Vacation Hot Spots to Avoid

Bad air and water quality doesn't just affect locals. When you travel to a polluted place, you may feel the impact on your body within a day or two. Here are some of the most polluted places that Peter says you definitely want to avoid on your travels:

• Arvin, California and Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Even though these little towns may not be on your list of top 10 places to visit, they prove that pollution doesn't just affect the big cities. Arvin suffers from terrible air quality because it collects all the smog and pollution from Los Angeles and San Francisco. And Windsor is downwind of—where else? Detroit.
• Vermont: Did you know that Vermont has 126 lakes and rivers that are so polluted that they don't meet the basic minimum water quality standards? In fact, 73 percent of storm water–impaired streams drain into Lake Champlain at the New York and Canadian borders, which is so polluted that it's actually toxic in some areas.
• Naples, Italy: Naples may just be one of the stinkiest places on earth... if you go at the wrong time. Frequent garbage strikes mean that the city if often—literally—drowning in trash. And if frustrated locals take to burning the trash, well, just don't say you weren't warned!