Travel Tips: My Top Five Colourful Cities

It's been a couple of months since my last Travel Tips article, so I decided it would be a good idea to write one this weekend, especially as I don't have any recent trips to write about (though that will change soon!)

This week's article is about my favourite colourful cities. I think every traveller enjoys visiting colourful cities, as they're very photogenic and they put you in a cheerful mood! So here are my five favourites, plus some honourable mentions!

Valparaíso, Chile

Valparaíso is one of my favourite cities in the world, and it's definitely extremely colourful. Not only are its buildings painted in many different colours, but its streets and staircases are filled with vibrant street art. For this reason, the Bohemian city is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Chile.

Read more here!

Coquimbo, Chile

Another colourful city in Chile is Coquimbo, which is located on the coast in the north of the country. It's quite similar to Valparaíso in some ways, as it is built on a series of hills next to the sea, and it has houses of many different colours. But one thing it has that Valpo doesn't is a beautiful sandy beach!

Read more here!

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Moving over to the other side of South America, you can find the amazing city of Buenos Aires in Argentina. The entire city is full of interesting sights to see, but one of the best parts is La Boca neighbourhood. This is where you can see buildings of all different colours (often with sculptures of famous Argentinians on the balconies!), as well as many pairs of tango dancers dancing in the streets.

Read more here!

Lisbon, Portugal

The capital of Portugal is one of Europe's most colourful cities, and I really enjoyed my short trip there in 2019. It reminded me quite a lot of Valpo actually, as it's also built on steep hills, and its public transport system includes tramways and funicular railways. And of course, it has many panoramic views of buildings of different hues.

Read more here!

Bristol, England, UK

The last city on my list is a lot closer to home than the others - in fact it's less than an hour from my house! Bristol is one of the most unique and artistic cities in the UK, and it's also very colourful. The harbourside area in particular is a really photogenic place, with its rows of houses in all the colours of the rainbow.

Read more here!

Honourable Mentions

Cirencester, England, UK

Chepstow, Wales, UK

Stockholm, Sweden

Innsbruck, Austria

Venice, Italy

Florence, Italy

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

I've really enjoyed visiting all of these colourful towns and cities, and I hope I'll have the opportunity to visit many more in the future. My list includes Menton in France, Copenhagen in Denmark, Genoa in Italy, San Cristóbal de La Laguna in Spain, Cape Town in South Africa, Havana in Cuba, Old San Juan in Puerto Rico, and Cartagena in Colombia. 

Next week I'm actually going to be going on a trip for the first time in nearly two months, as I'll finally be going to London to sign my work contract for my job in Chile! I plan to do a little bit of sightseeing while I'm there, and then at the weekend I'll be going on another trip that I'd planned earlier. So I'll have some exciting things to blog about very soon!

Check out the rest of my Travel Tips here!

Country Guide: Chile

Name: Chile

Continent: South America

Capital (and Largest) City: Santiago

Language: Spanish

Currency: Chilean Peso

Drives on the: Right

Time Zone: Chile Standard Time (GMT -4)

Adaptor Types: Type C and Type L

Description: Chile is a very long and very thin country located on the western side of South America, between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountains. Because of its unusual shape, it features many different landscapes and climates, from the hot, dry Atacama Desert in the north to cold, icy Patagonia in the south. It is also famous for its literary heritage and its wine production.

Why You Should Visit: The natural landscapes of Chile are so varied and are unlike anywhere else on Earth. The country is filled with mountains, volcanoes, beaches, lakes, forests, waterfalls and glaciers, and is also home to many amazing species of animals, including penguins, flamingos, vicuñas, guanacos and pumas. In addition, Chile has several stunning cities to explore, such as Santiago and Valparaíso.

Fun Fact: The Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert on Earth.

My Blogposts About Chile

My Year Abroad Blog 2017-2018

- Life in Santiago

- Viña Undurraga (Talagante province)

- The Sky Costanera (Santiago)

- Cerro Manquehue (Santiago)

- Algarrobo

- My Day in Valparaíso

- Viña del Mar

- Cerro Santa Lucía (Santiago)

- The Maule Region

- Huilo Huilo and Other Magical Places (Los Ríos region)

- My Last Month in Santiago

Charlotte's Travel Adventures

- Back in Santiago Again

- El Cementerio General (Santiago)

- Parque Metropolitano (Santiago)

- Cajón del Maipo

- An Unforgettable Trip to Algarrobo (Algarrobo, Isla Negra and Santo Domingo)

