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21 Best Sites To Find Free Travel Photos for Your Travel Blog

by Paul @ Travel is Life | May 22, 2021 | Travel Bloggers , Travel Tips & Resources | 2 comments

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Do you need free travel images to use on your travel blog? Me too. I use many of my own photos on Travel is Life so that there's no issue with copyright, but occasionally I need a travel photo for a specific blog post and I don't have anything relevant in my collection. So I reach out to photographers on Instagram and ask if I can use one of their photos and credit them. Most photographers I've e-mailed say yes, but I don't always have the time to search out photos, message individual photographers, and wait for a response. So when I'm in a hurry and need photos right away, I access my super secret database of websites that offer incredible high resolution travel photography available completely free for commercial use. Today I'm going to share that list of websites with you.

For this list, I focus on websites that offer photos under the Creative Commons Zero license so that I can copy, modify, and use the photos (even for commercial purposes) without asking for permission or providing attribution. It may go without saying, but for this list, I also focused on websites that exclusively offered beautiful travel photography. I don't want to spend all day searching through a database of millions of free photos to find the diamond in the rough. I'm looking for a certain caliber of photos that typically come from sites where the owners spend time and energy personally curating the photos. Without further ado, here's my list.

UPDATE: This article was originally entitled “10 Best Sites To Find Free Travel Photos for Your Travel Blog” and published in 2017. Since then I've continually updated the article with new sites as I've come across them, and now the list has grown to 18 19 20 21! If you know of any other good ones, leave a comment at the bottom of this post or e-mail [email protected] and I'll add them to the list. Thanks!

Best Websites for Free Commercial Use Travel Photography

1. unsplash.com.

They feature 10 photos every 10 days that are chosen by notable creatives from varied backgrounds. I'm in love with this site. They have such high caliber photographers, and the photos are so beautiful, that sometimes I get lost in thought looking through them. Unsplash is one of the first places I start my search. I have a folder on my computer with my favorites from their site for quick access. I may not have a reason to use my saved photos yet, but I probably will in the future.

2. Realisticshots.com

They add 7 new photos every week. Realistic Shots offers a good selection of travel photos plus food and drink photos. They also have a lot more “stock looking” photos than Unsplash, like posed objects or people, which can come in handy.

3. Pixabay.com

Pixabay is the motherload of free images, but not all of them are travel. They have almost a million free high resolution stock photos, vectors, and illustrations. Even though all of them aren't related to travel, they've got more than enough to keep you busy. I love how extensive their collection is, so it's possible to get specific about what you're looking for using their search tool.

4. Gratisography.com

This website is unique because it offers a healthy selection of travel and non-travel photos all taken by the same photographer Ryan McGuire. So if you like his style, you'll be very pleased with your photo options. He seems like a funny guy and his sense of humor translates into his photos. This is a great site with some fun photos that you won't find elsewhere.

5. Magdeleine.co

A beautiful selection with a distinct style. This site offers nature, abstract, and vintage shots. Many of the photographs aren't a fit for my website's aesthetic, but I had to include it on the list because if it fits your aesthetic, it's a gold mine for you.

6. StockSnap.io

This site adds hundreds of new photos every week. They have so many that you'll want to use the search feature to find what you're looking for. Not all of the photos are as high caliber as I'd like them to be, but their selection is extensive. And then again, not every shot you use needs to be award winning. There's a need for free travel photos of all caliber.

7. PublicDomainArchive.com

This website curates the best photos available from the public domain. There are only a few hundred photos available for download, but I like the curator's style. Hundreds of photo options are better than thousands if the curator picks the right ones.

8. TravelCoffeeBook.com

This site prides itself on specifically sharing beautiful travel moments. And no, they're not all about coffee! The site is regularly updated and I also like that there's the option to download all the photos in bulk. They add 10 new photos every 10 days by travelers all around the world.

9. Visualhunt.com

This website searches through over 300 million creative commons photos from various databases. Even though the selection can be overwhelming and is far from “curated” like some of the other websites on this list, they offer a great user interface and search feature on the website. Unlike most of the other websites on this list, they also allow you to embed the photos on your site (instead of download and reupload). Personally I'd rather host all my own photos, but maybe that'd be a benefit to you. Due to their selection size, you have to do some digging sometimes to find the right photo. I almost didn't include it on the list for that reason, but in the end, it's a valuable tool for finding free travel photos. For example, searching “bangkok thailand” brought up hundreds of photos, but it took some scrolling to find a good one.

10. Fancycrave.com

This site is a free stock photo site created by photographer Igor Ovsyannykov in February 2015 that offers a collection of free photos from Igor's travels around Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, and Japan. The motto of the website is, “People are tired of cheesy stock photos. Instead they want images that are authentic, emotionally driven, and tell a story. This is where Fancycrave comes in.” A great site to browse through and download some favorites for future posts.

You tell me!

What did I miss? Where are your favorite places to get free travel photography for your travel blog (other than your own camera)? Drop your suggestions in the comments below. For now, I hope this curated list of websites makes your life easier when searching for travel photos for your site.

Happy Travels!

New Additions

Here's where I'll add new photography sites to the list as I discover them.

11. GoodFreePhotos.com

Here's a site by photographer Yinan Chen with over 16,000 public domain images, many of which are his own photos. I like Yinan's site because he categorizes the photos by location. GoodFreePhotos.com specializes in photos of state parks, national parks, national landmarks, and historical sites, and he's also got categories for business, tech, animal, plant, and food photos. And he takes requests! My first request is a photo of me somewhere amazing. I'll meet you there. Thanks for submitting your site Yinan.

12. PikWizard.com

PikWizard is my latest addition to this list with over 100,000 completely free images, of which over 20,000 of those are exclusive to their site. They are also adding new images to their library daily and their ultimate goal is to reach more than 1 million images. The images are high quality and the interface of the website is sleek so I'm happy to add it to the list. Thank you to Micheal Brennan for reaching out to me via e-mail and informing me about your site.

13. Shutterography.com

The latest addition to this list was submitted by Gabe who started Shutterography, a new but growing free commercial use image website. All of the photos on the website at the time that I'm writing this came from Gabe, his friends, and photographers that they know personally, which means you won't find these same photos on every other stock website. Shutterography will be adding new photos weekly.

14. ShapesofColor.com

Thank you to photographer Georgii Dolgykh for e-mailing me about his project Shapes of Color, which at the time of writing this, features 87+ photo shoots published (over 1000 images). Not all of the shoots are travel-related, but he does have photos from some popular locations like Singapore, Prague, Krakow, with more on the way. He recently opened his licensing up to allow for commercial use and modification without accreditation, which opens the door to being included on this list. Lots of great work over there with photos that you won't find on other photo sharing sites.

15. Pexels.com

Here's a site I should've added a long time ago, because I use it all the time. However, I typically use it to access their free stock video resources for my travel videos , not usually for their photos — although they offer a great selection of both.

16. PicJumbo.com

I only recently discovered PicJumbo, however it's been around since 2013. As the story goes, the founder Viktor Hanacek submitted one of his photos to another stock photo site and they rejected it because it wasn't “good enough quality”… so he started his own site. Flash forward to today, and PicJumbo has had over 3+ million downloads. They offer a combination of free and premium photos, however I'm including them on this list because they have such an overwhelming amount of high quality free photos to choose from.

17. MorgueFile.com

MorgueFile offers a decent sized selection of free commercial use travel photos with one interesting twist… if you can't find what you're looking for, you can request it! Their #Quest feature sends morguefile photographers on a voluntary daily photo challenge to capture photos around a particular theme, which are then available to you and other creatives to use in your designs and your professional work under their free stock photo license.

Reshot offers a selection of hand-picked photos for use commercially. Something unique about Reshot is their Photo Packs, which are curated photos within a certain theme. For example, at the time I'm writing this, they've got a few packs like Everyday Technology Pack which features photos of people using cell phones and laptops, and Flat Lay Pack which feature overhead shots of food, gear, and workspaces. Their Photo Packs can save you a lot of time pouring through hundreds (or thousands) of stock photos to find a theme that you like for a project.

19. Life of Pix

Life of Pix offers free commercial use photography for your travel blog. They don't have a huge selection in comparison to other sites on this list, but the photos they offer are unique to their site and you may just find what you're looking for. They have a nifty feature which pulls colors from the photo you're viewing and lets you search for other photos within the same color scheme.

20. NegativeSpace.co

Here's another great site with 100% CC0 licensed images that are completely free to use. The name of their site is derived from the photography principal of negative space, which they explain better than I could so I'll quote them below:

Most people who look at this photo are familiar with this sort of visual manipulation. The blades of grass found in the center of the photo are clear and in focus while everything around them is blurred. This is how the photographer tells us where to look. Those blades of grass are the positive space (or subject) in this photo. The blurred area that allows us to focus on the subject is the negative space.

21. Wunderstock

Thanks Justin Smith for e-mailing me about his site Wunderstock which offers a combination of curated public domain images and an integrated Creative Commons search of Flickr. Not every image on Wunderstock fits our criteria of free / commercial use / no attribution — however they offer large enough of a selection that fit our criteria, and it's easy enough to filter though the ones that do and don't, that I'm including them on the list. In the future, Wunderstock plans on creating their own content as well.

A word of caution before you go…

Megan Zink of ModeratelyExcited.com brought up an important point when I shared this article in our Travel is Life Creators Facebook group. She said:

Great article! You may also just want to caution people to be careful. I’ve never had this happen knock on wood but apparently there are copyright trolls out there that will upload their content to these sites and then pursue legal action. Always a reminder to be on your toes! We actually still use these sites where I work but I’m more careful to not use pictures that have people’s faces in them (or crop them out) because a lot of times the photographer doesn’t get the right model releases either. Whew!

