That was our experience as well at the Hermitage @MYOS1634. However, the Russian Museum was not crowded at all. Same as Hermitage, the Louvre was a zoo.
Sorry, but what many checked off their list was the selfie with the Mona Lisa. Click, check, and outta there.
Our experience as well at almost all the tourist sites in St. Petersburg. The Summer Palace was horribly crowded that the staff was screaming at the tourists that they were taking too long and needed to move on.
We were in Moscow and St Petersburg over Thanksgiving (D2 was studying abroad at the Moscow Art Theater). There were no crowds anywhere in St Petersburg. We spend an entire day at the Hermitage. Moscow wasn’t that crowded either. We got lucky because the weather was unseasonably warm when we visited.
Dalmatian coast in Croatia in July. I knew it would be bad, but we were there for a specific event and since we were already there made it into a family vacation. I had a friend make the trip 6 weeks earlier and she had a completely different experience. I’d recommend the trip, just not in July.
As soon as the kids are all graduated and I’m not tied to an academic calendar, my days of vacationing in July and August are over.
I’ll just throw out a suggestion for those visiting a popular place like the Vatican. Look into personal, licensed tour operators. An extended family member referred us to one when we were in Rome. We arranged half day tours, where we didn’t have to wait in lines and our English-speaking tour guide pointed out the ‘important’ pieces of art and their significance…something that helped tremendously. In our opinion it was a real time-saver and well worth the expense.
How do you love Rome in January? It often rains in January. I don’t mind crowds in cities even if they are mainly tourists. It is in National Parks crowds turn me off.
I’m loving this thread. 46 reasons so far why I don’t travel (coffee table books are the best way to see places as far as I’m concerned). Keep ‘em coming. 
There are too many to list, but I will say that I’m not usually deterred from visiting a place just because other people also happen to want to visit at the same time. I just complain about it afterward! 
When the kids were 12 and 14, we took them to Paris. My son was dying to see the Mona Lisa, so he managed to push his way to the front of the throng and then shouted back to us, “Hey, I got us a spot and you’re not here!” Most obnoxious tourist ever.
Curry Village (or whatever it’s called now) at Yosemite in July was a pretty awful place. There were literally 10,000 people in Yosemite Valley at the same time. Bears broke into cars every night because people kept leaving bags visible, despite warnings to empty cars of everything.The hike up to Nevada Falls was like being on a train with thousands of other people. The shuttle bus back to the camp site at the end of the day reeked so badly (and we were contributing, of course) that my daughter and I shoved eucalyptus leaves under our arms and held them in front of our noses to curb the aroma. The lines for the showers took forever. This was years ago, but when we go back, it won’t be during the high season (or fire season), and I will be staying at whatever they call the Ahwahnee now.
I sympathize, @thumper1 . We did Disney World during a school break one year, and made the mistake of going to Colonial Williamsburg the same time the following year.
I’ve been several times in January and don’t remember problem rain. The only thing was it gets cool toward sundown and hotel heat often doesn’t come on til later. But rain doesn’t bother me in old cities. It’s historical, too.
It can be crowded in popular tourist spots, but nowhere like summer. We went out to Hadrian’s Villa and it was empty. Hardly anyone at the Capitoline (which I agree is great.) The Forum was fine. St Peter’s had lots of visitors, but it’s big inside, lol.
A crowded beach near home bothers me more. I prefer going early in the am, when traffic is easy, lots of parking, and easy to find a spot on the sand. I head home mid morning.
48 - I agree with Yosemite Valley in summer. A few years ago, we came off the High Sierra Loop back into the Valley and the contrast made the crowds down there more horrible. After a hard 14 mile day, seeing crowds of people jamming onto the shuttle busses, pushing and shoving was just too much.
I have had a great experience in Yosemite Valley in winter though. We walked the Valley loop trail in the snow and saw almost no one. It was beautiful.
Waikiki beach during peak vacation times. Had a misfortune being in HNL just before Christmas for a conference and decided to check out the famous beach. Nope. Not my cup of tea.
But I have to say, compared to an average workday day Seattle traffic, Honolulu trafic was a piece of cake.
After the horrible experience at the Hermitage museum, we took an English-speaking, certified tour guide who got us into the Summer Palace at 8:30, before crowds started. The Palace supposedly only opens at 10am but Russians have serious economic problems and are creative in finding sources of money, so apparently Euros and Dollars have a way of solving problems.
Louvre: Go on a day when it closes at 9pm.
- Buy your ticket for a temporary exhibit. Those are timed so that they’re not too crowded. Pick a time a few hours from whenever you get there. 2) Start with the Islamic Art collection, nary a person there and well worth the visit; wander about from there, targeting the less crowded areas 3) OPTIONAL Late lunch (fixed price is like 17 euros, there are cheaper options for like 8-10 euros if you only take the main dish) 4) Go to your Temporary Exhibit 5) coffee break 6)Enjoy the usually crowded galleries now very pleasant.
We were able to get an English-speaking tour guide for the Kremlin during our stay in Moscow and that turned out to be especially helpful. She was extremely knowledgeable and knew her way around. I think a personal guide is often worth the extra money. We did the same thing at the Prado in Madrid.
Rocky Mountain National Park…just didn’t know how crowded it would be. Gave up on eating at the visitors center with no parking. Also a main road was closed at 9am for the day as it was already too crowded.
Just recalled a July trip to Gettysburg, the year and week they had their 150th anniversary of the battle. We got there very early, and lucked out and hired a guide (we hadn’t booked ahead) for a couple hours later. We visited the museum as the crowds grew, then met our guide who drove us in our car through the battlefield. There were hordes of cars, no parking near anything popular, but she knew where everything was, including the crowds, and how to avoid them. She also knew the history of the place like the back of her hand, and we had a fantastic tour. Although at least one of the kids was snoring in the back seat for most of it.
D16 and I also stopped at a lesser known Civil War battlefield in KY on one of her college visits. It was late March, a bit rainy, and we were literally the only ones there. The visitors center wasn’t open, but someone saw us and came out and told us where to drive to see the place. We at one point had to pull a fallen branch off the road to make the drive around but it was beautiful.
RMNP is very crowded and the line of cars to get in can stretch for a mile at times. The trick is - get there just before or at opening times and just after closing. The park is open 24 hours because they have campgrounds. The rangers just open the gates and stop taking money around 4:45 and that speeds things up!
You need to get there early if you want to drive up to that really high road (Trial Ridge Road?) while it is safe. If you’re up there after noon, you are above the tree line and can be hit by lightning even from a clear sky. So go early, before they lower those gates.