As much as a holiday is a chance to (hopefully) relax and not be stressed, the reality is that travel holds plentiful potential for stress and anxiety. And when it comes to the most stressful cities for tourists, it turns out that London doesn’t have a great reputation. In fact, our fair capital has recently been named one of the most stressful cities in the world for tourists to visit.
Recently updated research from Radical Storage looked at reviews of tourist attractions in the 100 most popular cities for tourism around the world. To compile a list of the world’s most ‘anxious destinations’, they analysed these reviews for mentions of everything from “overcrowded tourist hotspots to confusing public transport”. Each city was then given a percentage based on how many of the reviews mentioned these stressful factors.
London landed firmly in the list of the world’s top 10 most stressful cities, in 8th position. 7% of reviews mentioned the anxiety-inducing factors. In comparison, nearly one in ten (9.9%) reviews of top-ranking Orlando, USA flagged anxiety. Some of the most common
There was considerable improvement, however, with London dropping from 17.7% of reviews mentioning anxiety in 2024 to 7% in 2026.
The world’s most stressful cities
So where to avoid if you want a stress-free trip? These are the world’s most stressful cities for tourists:
- Orlando, USA (#1)
- Beijing, China (#2)
- Mumbai, India (#3)
- Delhi, India (#4)
- Tokyo, Japan (tied for #5)
- Kyoto, Japan (tied for #5)
- Shanghai, China (#7)
- London, UK (#8)
- Johor Bahru, Malaysia (#9)
- New York City, USA (#10)
The world’s least anxiety-inducing cities
And on the flip side, where should you go when you want to relax without any anxiety? According to the research, these are the world’s least stressful cities for tourists:
- Buenos Aires, Argentina (tied for #1)
- São Paulo, Brazil (tied for #1)
- Mugla, Türkiye (tied for #3)
- Antalya, Türkiye (tied for #3)
- Thessaloniki, Greece (tied for #3)
- Tallinn, Estonia (tied for #3)
- Warsaw, Poland (tied for #7)
- Kraków, Poland (tied for #7)
- Vilnius, Lithuania (tied for #7)
- Bologna, Italy (tied for #7)
