50 of the world's most colourful homes
These houses are sure to brighten up your day
Why opt for a boring, plain house when you could have an eye-catching home in all the colours of the rainbow? We’ve tracked down some of the most colourful houses in the world, from striped wooden houses in Portugal to centuries old, pastel-hued homes in Poland, to give you some serious exterior inspiration.
Painted homes, Cape Town, South Africa
Thanks to these brightly painted houses and mix of Cape Dutch and Georgian architectural styles Bo Kaap is one of Cape Town’s most photographed areas. The area, formerly known as the Malay Quarter, dates from the 1760s, when rental houses were built and leased to enslaved Indonesians. When the houses were leased, they had to be white, but once those enslaved were allowed to own properties, it’s said they painted the houses bright colours in celebration of their freedom.
Striped wooden houses, Costa Nova, Portugal
These adorable striped wooden houses in the beachfront town of Costa Nova are some of the area’s most distinctive homes. The houses were once used as fishermen’s cottages to store fishing materials and machinery, but are now mainly holiday homes.
Blue house, Jodhpur, India
Located in the centre of Rajasthan, Jodhpur is known as the “Blue City”, as many of its homes are painted in a deep shade of blue. The origin of the tradition is unclear, although it may have been started to indicate caste or more simply, to deter insects. Either way the uniform blueness adds to the city’s picturesque charms.
Hilly houses, Cinque Terre, Italy
The string of five villages that make up Italy’s Cinque Terre are considered to be one of the country’s most beautiful areas. This colourful hill is located in Riomaggiore and the village’s cluster of vividly-coloured houses, spilling down the hill, draws millions of visitors every year.
Market square houses, Poznan, Poland
The Old Market Square in Poznan is as postcard-pretty as it gets when it comes to colourful houses. The merchants' houses date back centuries and with their mismatched colours and patterns sitting side by side, are one of the city’s prime tourist attractions.
Painted house, Venezuela
Looking a bit like a Mondrian painting, this old house in Venezuela stands out from its neighbours for all the right reasons: strong colour pairings, bold lines and a lot of creativity.
Multicoloured houses, Pattaya, Thailand
This housing block in Pattaya definitely isn’t your run-of-the-mill property. A wonderfully clashing building, it catches every passerby’s eye.
Neon homes, Venice, Italy
The island of Burano, in Venice, is famous for its historic, brightly coloured houses. It’s believed the tradition started so fishermen could see the homes in the fog. Nowadays requests to paint the houses in a new colour have to be approved by the local government.
Pastel houses, London, UK
In London’s well-heeled Chelsea, this terrace of Georgian townhouses on Bywater Street are painted in elegant but contemporary pastel shades.
Colourful houses on a hill, Valparaiso, Chile
The Chilean port city of Valparaiso is filled with bright, exciting colours, with a web of hills stuffed with vividly-painted houses.
Hundertwasser Haus, Vienna, Austria
The Hundertwasser Haus in Vienna was designed by the artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser and built in 1986. The architect used a fantastical range of shapes and colours for the housing complex, making it an architectural landmark in Vienna.
Colourful houses, Oregon, USA
Located in the east of Portland, Oregon, this row of clapboard townhouses is delicately painted in contrasting colours, with each home’s hue complementing its neighbour.
Bright building, Little India, Singapore
Little India is a historic, buzzing area in Singapore that’s filled with colours in every nook and cranny, with sellers touting everything from brightly-coloured flowers to food. This wildly-coloured, century-old Chinese villa, which formerly belonged to a successful businessman, Tan Teng Niah, fits into the vibrant neighbourhood.
Colourful houses, Ilulissat, Greenland
The coastal town of Ilulissat isn’t just impressive for its icebergs and dog sledding, but also for its picturesque collection of coloured houses, arranged in a haphazard fashion in primary colours.
Colonial houses, Guatape, Colombia
Guatape has been called the world’s most colourful town, and it’s not hard to see why. Everything from doorways to balconies are painted in an eye-catching selection of colours. This street is just one example of the colonial houses you could see on a visit.