- San Pedro de Atacama

- Valle de la Luna

- Salar de Atacama, the Altiplano and Other Exciting Places

- Laguna Cejar, Ojos del Salar and Laguna Tebinquinche

- Travel Tips: Destinations off the Tourist Trail (Maule region and Huilo Huilo & Siete Lagos)

- Exploring Santiago Again

- Pueblito Los Domínicos (Santiago)

- La Serena

- Coquimbo

- Valle del Elqui

- Pomaire

- Travel Tips: My Ten Favourite Places to Visit in Santiago

- A Few Highlights From Chile (Santiago and Chicureo)

- A Day at the Beach (Viña del Mar, Reñaca and Concón)

- Travel Tips: My Ten Favourite Cities (Valparaíso and Santiago)

- Travel Tips: My Ten Favourite Castles and Palaces (Castillo Wulff, Viña del Mar)

- Travel Tips: My Top Ten Nature Destinations (Atacama Desert, Valle del Elqui, Algarrobo, Cajón del Maipo, Maule Region and Huilo Huilo & Siete Lagos)

- Year Abroad: Dealing With Problems

- Year Abroad: The Best Bits

- Planning a Year Abroad

- UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Valparaíso, Qhapaq Ñan, Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, Archaeological sites of the Chinchorro culture and Churches of Chiloé)

- Travel Tips: My Ten Favourite Beaches (Algarrobo, La Serena and Reñaca)

- Travel Tips: My Top Ten Fairytale Destinations (Huilo Huilo)

- Travel Tips: My Top Five Colourful Cities (Valparaíso and Coquimbo)

- Travel Tips: The Best Day Trips From Santiago (Región Metropolitana and Valparaíso region)

- Movie Travels (Valparaíso, the south of Chile, and the Atacama Desert)

- Travel Tips: My Top Five Mountain Destinations (the Andes)

- Cute Animals in the Wild (the Atacama Desert and Algarrobo)

- My First Weeks in Santiago

- Discovering More of Chile's Beaches (La Laguna, Maitencillo, Cachagua)

- Life in Chile: Update 1 (Santiago)

- Iquique

- Our Atacama Desert Road Trip

- Life in Chile: Update 2 (Santiago and Maipo province)

- Life in Chile: Update 3 (Santiago)

- Trekking in Parque Nacional Conguillío

- Life in Chile: Update 4 (Santiago)

- Arica

- Exploring the Arica Province

- Life in Chile: Update 5 (Santiago and Chicureo)

- Bosque Santiago

- Zapallar

- Our Snow Day! (Farellones, El Colorado, La Parva and Valle Nevado)

- Rapel Lake

- Life in Chile: Update 6 (Santiago)

- Life in Chile: Update 7 (Santiago and Monticello)

- Papudo

- Back in Valpo! (Valparaíso)

- El Yeco and Tunquén (Plus Algarrobo)

- The Journey Between Santiago and Mendoza (200th Post!)

- Life in Chile: Update 8 (Santiago, Talagante provice, Cajón del Maipo and Rancagua)

- Parque Nacional Radal Siete Tazas

- Parque Nacional Vicente Pérez Rosales

- Chiloé

- Puerto Varas

- Frutillar

- Our Civil Union (Santiago)

- Viña del Mar

- My Last Month in Chile

- Travel Tips: Ten More of My Favourite Beach Destinations (Cachagua, Iquique, Arica, Zapallar, Papudo, Frutillar and Viña del Mar)

- Travel Tips: The Best Hotels I've Ever Stayed in (Arica and Puerto Varas)

- Charlotte's Travel Adventures is 5 Years Old! (Atacama Desert, Santiago and Frutillar)

- Travel Tips: The Best Destinations to Live in - Part One (Santiago)

- My Year of Adventurous Travel (Santiago, Papudo and Cajón del Maipo)

Clockwise starting from top left: La Serena Beach, Laguna Chaxa in the Atacama Desert, Salto del Huilo Huilo, the Japanese Garden and Costanera Centre in Santiago, Mirador de Monjes Blancos in the Maule Region, Embalse el Yeso in Cajón del Maipo, Stairway in Valparaíso, Montegrande Church

Check out the rest of my Country Guides here!

Valle del Elqui

Not only did I finally make it to La Serena, but I also made it to Valle del Elqui! As I mentioned in my previous post, Valle del Elqui was chosen by Lonely Planet as one of their top destinations to visit in 2019, so I was very excited to visit it.

The main town in the valley is called Vicuña (like the animals in the Atacama Desert!). It's easy to know when you've arrived there, because it has those big letters like Coquimbo and La Serena do!

Opposite the letters, there's a cool sculpture of a dragon!

