8 Beautiful Villages Worth Visiting

There are plenty of things to do if you go to a big city. You can eat at fancy restaurants, attend concerts, or visit a large park. But at the same time, you have to deal with traffic jams, high crime rates, and dodging trash bags that the residents place on the sidewalk. Or is that last one just a New York thing? On the other hand, if you visit a village, you don’t have to deal with any of this nonsense. All you have is peace, tranquility, and probably a citizenry that’s in bed by 8pm. If that’s your sort of thing, here are 8 villages that you should definitely check out.

1. Giethoorn, Netherlands

Situated in the already-sleepy country of the Netherlands, Giethoorn is the place to be as long as you never get sick at the sight of trees. Given that it is surrounded by the De Weerribben-Wieden National Park, there is plenty of greenery to look at. Don’t bother bringing your car either; this village likes to keep things auto-free. There are also around 150 bridges that keep Giethoorn linked together. In fact, some might even call it The Venice of the Netherlands, although we prefer to call Venice the Giethoorn of Italy, which results in a lot of confused looks, which is precisely what we like to see over here.

2. Marsaxlokk, Malta

If you’re making your way to Malta, no trip would be complete without a visit to Marsaxlokk, a name that looks like something your cat would end up typing if it walked across your keyboard. This fishing village is famous for, well, its fish. The colorful boats (known locally asluzzus) that dot the harbor add to the tranquil scenery as well. It’s worth about 15 minutes of your time, and then you head to the Tex-Mex restaurant on Triq Tat Trunciera street for lunch. But, like, why would you go all the way to Malta to eat there?

3. Gasadalur, Faroe Islands, Denmark

The village of Gasadalur isn’t the easiest place to get to, which probably explains why only 18 people have felt it necessary to go through the trouble to call it home. It’s located at the edge of a tall cliff and surrounded by mountains, which makes for incredible views. You can even visit the puffins! Not really. No puffins in Gasadalur. But we sure got you excited for a second, didn’t we?

4. Bibury, England, UK

With its stone collages that date back to the 1600s and the tranquil Coln river that flows through the village, it’s not a surprise that people flock to Bibury in Gloucestershire to take photos and come across a Hobbit or twelve perchance.

5. Freudenberg, Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

This breathtaking medieval town located in Rhine-Westphalia features an open-air theater that attracts 50,000 visitors to its various performances, and a church that was built in the 1200s. All of the houses are of the same size and pattern, but before you roll your eyes and say “welcome to the land of prefabricated suburban sprawl” we’d like to inform you that they are half-timbered homes that date back to the 17th century. Mind changed? We know it is!

6. Pariangan, Indonesia

This village in the West Sumatra province of Indonesia is home to the Minangkabau people, known for their rich culture. You’ll find traditional, well-preserved dwellings that date back three hundred years and feature beautiful wood carvings and walls woven from the rattan tree. There’s also a large mosque that is believed to have been built in the early 1800s.

7. Savoca, Italy

This village situated in northeastern Sicily might not be as famous as the nearby town of Taormina, but it’s still worth a visit. It is uniquely Sicilian with its timeless churches, houses, and other architecture. It comes as no surprise that Francis Ford Coppola chose Savoca as the site for some of the scenes in “The Godfather II.”

8. Smurf Village, Spain

Once upon a time, Júzcar was your typical run-of-the-mill Spanish village featuring whitewashed houses. But then the locals reached an agreement with Sony’s Spanish division to paint everything in blue to promote the release of “The Smurfs,” an utterly dumb movie that nonetheless left a pretty nice legacy. This is because after the promotion ended in December 2011, the locals voted in favor of a referendum to keep the village painted in blue indefinitely because, hey, it had attracted 95,000 visitors during the 6-month promotion. Although the official name remains Júzcar, it is called “Smurf Village” for silly touristy purposes.