In fact, many of the sites above actually mention in their disclaimers that they cannot guarantee that all models have given releases. So with anything free, use at your own risk. I don't hear about issues like that happening a whole lot, and like Megan, luckily it's never happened to me, but it's worth mentioning as a word of caution. Hope that doesn't scare you away! You should be pretty safe using the resources above.

Hi Paul, Thanks a lot for these very useful resource. It could be completed with https://pixnio.com/ro/fotografii/turism .

Regards, Daniel

Thanks Daniel. What’s the story behind Pixnio? I read the About page and FAQs but didn’t see much about who started it and what the story behind the site is. Can you share more details and I’ll add it to the list?

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21 TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS (Easy Ways to Improve Today)

• Last Updated: February 8, 2024

Here are our best travel photography tips for beginners and intermediates, based on our experience of going from complete beginners to professional travel photographers, and now working in the industry for 8 years.

Picture this.

You finally book a trip to your ultimate bucket list destination.

Antarctica, Iceland, Namibia, Bali, seeing the Aurora Borealis – wherever it is, you’ve waited your whole life to finally visit.

Naturally you are going to want to capture the best travel photos possible of this once-in-a-lifetime adventure to share with your portrfriends and family members, on social media, and maybe even print on the wall at home.

Moments in time or a travel experience that you always want to cherish.

So you’ve splashed out on a new camera based on expert recommendations , and you’re keen to hit the road.

But here’s the problem – you don’t have the faintest idea how to get the same kinds of images you see in postcards or on the internet.

The kinds of travel photos that just pop, stand out from the rest, inspire you to book a flight immediately.

Luckily that’s where we come in.

We’ve been fortunate enough to work as professional travel photographers for almost a decade now, being paid to fly around the world, running photography workshops, take pictures for the tourism industry and tell stories.

And now we want to share our knowledge, secrets and insights from our travel photography journey with you so you can take better travel photos.

In this post you’ll find many of our favourite travel photography tips you need to know to come home with shots you will be proud to show off.

Today is the time to learn. Let’s begin.

Table of Contents

1) Know Your Camera

2) focus on the golden and blue hours, 3) plan your shots, 4) learn about composition, 5) framing, framing and more framing, 6) move your feet, make them feel comfortable, 8) use a tripod, 9) find the right travel photography gear, 10) be unique, 11) find your voice as a photographer, 13) aperture, 15) shutter speed, 17) bonus – general ideas for camera equipment settings, 18) use manual mode, 19) shoot in raw (if available), 20) learn about post processing, save this pin for later, general travel photography tips for beginners.

To start with let me talk about the general travel photography tips that I feel are not only the most important, but also the most difficult to master.

Developing an eye for photography takes time. Years in fact. It’s a never-ending learning process, but I promise you with practice you will get much better.

And once you start to get the skills for framing and composing a shot, the rest is easy.

Whether you shoot on a dSLR, mirrorless, smartphone or an old film unit, the first travel photography tip is to get to know your camera equipment.

Whatever you have in your camera bag , take the time to read the instructions, play around with all the buttons and camera settings, and spend hours with it in your hand so that it becomes a part of you.

Study the menu so that if you need to change camera settings in the field you’re not spending minutes scrolling through it when timing is critical.

Also don’t forget to learn your camera’s limitations.

Does it perform well in low-light or does the image fall apart? Is it sharp wide open, or do you need to stop down to get the best clarity? Does it have inbuilt image stabilisation?

Ultimately when you pick up your camera you want to feel comfortable and know exactly how it works. Then getting better pictures will come faster and easier.

Light is everything when it comes to travel photography images, and there’s a good chance you’ve already heard about the golden and blue hours.

The Golden Hour is that time when the sun is low in the sky and it throws a magical, warm glow across the scene.

Think the first hour after the sun peaks in the morning, and the last hour or two before the sun drops over the horizon in the afternoon.

The Blue Hour is when the sun is below the horizon and the sky gives off a beautiful blue hue.

If you really want better travel photos, one of the best travel photography tips we can give is to get used to waking up early and stay out late to make the most of these two times of day.

If you’re not a morning person, get used to setting an alarm. Many of the great travel photos of the Taj Mahal and other tourist sites with no one in them for example were taken by people who got there early.

Taking photos in the middle of the day can still result in great shots, but in general you’ll find the blue sky too blown out unless there are some interesting clouds, and on a sunny day you’ll find the lighting conditions can be a bit harsh.

Instead use the middle of the day to get street photography, or scout out photo locations and a vantage point for your sunrise and sunset photos to come back later.

Bonus Tip – Even if it looks like the sunrise or sunset might not be so beautiful, wait around. You never know when the clouds might break or the sky randomly lights up in brilliant colours.

Before you arrive in your tourist destinations, spend a few hours planning out your shot list of images you want to photograph.

You can get inspiration from Instagram, Google Maps, travel guides, magazines and more.

Make a note of these pictures, and then plan your day around the optimum time to shoot (sunrise or sunset for example).

Doing this will help you nail the shots you want to go, and give you more purpose and direction.

You need to know that all of the best photographers use tools like Google Maps or social media to form a shot list, and you should get used to it too.

You’ve probably heard about how important it is to compose a shot properly, and I bet if you’ve ever read a photography manual you would have come across the ‘ rule of thirds ‘.

Good composition can be the difference between an average shot and award-winning travel photos.

There’s all kinds of ‘rules’ that theoretically make a photo look nicer, such as not putting your subject in the middle of the shot, don’t cut elements out of the frame, etc.

But right now let’s go a bit into the Rule of Thirds.

This concept is where you divide your image into 9 even squares (many cameras actually have this grid line feature built into their display options).

Then what you do is you place the subjects and points of interest such as a human element along those lines and squares.

Here’s an example of how this looks:

The idea of the rule of thirds is that this is a mathematical idea of what our eyes naturally find pleasing. So it’s good practice to incorporate this method into your shots.

Another thing to look for is leading lines that naturally draw your eye around the photo, as well as different angles and shapes.

Have a river flowing from the side of the shot up to a waterfall on the top left for example, or the foreground bending around, leading the eye towards a church at the top of the photo.

This is a skill that you’ll learn with more practice.

An important thing to remember is that rules are meant to be broken .

Get used to analysing your shots with the rule of thirds, but please don’t use it as gospel if you think a different composition would work.

Adding a human element also brings a lot of interest to a good shot, so place people in your frame.

When you look through the viewfinder or LCD screen, don’t just focus on the subject.

Make sure you run your eyes around the entire frame to make sure you’re not accidentally cutting off something important.

Double-check that the top of a mountain is fully inside the frame, or that your friend’s whole body is in the shot as an example.

This isn’t gospel, because sometimes having something cut off from the frame can be good for composition, but you’ll have to be the judge of that.

Also check to see if you can use something natural in the scene to create a frame inside your picture.

Think of looking out a window at a building, or a bent-over tree surrounding a pretty lake.

These can all help make better travel photos.

This is one of the most important travel photography tips I can give – Move your feet.

Don’t just arrive to a scene and take a shot from the place you’re standing.

Instead take a few minutes to walk around and see if there is a better frame or composition.

Go closer, move back, step to the side, consider your lens’ focal length, etc.

Imagine trying to take that iconic Taj Mahal photo, only to find out later that you were 2m to the left of centre, throwing off that perfect symmetry.

Or maybe if you walk to the river’s edge you’ll be able to incorporate some interesting rocks into the scene instead of just water.

Better yet, take multiple travel photos and fill up those memory cards from the same photo locations so you have lots of options when you get home to see which is your favourite.

7) Ask People for Permission

Travel photography isn’t all about capturing the most beautiful sunsets and gorgeous architecture around the world.

Travel photography is also about the people you meet. But if you’re a bit shy like me, how do you get those amazing portrait photos without feeling rude?

Simple – just ask for permission.

Asking someone for permission to take their photo is polite and respectful.

If you have had a great encounter with someone, or you just see a great opportunity and want to capture a wonderful portrait, give them a big smile and ask if it’s ok to take their photo.

You’ll find many people are more than happy to pose for a photo if you just ask (just make sure you respect them if they say no).

But what if you want to get a candid shot, with the subject looking natural?

There’s always another way to get these without annoying the person.

Don’t make it obvious that you are taking their photo. Act natural and take lots of photos of the environment around them.

You can also keep your camera down by your side and point the lens in their direction.

If you have a zoom lens, use it. This was you can be on the other side of the street or market and still photograph the person.

Interested in learning more? Join one of our exclusive photography workshops in Antarctica, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan or Mongolia !

Another one of my favourite travel photography tips for portraits is to bring in another element to the shot.

Some people will feel uncomfortable posing for a stranger, but if you can make it about something else they will feel much more at ease.

As an example, maybe ask if they can pose with something in their store like a rug, or ask them to show you their wedding ring.

This way they’ll realise there is more to your photo than just them. This will also add a lot more interesting elements to the shot!

A tripod is one of the best camera accessories you can have in your camera bag, and really essential for travel photography.

This will allow you to get excellent shots in low light, as well as get creative with your images (like taking long exposures).

These days you don’t always need a massive tripod to travel around with, especially if you want to travel light and are a hobbyist photographer. Look at some of the Joby Gorillapods .

Another good thing about using a tripod is that it will force you to slow down with your photography and put more thought into each shot.

Rather than just pointing and shooting, you will think carefully about where you want to set up your tripod and how you want to compose your shot.

Honestly if you want to become a better travel photographer, you’ll need to invest in at least a small tripod.

You don’t need to go out and spend tens of thousands of dollars on new travel photography gear to get the best shots.

In fact chances are you already have a perfectly adequate camera right next to you (your phone).

