5 colorful summer destinations

An archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic. A breath of wild vegetation. A landscape where lava merges with water. If anything defines summer in the Azores, it's the intense mauve of the hydrangeas .

The Azores are not just green: in June and July they turn lilac , covered by thousands of flowers that sprout along the roadsides, in the fields and on the hillsides, as if someone had sprayed the entire landscape with a soft nostalgic filter.

The mauve here isn't a detail, but an atmosphere. A color that pervades the surroundings, blending with the blue of the ocean and the green of the vegetation.

Visual tip: Miradouro do Pico do Carvão (São Miguel Island)

In late June or July, this viewpoint—located next to the road—offers spectacular views of both the northern and southern parts of the island. From here, you can see Lagoa Rasa and Lagoa do Canário, framed by blooming hydrangeas. Two lagoons—one blue, one green—surrounded by lush vegetation, reminiscent of a living watercolor painting.

Visual tip: Igreja de São Nicolau

This church stands out not only for its sober and elegant architecture, but also for the path that precedes it: a long walkway flanked by hydrangeas and tall trees that intensify its magical atmosphere. Built in the 19th century in the neo-Gothic style, it features a distinctive white façade with black volcanic stone details.

In the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, summer is remembered in green. A lush, almost tropical green that envelops castles, mansions, and cliffs with an almost magical density. This color not only covers the palace gardens but seeps into every corner of the park. It is overwhelming yet refreshing.

While Lisbon , more urban but equally sensorial, also turns green in summer: in its parks, in the views from Bairro Alto , in the wisteria climbing the tiles. An escape that takes place between the cool shade of the forest and the Atlantic breeze that rises through the steep city streets.

Visual tip: Palácio da Pena Gardens (Sintra)

“A fantasy forest designed by a king.” This introduction presents the ultimate expression of the romantic style of 19th-century Portuguese royalty. The 200-hectare park, with dense and varied vegetation, is designed to blend perfectly with its surroundings. During this walk, you can appreciate the former English Romantic-style estate, with its gardens, ponds inhabited by swans, greenhouses, and plantations of camellias, azaleas, and ferns. The lushness of this setting is mesmerizing, making the effort required to ascend the intricate cobblestone paths almost imperceptible.

Visual Tip: Pomme Eatery

This restaurant, which opened in 2023, already attracts visitors from the street with its facade. The best part is when you sit down in its colorful space, thanks to the apple green accents of its thoughtful and inviting decor. The menu offers a very contemporary selection, from which we recommend the sliced ​​octopus carpaccio, the kyiv steak, the spaghetti with pesto, and the organic wines. An opportunity to delight both the palate and the eye.

A country of a thousand islands and a seemingly endless coastline. From north to south, Croatia unfolds like a living postcard, where every corner seems frozen in golden hour. If anything defines summer in this country, it's the warm light of the sunset that envelops the rocks, the water, and the air with a serene calm.

But not everything is mellow. Alongside gold, coral red appears: vibrant, vital. The color of facades ablaze in the last light of day, the color of awnings in fishing ports, the color of fruit split open in the sun. Croatia, between contrast and intensity, achieves a perfect balance between the golden calm of the end of the day and the fiery energy that pulses in its streets, its food, and its sea.

Here, color isn't just an embellishment: it's part of the journey. And every sunset or dive is etched in Technicolor.

Visual tip: Bistro Frutarija (Vis Island)

A bistro by the sea. Breakfast, brunch, aperitifs, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner are the options at this charming spot. All outdoors, but if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the tables, a couple of benches await behind the wall for a drink while gazing at the crystal-clear water. Time truly stands still here.

Visual tip: Trg Republike “Prokurative” (Split)

Republic Square. A large square located west of Marmontova Street. Built in the 19th century in the Italian-Venetian style, it shares similar characteristics with Venetian St. Mark's Square. It is surrounded by neo-Renaissance architecture, pink, terracotta, and green colors, and arched windows with reliefs. It is not an enclosed square, but its southern part is open to the sea, overlooking the port, which gives it even more grandeur and beautiful views. Numerous cultural events and festivals are held in this square, a meeting place for Split residents.

