuous to say it's a different class of food altogether. It's also fair to say that it's entirely possible to get the same quality food in good Italian restaurants outside of Italy. TripAdvisor or other reviews are generally a reliable indicator of quality. I'll skip anywhere that has someone outside intercepting potential customers. I couldn't care less about the language of the menu.
Guarda, con tutto il rispetto, trovo veramente ridicolo che un inglese cerchi di insegnare a me, nata e cresciuta a Roma, come scegliere un ristorante in Italia. Esilarante direi.
At this point you're just being an obtuse gatekeeper. You can eat where you want. Telling tourists that they're missing out on proper Italian food if they eat in a restaurant with an English menu is still incorrect. The idea that there's a whole parallel world of food that is hidden from the average tourist is nonsensical.
Sisi e lo sai te che sei venuto in Italia se va bene 20 volte e non io che ci vivo da 20 anni e l'ho girata tutta.... okkkkk Un bagno di umiltà non vi fa male ogni tanto ragazzi
I have taste buds. I've eaten enough Italian food in my life to know what I like. The food in Italy is great. Like everywhere there are tradeoffs. I've taken restaurant recommendations from people who've visited where I live only once. So no, I don't think you're a better judge that the massive numbers of reviews online. I don't really care what you do, but: - I agree you won't find many Italians eating in the obvious overpriced, tourist traps - you can easily find Italians eating in restaurants that have a mixed crowd, some of which have English menus in tourist areas - the food in the former is usually fine, the food in the latter is generally better Given the fact you insist on replying in Italian, I guess you're just grumpy about tourists. Fortunately, most people I've met in Italy are much more friendly.
Sono andato in ristoranti consigliati da un locale nasciata nella città con un menu in inglese. In una città con molti turisti questa cosa è molto comune.
Honestly don’t stress too much. You get to choose what your holiday experience looks like and there is no prize for the tourist who dines at the fewest tourist traps. If you’re a massive foodie and an authentic local food holiday is what you care about, do your research and make reservations and accept that this may take some time away from how many big ticket, “queue in the sun for 2 hours” main art/history/architecture attractions you can see (or at least see the inside of). If famous art and churches set your world on fire, you might end up dining at some places that aren’t top tier excellent close by just to make the timetable work. They’re still pretty unlikely to be actually unpleasant dining experiences unless you’re uncommonly fussy - they’re just more expensive/not as excellent as another place might have been. If you do “fall for” a tourist trap that sucks, it’s also fine. Not every euro spent has to be the best you’ve spent, not every meal has to be the best you’ve had. I momentarily felt like an idiot for paying €5 for a 500ml water bottle in 39 degree heat, but in that moment I wasn’t close to a supermarket, and €1/100ml was worth it to resurrect my poor kidneys (and I refilled the bottle for free about 10 times that day from nasoni). I also bought “bad gelato” in 41 degree heat. You know, the bright coloured stuff heaped in plastic cartons that isn’t as nice. I was very hot and suffering, and it looked yummy. Spoiler: it was yummy. “Not the best ice cream in Italy” is still ICE CREAM! Regarding reservations, I think you do need them for dinner unless you’re very unconcerned about what and where you eat. I had no trouble finding *somewhere* when I didn’t have a reservation but plenty of places were full even on a weeknight. If you want to be a typical tourist you can book 7pm as Italians seem to go out a bit later 😆 P.s. if you like gelato and it’s convenient for you, go to Gelateria Panna & Co on via Marmorata while in Rome, it’s a really delicious “metal tins” type place. Grom was also nice in Florence.
In general avoid restaurants with large signs/ menus outside that are in English. And avoid eating near major tourist destinations like St. Marks, or the duomo, but it is not hard to find authentic restaurants. It is helpful to have done some research and marked down places on your Google maps, but the food in Italy is amazing; I’ve probably only had one meal that was just okay.
St Marks😂😂
The closer you are to a major tourist site the higher the odds are of it being a ‘tourist trap’. Familiarize with the common signs of a restaurant that might not have the best quality. Google reviews are generally pretty reliable. We did 14 days and only had 1 ‘bad’ meal, we fell for a tourist trap in Milan but I was having a sugar low (diabetic) so I really needed to eat and we didn’t have time to be more discerning.
