Europe is one of those destinations where children’s storybooks come to life, as the home to cobblestone streets, historic buildings, medieval castles, and charming little villages.
To give you some travel inspiration, we’ve created this list of some incredible fairytale looking towns that you probably didn’t even know existed!
Popeye village
Malta is a beautiful destination for its natural scenery that inspired great filmmakers.
Located in Mellieha, there is an exceptional village specially built for the movie shooting of “Popeye†and although the film was not as successful as expected, the village of Popeye is very well preserved and has become very popular among tourists.
Bruges
Known as the “Venice of the North,†Bruges’ is jaw-dropping medieval architecture town with serene canals that help set the scene for this fairytale town in Flanders. It escaped WWI remarkably undamaged and combined with a 14th-century Gothic town hall, being in Bruges is as close as you can get to being teleported back in time.
ÄŒesky Krumlov
Located in southwest Bohemia, the Old Town of ÄŒesky Krumlov is one of the most picturesque in Europe and deservedly a UNESCO World Heritage site. Built between the 1300s and the 1600s, the town combines gorgeous architecture, a blend of Gothic, Baroque, and Renaissance styles.
Some even think it’s like a little Prague in miniature with a stunning castle above the Vltava River, which dates back to 1240 and features blooming rococo gardens, as well as a moat that has housed a family of four bears since 1707.
Isola Bella
Located on Lake Maggiore, Isola Bella is the product not only of limitless funds but also of unbounded bombastic ambition and exuberant imagination run wild.
Like many of Lago Maggiore’s top sites, it belonged to the Borromeo family, the closest Italy comes to a royal family.
The island’s Borromeo Palace and the spectacular surreal terraced gardens are a real fairy tale embodied in stone which symbolizes the wealth and influence of this famous Italian family.
Mont St. Michel
Located on an island just off the coast in Normandy, Mont Saint Michel is one of France’s most iconic images. A magical island with a real-life fairy tale castle that dates back to the 8th century, with the rock-top abbey and narrow alleys that still manages to transport visitors back to the Middle Ages.
The Mont is only completely surrounded by the sea every month or two when the tidal coefficient is above 100 and high tide is above 14m. Regardless of the time of year, the waters sweep in at an astonishing clip, said to be as fast as a galloping horse.
Peratallada
Located in the Girona region, Peratallada is the most beautiful and authentic medieval village in Spain (and maybe in all of Europe). Its labyrinth stone streets, its fairytale castle, and the beautiful vines strangling the stone walls will take you back in time.
It’s a perfectly preserved and functioning town that dates back to the middle ages, and in some areas, you will still see the same roads people walked on more than five centuries ago.
Peratallada in Spain.
Sintra
Sintra in Portugal might be the epitome of European fairytale towns. This colorful village will transport you into a world that feels like magic is real, from thousand-year-old castle walls, candy-colored buildings, to mystical mountain skies.
A walk through Sintra brings you through a thousand years of history, all standing within moments of each other, but each location harkens to a drastically different age from the history of this incredible city.
Discover Fairy Tale Towns with CMC World Travel
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