In summer, Copenhagen becomes light. The sky stretches past 10 p.m., the canals fill with reflections, and the entire city seems to breathe more slowly. If there's one color that defines this season in the Danish capital , it's pink : soft, bright, ephemeral like a bubble.

It's the pink that colors the sky at sunset over Nyhavn , the pink of the parks in bloom, the pink of the bicycles crossing bridges with a summery rhythm. It's a pink that isn't cheesy, but fresh; it appears in the details of the facades, in the carefully curated shop windows, in a cocktail served by the water.

In Copenhagen, pink isn't just a color, it's an attitude: that of enjoying everyday life calmly, with design, with a certain Scandinavian lightness that makes everything more pleasant. Here, summer is soft to the touch and pink to the eye.

Visual tip: Palads Teatret

This unique, colorful, and striking building, known as Palads, is a 17-screen cinema, operating since 1912 and managed by Nordisk Film. However, its mention here is mainly due to its exterior, its striking aesthetics, which break with the city's light and neutral color scheme, and its age, as it was the first CPH train station. You won't be able to resist succumbing to a few photographs of its architecture from different perspectives .

Visual Tip: La Banchina Café and Sauna

Located in Christianshavn, away from the city center, this ideal spot for dining and swimming also has a sauna. In summer, sipping wine with your feet in the water on the wooden pier can be the ultimate hygge experience. The restaurant is open year-round, but the sauna is open only in winter.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a destination where time is measured by the rhythm of the sea and the surrounding mountains. In summer, the city comes alive with a unique palette: burgundy red, bottle green, and navy blue , which intertwine on facades, windows, cobblestone streets, umbrellas, and changing tables, creating a vibrant and individual landscape.

This tricolor not only decorates the streets and the sand of the beach—which is striped in these shades so characteristic of the French Atlantic coast—but also tells the story of a town of corsairs and fishermen that today invites you to explore its bay, relax on its beaches, and enjoy its exquisite cuisine.

In every corner, the intense red of the windows, the deep green of the gardens, and the blue of the ocean create a fresh, inviting, maritime atmosphere, ideal for a summer of tranquility and discovery.

Around Saint-Jean-de-Luz , three other gems of the French Basque Country share this visual and summery harmony. Biarritz , with its stately elegance and mansions overlooking the sea, also wears burgundy, bottle green, and deep blue on its beach awnings and striped huts. Guéthary , more discreet but full of charm, blends surfing and Basque architecture among small white houses with intensely colored shutters that replicate the same coastal palette. And Bayonne , with its more urban and festive soul, extends red and green across its traditional facades and open-air markets. All of them, along with Saint-Jean, construct a summer map where colors are not just seen: they are experienced.

Visual tip: Buvette de la Halle

Since 1937, this is another of the city's iconic restaurants, located at one end of the market with access to the Boulevard. The blackboard, from which the menu is chanted, is their way of saying "you eat well here." Its decor, unchanged since its opening, reveals a timeless setting, with wood, benches, and tables that belonged to an old train. Outside, the wonderful terrace, with its many tables and chairs made of red patinated metal, delights locals and travelers alike with its cuisine. Open every day of the year, its menu offers a very tempting variety of Basque dishes, natural salads, grilled sardines and other fish, mussels, shrimp, and more. In summer, come for lunch or dinner early if you don't want to miss out on trying this place, which stands out for its authenticity.

Visual tip: The Grand Plage du Biarritz

A picture is worth a thousand words: if you close your eyes, you can feel the hustle and bustle of the 1920s and visualize the bathing suits of that era; if you open them, that image continues, adapted to the times, but with the presence of vibrant primary-colored umbrellas and, once again, the iconic striped changing rooms lined up near the promenade.