Bustling market & commercial towns.
Regional centres that actually centre something.
Saint-Flour
This particularly photogenic compact town in the Cantal département of south-central France, Saint-Flour sits above scenic surroundings with mountain views a…
Bastia
Corsica's principal port and commercial hub, Bastia sits at the base of Cap Corse on the island's northeast coast, where a walkable harbour front, small fort…
Solothurn
Solothurn's pedestrian-only old town, built largely between 1520 and 1790, is one of Switzerland's most concentrated displays of Baroque architecture, blendi…
Lake City
A compact Florida county seat where a domed courthouse, moss-draped lakeshores, lily-pad-covered water, and a streetscape of historic brick storefronts and V…
Joinville
This small town on the water in Haute-Marne, north-eastern France, Joinville carries a layered medieval history: it was the seat of a lordship in the county…
Oppido Mamertina
A broad stone piazza fronts a grand white-facade church with a clock tower in this compact Calabrian town, backed by green forested hills and animated by the…
Ávila City
Enclosed by medieval walls and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, Ávila's old town is one of the best-preserved in Spain, earning the city the ni…
Nevada City
This photogenic compact town in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, Nevada City sits along a waterway in mountain terrain with a compact central core…
Omegna
At the northernmost tip of Lago d'Orta in Piedmont, Omegna sits directly on the water with a lakeside boulevard where a street market runs every Thursday mor…
Sondrio
Walkable wine-country town at the heart of the Valtellina valley in Lombardy, Sondrio serves as the provincial capital and was named Alpine Town of the Year…
Imst
Heritage-dense modest town on the River Inn in western Tyrol, Imst sits close to the mountains with scenic viewpoints in the surrounding area and a café and…
Sesimbra
This fishing town on Portugal's Setúbal coast where the Serra da Arrábida mountains meet the sea, Sesimbra has a walkable centre with a dense food-and-drink…
Annaberg-Buchholz
A mountain town in Saxony's Ore Mountains whose historic old town has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2019, alongside the surrounding histori…
Chur
Reputedly the oldest town in Switzerland, Chur sits on the Rhine in the canton of Graubünden, with a walkable centre dense with food and drink options and vi…
Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro
The original San Juan Parangaricutiro was buried under ash and lava when the Parícutin volcano erupted in 1943, and the top of its church still protrudes fro…
Bad Neustadt an der Saale
This walkable Bavarian spa town where the Franconian Saale and Brend rivers meet, Bad Neustadt an der Saale has a centre with several historic churches, café…
Wattens
Wattens, a little market town in Tyrol's Innsbruck-Land district, is best known as the home of Swarovski, the Austrian crystal glass company.
Perleberg
A compact Brandenburg town with a walkable central core of cafés and restaurants, Perleberg has held city rights since 1239 and serves as the district capita…
Kyparissia
This compact waterfront town on the northwestern Peloponnese, Kyparissia has a café and restaurant scene that punches above its size, an unusual density of c…
Lienz
A heritage-dense medieval town in East Tyrol, Austria, Lienz sits at the confluence of the Isel and Drau rivers with a well-preserved historic centre, an unu…
Tarazona
Tarazona, on the river Queiles in Aragon, packs an unusual concentration of historic churches and medieval architecture into a modest centre shaped by centur…
Liezen
A modest district capital on the River Enns in Styria, Liezen serves as the economic and administrative hub of Austria's largest district by area.
Badajoz city
Sitting on the left bank of the Guadiana river close to the Portuguese border, Badajoz is a city in Extremadura with a walkable centre dense with historic ch…
Saint-Quentin
A photogenic town in northern France's Aisne department with a walkable centre and a dense food-and-drink scene, Saint-Quentin sits on the Somme river and tr…
Herzberg
A cobblestone market square anchors this small Brandenburg town, where a grand red-brick Gothic church and a stepped-gable Renaissance town hall face each ot…
Zierikzee
This modest Zeeland town in the southwest Netherlands holds an unusually dense concentration of listed historic buildings and churches for its size, with a w…
Oschatz
A Saxon town between Leipzig and Dresden, Oschatz centres on a broad cobbled market square framed by a Renaissance town hall with stepped gables, an ornate f…
Mende
Mende is the little prefecture of France's Lozère department in Occitania, set along the River Lot amid mountain terrain and offering a café and restaurant s…
Iglesias
A walkable town in southwestern Sardinia with a centre dense with historic churches, cafés, and restaurants, Iglesias was one of the most important royal cit…
Zamora de Hidalgo
The Santuario Guadalupano, a neo-Gothic church said to be the tallest in Mexico and among the tallest in the Americas, dominates the skyline of this mid-size…
Myrina
A waterfront capital of the Greek island of Lemnos, in the North Aegean, Myrina has a café and restaurant scene that punches above its size, a strong concent…
Birjand
Birjand, the provincial capital of South Khorasan in eastern Iran, is known for exports of saffron, barberry, jujube, and handmade carpets.
