To many, radiation is a modern specter of death, an invisible killer that withers once-healthy victims down to nothing. This technological boogeyman has taken lives and rendered places uninhabitable for generations. Of course, we’re exposed to various forms of radiation every day, but, as is true of many things, too much of it is lethal, exacting a devastating toll on the body.

SEE ALSO: 10 Of The World’s Deadliest Tourist Destinations

With the fearful associations of radiation in mind, it may seem counterintuitive that some locations which have seen a greater-than-average amount of the stuff draw tourists. Nevertheless, that is precisely the case in a number of spots around the world. For various reasons, nuclear test sites, radioactive mines, disaster zones, and more receive visitors regularly. Here are five distinct examples.

5 Stunning Blue Water

Australia’s Mary Kathleen uranium mine opened in the northwestern part of Queensland during the 1950s. Situated 3.7 miles (6 km) away was the eponymous mining town. At one time, its population numbered roughly 1,000, and the community featured a school, post office, movie theater, bank, and more. The mine operated until 1963, supplying the UK Atomic Energy Authority until Mary Kathleen Uranium Limited’s contract with the former was fulfilled. The mine reopened in 1974 and supplied several foreign power companies until 1982, when the mine ran dry.

It was subsequently closed, and the town’s buildings were removed. All that was left were foundations, a sign in the former town square, and a pit flooded with dank, green water. Somewhere along the line, due to various chemicals being released from the rock, that water turned a brilliant, vibrant blue. As a result, Mary Kathleen has a new population of sorts: Instagram users. Much like a similarly colorful site near Novosibirsk in Russia, the picturesque water in Mary Kathleen’s pit is motivating tourists to trek out to the site in order to obtain images that will be the envy of their friends on social media.

Is it safe to do so? According to Dr. Gavin Mudd of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, radiation levels at the site are higher than typical background levels, but four-wheeling out there for a few eye-wateringly azure selfies won’t cause any real radiological harm. All the same, he advises trying to minimize the time spent at the pit, and certainly don’t swim in the water or drink any of it. The water’s slight radioactivity aside, that blue color is due to a soup of chemicals that aren’t recommended for ingestion.^[1]

4 Hike Up A Sarcophagus Of Nuclear Waste

Standing in stark contrast to the green landscape around it is a barren, gray mound of rock near Weldon Spring, Missouri. The mound and surrounding lands have a storied history. During World War II, explosives were produced here. During the Cold War, uranium for nuclear weapons was enriched at the Weldon Spring Site. This went on until the late 1960s. After the fact, piles of uranium, radium, TNT, asbestos, and more were left behind. Ultimately, the solution was to encase the radioactive and chemical waste in a large, man-made hill. Today, it’s a tourist attraction.

The hill is officially called the Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project Disposal Cell, though it is also referred to as the “Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail.” Visitors can walk a set of stairs to the top of the mound, which offers a good view of the surrounding areas, given the flat terrain around the hill. The top is also popular with amateur astronomers at night and birdwatchers during the day. Nearby is a small museum with information about the mound and surrounding site. You might be relieved to know that more went into the disposal cell’s construction than simply covering a pile of nuclear waste with rocks.

According to two former security guards at the Weldon Spring Site, some visitors are afraid to climb the hill, given what’s encased below. The fact that absolutely nothing grows on the mound probably doesn’t inspire confidence, either. (The lack of vegetation was very much intended by the hill’s builders.) On the other hand, one of the guards noted that he worked there for 11 years and suffered no ill effects.^[2]

3 Tour A Nuclear Test Site

From 1956 to 1963, the British government conducted nuclear bomb tests at Maralinga, a site in South Australia. Seven devices were detonated, the largest of which was 27 kilotons. The late 1960s saw an early attempt at cleanup in the form of turning over the surface layers of soil, thus mixing them with the uncontaminated soil below. Twenty-two pits were filled with leftover bits of nuclear firings and capped with concrete. It is estimated that these pits contain a total of 8.8 pounds (4 kg) of plutonium. During the late 1990s, a much more thorough cleanup involved the removal and burial of hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of radioactive soil. The vehicles used for this operation were also buried.

The land was eventually returned to the Maralinga Tjarutja people. Having no desire to live full-time on land which was ground zero for several nuclear blasts, they instead made it a place for tourism. Today, you can take a bus tour of the Maralinga site. Highlights include the abandoned military village and airfield and, of course, markers denoting the locations of several nuclear detonations. Bits of sand fused into glass remain strewn about the desert terrain. Tourists can also visit the pits where the vehicles from the final cleanup were buried. (They’ve been capped with 16 feet [5 m] of clean soil.)

Maralinga saw far fewer nuclear explosions than other test sites around the world, so most of it is considered safe. One zone remains off-limits and is expected to be so for 25,000 years, but the tour buses do not come near this area. Visitors to the unrestricted areas are advised not to dig into the dirt, however. Those who abide by this rule should receive less than 1 millisievert of radiation during their visit.^[3]

2 A Healthy Dose Of Radon?

Radon is widely considered to a harmful gas. It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and radioactive. The US Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization regard it as a carcinogen. Despite this, some people swear that radon is a viable treatment for certain conditions, such as arthritis. As such, a number of caves and mines which people deliberately enter in order to be exposed to high concentrations of the gas exist around the world. One such location is the Free Enterprise Radon Health Mine in Boulder, Montana.