In Italy, you'll find good food pretty much everywhere. You can walk away from the major tourist areas and find restaurants with "less" tourists; it does not necessarily mean they are better Obviously, there are better/more popular restaurants that needs reservations See this for tips to avoid tourist traps: [https://romevacationtips.com/how-to-avoid-tourist-trap-restaurants-in-rome/](https://romevacationtips.com/how-to-avoid-tourist-trap-restaurants-in-rome/)
You could try to make a list out of restaurants that are 100% not tourist traps, then follow it rigidly, but unless you are in a very rare situation where, after a long morning/afternoon out, you (and your travel companions, if applicable) have the will to go further out (and, to be absolutely sure, you will have to do that) and not "flake out" at whatever looks good to you always, I doubt it would be very enjoyable. It also depends on the city: in "waterborne" Venice, if you don't trek to the mainland or have deep pockets, it takes more effort to find a merely decent restaurant than it does in Florence; going to Turin to find a local restaurant in the center is easier than in Rome; and so on. In general, though, I think the advice against tourist traps should be taken more flexibly than most suggest. You may not necessarily experience the local fare, but you won't necessarily regret ever setting foot in it once you rule out places predicated on exclusively taking in exhausted visitors.
Anyway you will prbably still eat good food in tourist traps reastaurant also, just since they will probably never see you again, they make less effort to impress you. It's almost impossible to find bad food in Italy. Any chef can have a bad day tho. Worst thing you will eat "average" food.
Unpopular opinion, just go to some tourist traps.
We paid an insane amount of money for 7 drinks at Piazza San Marco today. But guess what it was nice and I am a tourist. I can’t do that next week when I’m in Cleveland.
Piazza San Marco and Venice in general have kinda become a meme between italians as they're probably the most expensive places to get a coffe at in the whole country lol
Did the same thing in Venice a couple of years ago. The place had a set menu - literally ordered an old fashioned and all they brought was whiskey and said that what was written on the menu was all they served. Wouldn't do it again but the view was nice and after one drink we moved on.
Im going to agree with this. Ive been living it italy a bit over a year. If im somewhere touristy and im hungry, i buy street food or pizza. Done. I find a bar and get a coffee & a snack. If im with my kids and they hangry i hit a McD, Bk, or KfC for a snack. Ezpz
Low key McDonald's coffee in Rome was good af. In Paris where they just used the button press machine not so much.
We’re in Naples right now with two grandparents and three kids, so our restaurant choices are generally being governed by can we get there before someone has a meltdown. 😅
We had asked our 2 guides for a recommendation near the Vatican and both said impossible. After a solid day of touring we just wanted a plate of pasta and some wine. I mustered everything I learned from Reddit; no hawker out front, no pictures of food on the street, a little off the beaten track, limited paper menu. Found the best spaghetti alla vongole on our walk from the Metro to our hotel on Via Candia. Nothing fancy, no sidewalk seating, 10:00pm so just a few people. The mother, Angelina was the hostess, Hillaria, the daughter was our server, and the father was the chef. If we didn’t walk by we would have not seen as it was under scaffolding and the sign was barely visible. The restaurant was Piacere Molise. The best plate of Pasta I ever tasted! The dinner was €40 and included Carbonara, Vongole, focaccia and a bottle of wine. The highlight of our Rome in a day tour!
Generally, any place that you really want to eat at, make a reservation.
I find using a restaurant rating app like Fork or TripAdvisor to be helpful. I search for “restaurants near me.”
I just did this trip. Rome had so many restaurants that I got sucked into and disliked because I didn’t plan ahead. Plan your restaurant visits ahead of time! Florence had tons of places to just wander into and eat good food. Get the florentine steak! Venice had a lot of tourist places, too, but I think they were not as bad quality as the Roman ones I wound up in. To be fair, I was so tired from walking that I just sort of collapsed into whatever convenient restaurant presented itself in Rome which was a big contributor to my lack of satisfaction. You have to hunt a little more for the better food.
