The 9 best places in the world to take a true crime tour

Medellin Cartel plane wreck, Norman’s Cay, Exuma Islands, Bahamas. Instagram.com/luxuryyachtfilms

The appetite for true crime stories is insatiable. People just can’t get enough of TV shows, films, podcasts and books about the darker edges of what humans are capable of – it’s an entire genre unto itself. So it makes sense to expand the empire and bring travel experiences into the mix. Many of the world’s glossiest global cities have fascinating criminal pasts and enterprising tour operators are popping up everywhere, offering to take guests on trips down the shady side of memory lane.

Bolstered by the success of the Netflix series Narcos, Pablo Escobar-themed tourism has gained a stronghold in his hometown of Medellín, Columbia (pictured below) and images of his cartel’s plane wreckage in the Bahamas (pictured above) were splashed liberally throughout promotional material for Fyre Festival – a now-notorious scam in which extortionately priced tickets were sold to a luxury music festival that never really happened. Charter plane companies can fly you to this remote spot to snorkel in the ruins of the drug-running aircraft.

But perhaps American gangsters are more your style? European murderers? Corrupt cops? The following places don’t shy away from the darkness in their history, offering tours of former crime scenes and underworld haunts.

Image credit: Instagram.com/metrodemedellin

Medellín, Columbia
During Pablo Escobar’s heyday, Medellín was considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world – violence frequently erupted between warring drug cartels, harming innocent people in the cross fire. Today it is much safer, though DFAT advises Australians to be cautious travelling in Colombia generally. Numerous Escobar-themed tours are available; Medellin City Services offer one with a bilingual former police officer who was part of the team that pursued the drug kingpin.

Image credit: Instagram.com/v_as_victor

Chicago, USA
While modern Chicago is full of iconic architecture and high-end restaurants, during the 1920s it was a hotbed of organised crime and home to one of the 20th century’s most notorious gangsters, Al Capone. Companies like Gangster Tour can take you through the Prohibition-era hangouts of such mobsters and bootleggers. Chicago was also home to H. H. Holmes, a serial killer who built a hotel with harrowing features to murder his guests. Leonardo DiCaprio and longtime collaborator Martin Scorsese are currently attached to a Hulu series currently in development, which is based on the Erik Larson novel The Devil in the White City. Weird Chicago operates a specific Devil in the White City tour.

Image credit: Instagram.com/silverqsy

New York, USA
From the 1840s until the 1920s the notorious gangs of New York operated in Manhattan between Chinatown and Little Italy. NYC Gangster Tours can talk you through the trouble that went down between the mob, mafia, Cosa Nostra and more. If you prefer your felonies a little more modern, fans of hit TV series The Sopranos can visit filming locations with On Location Tours, where the guides are extras who appeared on the show.

Image credit: Instagram.com/jhs.brgr

London, UK
Jack the Ripper murdered five women in London in 1888 and got away with it – he has never been identified. Walk the cobbled Victorian alleyways where his victims’ bodies were found, guided by crime authors with encyclopedic knowledge of the scenes.

Image credit: Instagram.com/kings_sicilia

Sicily, Italy
Fans of The Godfather films have long flocked to Sicily to see locations where the mafia movie was made, but some tour operators take it further – like Sicily Activities, who throw in true crime tales from the island, and Overseas Adventure Travel, who have offered guests a sit-down chat with the son of violent mafia boss, Bernardo Provenzano.

Image credit: Instagram.com/losangeles

Los Angeles, USA
There’s plenty of choice when it comes to true crime tours in LA, but if you want to go beyond seedy and into macabre, book The Real Black Dahlia with Esotouric. Described as “lurid, fascinating and insightful” by Lonely Planet, you’ll be taken through the gruesome unsolved murder of an aspiring actress in the ’40s.

Image credit: Instagram.com/bigfootdownunder

Melbourne, Australia
After World War I the Fitzroy Vendetta gang war raged on the streets of Victoria’s capital. Melbourne Historical Crime Tours can talk you through the criminal characters involved – guides use hand-held lasers to project images of underworld figures onto the buildings they once lived in.

Image credit: Instagram.com/monartist1

Shanghai, China
Now a glittering financial and shipping hub, Shanghai has come a long way since the Opium Wars of the 1800s – but with a bit of research, the city’s shady side can still be revealed. Newman Tours can show you where the richest opium dealers lived and explain why a certain criminal mastermind believed severed monkey heads were the secret to his success.

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