Swamped by visitors, a slew of cities across Europe are facing the sometimes toxic consequences of unchecked tourism. From Bruges and Barcelona to Budapest and Bath, these idyllic locations are grappling with everything from mass pollution, heavy traffic, bad behaviour and vandalism, to severe housing shortages and rising prices that are pushing out long-time residents and eroding local culture.

As exasperated natives – and in some cases governments – fight back, click through this gallery to discover the European cities that tourists have pushed to breaking point...

Venice has long been plagued by overtourism. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, the iconic floating city has 21 annual tourist arrivals per resident, and the hordes of visitors damage its fragile buildings and clog its narrow streets and canals. Locals have staged anti-tourism protests and the city has introduced a variety of measures, including banning cruise ships from the city centre, imposing an entry fee for daytrippers, limiting the size of tour groups and outlawing loud speakers. But these tactics are not enough for many residents, who, according to UK newspaper The Guardian, remain especially concerned about the proliferation of short-term holiday lets.

Prague was visited by 7.4 million tourists last year, an increase of 25% from 2022, dwarfing the 1.3 million population of the Czech capital. Stag dos are a major problem in the UNESCO-listed city centre, and the city council has explored banning pub crawls and stag party costumes. Other proposed measures include increased fines for e-scooter violations and tightening noise restrictions. Late-night traffic has been banned from the Old Town, while an ad campaign encouraging tourists to behave themselves was launched last year. Like many party-magnet cities, Prague is working to attract culture vultures and discourage lager louts, who can make life hell for locals.

Edinburgh receives an estimated 5.3 million overnight stays every year, luring tourists with its UNESCO-listed Old and New Towns, the world's largest arts festival and a whole lot more besides. But all is not rosy in the overcrowded Scottish capital. Last year the local council declared a housing emergency, partly driven by an increase in short-term holiday lets. And in a recent piece for the UK's i newspaper, writer Sarah Manavis described the city centre as a "dystopian commercial playground built for tourists and tourists only". In response, the council has tightened regulations on short-term rentals and voted to introduce a tourist tax, despite pushback from the hospitality industry.

The population of Athens proper is roughly 650,000, and the city hosted more than seven million tourists in 2023. In a recent interview with Greek Reporter, tourism expert Katerina Kikilia warned that "the consequences of overtourism are [now] critical" and that rules are desperately needed. Short-term holiday lets are fuelling a housing crisis, while tourists are contributing to pollution, litter, congestion and crime. Last year, the local authority limited daily visitors to the Acropolis to prevent damage to the ancient monument. Other measures include a tourist tax and a temporary ban on issuing new short-term rental licences in certain parts of the city.

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Krakow hosted 9.4 million tourists last year against a population of about 770,000. Poland's splendid former capital is renowned for its cultural appeal, but has sadly become a magnet for stag party groups and other visitors drawn by cheap booze. Locals are at their wit's end as the medieval city centre becomes the site of drunken debauchery after dark. Late-night alcohol bans and posters encouraging respectful behaviour are among the measures aimed at cleaning up the city, but in June locals filed a lawsuit against the town hall, accusing it of not doing enough. The lawyer behind the suit told AFP that Krakow was "like nowhere else in Europe", with tourists behaving "like Tarzan from the jungle".

With a staggering 32 million annual visitors and a population of just 1.6 million, Barcelona has become a poster child for overtourism. This tourist tsunami has exacerbated a housing crisis in the city, with an explosion of short-term lets contributing to rising housing costs. Tourists are also blamed for increasing pollution, litter, noise and crime. Fed-up locals have taken to the streets in protest, and earlier this year activists fired water pistols at visitors dining in the central Las Ramblas district. The city council is taking measures to address the problems, banning cruise ships from a downtown terminal and hiking the tourist tax. The mayor has also pledged to ban holiday apartment rentals from 2028.

A victim of its Game of Thrones fame – the city doubled as King's Landing in the hit show – Dubrovnik is one of Europe's most overloaded destinations. An analysis by holiday rental portal Holidu found that annual tourists outnumber locals by a whopping 27 to one, straining its infrastructure, damaging its historic character and putting its UNESCO World Heritage status at risk. As in Barcelona, locals are being priced out of the Old Town, though Dubrovnik hasn't seen the mass protests that have rocked the Catalan city. The mayor has restricted cruise ship arrivals, banned new holiday let permits and launched a 'Respect the City' campaign, among other measures.