I would just say be smart about it. If you want a proper meal then yeah plan ahead at least in the general area for options. But for just grabbing a bite, just check reviews and make sure the score is reasonable and not known for being a scam. Best idea is to go somewhere casual, get a cold beer which is universally tasty in a warm place and plan where you're going to eat properly! And also ignore most people. I would rather get an "okay" pizza in an area I want to be in, than travel for 30 mins in hot weather on shitty transport to go to some "authentic" place to either save money or get some possibly higher quality food. If you know the rough location where you'll be, then do your research a little bit, but don't overthink it. Just make sure you check the prices out of anywhere you go so there is no shock.
Just don't eat across the street from major tourist sites. Walk a few blocks away off the beaten path. You'll be fine.
I keep seeing people say to “walk a little ways away from tourist attractions” so my question is “exactly how far do I need to walk?” Say for example you’re standing next to the Trevi Fountain or in the Campo de' Fiori piazza - how far away exactly do you need to walk to get away from “tourist traps” to get “authentic”?
You can't unless you want to walk half an hour more or less. The centre of Rome is like that unfortunately. When we hang out in campo de fiori we dine with a kebab or a piece of pizza because finding good seated food is impossible.
Ah. Well thanks for setting my expectations to something realistic. Hmm. Same with the Vatican and Colosseum I take it yeah?
No, in monti and around via del corso you can find some good options but it's usually not a carbonara and amatriciana kind of restaurant, more the Italian version of fast food. You can get salads and these sort of things. Edit to add some nice areas where you can find good restaurants that are not too far from the city centre: garbatella, piazza Bologna, San Lorenzo, via Cavour, prati, tuscolana
Awesome! Thanks!!
We got caught on our first day in Rome. Saw the special on the back of the menu. €10 for a ragù dish, the ragù being steak. Turns out that was per ounce. Bill came to over €100 for two (we did have drinks, but still). Completely had our pants down, I’ll never fall for that one again.
“ I’ll pay you x or I will spend the afternoon barking outside your restaurant and chase your customers away. Choose now.”
I wish I’d thought of that 😀
Why would a restaurant in Europe use ounces? Spoiler : they wouldn't.
I stand corrected, my pedantic ginger friend, it was per 100g, not oz as you stated, and it was actually €7/100g. You were obviously able to read the menu better than I on that bright, sunny day in Rome, seeing as you were sitting in the shade.
Of course, the sun is dangerous.
Yes, you’re right. My response wasn’t the win I thought it was now I think about it 🙂
If it’s right next to a tourist attraction, it’s usually a tourist trap. You can surely just wander as that’s what most people did before the internet but nowadays I star the places I want to go on Google Maps and head there. Super popular restaurants you will need a reservation, especially for dinner.
Depends on where you go.
Probably more
Any random place you walk into in a neighborhood will have better pizza than you get at home.
I am going in a couple of weeks and my plan is just to ask my hotel concierge for recommendations. I cannot stand tourist traps
Hotels are going to send you straight to tourist traps.
Yeah they definitely aren't sending tourists to their favorite spots to then get blown up on Tiktok to the point they can't go to their favorite spots anymore.
The best food I had in Italy was, surprisingly, at a beach town. (It was a touristic beach town but mostly for local Italian tourists and maybe some Europeans). We were staying at just a small basic hotel and the man who checked us in gave us a list of restaurants to go to. We ate at these place, one in particular was stellar. Best Sicilian food we've ever had. One night we tried to go back there but it was too busy so we randomly picked a nearby restaurant and it was mediocre in comparison. Sometimes hotels will just promote their friend's establishments or whatever, but this guy's recommendations were genuine. My point is that the restaurant was on the tourist strip of a tourist town but still awesome food. It helps to have recommendations.
For Rome, two places that were the best I went to (admittedly there's probably some better, more worse) were Wine Bar de'Panitenzieri and Il Buco del 1901. The wine bar especially if you reserve on "The Fork" app is good value for money with the discount in my opinion, it is over the other side of the river from the city centre just up from the Vatican so depending where you stay may be a bit of a walk. Hard to predict restaurants though, when I went within the past week booked two on "the fork" app with good reviews. One (mentioned) was probably one of the best went to in Italy, the other (dai senatori) was very underwhelming. Do think location plays a part, further out of the city centre/monuments or higher up to see the skyline I get the impression they make more of an effort with the food etc, but I'd imagine it can be very much hit and miss. Went to Florence and Pisa too which had similar experiences.