Instead just get what you an afford, and as you grow with your photography style, post production, etc, you’ll learn what camera gear you need as well.

Things like filters, tripods, flashes, prime lenses, zoom lenses, etc will come in time.

For now, all you really need is a camera, memory card and enthusiasm!

Check out our recommendations for the best travel tripods .

There’s nothing wrong with getting those iconic shots of the Eiffel Tower or Machu Picchu to share on social media.

They’re beautiful and are often amazing camera angles of famous places that everyone wants to visit.

But don’t forget to be unique as well! Find a different perspective that hasn’t been photographed a million times.

In fact make it your goal to get a few unique shots that you can be proud of.

Over-expose, under-expose, incorporate motion blue – the only limitation is your imagination!

Just like a writer or musician finds a particular style they like, as a photographer you need to discover your ‘voice’.

Travel photography is such a broad term that can cover just about anything.

Really just taking any travel photos will fit the description, whether it is landscape photography, wildlife photography, architecture, portraits, food or whatever.

Just find a style you love most, and focus on getting better at it.

If you really like black and white photography, then start shooting in black and white! Love taking images of crazy street markets? Then get out there and find them!

Experiment, learn, discover and nurture!

Technical Travel Photography Tips

While the technical side of using a camera is usually the most overwhelming thing for a new photographer to think about, it’s actually one of the easiest things to master. All it takes is a bit of study and practice.

If you’ve never looked into getting out of ‘Auto mode’ on your camera, then terms like ISO, aperture, white balance and shutter speed will seem completely foreign.

READ MORE: Check out our great article and blog posts featuring our best landscape photography tips !

12) Exposure Triangle of Photography

The Exposure Triangle is a metaphor to explain the 3 elements that allow light onto a sensor.

A camera captures light, and the right amount is needed so that your image isn’t too bright or too dark.

The 3 parts of the Exposure Triangle are aperture, ISO and shutter.

Each one affects how light reaches the sensor in different ways, and getting this combination right is essential to capturing a beautiful image.

If you want more information, I’ve put together this comprehensive guide to understanding the exposure triangle which you should really check out.

For now though I’ll explain these three things briefly, and how they relate to taking better travel photographs.

Aperture is how wide, or small, the blades in your lens are and how much light goes through the lens.

The aperture size is measured in ‘F Stops’, and displayed as numbers. f5.6, f8, f11, f16, etc

A wide aperture (small number – f1.8) lets in more light than a low aperture (big number – f22).

A wide aperture also has a shallowed depth of field than a low aperture. I know it can be a little confusing, but you’ll pick it up the more you play around with it.

If you want the background blurry in your photo, you’ll want a wide aperture. If you want everything in focus, you’ll want a low aperture.

ISO is how sensitive your camera sensor is to light. A small number, such as 100, means it’s not very sensitive and therefore needs more light to leave an impression.

A high number, like 6400, means it’s very sensitive and needs only a little bit of light to show up on the sensor.

The higher the ISO, the more noise shows up in a photo. Noise lowers the quality of your image, so in a perfect world you’ll want to keep this as low as possible (unless you’re going to stay out late doing astro and night photography ).

It’s also necessary to raise your ISO if you’re shooting moving subjects (or handheld) indoors.

Shutter speed is pretty straight forward – how long it takes for your shutter to open and close. This allows you to freeze a frame, or introduce motion blur.

Want to capture a bird in flight? You’ll want to have a fast shutter (1/4000th of a second for example).

Want to make a waterfall look silky smooth, like you see in so much Iceland photography? Go for slow shutter speeds (3 seconds for example), and check out our guide to waterfall photography tips while you’re at it!

Keep in mind that if you are holding your camera equipment rather than using a tripod, you’ll need to have a fast enough shutter to eliminate your own hand movement.

As a general rule 1/60 of a second is the slowest you should go so your picture doesn’t pick up hand movement. Any slower than that and you’ll probably need a tripod.

16) Combining All Three for Perfect Exposure

There is no ‘perfect setting’ for aperture, ISO and shutter. It all depends on what you are trying to photograph and the style you’re going for.

Luckily most decent digital cameras have two little tools that will let you play around figure out how all three work together – manual mode and histograms.

Manual gives you complete control over your camera’s ISO, aperture and shutter.

If you change one, nothing else will change, unlike in ‘aperture priority’ mode or ‘shutter priority’ mode.

The histogram is a visual display of light. When the bars are all the way to the left, the image is darker. When they are all the way to the right, the image is lighter.

When most of the bars are in the centre, this is perfectly exposed.

The best way to figure out what combinations work best when you’re a complete amateur is to put your camera on “manual” mode, activate the histogram, and play around with the settings.

Pick an aperture (f/8 for example) and point it at the scene. Now look at the histogram.

If the image is too dark, then you’ll need to let more light in. Let’s make the speed slower. See a change?

Now put the shutter back to where it was and instead change the ISO. Make the ISO higher. Is the image getting lighter?

Spend an hour or two playing around with different apertures, ISO and shutter so you get an idea of how each one affects the light hitting the display.

Take note at how drastically things can change if a cloud goes in front of the sun, or you take the camera inside.

This just comes with practice of course, and knowing what settings you want for a particular scene will become second nature

Keep in mind that not all travel photos needs to be perfectly exposed. Sometimes having a darker image looks much better than having one that is nice and bright. You can use your judgement for this.

This is very, very basic and by no means should be read as gospel. There are a million different things that can affect why you would want a faster shutter, or wider aperture. But if you are confused about what to pick for what here’s a quick idea.

• Landscapes – You’ll want your aperture around f8-f11. You’ll also want your ISO as low as possible. Slow down the shutter accordingly.
• Portraits – You’ll probably want to photograph your subject to be sharp, but the background blurry to bring focus on the person. Have a wider aperture (say f2.8 for example), and a faster shutter (around 1/160 at the absolute slowest) to freeze the subject. Adjust ISO accordingly.
• Indoors – Because it is darker inside than outside, you’ll need to let a lot more light into the sensor. Unless you’re using a tripod, keep the speed at around 1/60 as the slowest, and the aperture around f5.6 to start with. Adjust ISO and aperture accordingly.

Of course there’s a bunch of other styles of travel photography that would use different settings, such as astrophotography, architecture, street scenes photography, wildlife photography, etc.

In time you’ll learn what settings work best for each scene.

The best way to get to know your camera and how light works is to have complete control over what settings you choose.

The only way to do this is to shoot in manual mode (shown by the letter M on most cameras).

It will take months of practice, but I promise you that in time you’ll be able to look at a scene and instantly know what aperture, ISO and shutter to use to get the exact style of image you’re looking for.

You can also use aperture priority mode (the letter A on your camera) if you don’t want to make the big leap to manual just yet.

This way you can lock in the aperture you want (f8 for landscape photography, f2.8 for portraits, etc) and the camera will automatically adjust the ISO (although you can control this part too) and shutter to get perfect exposure.

I highly recommend focusing on learning manual settings though until you have it perfected.

When you take a photo on your digital camera, the computer chip inside it takes what you captured on the sensor and converts it into a format that can be easily read. For most cameras, these two formats are RAW and JPEG.

JPEG is a compressed format that the camera creates to save on space. In doing so it ‘locks in’ all the data that it picked up such as the colour and white balance.

RAW files actually saves all the data of what you took and doesn’t compress it.

Most decent digital cameras will give you the menu option of shooting in RAW, and I recommend you use it if you ever plan on editing your photos.

Keep in mind that the file sizes will be a lot bigger (for example on one of our cameras a RAW is 42, while a JPEG is just 20), so you’ll need to have extra memory cards and external hard drive storage.

If you have no plans on editing your photos then shoot in JPEG.

Some people think that editing your photo is ‘cheating’. But the truth is photographers have been editing their photos ever since photography was invented.

Yes, even your favourite photos in National Geographic have been manipulated in some way.

99% of photos you see in your favourite travel magazines have been edited. Every professional photographer edits their photos to some degree.

The reason is that not all cameras are great at capturing exactly what the eye saw in terms of colour and light.

If you really want to get the most out of your professional travel photography business, you should start playing around with post processing.

Many people have heard of Adobe Photoshop , but it’s a pretty advanced tool that most people wouldn’t ever need to use (until you get more experience).

To start with look at the free apps that you can get on your phone, such as Snapseed, or free editing programs on your computer, like iPhoto or GIMP.

Once you get serious about travel photography and you want to start editing all of your photos that are filling up your memory cards and external hard drive, we recommend purchasing Adobe Lightroom.

If you’re ready to make the jump to using Lightroom and Photoshop, Adobe have a great ‘Creative Cloud’ package, which is what we use for only $10 a month. You can buy it here with a 7-day free trial

21) Practice, Practice, Practice

Just like anything, becoming a great travel photographer takes time, and a lot of practice. The only way you can get better is by getting out there taking travel photos!

You don’t even have to travel the world to tourist destinations or have the most travel camera available to be a great photographer.

Borrow some family members to take their portraits, get a friend who is also interested in photography and push each other, or grab your smartphone and go shoot sunset.

Buy whatever you can afford, go for a walk around your city and snap away.

We hope that this general guide on travel photography tips for beginners has been helpful.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any other questions. We have a lot of experience working with tourism boards, and would be happy to help you too.

Good luck on your photographic journey, and maybe we’ll see you in National Geographic one day!

DISCLAIMER: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, which means if you book accommodation, tours or buy a product, we will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These commissions help us keep creating more free travel content to help people plan their holidays and adventures. We only recommend the best accommodations, tours and products that ourselves or our fantastic editorial team have personally experienced, and regularly review these. Thanks for your support, kind friend!

