Most Beautiful Small Towns in the World
Big cities get the headlines, but the towns I actually dream about all fit into a few square blocks. There is something about a place small enough to walk end to end, where the beauty is concentrated and nothing distracts you from it. I have wandered these places for years, and I have learned that the secret is timing. Every one of them looks gorgeous from a postcard, but they reveal their real selves early in the morning and late at night, when the crowds drop away. These are the small towns that stayed with me long after I left.
Hallstatt, Austria
Hallstatt is the town that photographs so perfectly it barely looks real, the pale houses crowded onto a ledge between a mirror-still lake and a steep mountain. I arrived by ferry and remember thinking I had stepped into a painting. The church spire, the pastel facades, the water reflecting everything back, it is all there. The trick here is to stay overnight, because the day crowds arrive by mid morning and leave by evening. Once they go, the lakeside turns remarkably quiet and private, and you finally get the town to yourself.
Chefchaouen, Morocco
The blue streets of Chefchaouen in the Rif Mountains are unlike anywhere else I have ever walked. Every wall, every step, every doorway is painted in shades of blue, and the effect shifts with the light through the day, from pale powder in the morning to deep indigo in the evening. I got happily lost in the maze for hours, and by the end I could not even explain the color rule to myself, I just kept enjoying it. The mountain backdrop and the relaxed pace make it one of the friendliest places I have visited in North Africa.
Bibury, England
Tucked into the Cotswolds, Bibury is the sort of English village that feels frozen in an older century. Arlington Row, a line of weavers’ cottages with steep gabled roofs, sits along the river with its small gardens bright in the front. It is tiny, over in twenty minutes, but I found myself sitting on a bridge and not wanting to leave. The whole Cotswolds is dotted with these golden-stone villages, and Bibury is the prettiest of them all to my eye, simple and unhurried and gentle.
Colmar, France
In the Alsace region, Colmar is a storybook town with timbered houses painted pink, green, and ochre, lining lazy canals. It is often called the little Venice of France, and the nickname is earned. I walked the covered market, took my time along the Lauch river where the buildings lean over the water, and ate Alsatian food on a terrace that faced the canal. It is the perfect base for the whole wine route that hums through the countryside, and at Christmas it becomes an entirely different kind of beautiful with the lights and the market.
Grindelwald, Switzerland
Grindelwald in the Swiss Alps sits in a high valley beneath the Eiger, with the great face of the mountain looming right over the rooftops. Early one morning I stood on the edge of town and watched the sun hit the peaks, and the scale of it all made me feel tiny in the best way. The meadows, the rushing streams, the sheer cliffs, everything here is oversized and magnificent. If you can, take the train up the mountain from here, and you will see why the whole region earns its reputation among hikers and skiers alike.
Oia, Santorini
Oia catches criticism for its crowds, but that does not change what it is: one of the most beautiful settings on earth, white and blue and hanging over the caldera. I got up before dawn to watch the light come across the water, and in that hour, before the tours arrived, it was everything people say it is and more. The blue-domed churches, the sheer drop to the sea, the way the whole town glows at sunset, it is a collection of moments that is hard to match anywhere.
The common thread in all these towns is that the beauty is quiet until you slow down. If you want the real thing, be there early, stay late, and resist the urge to tick them off a list. The magic hides in the unhurried hour, in the morning light on a facade, in the empty square after dinner. Slow your pace and these small towns give back everything they have. Bring nothing more than a good pair of walking shoes and a willingness to get lost, because the little lanes and tucked-away squares are where the beauty really lives. On a practical note, a few of these places, especially Hallstatt and Oia, fill up fast in high season, so book your overnight well ahead and you will be rewarded with the town all to yourself in the early hours, which is when the magic is strongest.