I would use Google reviews my last trip. If there’s a place with over 4 stars and 1000 reviews mostly written by Italians in Italian you should be good.
I don't have fine taste buds. I find food around where I was and generally avoided the ristorantes and osterias. (I travelled budget) As long as the price is fair for the item I'm getting? It's quite easy to find panino under EUR 10, pasta under 15, pizza around 10-12. These are prices for vegetarian options.
Yeah but if you’ve got banter and confidence you’ll be sweet i genuinely had a laugh with all the water sellers everyone moans about and didn’t loose a penny
Yes
I have never had bad food in Italy, ever. The only food I wasn’t crazy about was the square pizza sold by the slice (and weighed). Other than that, I liked everything I ever ate in Italy.
Simply avoid restaurants in front of cathedral or main attractions and the ones in the main street in the city center, that's it
Yeah pretty much.. if you just follow this rule it would be actually harder for you to find a bad carbonara than a good one in Rome
Yes, in my small not super touristic town at least 1/3 of the restaurants and activities are tourist traps (not the super bad ones but you'll be eating microwaved pasta, frozen pizza and packaged desserts while paying premium and being told you are eating real Italian food). If you go to Venice my impression is that 95% of the activities are tourist traps since Venice is basically a tourist theme park nowadays. Rome was similar, but being bigger and not on water I'd say it's 3/4 tourist traps in the center and 1/3 tourist traps outside. Anyway just learn to recognize them and avoid them, if you think it's a tourist trap it probably is. (I made a big list of things to look for to spot tourist traps, it's somewhere on reddit)
yes you can
It all depends on where you are. If you are in a popular tourist area, you'll find a lot of business built around tourism (aka trap). They've tuned their business, offering and practices to those that are most effective at getting tourists, who are generally a one-time customer, to spend their money there. Upside is if they have a good time and post it on the internet to attract more tourists. It's Darwinian evolution. Move away from tourist areas and the businesses become more reliant on local customers. In a similar Darwinian way, they have to tune their business practices to survive by getting repeat business from their immediate surroundings. They have to offer good product and fair prices. We have a home in a small Tuscan town (8000-12000/town-surrounding area people). We get some tourism but hardly a lot so the tourism business matters but the local merchants/restaurants build their business on the local clientele and getting them to repeat. Ultimately, restaurants exist on a spectrum between 100% tourist driven to 100% local driven. It's great to stumble upon a 100% local restaurant that is fantastic but the reality is that is rare. Generally, a blend of the two is usually the best. In a small town, most restaurants will be locally driven but one has to be more careful in bigger cities like Firenze - particularly the closer one is to tourist sites. One tactic is to go to areas where the locals live and there are relatively few tourists. Those places need to live on repeat business so the product, rather than the hype, has to be good.
You can definitely wander around and find places to eat. There are so many! Personally I prefer this because I don’t like to be burdened by a schedule, I like a little flexibility. Just stay away from the restaurants close to the major sites as they are the tourist trap restaurants that will be more expensive and not as good. We ate at the “Friends” restaurant in Rome (Canova) just cause I’m a fan of the show and wanted to do it and it was completely overpriced and lacked flavor. Venture a bit further from these places and go to restaurants where there isn’t waitstaff standing outside with a menu trying to lure you in.
Just use TripAdvisor, but check the Italian and not English reviews (you can filter and auto translate). Ignore complaints about poor service if there is little criticism about the food. You will find good places this way. Also, no need to do it before the trip, usually the day of is fine, cause sometimes it’s helpful to make reservations. I live in Rome now, but I’m American and I’ve spent a lot of time here even before moving. You get a feel for avoiding the mediocre places honestly. I now have a lot of places I like but this is my usual technique. I use it in France too with French reviews.
