Overtourism is no longer just a problem for traditional travel destinations. Meanwhile, remote places in nature are also suffering. Some places are now fighting back.
Feb 2, 2026, 2:36 p.mFeb 2, 2026, 2:36 p.m
It snowed again in St. Magdalena overnight. The village church with the bell tower and the graves in the cemetery are powdered with the finest fresh snow, although that would no longer have been necessary: the 500-person village in the Dolomites, the very last at the end of the long Funes Valley, also offers the picture of a perfect Alpine world. Day after day, all year round. Which is becoming more and more doom for St. Magdalena.
The community – named “probably the most beautiful village in South Tyrol” by the magazine “Geo” – is now overrun by tourists. They even come from China, like Han Gengai and Li Shangxi, two students from Beijing. The two of them saw the photo of St. Magdalena’s church on the Internet, as it sits so picturesquely in front of the peaks of the 3,000 meter high Odle group. Han (24) says: “I knew immediately: I have to go there.”
In the past, when people still sent holiday greetings by post with some degree of reliability, this would have been called a great postcard motif. For people like Han, this is now called “instagrammable”. The hunt for the perfect picture for the Instagram account is no longer limited to classic city destinations such as Venice or Amsterdam, which suffer severely from “overtourism”. Photo tourists are now increasingly drawn to nature. It can also be remote.
Tens of thousands of recordings on the Internet
Instagrammers can be found at the isolated lighthouses in Brittany, at the Dynjandi waterfall in Iceland with its many cascades or on Ireland’s coast at the spectacular cliffs of Moher. Or in the Dolomites, even in the furthest valley. Most people don’t spend long in St. Magdalena: go up to the church, take a few photos with their cell phones, maybe a selfie, then go online. Click and go.
Tens of thousands of images can be found on portals such as Instagram, TikTok or Flickr. St. Magdalena is particularly popular on Xiaohongshu, the Chinese equivalent of Instagram. “Everyone here knows the picture,” says Han, the student. According to the mayor of the main municipality of Villnöss, Peter Pernthaler, this has to do with the fact that a Chinese telecommunications company advertised with the Alpine panorama a few years ago. “That’s where the whole mess started,” says the 56-year-old. Because now people are suffering a lot.
Tour buses block the roads in the narrow valley
It starts with the fact that buses regularly clog the narrow streets of the valley. Now even travel agencies in Verona, 200 kilometers away, have the church on offer: Romeo and Juliet in the morning, St. Magdalene in the afternoon. The 250 euro fee for a bus parking space hardly deters any organizer. The situation is similar with cars. If the parking spaces are full, people park wildly in the village. They are often cars with German license plates, many of them rental cars.
The worst part, however, is at the top of the church, which is on a hill. You can get there from the village in 15 minutes on foot. Even though there is a barrier, some people don’t let it stop them from driving up. Actually, this is only allowed for local residents and at weddings and funerals. In search of the perfect motif, some people drop all inhibitions: climb over fences, trample meadows, leave their rubbish lying around. For some, even 70 cents for the toilet is too much.
For some time now, a handwritten sign in three languages has been hanging on the Obermesner-Hof next to the church: “Private property – Privät – Privata”. The farm’s daughter, who prefers not to give her name, complains: “Even that doesn’t stop people. They come to us in the kitchen with their cell phones.” Or in the stable: the cattle from the Fallerhof below are now probably the most photographed in Europe. Now they have stretched ropes to the barrier.
Barriers are supposed to help this year
The mayor says: “This is worse than Venice. People have no decency. “Privacy is no longer respected at all.” However, according to the wishes of the community, this should soon come to an end: for 20,000 euros, the access to the church and the village will be blocked with a state-of-the-art barrier system, which is also equipped with cameras. It should go into operation by May at the latest. “We hope that this will get us to grips with the matter,” says Pernthaler. “We’re not sure.”