Staying in Croatia, the historic city of Split is suffering the effects of overtourism too. In addition to concerns over prices and overcrowding, Split is grappling with the challenges of party tourism, including late-night noise, raucous pub crawls and drunk tourists publicly urinating, even on the city's Roman ruins. Despite being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Split has not taken significant steps to rein in bad behaviour. There are signs warning visitors of fines, but in reality tourists are rarely penalised. Speaking to the UK's Daily Express earlier this year, one local said they felt like a stranger in their own city, while another bemoaned the disruption that rampant party tourism has on daily lives.

The picture-postcard city of Bruges endured 8.3 million tourists last year against a population of 120,000. Unsurprisingly, inhabitants of 'the Venice of the North', which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are up in arms. Authorities have restricted cruise ship docking, reduced tourism marketing and, more recently, banned hotel construction in the city centre and halted new holiday home permits. But these moves have done little to deter daytrippers, who continue to flood the city. Visitor caps and entry fees – like those employed by Venice and Dubrovnik – have been touted too, but both have been ruled out by the mayor.

Another so-called 'Venice of the North', Amsterdam hosted 23 million visitors last year versus a population of under a million. As with many overtourism hotspots, budget flights and cheap short-term holiday rentals are at the crux of the problem. Surging rents are putting the city centre out of reach for locals, who are particularly upset by tourists who come to take advantage of the city's drug laws and Red Light District. The city is now actively discouraging the wrong sort of tourist with a 'Stay Away' campaign, which launched in 2022. Other measures include fines for bad behaviour, a campaign highlighting cultural attractions and Europe's steepest tourist tax – a whopping 12.5% per night.

York welcomed nine million visitors last year against a population of around 200,000, and some locals have bemoaned a 'tourist invasion'. Retail outlets in the centre are geared towards visitors rather than residents, while the large number of holiday lets has made housing in the heart of the city very expensive. Poor tourist behaviour is also a big problem. The local authority has issued a code of conduct for stag and hen parties, while purple signs dot the city centre urging visitors not to urinate on its medieval cobbled streets, respect taxi and bar staff and more. Aside from these rather limited efforts, little else is being done to deal with the city's overtourism problem.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the glorious Renaissance city of Florence has a population of 366,000 but attracts an astonishing 11 million tourists annually. The city centre is saturated with Airbnb lets that have driven up housing costs, alongside restaurants and souvenir shops that cater exclusively to visitors. As Cecilie Hollberg, director of the prestigious Accademia Gallery, noted in The Guardian earlier this year, many tourists engage in 'hit-and-run tourism', making cursory visits to main attractions largely for social media pics. The city council has responded with a tourist tax, a ban on new short-term residential lets and a campaign to entice visitors away from the overloaded city centre.

Lisbon received 5.4 million overnight visitors last year – that's around 10 times the population of the Portuguese capital. The most pressing issue is the rapid growth of short-term holiday lets, which have reduced housing stock and pushed up prices for locals. A particular issue in the city is the surge in tourist tuk-tuks, which are "clogging the streets" and infuriating residents, according to Euronews. In response, the city council recently announced plans to halve tuk-tuk numbers in Lisbon. As for the housing issue, locals are campaigning for a referendum on banning short-term rentals in residential buildings.

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen is becoming less wonderful thanks to overtourism. Last year, the Danish capital saw more than 12 million international overnight stays against a population of around 600,000. The city is taking a novel approach to the problem: instead of penalising tourists, it rewards them for good conduct. Under the Copenpay scheme, trialled over the summer, visitors who pick up litter, ride bikes instead of hiring cars or volunteer in urban parks can claim back free ice cream, cheaper museum tickets and other perks. The powers that be are currently evaluating the scheme, which could inspire other cities to adopt more incentive-based strategies for managing overtourism.

Budapest's annual tourist to inhabitant ratio is less stark than that of some other European capitals, coming in at under three to one last year, though visitor numbers surged over the summer. Again, short-term holiday rentals are perhaps the biggest overtourism issue in the city. Budapest residents recently voted to ban Airbnbs and the like from the city's District VI (aka Terezvaros), a densely populated tourist hub that has been dubbed Budapest's Broadway. The prohibition is set to come into effect in early 2026.

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The city of Bath – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is having a tough time coping with overtourism. Buoyed by the Bridgerton effect, visitors are flocking to the Roman and Regency jewel in their droves, with six million-plus tourists a year against a population of only 100,000 or so. In June, one local quoted in the Daily Express said that "on busy weekends you can barely walk down the street. It's absolute madness." Short-term holiday lets are among the biggest bugbears for Bathonians. The council has taken steps to regulate these rentals, but enforcement has proven difficult.