The poet Gabriela Mistral was born in Vicuña, and one of the town's main attractions is a museum about her life. We couldn't visit as it was closed due to the protests, but we had had a look around the market and the Plaza de Armas, where you can see the Torre Bauer. We also found a very good vegetarian restaurant called Govinda's to have lunch in. I'm a long-term vegetarian, recently turned vegan, and I haven't always found it easy to find vegetarian and vegan food in Chile. So it was a nice surprise to find a place like that!

On the way to our next destination, we had some really nice views over the valley.

The next place we visited was the small village of Montegrande, where we visited the house in which Gabriela Mistral grew up.

Finally, we visited the village of Pisco Elqui. It's named after Pisco, the national drink of Chile, which is made in Valle del Elqui.

On the drive back, we stopped at Paihuano for some more photos with big letters!

Valle del Elqui was a really beautiful and unique place to visit. As well as being famous because of Gabriela Mistral and Pisco, it's also famous for its observatories. However, all the observatories in the area were closed to visitors when we were there. So we definitely have an excuse to go back in the future!

Coquimbo

I haven't blogged for a week because I've been a bit busy with other things. Last weekend I found out that I'm now officially a qualified teacher of English as a foreign language! So I've made a new CV and got my first job application sent off.

But now I've got some time to blog, and I'm going to write about the city of Coquimbo. Before going there, I thought Coquimbo was just the name of the region, so it was interesting to find out that it was also the name of a city on the coast right next to La Serena.

On the beach, there are big letters like the ones in La Serena. As you'll see in my next post, they are very common in this region!

However, the centre of the city is very different to the centre of La Serena. Unfortunately, one noticeable difference is that it's not as affluent. The other big difference is that it's built on very steep hills. With its colourful houses, it looks quite a lot like Valparaíso.

I was surprised to see that there was a mosque in Coquimbo, as there isn't a big Muslim population in Chile. It's called Centro Cultural Mohamed VI and it was a gift from the king of Morocco. On the evening of the day we arrived, we drove up to the top of the hill where it's situated. We didn't get out to look around, because the area didn't seem entirely safe. But we got a decent view of the building from the car the next morning.

The other major landmark in Coquimbo is also a religious one. La Cruz del Tercer Milenio is a huge cross on top of a hill, that can be seen from La Serena. You can take a lift up to the top to see views of the whole city.

We were lucky to meet an especially cute resident of Coquimbo at the cross!

Coquimbo is a very interesting city to visit, as it has both unique cultural landmarks and a great beach. It also offers many impressive views from the top of the city and from below.

Next I'll be writing about our trip through Valle del Elqui, a valley in the Coquimbo region which was chosen by Lonely Planet as one of the top ten travel destinations for 2019!

La Serena

So I finally got to go to La Serena after trying to go three times before! It's a bit of a long story, but when I was studying in Chile, I reserved a place on a tour to La Serena and Valle del Elqui, which was cancelled and moved to the following month. Then when I tried to confirm my place on the new tour (as well as on another tour to the Atacama desert) the company were completely useless. Every time I contacted them, they said they would get back to me, but they never did. I never paid anything, so it was their loss! Coincidentally, on the weekend when the tour was supposedly taking place, some of the people I went with to Algarrobo for the first time were planning to go to La Serena too. Once I realised I wasn't getting anywhere with the tour company, I wanted to join their trip, but I think by then they'd given up on the idea. So I ended up visiting Viña del Mar instead.

But I'm very lucky, because I got to go to the Atacama desert in January and now I've also been to La Serena, Coquimbo and Valle del Elqui, thanks to my amazing boyfriend! He drove us there and back and all around the area, which was a lot of driving, because it takes at least six hours to get there from Santiago. So, Claudio, if you're reading this, I have a message for you: eres el más bacán! 💗

One of the first things you see when you arrive in the city are the big letters that are great for photos!

A short distance away is the lighthouse, the best known landmark in La Serena.

After we arrived, we looked for a cheap place to stay and found a really nice little apartment by the sea.

That afternoon, we went to the beach to swim in the sea, which was a bit crazy, because the water was really cold. But it wasn't as freezing as the sea in England, so it was fun for me!

The next day, we went to look around the city centre. There's a Japanese garden there that we wanted to visit, but it was closed, probably because of the protests. Through a gap in the fence, it looked liked a bigger version of the one in Santiago.

La Serena is the fourth biggest city in Chile, so the centre is quite big with a lot of interesting architecture, which I found out is neocolonial in style.

I really enjoyed visiting La Serena at long last, and I would definitely go back!

In my next post, I'll be writing about Coquimbo, a city right next to La Serena but different in many ways.