Alesha and Jarryd

Hi, We’re Alesha and Jarryd!

We’ve been traveling the world together since 2008, searching for the planet’s best destinations and adventures.

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A photo journey along the silk road, your guide to the top vivid sydney photography tips and locations, our honest manfrotto d1 aviator drone backpack review, 31 photos that will put kyrgyzstan on your bucket list, 73 thoughts on “21 travel photography tips (easy ways to improve today)”.

I indeed agree in Know your camera and Plan your shots. These tips would make a good start in achieving your socmed worthy travel shots. And ofcourse, the other tips will surely be useful too. Great post!

Good article but I need to say something about using Manual – it’s not that great. Manual is just a different mode of settings for exposure, little different from either shutter or aperture priority, except these two give you a leg up, to where you’re going anyway. At the end of the day whatever exposure setting you choose will be just a combination of the 3 on the ‘exposure triangle’. Instead of using manual try these other two in conjunction with exposure compensation, which overrides the exposure meter reading. You still need the meter for any exposure anyway, just not necessarily using the value it recommends. It amounts to the same thing, only easier, quicker, and still constraining one of the triangle sides that you want. I use manual for specific unusual objects, such as sun, moon, stars, but during general daytime subjects it’ll be very unusual to hamper yourself by not using the aid provided when there is no advantage.

Your blog has become my go-to source for insightful content.

Thank you so much. So glad to hear. 🙂

Before you go, research your destination and its culture. This will help you better understand the people, customs, and landscapes you’ll be photographing.

I benefited a lot from your post. Thank you

So glad you did. Thank you for stopping by. 🙂

Thanks for sharing all this amazing tips & information. Fabulous post !

You are welcome. We are happy to help. Happy photographing

nice summary of basic photo tips that will improve my shots, thanx!

You are rocking..keep it up your work

Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

Great article with great tips and i also like the pictures

Thank you so much Alesha and Jarryd for these amazing photography tips! I look forward to putting into practice some of your wonderful ideas and tips! I do so appreciate any tips that I can get to improve my photography. :)) Cheers, Marilyn

I absolutely loved this article! Like you I received my first ‘proper’ camera at 14 and since then have been hooked. I recently purchased a Nikon D750 and am absolutely loving it. Although at the moment I only have two lenses for it I am hoping to be able to afford more soon. What are your favourite lenses?

In my photography I love capturing candid portraits of people I encounter during my travels. I always struggle with the dilemma of getting the perfect candid shot and feeling compelled to ask permission before taking the shot. As a very shy person directing people in images is daunting, but it is something I am striving to work on. It’s nice to read that you are also shy yet manage to capture such incredible images of people.

As I am mostly self-taught, I always love to read technical tips to improve my images. I found the technical side of your post incredibly helpful and wanted to say thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed post. I believe it really helps and inspires amateur photographers like myself.

Glad you liked the article. Thank you for your comment. Keep photographying Caitlyn 🙂

Great tips and awesome photos! I always tell people if they aren’t comfortable with their settings, the #1 way to make sure their images aren’t blurry is to shoot in TV/S (shutter) priority. That way you can prioritize having no hand shake.

Thank you so much. Great advice. Thanks for your comment. 🙂

Awesome tips for everyone and specially to me who loves capturing photos everytime i travel.This one also help me and give me more knowledge on how to make awesome photos and its good because you don’t need to buy expensive camera to have a good quality photos, just your iPhone or smartphone you can make a great photos.

Hi, you are so right. You can take great photos with your phone. Glad the article could help you.

Great article! Do you even bother carrying your camera with you during the day in broad sunlight? I find it’s not worth the hassle for such poor shooting conditions.

Hi Scott, It all depends what we are doing. If we are on a job, we always carry our cameras with us. The midday sun is harsh but you get used to working with it. Especially indoors with the sun coming through the cracks, it can work out really lovely sometimes. When we are travelling on our own time, we don’t usually carry the camera. Happy travels

I really enjoyed reading this post, as I am a beginner in photography as well and it’s always interesting to see what gear other people are using!

I have the Canon Rebel as well, and also love the 50mm lens. It’s just great and is so versatile!

Thanks for sharing.

Glad we could help. Thank you for your comment. Happy photographing,

Great tips guys! Photography is an art so it must be learned properly. A good guide can teach art in a great way. This article is similar to a guide because it is an eye-opener for blooming photographers and travel lovers.

Thank you so much!

Thank you for your comment Glorias. Glad the article could help.

Hello Alesha and Jarryd, not sure to whom I adresse the message to, but I’m guessing Jarryd took the pictures and Alesha wrote about it :p

Anyway, do you guys use any customized Firmware on your DSLR? like the CHDK or Magic Lantern. That’s one question, the other one will be: can’t find any Mobile Phone photography on your blog? can you please refer me to any article that provide valuable info around Mobile phone photography?

Hi Ayoub, The photos and words in the article are a combination of both of us. Usually Alesha is the photographer and Jarryd is the writer.

We use use no customise firmware at all. We haven’t ventured this way as it voids our warranty.

As for phone photography, maybe this is an article we should write. With our phone photos, we do use Snapseed to edit them. But do not take any photos through any apps. All the best

Thank you for the tip regarding phone photography, I mostly use the customized firmware to do timelaps and edit directly on the camera, keep me posted after publishing the new article. (Already subscribed to the weekly newsletter)

Definitely will do. Thank you so much. Happy photographing. 🙂

you are doing a great job

Thank you so much. 🙂

This was really an amazing list of tips, I am a hobbyist photographer and this would really helps me a lot

Glad we could help. Keep up the photographing. 🙂

Great tips Alesha and Jarred. I really liked your golden and blue hours tip. Will try it soon and hope get amazing pics 🙂

Glad we could help. Practise will get you on the right track and before you know it you will be taking amazing shots. We are still learning about photography everyday. We love that you can never stop learning. Thanks Linda.

Some of the best tips I have read so far. Amazing post and captures so much detail. Worth the read for every travel photographer. 🙂 Keep it up.

Thank you so much,. We really appreciate it. 🙂

Priceless tips for amateurs like me. Thanks for sharing. For a long while, I’ve tried to follow the rule of thirds, but the best shots came out when I finally dared to break it. You’re absolutely right about the rules are meant to be broken. Regarding the camera, I agree it doesn’t have to be the most expensive. But sometimes I have a feeling my shots would have been better had I owned a proper camera. What device is the best balance between price and quality?

HI Robin, you’re welcome. We are so happy we could help. Sometimes breaking the rules works out to be better. 🙂 We definitely know what you mean. You do not need to buy the most experience camera. A camera that you can use manual settings, is great as you can start using and playing with aperture, shutter speed and ISO. We started off with a Sony RX100ii and it was great. Compact and a great camera to learn. Here is some articles that may help. https://www.nomadasaurus.com/best-camera-for-travel-ultimate-photography-series/ https://www.nomadasaurus.com/best-camera-accessories-ultimate-photography-series/

Thanks a lot for the great advise! I especially like your explanations about the exposure triangle. I was a bit aware of it before, but never played around with it unless I wanted to change the depth of field (and even then, I did this very rarely). But thanks to focusing more on it, I am starting to get the hang of it. I have taken some very good hummingbird pictures, for example, which never would have been possible if I hadn’t raised the ISO so I can keep the shutter speed fast. Those birds zip around like crazy!

Also, I think one of the most important pieces of advise, and the one I’m struggling with most, is to always look at the whole frame. I am guilty of looking at the main subject and later finding out that I cut off important things on the side or that something weird is in the photo that shouldn’t have been there.

Hi Ilona, so happy the article could help you. That’s amazing you experiment with your hummingbird shots. They are fast birds. By practising photography, you will get better and better. No matter how experienced you are, there are always things to learn. When you come to a scene you want to photograph, stop for a minute look around, walk around and think about what shots you want to take. Obviously this is hard when the subject is moving but great for landscape and street photography. All the best and keep up the awesome work. 🙂

Hi, I took around 500 shots on a trip to Kyrgyzstan recently, some I think are pretty good, but now after reading your tips, I think I will make another trip to that part of the world again soon!

what a great tips especially the lighting part – i also agree that getting up earlier and shooting in the natural sunlight is so great for your photos. talking to the locals and knowing your camera, You guys covered it all

Thank you so much for reading Shama. Glad you liked our article. Natural lighting is the best. Even though sometimes that early morning is hard it is worth it. 🙂

u are absolutely right u don’t need an expensive camera or go to Bali ( although it’s a good idea) to get great photos. it’s just simple common sense and a good eye and you can master photography

Well said. Thank you for your comment and reading Shama. Have a great week.

Thanks a lot for the helpful tips on holiday photos. My partner and I are in Easter Island, irresistible place for photo opportunity. My Nikon D7000 will keep on taking photos on auto mode for the time being until I have had enough practice following your guidelines and the who knows what photos I might produce! Thanks.

Glad we could help Balu. Definitely when you have time, go out and take some photos on manual. Play with the different settings. Before you know it, you’ll only be on manual. At the beginning when I was still learning, I would take a shot on the manual settings I thought and then a shot of the same view on auto in case I messed up. Better safe than sorry. Have a great time in Easter Island. There is so much to do there and learning about the history is amazing. Take care. Alesha

Guys your advice are completely helped me. I was stressed before, i want to travelling at the moment but i hope i can take a good picture cause you know how annoying it will be when we take a picture and then when we are home they are completely bad. So then you have to comeback at the same place again just to take a picture. But this one is helpfull

Hi Fabio, Don’t stress. You are going to bring back amazing photos from your travels. It is all overwhelming at the beginning but it gets easy. When you are shooting, put some time aside and concentrate on what you have learned. It doesn’t matter if it takes you 20 minutes to an hour to get your shot. If their are other photographers around, most of the time that are happy to give you some advice. Let them know you are new. Maybe they will let you know their settings for ISO, aperture and shutter. When it comes to editing, take your time as well. There are many You Tube videos that can help you for free. Have a great time on your trip. Happy travels

Hey Guys, very useful tips especially the Bonus tips.

