This study aims to extend understanding of the complex and heterogeneous nature of tourists’ authenticity perception and its impact on the tourism experience and desire to re-experience and provide a positive word of mouth. We adopted Cohen’s “nature of scene – tourist’s impression of scene” (1979a, p. 26) theoretical framework of four types of touristic situations, which considers the interaction between the nature of the site (original vs. reproduced) and the perceived authenticity (objectively authentic vs. staged). We also examine authenticity perceptions as potentially influenced by tourists’ orientation toward object-based authenticity, that is, by values tourists place on attractions being genuinely authentic, organic, and true (Stepchenkova & Belyaeva, 2021). Further, the study investigates (1) the impact of authenticity orientation and Cohen’s touristic situations on existential authenticity of tourist experience and (2) all those factors on intention to re-create that experience and recommend it to others.