The world’s most colourful places to live in

Colourful scenes from around the world

From one side of the globe to the other, displaying every colour of the rainbow, these vibrant neighbourhoods are guaranteed to brighten your day.

Willemstad, Curaçao, Caribbean

Believe it or not, the colourful houses of this Caribbean town all started from a headache. When the Dutch ruled Curaçao, the governor believed his migraines were a result of the sun reflecting off the buildings’ stark white walls. An official decree commanded residents to paint their homes anything but white, resulting in the beautiful tourist attraction it is today.

St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

North America's oldest city, the seaside town is famous for Jellybean Row, which features a cluster of colourful historic houses. There are various stories behind the bright paint job with some claiming they were painted to brighten up the gray surroundings while many say ship captains would assign their homes a distinct candy colour to make them easier to spot from the sea.

Little India, Singapore

Jam packed with shops, street markets and bright buildings, Little India packs a big punch. Located near the Serangoon River, an influx of Indian immigrants replicated their homeland with colourful buildings and vibrant street food.

Pelourinho, Salvador, Brazil

Salvador was the first capital of Brazil, and the Pelourinho area’s main square was once a place where slaves were punished. Despite its sordid past, it’s now a recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site and as a result underwent a massive restoration process to preserve its pastel-coloured 17th- and 18th-century buildings.

Burano, Venice, Italy

Like many of the colourful coastal towns on this list, legend has it that fishermen on the island of Burano began painting their homes in vibrant shades so they could see them in thick fog and avoid crashing into the shore after a voyage at sea. These days, residents must adhere to a strict color scheme by lodging an application with government before doing any renovations.

Ilulissat & Nuuk, Greenland

These brightly-coloured houses hark back to the early 17th century where timber kits were sent up from mainland Scandinavia. Each colour represented the building’s function. Commercial houses were red, hospitals were yellow, police stations were black, fish factories were blue and the telephone company was green. These days, locals like to combine the old tradition with modern colours like pink, purple and orange.

La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina

This blue-collar neighbourhood, or barrio, features every colour of the rainbow. The bright buildings are made from different scrap materials from shipyards and apparently were painted using leftover paints from the ships that brought immigrants to the area to remind them of home.

Gamla Stan, Stockholm, Sweden

The Old Town of Stockholm was founded way back in 1252. Fortunately, the winding cobblestone streets and Medieval buildings in shades of red and gold still stand, with the addition of some newer paintjobs in shades of green and orange.

Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark

Built in the 17th and 18th centuries, the brightly coloured houses that line Nyhavn’s canal are a popular tourist spot. But they were originally home to the city’s poor and rowdy pubs which were frequented by drunk sailors and prostitutes.

Cinque Terre, Italy

Set amid rocky coastal cliffs, the stunning Cinque Terre is made up of five fishing villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. It’s said the houses were painted in various pastel shades so fishermen working offshore could easily see their homes.

Guanajuato, Mexico

This UNESCO World Heritage city was founded in 1559 and became the world’s leading silver-extracting area in the 18th century. As a result, colonial-style homes reflective of that era shot up around the various mines. In an effort to give the city more soul, the miners painted the homes, etched into the rocky ravine, in vibrant and colourful hues.

San Francisco, California

In the mid-1850s around 50,000 Victorian- and Edwardian-style homes were built in the Bay Area. To accentuate their architectural details, they were painted in hues of red, yellow and orange. The most visited spot is the so-called Painted Ladies.

Chefchaouen, Morocco

Located beneath the peaks of the Rif Mountains the village is a labyrinth of turquoise alleys. The distinctive colors date back to the 15th century when Jewish refugees settled in the area, bringing with them their tradition of painting things blue to mirror the sky and remind them of God.

Valparaiso, Chile

Spread across a series of hillsides overlooking the Pacific coast, the historic port city is home to clusters of colourful 19th century homes. The town has a strong art culture encouraging local artists to use the buildings as their canvas with the best street artists paid for their work.

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

Established in 1521, San Juan is the second-oldest European-founded settlement in the Americas. The vibrant buildings date back to the 16th century when Puerto Rico was in Spanish possession. It’s famous for its blue cobblestone streets which were shipped over from Spain. In 1983, the area was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tirana, Albania

The capital of Albania was once nothing more than a cluster of gray, drab, communist buildings. These days you can’t help but smile when visiting the now vibrant and thriving city. In an effort to raise people’s spirits, former artist turned mayor of Tirana Edi Rama has given the city’s buildings a bright and bold makeover.

Jaipur, India

Talk about opulence – in 1853 ruler Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh had the whole city painted pink for a visit from Edward, Prince of Wales, the future king of England. To this day the Rajasthani capital retains its signature rose-tinted hue across historic buildings, homes and shops.

Juzcar, Spain

For most of its history, this small Spanish town in the province of Malaga was simply a whitewashed village. Then in 2011 Sony execs 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 Juzcar voted to keep it blue.

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