Keep Sharing!!!

Glad we could help. Thanks for reading.

P(Program) you set either the aperture or shutter and the camera adjusts the other one accordingly to maintain the right exposure. Thanks

Thanks Rezan

I love traveling around the world. I wish to capture some of the beautiful places that I enjoyed. The above tips helped me to improve my travel photography skills. It also helped me to click some of the memorable moments of my travel with my friends and relatives.

Hi Vivek, Glad we could help. It is all about practise. We love having a day to ourselves and just getting out and shooting anything – landscape, cityscape, people or animals. We try to give ourselves a challenge sometimes. It makes it interesting and we are enjoying ourselves. 🙂

Great tips to help out beginners like me. I need to work on to ask people for permission as I get shy sometimes. I love the quote “rules are meant to be broken”!

Thank you Mao. Don’t worry, “asking” will come. Alesha was so shy and I used to take all the people shots. Now she is more confident and really enjoys shooting people. All the best.

THANK YOU . Your very easy to read starter guide to photography was AMAZEBALLS I learnt so much .cheers LIZY

Thank you. Glad we could help. Happy shooting and get creative. 🙂

Hey guys, this is an amazing guide, thanks for writing this up in such detail. As an amateur, I always look for good travel photography tips from other travellers. I left my tripod behind in Thailand and I think this was a huge mistake, I need to get a new one, urgently 🙂

By the way, really enjoy your photos on your blog and Instagram, they are amazing! 🙂

Glad we could help guys. We never used to use a tripod in our early years until we discovered how amazing the shots can be with one in low light and now we have 3. You can rest your camera on something to get a shot but you are limited to positions. Thanks for reading guys. 🙂

thanks for the tips. i’d make one edit: instead of ‘move your feet’ i’d say “don’t be lazy”…move left or right. move forward or back. climb up on something or get down on your knees.

Love it Aaron. You are so right. A little to the left might be the perfect shot or a little to the right and crouching might be the perfect shot. thanks for the input. Have a good one.

I love this post. It is incredibly helpful to all beginner travel photographers like myself! I have only been shooting in manual mode for the past 5 months and have already seen a huge increase in the quality of my photos! But I am always looking to improve. Will definitely be sharing your post

It is crazy how you improve when you start shooting manual. I know Alesha did also. You learn so much about the camera and what it can do, it is incredible. Thank you for reading and all the best with your photography Hayley. 🙂

this guide is amazing, thank you so much for explaining everything in a way an amateur can understand 🙂

Bookmarking the post for future reference!

Cheers, Naddya

Thank you guys. We are glad it is useful for you. 🙂

Wow! Amazing Tips. These tips will help a lot to click great pictures with your camera. Love the point of Shutter Speed. and about RAW.

Thanks for Sharing Helpful Post.

Thank you so much Nitin. Glad we can help. Thank you for reading.

Yeah I agree with you buddy.

Thank you 🙂

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The Best Travel Photography of 2023

By Hannah Towey

There's nothing quite like the power of a photograph to truly capture the heart of a place—and awaken the travel bug inside us all. But with social media inundated with images of far-flung destinations, the search for high-quality travel photography can often be a tougher pursuit. So, in place of scrolling, why not let an expert panel of judges filter out the best of the best for you?

This week, the international Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) awards announced their 2023 winners, selected from more than 20,000 images taken by amateur and professional photographers from over 150 countries. The judging of the competition takes place over three rounds; all 16 judges are leading photographers or experts in the field and are not made aware of the identity or nationality of any entrants.

Ranging from ethereal landscapes of the Italian countryside to striking portraits in Pakistan and Russia , the winning shots—including the celebrated work of Travel Photographer of the Year AndreJa Ravnak—reflect a “subtle elegance," says TPOTY founder Chris Coe.

"This comes through in both of AndreJa’s winning portfolios; one takes us into simple landscapes, with delicate colors and a textural beauty, the other into the hop fields, out of season and undressed ready for the next planting," Coe says. “Neither are obvious subjects, neither photographed at an optimal time of year, and yet they are both engaging and rather beautiful.”

Ravnak's winning submissions consists of eight shots photographed in the farmlands of Italy , the Czech Republic , and Slovenia .

“From my personal experience, I know it's not easy to judge photography. Images are not measurable, so being a judge is a complex task and responsibility,” says Ravnak, a professional architect from Slovenia. "Congratulations to all the winners; together, we are enthusiastically documenting this wonderful world, and perhaps this is a small contribution, a reminder to preserve its wonder for future generations.”

Below, see the 2023 winners of the Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) awards, featuring Japan's Lake Shirakawa , volcanic eruptions in Iceland , Shamanic rituals in Siberia , wildebeest migration in Kenya —and more.

Near Pienza, Tuscany, Italy

Overall Winner—The Travel Photographer of the Year 2023 (AndreJa Ravnak, Slovenia) : “Early in the spring, the first rains allow wheat to grow in the rolling fields. Due to the cold nights, the landscape is often shrouded in beautiful mists on clear mornings during this period. This agricultural landscape is sparsely populated, with land being used to its fullest potential. Farms are located on the top of individual hills.”

South Moravia, near Kyov, Czech Republic

Overall Winner—The Travel Photographer of the Year 2023 (AndreJa Ravnak, Slovenia) : “In early spring, the soil is still too cold for growth. An interesting pattern occured while a new orchard was planted on the slope of the hill, making the scene very abstract.”

Overall Winner—The Travel Photographer of the Year 2023 (AndreJa Ravnak, Slovenia) : “In search of suitable land for cultivating fertile soil for agricultural purposes, humans have sometimes covered entire hilly landscapes with fields. Hills without natural vegetation are very exposed to erosion, which creates unusual waves on the slopes. This agricultural landscape looks like a soft, undulating carpet, completely otherworldly, as if it had been created by AI. In addition to erosion, the problem with these intensively cultivated areas is also the increasing exhaustion of fertile soil.”

Arati Menon

Hannah Towey

Maya Silver

Savinjska valley, near Zalec, Slovenia

Overall Winner—The Travel Photographer of the Year 2023 (AndreJa Ravnak, Slovenia) : “A tractor driver maneuveres a high trailer with a crew of workers on top, manually tying strings to steel cables for hop growing. In the spring, the fields must be prepared for a new season and new strings must be strung. The process is done by hand, but there is not enough interest in this type of work in Slovenia, so hop growers hire workers from abroad every year. Seasonal workers from Romania are regular visitors to the Savinja Valley.”

Overall Winner—The Travel Photographer of the Year 2023 (AndreJa Ravnak, Slovenia) : “When the hop strings are hung on the top steel cables, an unusual curtain of threads is created in the fields. The threads dance in the wind and sparkle in the sunlight. They look like some kind of unusual art installation.”

Overall Winner—The Travel Photographer of the Year 2023 (AndreJa Ravnak, Slovenia) : “The freely hanging strings need to be stretched and anchored in the ground. This is done by hand and is more often done by women. Here, Aurora, a woman from from Romania, is in a good mood, as the work team has a radio with them and they are playing Romanian music in the field.”

Savinjska valley, near Braslovce, Slovenia

Overall Winner—The Travel Photographer of the Year 2023 (AndreJa Ravnak, Slovenia) : “Once all the strings are manually stretched, the workers ensure that the small hop seedlings start climbing vertically. Once this is done, they leave the Savinja Valley for a few months and return in late summer, when the hops are ripe for harvesting.”

Chinle, Arizona, USA

Winner, Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2023 ( Caden Shepard Choi, USA, age 14) : “The sheep are herded back to their pen at the entrance of the canyon. They walk through a dust cloud formed by the steady kick of their hooves. The sheep are initially reluctant to enter the mouth of the canyon, but when returning home, they show no resistance. After a long day steering sheep, the two herding dogs now playfully trail behind.”

Exton, Pennsylvania, USA

Winner, Young Travel Photographer of the Year Age 15-18 (Lilly Zhang, USA, age 17) : “The mist suspended on Marsh Creek lake's surface, signature to its early fall mornings, the quiet morning light illuminating the fall leaves, and the fishermen amidst the mist. Captivated by the quiet beauty of the scenery, I took this photo.”

Litli-Hrutur volcano, Iceland

Winner, Young Travel Photographer of the Year Age 14 and Younger (Zayan Durrani, USA, age 14) : “My father and I took a trip to Iceland to visit an ongoing volcanic eruption. I took this image on the first day through the window of a small plane. I love how the setting sun cast shadows through the hills onto the volcano.”

The Icelandic highlands

Winner, Landscape and Environment Portfolio (Armand Sarlangue, France) : “A lush mountain range covered of moss in the Highlands, with a river snaking between the reliefs from the above glaciers. It will carry precious sediments along the lands before joining a bigger river system, up to the coasts of Iceland where it will connect with the great ocean.”

Lake Shirakawa, Japan

Winner, Best Single Image in a Landscape and Environment Portfolio (Kazuaki Koseki, Japan) : “For a period from the end of winter to early summer, Lake Shirakawa is filled with water from melting snow and a ‘submerged forest’ appears. The water in the lake changes colour between light blue and light green, and mist, combined with the reflections which look like a submeged forest create a fantastic landscape. In April, the season of sprouting had arrived in the submerged forest. In the soft light before sunrise, the submerged forest quietly welcomed the morning. I chose a bluish time before sunrise to erase the reality and emphasize the fantastic sight, and set the shutter speed to 30 seconds to flatten the water surface.”

