The world's most colourful places
Bright and beautiful spots around the world

Procida, Campania, Italy

Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark

Fly Geyser, Nevada, USA

Lavender fields, Provence, France

Aveiro, Portugal

You could be forgiven for mistaking Aveiro for Venice, especially given the maze-like canals flanked by colourful moliceiros – canal cruise boats traditionally used for seaweed harvesting. In reality, this pretty city lies between Porto and Lisbon, situated on the edge of an extensive lagoon system right by the Atlantic Ocean. Aside from the boats, it's best characterised by Art Nouveau architecture that incorporates intricate tilework as well as the nearby coast, which is dotted with stripy pastel-hued beach huts.
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Rainbow Mountain, Peru

Positano, Amalfi, Italy

Nuuk, Greenland

Plitviče Lakes National Park, Croatia

Covering almost 115 square miles (298sq km), Plitviče Lakes National Park is found near the Bosnia and Herzegovina border, two hours south by car from Zagreb in Croatia. The park, founded in 1949, is famous for its collection of 16 crystal-clear, colour-changing lakes – they morph between shades of green and blue due to their high mineral content – plus over 90 waterfalls. It's a truly magical landscape.
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Willemstad, Curaçao

Geyzernoye Lake, Siberia, Russia

Geyzernoye Lake, also known as Blue Lake, is located in the remote Altai Republic in Siberia. This spectacular thermal spring has vibrant teal waters and a picture-perfect surrounding landscape. Every now and then, visible concentric circles appear underneath the surface of the water, throwing out clay and sand in geyser-like eruptions.
Colmar, France

Pena Palace, Sintra, Portugal

It might be called a palace, but it is in fact a castle, and few are so heart-flutteringly pretty as Pena Palace, whose butter-yellow turrets and brick-red towers rise above the treetops in hilly Sintra, just outside Lisbon. The multicoloured beauty, an example of 19th-century Romanticism, was commissioned by King Ferdinand II and completed in 1854, and has been home to Portuguese royals through the years.
Five Flower Lake, Sichuan, China

Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy

Nā Pali Coast, Hawaii, USA

The gorgeous forest-covered cliffs of the Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park on Kauai Island are an exquisite sight to behold. Like something straight out of Jurassic Park, some of the rugged red and green rocks of the coast look more suited to a different planet than Earth. Nā Pali means 'high cliffs' in Hawaiian – a very fitting name when the tallest mountains here soar to 4,000 feet (1,219m).
Maple trees, Québec, Canada

Colonia de Sant Jordi, Mallorca, Spain

Landmannalaugar, Iceland

Saint Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Russia

Particularly vivid against a summer sky, Red Square's Saint Basil's Cathedral looks like something out of a fairy tale. With its stripes, spots and iced-gem turrets, not to mention multitude of colours, it's one of the best-known cathedrals in the world for a reason. One of Moscow's most recognisable landmarks, the ornate building in Red Square was designed to resemble the flames of a bonfire.
Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia, Australia

Júzcar, Málaga, Spain

For most of its history, this small Spanish town in the province of Málaga was simply a village with whitewashed homes, like many others in Spain. Then, in 2011, Sony executives painted the houses blue for a publicity stunt to promote The Smurfs movie. Afterwards, Sony offered to paint the town back, but the 221 citizens of Júzcar voted to keep it blue.
Little India, Singapore

Paraty, Brazil

Located on the Costa Verde, a coastal area in the state of Rio de Janeiro known for its greenery, Paraty is one of the oldest towns in Brazil. Founded in 1667 by the Portuguese, its colourful centre is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site and is fully pedestrianised – a further bid to preserve the town's already immaculate historic buildings. Much of the town's architecture, including the cobbled streets, hasn't changed much for 250 years or more, leaving an impression you've travelled to a different era entirely.
St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

St John’s is the oldest city in North America, established around the turn of the 16th century. But the weight of its history sits lightly about the city, which feels more like a laid-back small town. Dotted along the waterfront and in the city centre are brightly-painted row houses, and at the southern edge of the sheltered harbour is a squat little lighthouse. Signal Point is one of the best spots for views across the city and out over the Atlantic.
Gamla Stan, Stockholm, Sweden

