Burano, Venice
When it comes to Italian cheer, nowhere beats the exuberant island of Burano. A swift gondola ride away from the elegant decay of Venice, Burano practically pops out of the lagoon with its collection of colourful buildings, all of which were awarded their hues by a strict government decree.
The islanders first began painting their homes in bright colours so fishermen could see them in foggy conditions; today, their luminosity lures photographers, artists and anyone looking for a literal sight for sore eyes.
Zalipie, Poland
Arguably the most adorable village in Europe, Zalipie’s barns, bridges, exteriors, interiors, chicken coops and rubbish bins have been plastered in floral folk art, an endearing custom that dates back more than a century. The practice began with women painting flowers on cottage walls to cover up soot marks from wood burning stoves. And the tradition lives on: the village gets an annual spruce-up during the hotly contested Malowana Chata (Painted Cottage) competition.
Costa Nova, Portugal
Costa Nova’s striped beach houses were once more pongy than pretty. Built in the 19th century to accommodate an influx of fishermen, the shelters were used for sardine salting and stashing fishing equipment. Known as palheiros, the whiffy warehouses were decorated with bright red exterior planks. As the population grew and beach-bound visitors increased, palheiros gradually lost their fish-centric functionality, with owners transforming them into accommodations. Today’s cottages are a riot of rainbow and bone-white stripes that attract gawkers from around the globe.
Čičmany, Slovakia
This Slovakian village is the world’s first folk architecture reserve and even a fleeting glimpse of these incredible, almost-edible cottages is enough to tell you why. Akin to the fabled confectionery house from Hansel and Gretel, Čičmany’s 136 black timber homes pop with seemingly sugar-dusted decoration. About 200 years ago, the women of Čičmany used white lime to adorn the cottages with simple patterns in an attempt to protect the timber from the sun’s rays. After a fire in 1921, locals took restorations to the next level, covering the cottages from roof to root cellar with intricate designs resembling the traditional lace and folk embroidery that adorn Slovakia’s national costume.
Júzcar, Spain
Júzcar is emphatically blue, and it’s just how the locals like it. Formerly one of the pueblos blancos (white villages) of Andalucia, Júzcar was slathered in 4000 litres of bright blue paint in 2011 to promote the global release of the Smurfs 3D movie. The company behind the marketing ploy offered to repaint the village after the premiere, but residents voted to keep the hue: pre-paint job, Júzcar averaged 300 tourists a year. After? 80,000!
Ciocănești, Romania
The very name “Carpathian Mountains” conjures up images of vampires, werewolves and bewitched forests. However, Ciocănești busts every spooky cliché: after all, could anything be less terrifying than an entire village painted like Easter eggs? Ornate egg decoration has been a tradition here for centuries, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that residents started painting the same elaborate designs on their homes. The embellishments proved so popular with locals and visitors that in 2004, local authorities decreed that the exterior of every newly-built or refurbished home be decorated with folk motifs.
Longyearbyen, Norway
Longyearbyen is located on the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago. It’s the world’s northernmost settlement and in darkness for four months a year, but its rows of multicoloured homes keep the gloom at bay. The town’s laws are just as colourful: anyone leaving the settlement limits must carry a gun (there are over 3000 polar bears in the region), you have to take off your shoes before entering public buildings (to avoid tracking black ice inside) and dying here has been forbidden since 1950 (it’s too cold for corpses to decompose)!
Oberammergau, Germany
Winding cobblestone lanes, flower-filled window boxes and magical-forest backdrops… the villages of Bavaria are fairy-tale fantasy lands made real. Perhaps the most enchanting of them all is Oberammergau, an ancient artists’ hamlet where the baroque buildings don’t just have a storybook feel: they are storybooks. The village’s fanciful frescoes – called Lüftlmalerei – depict scenes from classics such as Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. Oberammergau also has plenty of detailed religious murals, no surprise for a village that has famously hosted the Passion Play – a five-hour play depicting the last days of Jesus – since 1634.
Kinsale, Ireland
In the emerald isle, Kinsale in County Cork makes up for the rest of the rainbow, with lane upon lane of quaint Tudor cottages ablaze in vivid colours. Originally a medieval fishing port, Kinsale was a trading and military hub for centuries. After its fortunes fell in the 1900s, residents banded together to give it the motley makeover that today lures thousands of visitors a year. This bayside beauty is also a favourite with foodies, thanks to a glut of top-notch restaurants and the Kinsale Gourmet Festival, held every October.
Stein am Rhein, Switzerland
Melbourne, Berlin and Brooklyn are famous for their modern street art, but if you want to go old-school, Stein am Rhein in northern Switzerland is the place to be. The village’s Town Hall Square is framed by dozens of ancient buildings plastered in murals depicting themes from wine to warfare. Originally commissioned in the 1500s by landlords looking to brighten up the town, today the frescoes come with a heavy dose of civic duty: every building’s owner must commit to keeping their facade’s artworks in a pristine state.
Title Image Credit: Gary Ullah (Image Cropped)