The facility began as a uranium mine in 1949 but switched to offering radon therapy three years later. Visitors can descend 85 feet (26 m) below the ground to relax in the mine, inhaling radon-rich air. The temperature averages 56 degrees Fahrenheit (13 °C), so warm clothing is a good idea. Heat lamps are also available. If one is claustrophobic, an aboveground “inhalatorium” can be accessed, into which radon from 105 feet (32 m) below the surface is pumped.

As far as most are concerned, you should ideally be exposed to no radon, though if the level in the air is below 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) action doesn’t necessarily need to be taken. Inside the Free Enterprise Radon Health Mine, you’ll be exposed to 1,700 pCi/L on average. A typical run of radon therapy entails between 30 and 60 hours in the mine across ten days.^[4]

1 Visit Chernobyl’s Control Room

If you’re a regular reader of, you probably know that tourists can visit the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (LV LINK 2) and take tours. The popularity of the HBO miniseries Chernobyl has only increased travelers’ interest in the Exclusion Zone. And now, tourists can even enter the control room of Reactor 4, the site of decisions that led to the worst nuclear disaster in history. Beforehand, access was limited to cleanup workers and the occasional researcher or journalist.

This isn’t exactly the same thing as taking a walk around Pripyat. Radiation levels in the control room are reportedly as much as 40,000 times higher than normal. Visitors to the control room will have to wear hazmat suits and industrial boots. They can only stay for five minutes and must undergo two radiation screenings afterward.

This new excursion option comes on the heels of Ukraine declaring Chernobyl an official tourist attraction in July. While tours certainly occurred before that, they hadn’t been officially authorized. Around 85,000 people were believed to have visited the Exclusion Zone for the year as of October 2019. Day tours of the zone typically cost around $100. It’s not clear what a visit to Reactor 4’s control room will cost.^[5]

Most famous vacation spots suck. It’s just a fact. They used to be great but time and opportunism have reduced them all to expensive, crowded, commoditized versions of themselves. Nowadays taking the family to see Mount Rushmore is not so much about admiring the megalithic majesty as it is about taking a photo, buying a shirt, complaining about parking, heading home, and editing out the crowd of tourists in the photo. 

That’s not to say that there aren’t hundreds of amazing sights, activities, and memories waiting for you on your future vacations, just that those good times aren’t exactly where they used to be. New must-see spots pop up all the time while the old standbys march past their prime. Here are ten of those so-called must-sees that aren’t worth the hype, i.e., ten of the worst vacation spots in America.

10 Atlantic City

For an entire century, Atlantic City was one of the premier vacation destinations for American families. In the 1910s-1930s, its newly-erected hotels were flooded with guests who flocked to its beaches and famous boardwalk. Even the post-WWII hardships caused by the explosion of suburban homes with private pools didn’t kill the city. The addition of legalized gambling revitalized it and rebranded it as the East Coast Las Vegas. And it stayed that way until the turn of the century beat the once-proud city into a pulp.

With Las Vegas on the rise and an economic recession in full swing, Atlantic City started to die in the 2000s. Five of its major casinos closed, jobs dried up, and the city currently has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. It’s just sad to be there. The skyline is darker than it used to be and so are the city’s prospects. A last-ditch revitalization effort was recently nixed due to the pandemic, and its city council president recently described the future as a potential “Armageddon in Atlantic City.”

9 Downtown Nashville

For country music fans, Nashville is a must. It’s the undisputed home of country music and one of the nation’s greatest musical hotspots. Walking down its neon-lit streets, music-lovers can hop from bar to bar, catching all of tomorrow’s greatest singers on their way up to stardom. Well, in theory.

In reality, the Nashville that people picture is just one tiny downtown area surrounded by miles and miles of suburbia. “The Music City” is really just “The Music Half a Mile and Lots of Strip Malls.” You can walk the whole main drag in a few hours and be done with that city. And sure, there are some great neighborhoods to live in, but not to vacation in. Nashville is better as a one-night stop on your way to somewhere better.

8 The Empire State Building

Manhattan’s Empire State Building is one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. It was also the tallest building in the world for 39 years. It’s perhaps the single most central component of the already spectacular New York City skyline. This is ironically why the view from atop it is pretty disappointing.

One of the main reasons to reach the top of one of the world’s tallest buildings (only 49th?!) is the view, especially in a metropolis like New York City. Except for the view from atop the Empire State Building is A.) not even atop it, just the 86th floor unless you pay extra, B.) obscured by crisscrossing safety rails, and C.) has no Empire State Building in it. Combine that with the insane price per ticket and multi-hour wait time and you get a tourist trap that is entirely skippable.