Wrocław, Poland

With its pretty riverside location, relaxed university town feel and grand historic buildings, it’s hard to fathom why Wrocław in southwest Poland isn’t a more popular city jaunt. The sprawling Market Square is a great place to get to know the compact and easily walkable city. It was heavily hit during the Second World War but its ancient buildings and squares have been painstakingly restored. Curiously, there are more than 400 little statues of dwarfs dotted around the quirky city and there's typically a festival every September celebrating them.
Khiva, Uzbekistan

Encircled by walls laid in the 10th century, Itchan Kala (Khiva’s Inner City) has a singular collection of historic buildings, giving a fascinating insight into Central Asian Islamic architecture. But more than any individual sight – the squat Kalta Minor Minaret, sumptuous Tosh Hovli Palace or ornately-tiled Pahlavon Mahmoud Mausoleum – Itchan Kala’s most astounding feature is how cohesive it feels. Its perfect pairing of brick and mosaic seeming undisturbed by the trappings of modern life.
Parga, Greece

Izamal, Yucatán, Mexico

In ancient times, Izamal was a centre of worship for the sun god Kinich-Kakmó but it was almost all but abandoned with the rise of Chichén Itzá. Fast forward to the 16th century and a Spanish city was founded atop the existing Maya one. Located in the Yucatán region, the town is fondly referred to as 'The Yellow City' thanks to its marigold buildings.
Xwejni salt pans, Gozo, Malta

The pretty Maltese island of Gozo is famous for its Neolithic sites and rugged stretches of coastline, but it's also notable for its salt production and in the north you'll find large clusters of salt pans. They're at their most picturesque when seen from above: the pans appear like a mosaic with hues of earth brown, white and sand, punctured by emerald-green water.
Bergen, Norway

Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland

The Irish coastal town of Kinsale is famed for its exceptional cuisine, which showcases the best of the bounty from the Celtic Sea. Besides the fanciful food on offer, Kinsale is also known for its quirky streets which are flamboyantly painted every colour of the rainbow.
Porto, Portugal

Lisbon gets most of the attention but Portugal’s second city is uniquely beautiful and atmospheric, especially in its medieval Ribeira district. Here, centuries-old merchants’ and mariners’ homes line cobbled streets, seeming to crane their necks over each other to get a view of the Douro River. In fact, the whole town seems focused on the river and its grand bridges – from the double-decker Ponte de Dom Luís I to the sleek, modern Ponte de São João.
Havana, Cuba

Yuanyang rice terraces, Yunnan, China

Burano, Italy

Looking out to the Venetian Lagoon, Burano's bright houses line the streets and canals in a colourful maze. It's thought that the island got its signature look when fishermen painted their houses as bright as possible, so they would be easier to spot in the thick fog so common on the lagoon. A popular day-trip destination from Venice, Burano is also famous for its lace work.
Now take a look at the world's most colourful natural wonders
Comfort Town, Kyiv, Ukraine

Standard social housing blocks found in Ukraine’s capital, created during the Soviet era, are notorious for being identikit and utilitarian-looking. But not in Comfort Town. This 40-hectare plot in the heart of Kyiv stands out for its rainbow-coloured buildings, which almost look like they’re made from children’s building blocks. The development was created by architecture firm archimatika, who wanted to create mood-boosting, affordable housing.
Kampung Pelangi, Semarang, Indonesia

Guatapé, Colombia

A two-hour drive from Medellín, the town of Guatapé is known as Colombia’s most colourful. What started out as a farming and mining town, today attracts visitors with its cheerfully-painted streets. Each of its vibrant buildings is decorated with zocalos – intricate panels depicting different aspects of village life – and while no one quite knows why the tradition began, they’re utterly mesmerising.
Chefchaouen, Morocco

Grand Prismatic Spring, Wyoming, USA

Yellowstone's most famous hot spring, the Grand Prismatic's vivid blue centre is surrounded by bands of rusty orange, yellow and green, making it look otherworldly. The largest hot spring in the United States and the third largest in the world, Grand Prismatic's water reaches a temperature of around 70°C (160°F). Multi-layered sheets of microorganisms called microbial mats give the bands their distinctive colours, that tend to change slightly with the seasons.
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