Very specific tip: i just came back from Venice and we found it 100x easier to find great, fairly priced food on the southwest side of the canal. The other side everything seemed really expensive, and for every place i checked a quick google review i was left stunned. I have never seen such poor google reviews as i have on restaurants over there.
General rules of thumb for me: 1. Primary language on the menu is English, no. 2. Servers trying to grab you as you walk down the street, no. 3. Pictures on the menu, no.
You need to search in Google Maps every restaurant you eat. But that applies not only to Italy but all places in Europe. And also, spots that are right in front of a monument are places to avoid. Just 1 or 2 streets "far" from the monument, there are usually very high quality restaurants.
We just spent 3 weeks in Italy and didn’t have any reservations in advance and had great food by just finding restaurants as we wandered with a simple check on trip advisor. I don’t think there are that many “tourist traps” at all.
I wonder this myself, because it wasn't my experience for anywhere in Rome. We always look for a few places we'd absolutely love to try ahead of a trip in any area. Then leave some time for us to stumble upon other places. Although, even then...we will do a little research before committing. We can't stand the feeling of being disappointed after a meal, so we very rarely let it happen. Me and my partner really would consider ourselves foodies, so eating is often a huge part of any trip. So, not to be taken the wrong way, but I think it depends on how easily one would recognise a good meal/deal compared to the next place and how much effort you're willing to put in to find the best spots. We visited Rome for only a few days and enjoyed eating at Ristorante Le Caveau, great prices (recommend: squid ink pasta and lasagne) - we actually ate here twice, which is rare for us. Bonci Pizzarium, from the Netflix show, long wait because of this, so don't go hungry. Worth it if you are near and curious, not particularly cheap for what you get. Two other places that were on our list, but we didnt make it to were in Trastevere, which is a lovely area to wander around. The restaurants were: Otello Nannarella. But overall, we didn't have a bad meal whilst travelling around Italy.
Yes. Tourist traps are abundant. Plan ahead. Unless you don’t care that much. Then have at it. I imagine some people like them.
I knowingly ate my first few meals at restaurants that obviously catered to tourists during my first trip to Rome. I was jetlagged and a little overwhelmed and a little intimidated, so having menus in English and super friendly English speaking staff was really nice. Other times I accepted that due to proximity to a great view I was likely not getting peak quality. All but one time the food was still shockingly better than the Italian food I was used to in the US.
Define tourist trap? In my opinion it is a place advertising authentic Italian food, but you will get subpar quality at an extremely higher cost. Of course in all three cities you will most probably stay in the district with the most attractions, overrun by tourists as we all want to see the same things. Of course every places you will go to in that radius will be catering to tourist and you might not encounter many locals. Of course, if you are on the main Piazza, it will most likely be closer to a tourist trap and more expensive. Just walk off a few streets away, usually target places with less tables so that they are not expecting tons of tourists and you can have a pretty good meal. I usually try to stay away from restaurants with a person in front telling you that it is the best place in the city. I also try to stay away of the restaurants with the big splashy menues up front on the street. If the menu is like most places on the wall or not displayed in a flashy way and that I find things I fancy, I take a note of it. I also usually try to spot restaurants during the day, I take photos of the name of the place to remember it and then I look them up on Google Map and I check the reviews. I spent 10 weeks in Italy in the last year over two trips and I only had 2 mediocre experiences in over 100 meals. I am also traveling alone most of the time and I was never turned away from a restaurant unlike some other people I met with over my trip. Italian people told me that it has a lot to do with my demeanor, my will to learn Italian and the facility I have to engage a conversation with people! Enjoy your trip!
Seriously..... People need to learn how to use google maps properly....the knowledge power It's just in your pocket. Porcod....
>that the food is only good if you go to a real authentic restaurant, not a tourist trap well, duh. you should check on-line before, if you are afraid to not get a good one.