La Ventana, Baja California, Mexico

Winner, Nature, Wildlife, and Conservation portfolio (Martin Broen, USA) : “A split shot of a Mobula ray fever cruising below the divers’ boat as part of their annual migration in the waters of Baja California.”

Anilao, Philippines

Winner, Best Single Image in a Wildlife and Conservation Portfolio (Martin Broen, USA) : “A yellow Gobby watches the ocean from the entrance of his crystal palace, a glass bottle at the bottom of the sea of the worst ocean polluter on the planet.”

Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia

Winner, People and Cultures Portfolio (Athanasios Maloukos, Greece) : “The Buryatian shaman Vitalli performs a ritual to connect with the spirits on frozen Lake Baikal, with the sacred Ogoi (Dragon) cape in the background. Siberia is considered the heartland of Shamanism, with Lake Baikal its most sacred place.”

Lagos, Nigeria

Winner, Best Single Image in a People and Cultures Portfolio (Jack Lawson, UK) : “Four members of The Special Eagles, Nigeria's national amputee football team, stand looking out into the ocean at a day on the beach.”

Kalash Valley, Chitral, Pakistan

Winner, Best Single Image in a Visual Stories Portfolio (F.Dilek Yurdakul, Turkey) : “In Pakistan, an Islamic Republic, there is no coeducation in public schools. Boys and girls receive Islamic education in separate classrooms and schools. The Kalash live within the borders of Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, yet their schools are still co-educational. Gender diversity and unity are viewed as nothing to fear. Children are educated equally and together.”

La Puna, Argentina

Winner, A Quieter Life category (Ignacio Palacios, Australia/Spain) : “Walking on a white sand dune in La Puna, Argentina.”

Reutte, Austria

Winner, Above, Eye Level, Below category (Josien van Geffen, Netherlands) : “Under the Highline 179 suspension bridge, you get a completely different view when you look up. The bridge and the people on it now appear like a scene from an old video game.”

Petra, Jordan

Winner, Leisure and Adventure category (Andrea Peruzzi, Italy ): “As the last rays of the sun illuminate the iconic Treasury of Petra, a Bedouin enjoys jumping between the overhanging rocks. At sunset, it’s as if the once-lost city has two profoundly different souls, divided between day and night. When tourists leave this iconic destination, the Bedouins reawaken the ancient soul of Petra by repopulating the site, to eat around the bonfires and stay connected to the traditions handed down by their ancestors.”

Maasai Mara, Kenya

Winner, People's Choice Vote (Rohan Neel Shah, Kenya, age 16) : “A young wildebeest lost in the Great Wildebeest Migration madness. He stands there confused whilst other wildebeest rush to cross the river.”

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• 2022 IN REVIEW

These are the best travel photos of 2022

Explore the world in 17 stunning images from our contributors.

As travel returned this year, we ventured back into the world with a renewed sense of adventure. From Alaska’ s Denali National Park and Reserve to Indonesia ’s lush rainforests, the photographs we published in 2022 reflect the beauty of our world through fresh perspectives.  

Our National Geographic contributors were tasked with documenting the enduring essence of travel. They opened the aperture on innovative conservation efforts, vibrant cultural communities, and underappreciated destinations ready for future travel.

As we look to the new year, we hope these photographs ignite your adventurous spirit, encourage transformative experiences, and set you off on your next journey.

( Discover 25 amazing Best of the World destinations for 2023 .)

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Your photo is a vital part of your visa application. To learn more, review the information below on how to provide a suitable photo. Digital images are required for some visa categories, while photos are required for other visa categories. The acceptance of your digital image or photo is at the discretion of the U.S. embassy or consulate where you apply.

We recommend you use a professional visa photo service to ensure your photo meets all the requirements.

Your photos or digital images must be:

• Sized such that the head is between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches (22 mm and 35 mm) or 50% and 69% of the image's total height from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head. View the  Photo Composition Template  for more size requirement details.
• Taken within the last 6 months to reflect your current appearance
• Taken in front of a plain white or off-white background
• Taken in full-face view directly facing the camera
• With a neutral facial expression and both eyes open
• Taken in clothing that you normally wear on a daily basis
• Uniforms should not be worn in your photo, except religious clothing that is worn daily.
• Do not wear a hat or head covering that obscures the hair or hairline, unless worn daily for a religious purpose. Your full face must be visible, and the head covering must not cast any shadows on your face.
• Headphones, wireless hands-free devices, or similar items are not acceptable in your photo.
• The frames of the eyeglasses must not cover the eye(s).
• There must not be glare on eyeglasses that obscures the eye(s).
• There must not be shadows or refraction from the eyeglasses that obscures the eye(s). 
• If you normally wear a hearing device or similar articles, they may be worn in your photo.

Review the  Photo Examples  to see examples of acceptable and unacceptable photos. Photos copied or digitally scanned from driver’s licenses or other official documents are not acceptable. In addition, snapshots, magazine photos, low quality vending machine or mobile phone photos, and full-length photographs are not acceptable.

Please review the additional photo requirements for:

• Nonimmigrant Visas
• Immigrant Visas
• Diversity Visa (DV) Program

Additional Information

• Tips for taking photos yourself

Change of Appearance

Additional requirements for nonimmigrant visas.

Applicants using Form DS-160 or Form DS-1648

If you are applying for a nonimmigrant visa by filling out the DS-160 or DS-1648 online form, the form will instruct you to upload your digital image as part of completing the online visa application form. Review the  Digital Image Requirements , which also provide additional requirements if you are scanning an existing photo.

Some embassies and consulates require visa applicants to bring one (1) photo, which meets requirements, to the interview. Review the  embassy or consulate  instructions where you will apply to learn more.

Additional Requirements for Immigrant Visas

 Applicants using Form DS-260

If you are applying for an immigrant visa, using Form DS-260, you must provide  two (2) identical photos  at your immigrant visa interview. Your photos must be:

• Printed on photo quality paper
• 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm) in size

Additional Requirements for the Diversity Visa (DV) Program

Diversity Visa Program Entrants

If you are entering the Diversity Visa (DV) Program online, you must upload your digital image as part of your entry. Your digital image must be:

• In JPEG (.jpg) file format
• Equal to or less than 240 kB (kilobytes) in file size
• In a square aspect ratio (height must equal width)
• 600x600 pixels in dimension

Do you want to scan an existing photo? In addition to the digital image requirements, your existing photo must be:

• 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm)
• Scanned at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch (12 pixels per millimeter)

Diversity Visa Program Selectees

Each DV applicant will need to bring two (2) identical photos to the interview. Your photos must be:

Do you want to take the photo yourself?

While we recommend you use a professional visa photo service to ensure your photo meets all the requirements, you may take the photo yourself. Photos must not be digitally enhanced or altered to change your appearance in any way. Please review the following technical requirements and references for guidance on taking your own photo.

Use the Department of State’s free photo tool to:

Please note: This tool is intended for photo cropping only. A Department of State employee will make the final decision whether your visa photo is acceptable or not for your application.

Taking photos of your baby or toddler

When taking a photo of your baby or toddler, no other person should be in the photo, and your child should be looking at the camera with his or her eyes open.

If your photo(s) or digital image does not reflect your current appearance, even if it is not older than 6 months, the U.S. embassy or consulate will request that you provide a new photo with your application.

Applicants will be requested to obtain a new photo if they have:

• Undergone significant facial surgery or trauma
• Added or removed numerous/large facial piercings or tattoos
• Undergone a significant amount of weight loss or gain
• Made a gender transition

Generally, if you can still be identified from the photo in your visa application, you will not need to submit a new photo. For example, growing a beard or coloring your hair would not generally be considered a significant change of appearance.

If the appearance of your child under the age of 16 has changed due to the normal aging process, he or she will generally not have to provide a new photo. However, the acceptance of your photo or digital image is at the discretion of the U.S. embassy or consulate where you apply.

Already have a photo?

Use our  Photo Tool  to crop your photo so it's the right size.

• This photo tool does not check the quality of your image. 
• This tool is for cropping your photo only when you are applying or renewing using a paper form.
• Do not use this tool if you are renewing online.

After you apply, a U.S. Department of State employee will review your photo and decide if we can accept your photo.

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If you want to create your own passport photo, you are at the right place. With the help of this website you can create a passport photo based on the standards of several countries with ease and you don’t need to use a complicated and expensive photo editing software. If you are not an experienced photographer, then try to create more than one photo with different lighting. After taking the photos choose the one that best fits the tips under „Taking the picture to be uploaded” section and upload it. After uploading the photo follow the instructions under „Editing the photo” to create a passport photo that both suits you and the standards.

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• Saudi Arabia visa photo online

Saudi Arabia Visa Photo Online

The primary condition for travelling to Saudi Arabia is obtaining a visa. For the citizens of 49 countries, this process is now easier than ever: if you are eligible, you can get a Saudi visa online without going to the consulate.

The electronic application must be accompanied by a digital photo that meets specific requirements. Which ones? Read below!

Table of contents

How to apply for a Saudi Arabia visa?

Documents required for saudi visa application in the consulate, documents required for saudi electronic visa application.

• Saudi Arabia visa application photo requirements

Get a Saudi Arabia visa photo online!

What types of saudi visas require photos.

In 2019, Saudi Arabia launched an e-visa program. Visitors can obtain a multiple-entry visa for a period of one year, allowing them to spend up to 90 days in the country. This type of visa is issued for tourism or pilgrimage out of hajj season purposes only.

Travelers from 49 countries can apply for a tourist visa online via the official e-visa portal before their trip. The filing process is fast and convenient. Tourists from other countries need to apply for a visa at the Saudi Arabian embassies and consulates.