Porto has seen a sharp increase in tourism in recent years, and in 2023 there were more than 10 annual tourists for every resident. Overtourism is pushing out traditional shops in the city centre in favour of soulless chains that cater to visitors, while short-term holiday rentals are displacing long-term residents. The city council has responded with a clever strategy: instead of banning the rentals, restrictions have been placed only in highly touristed areas, while less-visited districts are being actively promoted. This approach aims to create a more sustainable tourism model while revitalising neglected neighbourhoods.

Vienna recorded a near-record 17.3 million overnight stays last year. Adopting a similar strategy to its counterpart in Porto, the Austrian capital's authorities are promoting a more sustainable tourism model, encouraging visitors to experience districts outside the city centre, as reported by German news agency DPA. With a view to attracting wealthier tourists, the emphasis is now on 'life-seeing' tourism, which focuses on individualised experiences rather than traditional sightseeing. The city has also introduced a tourist tax of 3.2%, which is added to the cost of accommodation.

Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, is an enormous metropolis with a population exceeding 15 million, so it may be a surprise that the City on the Seven Hills (as it is known) has a problem with overtourism. In fact, Istanbul was the world's most visited city last year, with a jaw-dropping 20.2 million international arrivals, according to data from Euromonitor International. Foreign sightseers over the age of eight are now charged £20 ($28) to enter the city's star attraction, the Hagia Sophia – a measure introduced earlier this year to help cover renovation costs. As many as 3.5 million people visit the Byzantine basilica-turned-mosque every year, leading to damage and even vandalism.

Marseille's Notre-Dame-du-Mont was recently hailed the coolest neighbourhood in the world by Time Out, and the city's tourism sector is in "excellent health" according to Laurent Lhardit, president of the local tourist office. But the city, which last year recorded 16.2 million overnight stays, is starting to struggle with overtourism, particularly in the delicate coastal ecosystems of the Calanques on the outskirts of the city. These beguiling cliffs and beaches are besieged by daytrippers, so much so that erosion is now a serious concern. As a result, a quota has been introduced for the famed Sugiton coves, limiting the number of daily visitors to 400.

Milan attracted 7.6 million tourists last year, around six times the population of the city proper. While Italy's fashion capital tends to attract relatively well-heeled visitors, it still struggles with a vocal minority of rowdy tourists that come to party rather than shop or visit the magnificent cathedral. The city council has clamped down on late-night alcohol sales, and came close to banning late-night sales of ice cream and pizza in response to noise complaints. The proposal was eventually ditched due to opposition from local businesses.

The third most visited city in Spain, Seville, which has a population of 700,000, hosts three million tourists a year. Disgruntled locals have organised protests against the city's 'unsustainable' tourism model, bemoaning short-term lets, litter, pollution and more. Anti-tourism graffiti has appeared in parts of the city, while Euronews reported earlier this year that protestors had smeared excrement on the lockboxes of holiday apartments. Local authority action includes cutting off the water supply to illegal tourist apartments and a proposal to introduce an entry fee to the city's neo-Moorish Plaza de Espana.

Last year, Berlin welcomed 12.1 million tourists versus a population of 3.6 million. The visitors to locals ratio isn't as pronounced as it is elsewhere, but overtourism is an issue in particular pockets of the German capital. Residents in the popular neighbourhoods of Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain and Neukolln complain of increased noise, litter and – that perennial overtourism problem – displacement by short-term holiday rentals. Responses include a limit on short-term rentals, improved infrastructure and marketing campaigns for areas around the capital.

Another Spanish city with a grave overtourism problem, parts of Malaga have the highest proportion of Airbnb properties in Spain, according to a recent study in El Pais newspaper. Overcrowding and disrespectful tourist behaviour have also helped cause widespread outrage among residents, and locals staged mass protests during the summer. "People feel like the city is collapsing," a local activist told the BBC. The city council is formulating a plan to tackle the holiday rental problem and crack down on bad behaviour. An online and billboard campaign is urging visitors to keep the city clean, keep bikes and scooters off the pavement, not play loud music and keep their clothes on in public.

Given the large bulk of overtouristed European cities, you might be wondering where you can escape the crowds and expect a warmer welcome from locals who haven't tired of the constant visitor influx. Comparatively undertouristed city breaks include the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana (pictured), Trieste in Italy, the Portuguese city of Guimaraes and Belfast in Northern Ireland. You may also want to look into visiting Czechia's Brno, the Hague in the Netherlands, England's Bristol and the French city of Lyon.

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