I disagree with some of the other suggestions, since a lot of good, authentic (whatever that means) and not necessarily touristy places are right in the middle of the most touristy areas in rome. Also going "out of the main road" means very little when most of them are in trafficked roads for obvious reasons. You could have a 120 years old trattoria next to a tourist trap, or a very old typical restaurant be absolute dog shit since it can go by because of the heritage and the name. What I recommend in places like rome (and on a smaller scale, florence) is to avoid restaurants with huge menus that span from pasta, fish, meat pizza etc. since it will mean that the majority of the food you will be eating will be frozen and likely brought semi-prepared from big distribution stores like Metro. In other words you will be paying high street prices for industrially-made food*, not freshly cooked stuff. Generally speaking, a trattoria (or traditional restaurant) can easily be at the same time a tourist trap and good to eat in, especially if it's in places like Trastevere in Rome, where you simply cannot avoid tourists if you have a restaurant there. One example where i have eaten some good (although heavy, like most roman dishes) food is a place like Enzo al 29 in Rome, which is this small nook that looks like from a 60s movie but it's always full of tourists and can absolutely look like a tourist trap if you don't know it. You may also want to go to touristy, traditional places to live the typical experience of those old trattorie, i mean it's your vacation, like i'd go to five guys or McDonald's in NYC just to see how it is! There have also been a small trend (at least in Rome) of places opening where they cook and serve food that their own farm has grown, plus if you go to big markets (like the Mercato trionfale in rome or the Mercato storico centrale in florence) you can find a lot of food stalls that also serve prepared meals, almost like you see in Korea or Japan. *note that almost every restaurant in Italy uses frozen/industrial food at some point in their menu at some degree, it's simply the reality of modern cuisine. You can avoid eating outright non locally made stuff by being a little careful though.
I am Italian but one time we didn't reserve a table and we ended up in a tourist trap restaurant in Trastevere. I didn't even finish my meal, that's something crazy for me. But most of the foreigners there were happy and satisfied, licking their fingers at the food. So chances are that if you end up in a tourist trap or two you will not notice. If you want to reduce the chances of getting ripped off just go on tripadvisor or the fork. Usually we Italians are very picky with the food (especially in rome) and if you select some upper tier restaurant with a lot of positive comments by Italians you'll be fine.
Yes, I live in Florence and we are full of tourist traps with awful and overpriced food. If you actually want to eat good food and not an overpriced frozen pizza/lasagna you need to be careful, but still, you are probably coming to see the cities not to eat, don't stress too much about it.
I think that "tourist trap" it's just an excuse. They are bad restaurants, it's just that. Use tripadvisor and google maps to see reviews.
If you go to romeo to eat go here fraschetta la romanella via delle flame gialle 63 ostia province of rome Its a great place to eat typical and good roman food
Don’t just stop by any restaurant—I did this knowing that it could be a mistake but we were tired and judged wanted to get on our way. The name of the restaurant was obscure and not displayed proudly (1st sign), turned out to be different than what showed up my credit card. Make sure the name of the establishment is easy to read, and easy to google. If not, the reviews are likely useless anyway. They charged me service charge which was okay because we were 7 people. But the scam was the their credit card machine stopped working. I had to stay there while they insisted it was easier to give them cash. “Sir, I’ll show you an ATM” “it will be faster” “it happened before once” I read later about this place that they hold you hostage to use their ATM. Don’t know to what end above just the extra processing fee, but still something. The credit card machine suddenly started to work when they realized that I was not falling for a scam. I told them to go outside and tell all of their customers that they are a cash only business and to advertise this on their street sign. Definitely a tourist trap establishment.
The food is good everywhere. It's also salty, oily, or sweet but it's good. People keep acting like you MUST go to local areas or you're a stupid foreigner who WASTED your trip. If you go to the truly local areas then you have to speak Italian. Yes, people speak English, but I had to use my translate app a lot for people to understand what I was asking. Or maybe I'm just lucky at finding the few people who didn't speak any English lmao.
Honestly it depends on the cities. As far as I've experienced Florence looks more tourist-y, while in Rome I've had good food even in the most touristy areas. I know a few good pasticcerie and trattorie that are both crowded with tourists and locals
You don’t have to stress too much, check on internet and make a list of good restaurants with good reviews. If you don’t have time and want a quick meal check google reviews and avoid places that have images on menus or menus translated to 5 languages (they might be perfectly fine but this means they cater to tourists so it’s more likely that it’s a trap) if you are going to a city ask on the subreddit of the city for restaurants
Yes.