Along with the other application documents, you must provide recent photographs compliant with Saudi visa photo specifications. High-quality photographs are vital for a successful Saudi Arabia visa application.

To apply for a tourist e-visa, you need:

• Scanned copy of the first pages of the passport. The travel document must be valid for at least 6 months;
• Digital picture matching Saudi visa photo parameters;
• Visa application fee. The cost of a Saudi visa in 2022 is 440 Saudi reals or $177. The consular fee also includes tourist health insurance, payable electronically;
• Personal details: occupation, home address, telephone number;
• Travel itinerary: indicate the cities you wish to visit. No flight or hotel reservations are required for the tourist e-visa.

What is the most reliable way to take a photo for a Saudi Arabia visa application? Since the Saudi visa picture size requirements are very specific and different from most passport-sized photos, it's best to outsource this task to dedicated online editors. With Visafoto you can take a Saudi visa photo from everywhere in the world!

Image Upload Error

Use our online tool for the fastest results. Simply upload a full-face shot taken in good light. Visafoto will instantly resize and format the image, replace the background with a plain white and improve the overall image quality. The resulting picture will match 100% of the photo requirements for a Saudi Arabia visa.

First, take an original photo of yours like this one:

You will get two files:

• A digital Saudi Arabia visa photo for e-visa application;
• A printable template for applying in the paper form.

Here they are:

Saudi Arabia visa photo requirements

If you apply for a visa via Visa.visitsaudi.com website , the digital photo size must be 200 x 200 pixels. The weight of the image must be between 5 and 100 Kb. To apply offline at the consulate, you will need a printed photo of 4x6 cm in size.

The picture background must be plain light, without shadows or extra objects.

The photo must be in color and include your face and shoulders. Black and white photos are not accepted. The face must be in the center of the frame.

Pose & facial expression

Look directly into the camera. Facial expression must be calm and relaxed, with the mouth closed. Don’t tilt the head.

Take a photo for a Saudi visa in covered clothing, preferably contrasting with the background. You can wear prescription glasses, provided that the eyes are clearly visible. Religious headwear is allowed. In this case, facial features should be identifiable;

Here is a Saudi Arabia visa photo example:

For the Electronic Visa Services Platform (Enjaz) website, you must provide a 200x200 pixel photo which size is 18 KB.

To get printed pictures accepted, Saudi Arabia visa picture size must be 2 x 2 inches.

If your country is not on the list of countries eligible for Saudi E-visa, you will have to apply at the consulate. You will also need to apply for a visa offline if you have other purposes besides tourism. To obtain a tourist visa, you must submit the following documents:

• a passport valid for at least 6 months after the trip;
• a color photo matching Saudi Arabia visa application photo requirements;
• photocopy of the internal passport or ID;
• an application form.

The list of required documents differs depending on the type of visa and your country of origin.

The information above is suitable for the following types of visas:

• Saudi Umrah visa photo
• Saudi Arabia tourist visa photo;
• Saudi Arabia business visa photo;
• Saudi Arabia family visa photo;
• Saudi Arabia transit visa photo;
• Saudi Arabia student visa photo;
• Family Iqama: Work Immigration with Family Members to Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Arabia Visa FAQ: Helpful Guide for Travellers
• Saudi Arabia Umrah Visa Guide for 2024
• Saudi Arabia Hajj Visa Guide - 2024

Last update: October 2022

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Outdoor Revival

If You're Looking for a Relaxing Vacation, Avoid These Tourist Hotspots

Posted: April 11, 2024 | Last updated: April 12, 2024

If You’re Looking for a Relaxing Vacation, Avoid These Tourist Hotspots

Overtourism is defined by Solimar International as "the increase in tourist numbers at such high volumes that it negatively impacts local residents, visitors, and the surrounding environment of a particular destination." Simply put, it's when a place becomes so overcrowded as a result of its tourist industry that the local population begins to suffer.

It's more common than you might think, as shown by the following list of tourist destinations that are currently struggling with overtourism. Keep on reading through this article to find out more!

Big Major Cay - Exuma, Bahamas

Better known as "Pig Beach," Big Major Cay is a beach in the Bahamas that's become popular for the colony of feral pigs that call it home. These wild animals are friendly, and will allow snorklers and other tourists to swim alongside them.

While it's exciting to swim alongside these creatures, the area's tourism has started to have a negative impact on the population. The pigs are beginning to die off due to visitors feeding them things they're not meant to ingest - including alcohol. This is only compounded by the region's increasing temperatures, which have resulted in watering holes drying up, leaving the pigs with no way to keep themselves adequately hydrated.

Mount Everest - Mahālangūr Himāl, Himalayas

Mount Everest is without a doubt the most niche location on this list, but that doesn't mean it hasn't had to deal with an overflow of visitors over the decades. Mountain climbers from across the world travel to the Himalayas each year to reach the summit - so many, in fact, that, despite permits being issued to control numbers, there's typically a queue extending to the mountain's peak.

Along with human congestion, the amount of climbers who make the ascent each year have left behind piles of trash that end up becoming frozen and buried in the snow. If that wasn't enough, there's actually been an uptick in the number of deaths that occur along the mountain, due to the lack of oxygen at high altitudes.

Kyoto - Honshū, Japan

Located on the Japanese island of Honshū, Kyoto is the second-most populous island in the world. It's also one of the oldest municipalities in all of Japan . While the technology sector makes up the largest portion of the city's economy, tourism is also among the most important aspects.

Each year, Kyoto's tourism increases by one million visitors , which has resulted in overcrowding along city streets. Residents can hardly go about their day-to-day lives, due to the amount of congestion on public transit, and trash litters areas that were once clean. On top of this, residential areas have lost their sense of privacy, with visitors venturing away from tourist-geared areas to explore.

San Sebastián - Basque Country, Spain

Located near the France -Spain border, San Sebastián is one of the smaller tourist locales in Spain - that doesn't mean, however, that the city isn't as popular. It's considered one of the country's best-known tourist attractions, with the majority of its income coming from the millions of visitors who book a stay each year.

San Sebastián's popularity has resulted in local residents taking action. Protests have been held to raise awareness about the problem, with a municipal bylaw being passed in the mid-2010s to regulate tourist apartments that push out locals.

Palau - Oceania, Western Pacific

Located in the western Pacific and made up of 340 individual islands, Palau was once a little-known vacation spot in the heart of Oceania. However, the country has since experienced an uptick in tourists, who visit the area to scuba dive and snorkel among the various World War II -era wrecks that litter the seafloor.

Palau is also home to a number of UNESCO World Heritage sites, which also help drive tourism. Among them are the Tet el Bad, an ornate stone coffin in the village of Ollei, and the Rock Islands Southern Lagoon, a picturesque location made up of limestone and coral.

To tackle overtourism, Palau has adopted an approach known as " responsible tourism ." Not only is sunscreen confiscated upon arrival to prevent irreparable harm to the area's coral reefs , tourists must sign the "Palau Pledge," binding them to respect the nation's environment.

Fjaðrárgljúfur - Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Iceland

Once considered one of Iceland 's hidden gems, Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon saw a boom in popularity after being featured in not just Justin Bieber's music video for " I'll Show You ," but also in seasons seven and eight of Game of Thrones (2011-19). As could be expected, the sudden uptick in visitors wasn't something the local environment was prepared to handle.

Between 2015 and '19, over one million tourists made the trek to Fjaðrárgljúfur, putting a strain on the wildlife and vegetation that call the canyon home. This prompted Iceland's Environment Agency to close off the area to visitors, with the location now subject to closures throughout the year, depending on how busy the tourism season is.

Banff - Alberta, Canada

Banff National Park is arguably one of the most popular tourist attractions in all of Canada . The glacier-blue waters, views of the Rocky Mountains and endless opportunities for outdoor fun (think hiking and camping ) mean it's not hard to understand why the location in the heart of Alberta has fell victim to overtourism.

Annually, some four million people visit Banff, bringing with them an insurmountable amount of traffic. To combat this, Parks Canada created the Tourism Together collaboration effort , which identified five core principles for residents living in the area and those who visit: wildly innovative, better tomorrow, tourism together, connected by nature and lead by example.

Among the initiatives to come from this include enacting a reservation system, providing more reliable mass transit and closing certain locations to private vehicles.

Dubrovnik - Dalmatia, Croatia

Yet another location to fall victim to the fervor of being featured on Game of Thrones  - it served as the King's Landing in the popular HBO series - Dubrovnik, Croatia is known for being one of the cheapest places to fly to in Europe . This, along with its historic streets, beautiful cafés and overall breathtaking scenery, have meant 3.8 million tourists visited the city in 2022.

On top of those who make the trip by air, Europe's growing cruise ship industry has also contributed to Dubrovnik's overtourism. According to Responsible Travel , an estimated 742,000 passed through the city on 538 different vessels in 2017. However, unlike other visitors, these sightseers spend very little money, meaning they contribute minimally to the area's economy.

Amsterdam - North Holland, Netherlands

You know a city is suffering from overtourism when officials actively tell anyone thinking of making a trip to not visit. That's exactly what's happening with Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands. The campaign is targeted at British males, in particular, who tend to visit to take part in the metropolitan area's party scene.

When would-be British tourists search up the city online, they're met with a video that warns of the consequences their activities can reap if they're caught by the authorities. As such, it's been recommended that visitors look for destinations outside of the city center or, better yet, elsewhere in the country.

Hanauma Bay - Oahu, Hawaiian Islands

Home to some of Hawaii 's best snorkeling opportunities, Hanauma Bay, on the southeastern side of Oahu , has become overrun with tourists in recent years. There are a number of reasons for this, including its clear water, the abundance of sea turtles and fish, and the fact it's a mere 30-minute drive from one of the Hawaiian Islands' most popular cities: Honolulu.