Pastel-hued terrace, London, UK
Head to the classy north London neighbourhood of Primrose Hill to see these pastel-hued terraced houses, that sit opposite the area’s eponymous park on Chalcot Crescent.
Colourful beach houses, Muizenberg, South Africa
The beach suburb of Muizenberg, near Cape Town, is loved for its warm waters and great surfing. But it’s also a very picturesque spot, thanks mainly to its collection of bright beach houses. The colourful beach huts are a favourite of Instagrammers and make for beautiful photographs with their strong primary colours.
Caminito, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Located in the La Boca neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Caminito is a colourful street museum that is famous for its brightly-hued houses. The area, which is very popular with tourists, also showcases works by Argentine artists.
Colourful beach houses, Gaspesie, Canada
These colourful beach houses, in the Gaspesie region of Quebec, are painted in charmingly bright colours to make perfectly pretty chocolate-box homes.
Canal houses, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
These skinny properties were built with the aim of squeezing in as many homes and shops as possible into the tight canal-side space. Many date from the 1600s and today they're painted in a range of complementary colours.
Colourful houses, Varanasi, India
Varanasi is one of the planet’s oldest continually inhabited cities. Its sacred status in Hinduism means several holy rituals, such as cremations and the washing away of sins, take place here. These chaotically-structured, radiant houses are clustered on top of one another by the Ganges.
Clashing houses, Canary Islands, Spain
This street, in Puerto de la Cruz on the northern coast of Tenerife is so picture-perfect it looks like a film set. The houses in bold colours sit side by side, flanked by perfect lines of palm trees.
Modern homes, Bristol, UK
Bristol is famous for its brightly-hued homes and these Harbourside houses are no exception. The homes’ mixture of traditional and modern architecture and bold colours makes for an eye-catching photograph.
Mountain houses, Innsbruck, Austria
For a truly postcard-pretty sight, head to this street of houses along Innsbruck’s Inn River. If the row of neat, colourful homes weren’t picturesque enough, the mountain backdrop makes a truly stunning scene.
Colonial homes, Havana, Cuba
Havana is well-known for its luminous colours and colonial architecture. These historic homes retain original features such as arched windows and ironwork balconies.
Colourful houses, Istanbul, Turkey
These vibrant houses in the historical centre of Istanbul haven’t just been painted in bright hues: each colour and detail has been painstakingly applied to create a charming doll’s house-like effect.
Stortorget, Stockholm, Sweden
Set in the heart of Stockholm’s old town, Gamla Stan, is Stortorget, a public square filled with colourful buildings. The boldly-toned houses are some of the city’s most photographed structures.
Getsemani houses, Cartagena, Colombia
The colourful streets of Getsemani, an up and coming neighbourhood just outside Cartagena’s historic old city, are becoming famous for their foodie offerings, creative street art and buzzing nightlife. The streets are full of colourful, colonial homes just like these.
Colourful street, Diessenhofen, Switzerland
Switzerland is well-known for its picturesque villages, and the small town of Diessenhofen is a great example of how pretty they can be. In the village’s main street, adorable painted houses sit side by side in a range of bright shades.
Traditional Icelandic homes, Stykkisholmur, Iceland
The beautiful town of Stykkisholmur, in western Iceland, has wonderfully well-preserved old houses in its centre, in a scenic collection of colours and patterns.
Bright homes, Cong, Ireland
The small but picturesque village of Cong in County Mayo is a quiet and peaceful spot with plenty of traditional, colourful homes like these.
Seaside homes, Procida, Italy
Procida is the Bay of Naples’ smallest island without the rush of tourists that visit neighbouring islands such as Capri. Here houses are painted in bright shades of pink, blue, yellow and more, with the peeling paintwork adding to the charm.
Centuries-old coloured houses, Prague, Czech Republic
The beautiful city of Prague, but especially the Old Town Square, is home to many brightly-coloured houses with traditional red roofs and gothic facades.
Bright houses, Newfoundland, Canada
St. John's, Newfoundland, is well-known for its row houses and the vivid hues were first thought to be painted to make the homes visible to fishermen in the fog. The tradition was revived in the 1970s to breathe life into the downtown area and it caught on quickly, becoming one of the city’s most distinctive features.