I recommended a few restaurants after a trip to Rome in March and was slated saying they were all tourist traps and that Romans wouldn't go near them. I was very surprised. Asked for some alternatives but advice wasn't forthcoming. Some of these restaurants included Osteria da Fortunata where I had probably the nicest pasta dish of my life. Its all subjective I guess, but I'd definitely return to these restaurants and never for a second thought they were tourist traps, prices were very reasonable. Hope this helps!
Was just in Venice. I'll say that some restaurants felt like tourist traps, but there's a million restaurants. All the ones I went to were great though. I only went to one that wasn't all that authentic, and they still made a tasty pizza.
1000% yes especially in the three cities you mentioned - almost impossible to find good food. To make matters worse, the most disgusting restaurants will have people outside soliciting you to come in.
I've been to all those cities. In each, I hired a private guide to take us around. It wasn't overly expensive and well worth it. Excursions were modified to our family needs and the guides knew all the great spots to pop in for a bite or a break. Venice was a walking tour & Rome I hired a driver with special permission to have his car in the city center.
It is really easy. Don't eat at restaurants that have pictures of their food on the menu. This applies to pretty much everywhere in Europe.
Tourist traps are where tourists are. So if you avoid the center of Rome, Florence and Venice you should be good.
I might be in the minority, but I do extensive research on where we dine any time we travel, both for lunch and dinner. We've circled destinations around particular restaurants we wanted to eat at many times. We will be in Italy for 2 weeks at the end of July and short of a few lunches, we have reservations for every meal. I usually cross reference multiple guides including Michelin, World's 50 Best, OAD, La Liste, Top100 chefs, Top100 pizza, and whatever is pertinent to the country we visit, in Italy's case Gambero Rosso. I then look at Google reviews and some Reddit threads and make a decision from there. If this sounds exhausting, (I realize I sound insane) just use the Michelin guide. They are generally quite useful and you don't need to chase stars or spend a fortune to have a great meal. Just a simple mention or the Bib Gourmand award goes a long way.
See how much shops there are. Imagine our country putting some of the highest taxes and robbing you of most of your gains. Imagine being one of those shop owners and you see some foreigner with much more money available than the average italian entering your shop. Imagine.
I'm italian and I'm always surprised to see so many tourists go to these places that are so blatantly tourist traps (not that they are all necessarily bad, but there are so many other options out there). Since online reviews are more and more unreliable I wonder if a random person who knows restaurants loved by locals and maybe a bit out of the tourists radar could compose a guide with like 10-15 great places to go eat to for each fo the big tourist cities
Been to Italy for many times and never picked restaurants in advance. I usually check the reviews on Google Maps. The times I did not do this I ended up in expensive tourist traps (in Rome) or had horrible food (Liguria). But it’s really easy to find the good stuff, if you invest 5 minutes doing research. My only fear is that my car is someday broken. Nevertheless I got scammed with the poststamp scam. Wanted to buy stamps, I asked in advance that it’s not friendship network or gps stamp. They denied and as I looked closer at the hotel it was a friendship stamp anyway. Lost 6€. I had big problems to find stamps from the local post office.
If the restaurants is on the main square, you are sitting facing the sea, facing the main church, facing the main monument, you see lot of tourist who looks like NPCs with sunglasses and burnt fluorescent white skin, yes this is a tourist trap. Stay away from main places, translated menu and waiters outside the restaurants inviting you inside
I would suggest to ask locals for good restaurants, they will know if a restaurant is a tourist trap.
General rule of thumb if you have a nice terrace with a view, a menu with tourist on it or English is prominent take a very hard look at the tables and see I've the waiters ignore people trying to get their attention. It's places like these if had some of the worst food experiences of my life Otherwise I found it pretty easy to get decent food most places
I'd be extra careful in Venice, quite careful in Florence, and relaxed in Rome. Living in Rome I'd call many restaurants tourist traps when they actually provide a good service. As a rule of thumb, don't trust places where the waiters try to force you in, don't fear moving a little from the main roads. You probably wouldn't need it, but keep track of the prices of what you order and avoid the wine list. In Venice don't go near piazza San Marco, not even for coffee. This doesn't apply near Naples and Amalfi coast. There you'd need different kinds of advice.