Prior to 2020, an estimated one million tourists visited Hanauma Bay each year, which, while good for the area's economy, has wreaked havoc on the local ecosystem. This is due to sunscreen, which contains chemicals that cause harm to the coral reefs that make up the area's underwater habitat.

More from us: 7 Lesser Known National Parks And Why They're Worth A Trip

In an attempt to show visitors how detrimental their activities can be to the bay and its ecosystem, everyone must watch a nine-minute video about its history, wildlife and what they can do to minimize their environmental footprint.

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Thailand’s Tourist Towns Deal With Their Own Russian Invasion

I t’s just past 11 p.m. on Phuket’s neon-festooned Bangla Road and revelers are out in force, though the heady atmosphere is distinctly more Sochi than Southeast Asia. TVs overhanging the sprawling beer bars show ice skating instead of soccer; Cyrillic signage proliferates; and Russian-speaking touts dispense flyers for pole-dancing clubs exclusively featuring women from former Soviet republics. “Russians, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Kazakhs,” says one tout in dark Ray Bans and a skin-tight Armani polo shirt. “We have them all here.”

The war in Ukraine has entailed an incalculable human toll, while roiling markets, disrupting supply chains, and sending inflation soaring across the globe. But in Thailand, the two-year-old conflict is also having a profound social effect despite being over 4,000 miles away. While many Western nations have shut out Russian air travel in response to Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Thailand sees Russian arrivals as key to reviving its pandemic-ravaged tourism industry. In October, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin extended 90-day visas upon arrival for Russian passports, insisting in a February interview : “We’re not part of the [Ukraine] conflict. We are neutral.”

Read More: 5 Takeaways from TIME’s Conversation with Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin

Last year, Russians ranked top for tourist arrivals in Thailand from outside of Asia with 1.4 million visitors. Meanwhile, Russians were top overall on the southern resort island of Phuket, which has long been a favorite haunt. Last July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Phuket to inaugurate a new consulate to cope with surging visitor numbers. A month later, the Phuket Tourist Association sent a delegation to St. Petersburg and Moscow seeking to court even more vacationers.

In the first three months of this year, 366,095 Russians arrived at Phuket International Airport, almost double the same period of 2023 and transforming the island’s commercial and social life. (That figure doesn’t include the significant number who transferred via Thailand’s main gateway of Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.) But while a boon for the macro economy, the influx has chafed with locals who increasingly complain that Russians are stealing jobs and upsetting cultural mores. Across Thailand, lurid headlines such as “ Rabid Russian assaults police team in Phuket after going berserk at a city centre hotel ” and “ Russian tourist kicks pregnant Thai woman after asked to leave shoes outdoor ” are both a symptom and cause of alarm. (However, transgressions involving New Zealand , Swiss , and Portuguese nationals admittedly proliferate also.)

“Russia and Thailand are so different and sometimes they don’t understand Thai law and culture,” Lieut. Colonel Akachai Siri, chief inspector of Phuket Tourist Police, tells TIME. “Sometimes they break the law and they don’t recognize we have law enforcement.”

Nevertheless, Thailand’s Russian incursion appears here to stay. Other than the preferential visas, sanctions on Russian air carriers and reciprocal bans on Western airlines have slashed the destinations where Russian nationals can escape their frigid winter, making already-popular Thailand an easier choice. And then there are the not inconsiderable numbers fleeing economic doldrums and a war of choice that they had no part in choosing—not least since the Kremlin has ramped up military conscription amid mounting casualties .

“That was the final straw for us,” says Mark, a Russian who fled to Thailand with his boyfriend after an initial draft announcement in September 2022 and asked that TIME use a pseudonym for security. “We understood we can’t go back because anyone can be called to the army and just die in the war.”

As a result, the number of Russians choosing to stay in Thailand long-term is soaring. Beyond 90-day visas upon arrival, thousands are applying for one-year business or education visas. Arnold, who asked that TIME use only one name for fear of reprisals in his homeland, moved from Moscow to the Thai resort town of Hua Hin permanently last year and has noticed an increase in what are colloquially termed “ relocants ” fleeing the “various negative things which are going on back home.”

The affluent are acquiring luxury cars and yachts and renting or purchasing villas. Phuket’s plush Laguna beachfront complex of villas, ornamental lake, and 18-hole golf course is now dubbed “Little Moscow,” says Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, advisory chairman to Phuket’s Tourist Association. Over half of all residents across its 1,000 acres are Russian, according to the Laguna real estate management office, which employs two native Russian speakers to deal with the shifting demographic. Across Phuket, real estate prices have bumped some 20% owing to the Russian influx, says Bhummikitti.

The incursion has also increased pressure on Akachai’s Tourist Police, which has only 60 officers to assist the 2,000-odd regular Royal Thai Police and 60 dedicated Immigration Police across both Phuket and the larger adjacent province of Pha Nga. In addition to swelling tourist numbers, whereas 60% of tourists before the pandemic traveled on tour groups with guides and agents on hand to smooth any problems, today, 70% are independent travelers, which means the Tourist Police are increasingly called to mediate all manner of conflicts.

Relaxed entry requirements have also attracted a criminal element. In early February, Phuket police arrested five suspected Russian gangsters for the kidnapping and extortion of over $800,000 in cryptocurrency from a Belarussian couple that Akachai says was retaliation for a financial dispute back home. And last month, a 42-year-old Russian man was found stabbed to death in a rented house that was being used as a cannabis farm. The chief suspect is a Tajikistani man who fled Thailand for Turkey just hours after the murder.

Yet Akachai says most crimes relate to illegal work involving Russians determined not to return home while the war rages but without the means to support themselves indefinitely—not least since international banking sanctions have rendered accessing savings more difficult. Many Russians have set themselves up as unofficial tour guides, car and motorbike rental services, real estate agents, hairdressers, or even sex workers, advertising online via Telegram groups.

Yet not all aspects of the phenomenon are troublesome. Other than Russians, a significant number of Ukrainians have fled their war torn nation for Thailand, potentially creating a tinderbox atmosphere. But Akachai says he has not encountered a single skirmish or negative incident between the two nationalities in Phuket. Yury Rozhkov, 46, a Russian national who works for a travel agency in Bangkok, says he regularly meets Ukrainians staying in his apartment building and relations are nothing but cordial.

“They understand it’s Putin, it’s not Russia, Russian people are different,” he says. “And I’m sure Russians who have money to travel to Thailand do not support Putin and the war in Ukraine.”

In Hua Hin, Arnold is a member of a Russian-language Telegram group with more than 4,500 members from across the former Soviet bloc, but he says he cannot recall a single politically charged message among the 400 or so posted every day. “99.9% of discussions are where to find the best pad thai, current prices in the local market, how to rent a car, or where to get a vaccine,” he says.

Perched by the main gate of Phuket’s Laguna resort, the d’Odessa restaurant serves Ukrainian syrniki pancakes and smoked salmon croissants slathered with gold leaf. The tablet menu has options for Ukrainian, English, and Russian—and staff say the majority of clientele speak the latter. “There are many Ukrainian restaurants filled with Russians in Phuket,” says Bhummikitti.

Ultimately, both sides caught up in this senseless conflict share a desire to stay out of harm’s way by whatever means necessary. Mark is still employed by his Russian IT company thanks to an understanding boss despite remote working being strictly against company policy. Every day he fears a draft ticket or internal enquiries by higher management could spell the end to that vital paycheck. If that happens, “I will try to find a local job or another [remote] job in Russia,” he says. “I will try every way I can not to go back.”

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Write to Charlie Campbell / Phuket, Thailand at [email protected]

• Travel Tips

What Qualifies as a Tourist Trap? Not Everyone Agrees

Is it simply something that is exclusively for tourists or is it something more sinister.

Published on 4/12/2024 at 3:08 PM

The term "tourist trap" has an automatic negative connotation—no one wants to be seen as someone who was vulnerable to a trick, something designed to lure visitors and the unwise. But, what exactly is a tourist trap? Some of them are actually pretty popular with tourists, while others—like Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco —are considered totally not worth the time.

And, whether you want to go to a tourist trap or not, a recent survey shows that 89% of Americans are still visiting them during their travels. Software company  PhotoAiD  recently surveyed 1,000 Americans to determine what the current consensus on tourist traps is, including what most travelers considered to be the features that constitute a tourist trap.

According to the survey, the top factors that lead to a place being a tourist trap, versus a tourist attraction are:

• above-average pricing (30%)
• amenities tailored for tourists (28%)
• lack of cultural authenticity (27%)

As you can see based on the fact that all those options got similar levels of support, no one is in total agreement here. But honestly, these are very good reasons for a place not to merit the time and resources to visit—especially the lack of cultural authenticity. But what is most shocking is that even though there's a pretty clear disdain for visiting these sorts of attractions, 44.48% of respondents shared that they'd visited tourist traps between two to three times in the last 24 months, and 29% of respondents had visited tourist traps five times in the last 24 months.

My big question? Why? Fortunately, survey respondents answered that question as well. Here are the reasons why people reported visiting overpriced attractions:

• 33.67% said family/friends wanted to go
• 19.29% said it was highly recommended in guides/reviews/on social media
• 18.17% said it was curiosity or personal interest
• 14.16% considered it a landmark or symbol of the destination
• 13.82% said it was a part of a tour package or itinerary

Unfortunately, these experiences didn’t usually turn out to be an exciting and unexpectedly awesome addition to their trip. The survey showed that 69.56% reported that visiting the tourist attraction resulted in diminished enjoyment or significantly diminished enjoyment, as shown in the graph below.

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