7 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Let’s be clear: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is super fun to visit if you’re a music fan, especially if classic rock, first wave psychedelia, or guitars are your thing. The reason the Hall of Fame is one of the worst spots to visit is entirely because it’s in Cleveland.

Cleveland, Ohio is nicknamed “The Mistake by the Lake” for a reason. The city is incredibly poor and as a result, the crime rate is staggering. It has four times the violent crime as the national average. It’s rated more dangerous than 98% of American cities. Its pollution problem is so bad that its rivers catch fire. Though Drew Carey once got us all to sing that Cleveland rocks, the parody phrase Cleveland sucks has easily become the more popular slogan.

6 Roswell

Alien lovers rejoice! There’s a mecca for xenophiles on Earth and lucky for us Americans, and it’s just a stone’s throw from Albuquerque, NM. Any sci-fi-loving family is in for a treat at the UFO capital of the world. Roswell is famous for being the country’s most active hotspot for UFO activity… wait. Depending on the metric, that’s actually either Washington or Vermont. Well at least Roswell is home to the infamous Area 51… no wait, that’s about 700 miles away in Nevada.

Okay, well, at least Roswell is the site of the most famous UFO incident in history, the 1947 Roswell incident. It’s in the name! Except that crash was about 75 miles north of Roswell and closer to Corona or Albuquerque. What is Roswell famous for again?

5 Plymouth Rock

The family road trip is an American staple. And because every corner of the US is dotted with monuments and landmarks that recount its history, road trips can be as educational as they are fun. What better way to start or end such a fun family trip than at Plymouth Rock, where the Pilgrims famously first landed on the Mayflower, beginning the first settlement of America. Oof, where to begin.

1. Native peoples already settled America. 
2. France and Spain had already created colonies in the country. 
3. Even the English already had started colonies at Roanoke and Jamestown. 
4. The Pilgrims landed and disembarked at Provincetown before Plymouth. 
5. The Pilgrims didn’t land on the rock at all. Possibly not even near it. 
6. There isn’t a single account from any Pilgrim that mentions the rock at all. 
7. The first person to claim that the rock had anything to do with the pilgrims did so 121 years after the Pilgrims landed. 
8. And best of all, once you see it in person, you’ll know: the thing is tiny, plain, and hidden in its own little canopy. 

As just a random rock only mythically associated with one of many European colonies, there are better fake monuments to stop for.

4 Hollywood

Take everything I said about Roswell, replace the words’ aliens’ and ‘UFOs’ with ‘stars’ and ‘celebs,’ and you get Hollywood. Millions visit Hollywood every year for the chance to bump elbows with a-listers, apparently not understanding that if you were a celebrity, that is the last place you would ever hang out.

Can you imagine if Harrison Ford actually spent his days patrolling around his footprints on the Walk of Fame? You wouldn’t want a picture; you’d want to find him a hobby and a therapist. Instead of actors, Hollywood is full of overpriced shops, homeless people, desperate failed actors in Spider-Man costumes, and oh yeah—thousands of other tourists.

3 The Mall of America

Malls are really in their own renaissance right now. Because online shopping was never invented, malls have only gotten bigger, better, and more alive. Oops, it’s the opposite, and malls are dying left and right. Most that are still around are left with empty storefronts and abandoned sections that make them look like a George Romero movie. But even the best and most vibrant of them, like the Mall of America, are still just malls.

Even the best mall in the country is still just a mall with the same stores as every other mall—just more of them. Is it really a vacation destination just because there are two Sephoras instead of one? Do you really need to visit the Gap, Aeropostale, and L.L. Bean back to back? Don’t you have enough fleece vests? Won’t that Sbarro taste the same as every Sbarro? Making a lame thing bigger doesn’t make it a vacation.

2 Times Square

Not much needs to be said about Times Square. The fact that it was ever considered a sight to see is baffling. It is an intersection with a lot of advertisements. That’s it. Sure, there are shops too, but they sell M&M’s in less crowded places, trust me.

I suppose you could go during the New Year’s Eve ball drop, but be prepared to wait ten hours in a standing-room-only crowd with a diaper on because there is no other way to pee.

1 Disney World

Disney World might be the single most famous vacation destination in the world. In several ways, it’s the best place ever, especially if you can suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to commit fully. Disney World is where dreams come true. But those dreams come at a price. A few dozen major prices, actually, which you’ll pay constantly and all at once.

For one, there’s the actual price. To spend one week at Disney World as a family of four, it will cost as much as a car. Not a new car, but definitely not an old one. While you’re there, everywhere you go is screaming kid after screaming kid. And everything they sell there—which is everything not bolted down—is designed to make kids scream even more. That includes the food, which is just sugar on fat on sugar. 

And everything has a line. You’ll walk half an hour to then wait an hour for a three-minute ride so you can walk another half an hour to wait another hour, etc. Probably worst of all: it’s in Orlando. Orlando is its own pocket dimension ruled by meth, mosquitoes, and violent crime. Yes, it’s fun seeing Mickey Mouse, but not in exchange for half a year’s salary, 20 pounds, and a novel strain of malaria.