There are so many reasons to travel – new people to meet, new foods to eat, new experiences to be had. But beyond the landmarks and tourist traps, the most interesting cities – especially for design lovers – are the ones that feel like a photo opportunity could be around every corner. Where a door, a tiled façade or an apartment building can stop you in your tracks. Here are 10 cities to visit for the architecture alone.
In Mexico City, the age-old debate is settled: more is most certainly more. The city has (albeit accidentally) mastered the art of layering – pre-Columbian ruins lie beneath relics of Spanish colonialism, while mid-century modernism balances contemporary design. And then there are the wildcards, like Casa Luis Barragán – the home of the revolutionary architect and engineer – and Juan O’Gorman’s mosaic-covered UNAM library. Even a stroll through neighbourhoods like Roma Norte and Condesa will reveal Art Deco streetscapes and whimsical green spaces.
Clinging to cascading hills that flow into the Pacific, Valparaíso can be summed up with one question: How? From creaking funicular lifts to colourful corrugated iron houses, the city is stacked at angles that shouldn’t be structurally possible. But that’s not all – the walls, which have been treated as canvases for decades, make the city feel more alive still, almost like it’s moving. The perfect day trip from Santiago, this is a place where street art and architecture blur into something that’s hard to define, and impossible to forget.
Cape Town’s architecture tends to be shadowed, both literally and figuratively, by Table Mountain. In De Waterkant and Waterfront, discover considered interiors, independent concept stores and restaurants where the fit-out is as curated as the menu. Then there’s Bo-Kaap, the neighbourhood where saturated Cape Malay houses offer a colourful photo opportunity. But the standout building is Zeitz MOCAA, Herzog & de Meuron’s conversion of a grain silo into a contemporary African art museum – one of the most exciting pieces of architecture built anywhere in the last decade.
Less polished than Marrakech, Tangier has always attracted artists, writers and wanderers – and once you arrive, it’s easy to see why. Perched at the crossing point of Europe and Africa, its architecture tells that story; the French colonial Ville Nouvelle sits on one side, with a dense and intricate medina on the other. For design lovers, Villa Mabrouka is unmissable. Now open as a hotel, there’s something special about walking the same halls that Yves Saint Laurent once called home.
Porto has been having a moment for a while now, but while tourists flock to its historic sights, wine bars and restaurants, we’re making the case for an architectural tour. The azulejo tile façades are everywhere, covering churches, train stations and apartment buildings alike. Beyond the tiles, there’s Álvaro Siza’s Serralves Museum, Rem Koolhaas’s Casa da Música, and a Ribeira waterfront that layers medieval, baroque and industrial without breaking a sweat.
What if we told you that the coloured facades of Nyhavn, the iconic buildings by Copenhagen’s harbour, are only the beginning – this city rewards those who are willing to really explore it. Much like neighbouring Sweden, Denmark’s interior design culture is world-class, evident in their design-forward hospitality scene, concept stores and museums. Perhaps most groundbreaking is CopenHill, a working power plant topped with a ski slope, which sets the tone for the city’s architectural ambition.
Tallinn’s medieval old town is one of the best-preserved in Europe – think cobblestones, limestone towers, the whole fairytale. But look a little closer and the city reveals its paradoxes: the harsh modernism of the Soviet-era shadows the postcard streets, and a growing wave of photogenic bars, restaurants and cultural spaces is making its mark. Tallinn earns extra points for being small and walkable, meaning the layers reveal themselves faster than you’d expect.
Like so many of the cities on this list, Tbilisi’s beauty – though unconventional – is in its layers. Ornate carved wooden balconies and crumbling relics of Soviet brutalism occupy the same streets, and the Bridge of Peace puts aggressively contemporary design within sight of a medieval fortress. It’s a city that rewards curiosity over aesthetics, and its growing design and hospitality scene in the old town suggests the rest of the world is starting to catch on.
Serious architecture lovers have been sleeping on Ahmedabad – and that’s precisely what makes it worth visiting. The only city in South Asia on UNESCO’s World Heritage Cities list, it’s home to buildings by architectural legends like Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, which exist alongside ancient stepwells and the intricate laneways of the traditional ‘pol’ neighbourhoods. Centuries of design in one city, and almost no queue to see any of it.
Think of Kanazawa as Japan’s best kept secret – the city that delivers everything visitors choose Tokyo and Kyoto for, without the crowds. Here, the preserved samurai and geisha districts feel genuinely lived-in rather than museumified. For something more contemplative, the D.T. Suzuki Museum – dedicated to the Buddhist philosopher who introduced Zen to the West – is as much an architectural experience as a cultural one. Like Kanazawa itself, it’s less visited, less photographed, and arguably more rewarding for it.
