No traffic, no grid — just lanes that beg you to put the map away.
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Venice
Venice is built across more than a hundred small islands in a shallow lagoon, with canals serving as streets and boats in place of cars. The historic center fans out from St. Mark's Square along the great S-curve of the Grand Canal, crossed by the marble Rialto Bridge.
The city's monumental heart is St. Mark's Square, dominated by the Byzantine domes and gold mosaics of St. Mark's Basilica, the Gothic Doge's Palace and the freestanding Campanile, whose top gives a panorama over the rooftops and lagoon. The Grand Canal winds past faded palazzos in Venetian Gothic and Renaissance styles, busiest with vaporetto and gondola traffic and best photographed from the Rialto and Accademia bridges.
Explore Venice →02 / 05
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a walled city on the southern Dalmatian coast, its limestone Old Town wrapped by ramparts that run almost two kilometers around the medieval core. The marble main street, the Stradun, polished smooth by centuries of foot traffic, anchors a grid of stepped lanes climbing toward the city walls and the sea beyond.
The historic center is enclosed by some of the best-preserved fortifications in Europe, rebuilt in stone after a major earthquake in 1667. A continuous walkway along the top of the walls passes the Minčeta and Bokar towers and offers elevated views over terracotta rooftops and the open Adriatic. Within the walls, Baroque churches, the Rector's Palace and Onofrio's Fountain sit along the Stradun, which fills with light in the early morning before tour groups arrive.
Explore Dubrovnik →03 / 05
Fes
Fes is Morocco's oldest imperial city and the seat of its spiritual and intellectual heritage. Its walled medina, Fes el-Bali, is one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world, a dense warren of thousands of alleys, workshops and one of the planet's oldest universities.
Founded in the 8th century, Fes el-Bali is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to the University of al-Qarawiyyin, established in 859 and often cited as the oldest continuously operating degree-granting institution. The medina's lanes are too narrow for cars, and goods still move by handcart and mule. The Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas showcase the city's finest zellige tile, carved cedar and stucco craftsmanship.
Explore Fes →04 / 05
Chefchaouen
Chefchaouen sits in the Rif Mountains of northern Morocco, a small town famous for the powder-blue wash that covers its medina walls, doors and stairways. The cool mountain setting and consistent blue palette make it one of the country's most distinctive places to photograph.
Founded in 1471, Chefchaouen was long closed to outsiders and absorbed waves of Andalusian and Jewish refugees from Spain. The tradition of painting the medina blue is variously attributed to Jewish residents, to cooling the buildings, or to repelling insects; whatever its origin, the result is a town of narrow stepped lanes in every shade from sky to indigo, set against the green slopes of the Rif.
Explore Chefchaouen →05 / 05
Hoi An
A preserved trading port glowing with silk lanterns along a riverside old town.
Hoi An was a major Southeast Asian trading port between the 15th and 19th centuries, and its remarkably intact old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The architecture blends Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and European influences in a compact, vehicle-free riverside core of wooden shophouses, assembly halls and a famous covered bridge. Much of it is painted a distinctive weathered yellow.
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