Herisau
This walkable Swiss town serves as the seat of government and parliament for the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, with a centre that includes a Protestant c…
Cividale del Friuli
Founded by Julius Caesar as Forum Iulii — the name that eventually gave the entire Friuli region its identity — Cividale del Friuli later became the capital…
Siatista
Mountain town in Western Macedonia that flourished as a prosperous Greek commercial centre during the Ottoman period, Siatista retains a dense concentration…
Sint-Niklaas
Belgium's largest market square anchors Sint-Niklaas, a Flemish city in East Flanders between Antwerp and Ghent.
Trzebiatów
A little town on the Rega River in north-western Poland, Trzebiatów has a well-preserved medieval Old Town — registered as a protected historical monument —…
Tamsweg
At over 1,000 metres elevation, Tamsweg is the highest-situated district administrative centre in Austria — a little market town in the Salzburg Lungau regio…
Gjakova
A city in western Kosovo with a walkable historic centre built around the Çarshia e Madhe — the old bazaar that once made Gjakova one of the leading commerci…
Jenbach
A compact Tyrolean market town of red-tile rooftops and a prominent church spire, Jenbach sits in a broad Alpine valley with upland country close at hand and…
Dauwendaele
A compact Dutch town on the water, Dauwendaele sits within reach of Middelburg's ornate Gothic civic architecture — visible here in a grand stone town hall r…
Itri
Sitting in a valley between the Monti Aurunci and the Gulf of Gaeta, Itri is a tiny agricultural town in Lazio's Latina province with a photogenic medieval c…
St. Gallen
The Abbey of Saint Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site whose library holds manuscripts dating to the 9th century, is the centrepiece of this eastern Swiss city.
Fulpmes
Small market town in Austria's Stubaital valley, Fulpmes has served as the iron-working centre of the valley for generations and sits at the base of the Schl…
Schruns
This little Austrian market town in the Montafon valley of Vorarlberg sits alongside water with mountain scenery on all sides, including the Zimba peak to th…
Roermond
A historic Dutch town at the confluence of the Meuse and Roer rivers, Roermond has held town rights since 1231 and served as the seat of the Roman Catholic D…
Viviers
This modest town on the Rhône in southern France's Ardèche, Viviers was once the capital of the historic Vivarais province — a name it gave to the entire reg…
Tenosique de Pino Suárez
Sitting on the banks of the Usumacinta River in the southeastern corner of Tabasco, Tenosique de Pino Suárez is a photogenic riverside town with mountain vie…
Enna
Italy's highest provincial capital, Enna sits atop a ridge at the centre of Sicily, earning it the nickname "Belvedere of Sicily" for its sweeping views acro…
Celje
Slovenia's third-largest city, Celje sits at the confluence of several rivers in the lower Savinja Valley, with a walkable centre full of cafés and mountain…
Yreka
The county seat of Siskiyou County in northern California, Yreka sits near the Shasta River in mountain terrain and holds the Klamath National Forest Interpr…
Roanoke
Roanoke's most recognizable landmark is the Roanoke Star, an illuminated star atop a mountain within the city limits that has earned it the nickname "The Sta…
Cangas de Onis
A lively Asturian market town where a grand stone clock-tower town hall anchors a busy central square, with upland country and UNESCO World Heritage sites cl…
Mittweida
This compact Saxon market town with a cobbled central square, ornate stepped-gable facades, and a decorated stone obelisk, sitting close to the water and upl…
Laa an der Thaya
This broad market square dominated by an ornate historicist town hall with a clock tower and colourful tiled roof gives this Lower Austrian border town a civ…
Piotrkow Trybunalski
Piotrków Trybunalski, a city in central Poland, holds an outsized place in Polish legal and parliamentary history: the first Polish parliament convened here…
Eschwege
Walkable town in northeastern Hesse on the Werra river, Eschwege sits in hilly terrain with scenic viewpoints in the surrounding countryside and a centre wit…
Cape Coast
Cape Coast Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that served as a headquarters of the Royal African Company during the transatlantic slave trade, anchors this…
Lanusei
This compact Sardinian hill town serves as co-capital of the Province of Ogliastra alongside Tortolì, sitting in mountain terrain with scenic surroundings an…
Voiron
A gateway town to the Chartreuse Mountains in southeastern France, Voiron sits at the foot of the range with a walkable centre full of cafés and restaurants,…