Candy-striped house, London, UK
This candy-striped townhouse in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea might look pretty, but it’s been at the centre of legal proceedings. The borough required the owner to repaint the home white within 28 days, saying the stripes were “incongruous” with the area, but she eventually won the right to keep her home just as it is.
Bright beach villas, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
The owners of these vivid villas in the beach resort of Punta Cana aren’t just lucky because they live across from the sea, but also because they can call these rainbow-tinted homes their own.
Terraced shops and flats, London, UK
London’s trendy Notting Hill area isn’t just a popular spot thanks to its cool restaurants, boutiques and bars, but also for its buzzing Portobello Road. It's home to antiques dealers, cafes and vintage shops with apartments and duplexes in the colourful homes above.
Traditional house, Madeira, Portugal
If you’re visiting the village of Santana on the island of Madeira, don’t miss checking out the famous houses of Santana. More than 100 of the triangular-shaped rural homes are still standing, with thatched roofs, wood-panelled interiors and colourful exterior detail.
Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark
Possibly Copenhagen’s best-known sight, the port of Nyhavn is a colour-filled, picturesque part of town, with a row of old houses that have now been renovated, mainly into restaurants. Nyhavn has been home to famous artists and authors, including Hans Christian Andersen, who lived in three different houses in the area. The oldest house dates to 1681, with its design remaining unchanged ever since.
Colonial houses, Trinidad, Cuba
The UNESCO-protected town of Trinidad in the centre of Cuba's south coast is a gorgeous place to wander. It's filled with cobbled streets, grand colonial buildings and photogenic traditional homes like these, painted in luminous colours.
Waterside homes, Groningen, the Netherlands
The city of Groningen and its Reitdiep city marina are home to some truly spectacular waterside buildings. These colourful structures make the marina one of the city’s most photographed areas.
Island homes, Catalina Island, Dominican Republic
The idyllic Catalina Island is the stuff of honeymoon brochures and beach screensavers, and if the sparkling waters, blue skies, white sands and swaying palm trees weren’t enough to tempt you to move there, just imagine living in one of these adorable coloured beachside homes.
Bright houses, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Surrounded by blossoming trees, these arresting homes in the Pacific coastal resort of Puerto Vallarta, are painted in rainbow-like shades.
Harbour homes, Cobh, Ireland
Cobh is an Irish town that’s rich in history. Previously known as Queenstown, it was the final port of call for the RMS Titanic as the ship set off on its tragic maiden voyage. The coastal town is built on a steep hill, with its cascade of colourful houses around the waterfront adding to its attractive charms.
Colourful homes, San Juan, Puerto Rico
The capital of Puerto Rico, San Juan, is famous for its brightly-coloured buildings. These coloured homes have been impeccably maintained with a smart white trim around the edges.
Pastel houses, Cologne, Germany
Many of Cologne's historic buildings were destroyed in air raids during the Second World War. However this row of pastel-coloured buildings in front of Cologne’s Great St. Martin Church, offer a glimpse of what the medieval city would have looked like.
Green house, Tadoussac, Quebec, Canada
This home proves that being colourful doesn't always have to mean standing out from the crowd. The light and dark green shades mean the house blends with its surroundings, while the highlighting white makes the most of traditional design features including a triangular roof with a trim, tall, narrow windows and decorative supports.
Wooden houses, Bergen, Norway
The coastal city of Bergen has suffered many fires over the years including one in 1916 that destroyed around a third of the city leaving 2,000 people homeless. Yet, it still has one of Europe’s largest collection of wooden houses. The colourful homes, dotted throughout the city and clustered by the harbour, are some of the city’s best-known buildings.
Medieval houses, Landshut, Munich, Germany
This old Bavarian town near Munich exudes picture-perfect charm rows of medieval gothic houses in a mixture of colours and tones.
Art-nouveau homes, Lüderitz, Namibia
Once a German colony, Namibia's Lüderitz still features these colourful art-nouveau buildings in a Bavarian style. Located between the Namib Desert and the South Atlantic, this time warp town fell out of use as a port after the First World War and now feels like a surreal colonial relic.
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