Lately, I’ve been leaning towards posting cityscapes or faraway views on my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages, so I started thinking: How many pictures do I have of cities from above or afar? In most of my travels, I get sucked in by the tallest spot in town and have to climb it to get a birds-eye view. If you’ve ever wanted to see a city in its entirety, this is the post for you! Here are 23 places in the world from a birds-eye view that help you see the forest, not the tree.
Athens, Greece
Mount Lycabettus overlooking the city of Athens. You can even see a sliver of Adriatic Sea off to the left!
Cancun, Mexico
The only way to view Cancun’s Hotel Zone is by air, since it’s a small strip with one road. If you look close enough, you can see all the high rises lining the ocean!
Willemstad, Curaçao
Curaçao is Dutch-owned and therefore has a lot of architectural influence from Europe. This picture isn’t from above, but the colorful buildings that line the river separating the two halves of the capital city is adorable and gives you a feel for the entire island.
Dublin, Ireland
Not one of the most glamorous views in this post, but the view from the top of the Guinness Storehouse gives you a view of Dublin in all it’s glory, plus you get to drink Guinness while you walk around the completely glass bar.
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Also known as King’s Landing from Game of Thrones, Dubrovnik rebuilt after the war in the 1990’s and looks more beautiful than ever with an island-spotted horizon and all red roofs.
Florence, Italy
It’s hard to choose between a view of Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo or the top of il Duomo’s bell tower. From the Piazzale Michelangelo, you can see the river and famous Ponte Vecchio, and you can see il Duomo poking up to the right. From the Campanile, you get up close and personal with the famous Duomo.
Gibraltar
There’s no way you can miss a birds-eye view of Gibraltar if you climb the Rock that dominates the British territory. The small city is enveloped by the port and the runway, which happens to be one of the 10 most dangerous runways in the world, according to Popular Mechanics.
Granada, Spain
Granada is a huge city that spans far and wide, but the Moorish castle, La Alhambra, dominates the city, sitting on a cliff in all her glory.
Heidelberg, Germany
From the Heidelberg castle way up in the mountains, you have a beautiful view of the German city sprawled out along the River Neckar.
Iceland
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a shot of Reykjavík because the Hallgrímskirkja Church was closed, and that’s the best lookout point in the city. I did get this amazing shot of the Blue Lagoon and Iceland’s natural landscape beyond.
Júzcar, Spain
Júzcar, known as the Smurf Town (Pitufo in Spanish), is completely blue! It’s not a big enough town to be on any tourist map, but it’s worth a shot from above for this unusual town.
Madrid, Spain
A photo of the entrance to the Gran Via is a famous picture that I had to recreate during my trip to Madrid. To get this shot, you have to go to the top of the Circulo de Bellas Artes, where you can see the city of Madrid for miles (or kilometers, by European standards).
Málaga, Spain
Málaga has it all: a port for cruises, a bull ring, a Moorish castle, bars and clubs, an art district, a historic district, and probably so much more that I never even discovered. You can see most of it from this picture, but the city spans the other direction much further!
Olvera, Spain
My Spanish home. Olvera is so impressive, a white beauty against a green landscape.
Marrakech, Morocco
From white to red. Marrakech is known as the red city. Can you tell why?
New York City
One World Observatory at the World Trade Center reopened after 9/11 as the tallest spot in New York City. The top has glass walls and a bar. You can get great views of New York, New Jersey, and the Statue of Liberty.
Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy
Riomaggiore slopes down to the sea from a mountaintop. The colorful buildings are a nice contrast to the greenery and blue ocean.
Ronda, Spain
Sometimes it’s better to get a picture from underneath a town. Ronda was built high up on an island mountain with a 390-foot bridge connecting it to the mainland.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany
Rothenburg’s medieval architecture hasn’t changed much since the town was built. The views from the medieval walls that still surround the town give a good sense of what the town has to offer, but the best views come from the top of the town’s central bell tower.
Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain
While most medieval towns were built on top of mountains for protection, Setenil grew out from under a mountain. The road leading in gives you a great birds-eye view of the small white village.
Pradollano, Sierra Nevadas
The little ski resort of Pradollano sits among the Sierra Nevada mountains. Don’t go here for the town though, go for the mountains!
Venice, Italy
From across the water, you can climb the bell tower of the San Giorgio Church for much cheaper, shorter waiting line, and better panoramic views of Venice than the San Marco Campanile.
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Charlotte Amalie is the capital of St. Thomas. The cruise port for St. Thomas is just on the other side of where I was standing when I took the Charlotte Amalie picture. Out the front of my hotel was the capital city, out the back was the cruise port.
And there you have it, my best pictures of places in the world from a birds-eye view. Sometimes, it helps to take a step back and look at the whole situation rather than a small piece. When you have the whole picture, you know if it’s somewhere you really want to go.
Have you been anywhere that has a really great view from afar? Let me know in the comments so I can add it to my bucket list!
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P.S. You might also love Discovering the White Villages of Andalusia and 10 Travel Apps That Make Traveling Easier