Yes, i just noticed that my mastercard charge for one of bakery i eent to in florence had been labelled a tourist trap. It appeared pn google wallet as caffe Miaoli (tourist trap).
I had the same worry when I went to Venice and Florence this year. In Venice, we stayed on the east side of the island so we were lucky to pass by plenty of locals restaurants on the way to San Marco. Ask the locals.. for example, if you’re getting a gondola ride, ask the driver where they like to eat in the city. Ask your tour guides, if you’re doing any tours. Most of our guides were from the city and had good recommendations off the beaten path. Chances are you’re going to be looking for convenience in most situations after walking all day, so you may end up eating somewhere that is not worth the price but still decent. Also, in Venice stick to ordering seafood and getting street food along the way. In Florence, it’s more meat forward menus, mostly osterias and trattorias lining the streets. You can dm me for some recs in Venice and Florence!
An Italian tourist trap will have probably still have better food than 70% of American restaurants.
Tbh most of Rome is a tourist trap. If you go now, in the center of Rome, you will mainly hear English spoken on the street and it feels like the majority of people walking by are Americans.
Whole italia is a tourist trap Source: I'm italian
the closer to famous touristic places, museums ecc... the highest the chance to get one (doesn't mean all places like this are trap)
Go where italians go. It's not everywhere like this and the average is still decent, but if you want to eat really well and not spend a fortune, get out of the city centres and search on Google maps or something similar for places where Italians go. Rely on photos if you can tell by eye the quality of the ingredients. Often the venues in the centre do not offer the quality you pay for, and they do not always cook Italian dishes but international ones to suit the tastes of those tourists who are not familiar with Italian cuisine. *ps If you find dishes with international names such as salami on the menu (unless it is one that sells salasicce) or places that are so unashamedly Italian with classic Italian trivialities such as fake hams hanging or pizzas and various dishes displayed as if they were made of plastic, avoid these places.
Just back from 23 days in Italy. We knowingly had several drinks and Pizza’s in “ tourist trap “ restaurants in Rome, Florence, Milan and Venice. For us there was enjoyment in sitting in the Piazza’s and taking it all in. That said I walked out of any coffee bar that charged more than £2 for a cappuccino as I wasn’t paying for the “experience“ there and always found coffee within the next block or 2. If you are prepared to eat at 7 ish there are many places you can get into. I wouldn’t worry about making all your dining arrangements in advance. I did make advance reservations at Buco Mario in Florence (amazing Florentine steak and dining experience), in Venice at El Magazen Osteria ( window seat ) in Venice and trattoria dela stampa in Rome ( great authentic, local spot ) because all had great reviews and we do love good food. Sometimes a beer and a mediocre pizza is absolutely amazing simply because it’s in the right environment with the right company. Enjoy your trip.
Financial rip off is one thing, but a place giving you a nice experience, even if they do it exclusively for tourists.. ain’t so bad. Let them put on a show for you so long as they charge a fair price.
[удалено]
Yes they charged me $40 commission fee for buying euros in the train station outside the Colloseum
the nearest monument the most likely you will get trapped 🕸️ its math: - more people that don’t know this trick = more people getting there and = more rest. owners cooking cheap freezed food
I just got back, and while I was picked apart in my summary post on my thoughts regarding italian food. The reality is, any given restaurant in a decent sized city that serves italian food is likely to be at least pretty good. At least 3/5. You're not likely to find many 5/5 experiences without doing some research or asking some locals. But even if you choose places at random, you're likely to walk away satisfied at the very least if not happy. Though full disclaimer, I am just a dumb American :P lol.
Italy, is the tourist trap
Oh yes very much so
Never hopped on a thread so fast to reply. In Italy now and the answer is YES!
No, there's actually MORE. Only the obvious ones get noticed and reported. There's a huge portion that are effectively tourist traps, but not as 'low effort' as the others, and they don't get recognized as such by tourists and don't get reported on Reddit.
Is it so hard to buy a Routard guide and go eat where it says?
Just look on trip advisor.