Greece 'tourist trap warning' issued to all UK holidaymakers

UK holidaymakers venturing to Greek eateries have been cautioned to stay sharp, to avoid being swindled. A British traveller has shared a costly lesson after falling prey to a tourist trap in Athens, which could ensnare unwary visitors.

Travel correspondent Esther Marshall recounted her experience: "I was caught out by a tourist trap in Athens and ended up paying a whopping fee for some terrible food in a restaurant. Although we ordered a Greek feta cheese and tomato sandwich, we were charged for a platter and the food was terrible."

Esther attributed the blunder to poor choice of location, adding: "We'd just arrived in Athens and we wandered into the city's most touristy neighbourhood, Plaka. As we were tired and hungry after the journey, we chose to eat at one of the first places we saw which was a mistake.

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"Tourist trap restaurants are much more likely to be located around the city centre or close to major attractions while the best bargains can usually be found down a side street." And discussing the staff, she said: "Once seated, the menu was in English. These are all warning signs of a tourist trap restaurant. Pushy staff will generally try to encourage tourists inside without letting them see a menu, reports the Birmingham Mail.

"Restaurants favoured by locals will usually have menus in the local language although in top tourist destinations, there’s usually also an English menu. As soon as we’d ordered, we could see the food at tables around us wasn’t very good but it was too late to leave."

She said the food order was "misunderstood" by a waiter who brought a much more expensive dish to the table. "The food was poor quality and some of it tasted like it had come straight out of the microwave. Although we complained about receiving the wrong order, they refused to offer us a refund or let us leave until we’d paid," she wrote.

Having left the restaurant and checked the reviews, she explained how many others had fallen victim to the exact same issue at the site.

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