Browsing the most colourful cities from around the world will make you realize they all have something in common. Beside looking awesome, they all seem happy and lively.
Think about it – you go out in your city, look around and only see grey buildings, that’s not really a mood booster and can even make you feel worse.
Do an experiment, visit a city with great reviews but not so colorful than go ahead and pick a city from this list and visit it too, then figure out in which of them you felt better. The impact of colors on how you feel can be greater than you ever thought. A city’s architecture probably comes in a close second place after its people when it comes to making a long lasting impression on you, when it comes to giving you that wanderlust feeling you love.
Visiting any of these colorful cities you’ll learn there’s a strong connection between the vivid architecture and their inhabitants. It won’t just be a pleasure for the eye or a place you’ll take hundreds of photos, you’ll feel the locals warmth and friendliness, and that’s what makes a great city break, right?
If you know any other city that is filled with color, we’d love to hear about it, don’t keep it to your self, comment under the photos!
Wroclaw, PolandValparaíso is a port city on Chile’s coast. It’s known for its steep funiculars and colorful, clifftop homes.Barcelona, Spain. The Catalan capital needs no introduction, thanks to its seaside location, its amazing architecture and nonetheless its great football (soccer) team. Barcelona is also the home of Gaudi, one of the world’s most renowned architects, and the city is filled with incredible buildings designed by him.Amorgos Island, Greece, an island not many tourists know about filled with ruins from ancient civilizations. Most buildings are restored and you guessed it, filled with vibrant colors.Another paradise destination that will charm you with its multicolored houses – Willemstad, the capital city of Curacao.La Boca is a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. La Boca has many buildings made of scrap materials from the nearby shipyard that were painted lively with leftover paints from the same shipyard.Cartagena is a vibrant city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, but its soul is within the walls of its Old Town, filled with 16th century plazas and colorful colonial buildings.Burano, not as famous as its big sister island – Venice, but surely as beautiful.Bo-Kaap was one of the original hubs of Malay culture in Cape Town, Sowth Africa. Today it’s one of the trendiest and most expensive neighbourhoods with lots of restaurants and wine bars.The blue city of Chefchaouen, Morocco was painted this way as it is believed that this shade can repel mosquitoes.Charleston, South Carolina dates back to 1670 and would be a great city break location for when you want to go back in time and relax.Cinque Terre is actually a string of five old seaside villages on the rugged Italian Riviera coastline. All of the 5 little towns are blazing with color.Copenhagen, Denmark’s capitalHere’s a place you haven’t heard of yet – Eguisheim is a commune in Alsace, France renowned for its high quality wines. Other than great wines? Great colored old houses and streets!Guanajuato is a city in the heart of Mexico, situated in a narrow valley.Guatape, Colombia has beautifully painted buildings and most of its architecture is finished with colorful façades.Hong Kong’s colors appear at night, as it’s not painting that makes it so vivid, but its neon signs. Hong Kong is the neon signs world’s capital!Balat used to be Istanbul’s old Jewish quarterIzamal is a very small city in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.And when you though you’ve seen all the blue cities in the world, here’s Juzcar, Spain. The Andalusian town was originally painted entirely white, but in 2011 Sony Pictures painted all the buildings in this smurf blue to celebrate the Smurfs premiere. When they wanted to repaint the buildings in their original white color, Juzcar’s citizens woted to leave the buildings painted blue, thanks to the flood of tourists that wanted to visit a blue city.Everything about Havana, Cuba is colorful.Menton is a town on the French Riviera, which means is a must see!Lisbon, capital of PortugalYet another blue city, but this time in India, called JodhpurOld San Juan is the oldest settlement in Puerto Rico and the historic colonial section of the city of San Juan.Pachuca, Mexico has one of be biggest building murals you’ve ever seen.Nassau, Bahamas is the place that comes into my mind when I imagine paradise.Positano is a small town on Italy’s amazing Amalfi Coast. Get you camera and get lost on the Amalfi Coast, you won’t regret it!Procida is an island a few miles away from Naples, Italy.Another great holiday destination filled with happy colored houses – Puerto Vallarta, MexicoReykjavik, IcelandSan Francisco, CaliforniaSalvador, a city in Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia, is known for its Portuguese colonial architecture, Afro-Brazilian culture and tropical coastline.St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada.Sighisoara, Romania is a medieval fortified city in the historic region of Transylvania, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Stockholm the capital of Sweden is one of the cleanest cities in the world. Oh, and pretty colorful as well.View of South Beach, Miami at DuskA color filled city that you can visit and witness the 24 hours sunlight, during summer, or the Northern Lights during winter.Tirana, the capital city of AlbaniaTrinidad, Cuba. Yet another amazing UNESCO World Heritage Site, an open-air museum filled with colorful Spanish Colonial architecture buildings.
Adventure junkie, content creator and storyteller, Alex left his nine-to-five career lifestyle to become a full time world traveler. He started his journey to the unknown 5 years ago and visited more than 30 countries and 400 cities ever since. Learn more about Placeaholic's Editorial Process.
