01
Saignon, France — population 912
A hilltop village in the Luberon small enough to walk end to end in fifteen minutes, though the view from the old fort at the top is worth staying for a lot longer than that.
small places · walking list
No skyline, no airport, sometimes barely a population sign — just a genuinely good walk. Every town below has fewer than 20,000 people, and one of them has fewer than a thousand.
01
A hilltop village in the Luberon small enough to walk end to end in fifteen minutes, though the view from the old fort at the top is worth staying for a lot longer than that.
02
A Norman castle on a cliff over the River Wye, and the oldest surviving castle doors in Europe — still hanging, still on their original hinges.
03
The Dolomites drop straight into Lake Garda here, and the lakefront promenade spends the whole walk deciding whether it's more mountain town or Mediterranean resort.
04
A working fishing port on Spain's northern coast that most visitors to the country never reach — the walk in along the headland is most of the reason to go.
05
A working harbour on Scotland's northeast coast, with a ruined clifftop castle a short walk south along the water — the kind of stop most road trips through Aberdeenshire skip.
06
A spa town on a lake just outside Paris, filmed under snow — close enough for a day trip, quiet enough that it never feels like one.
07
A walled medieval town balanced along a Tuscan ridgeline, with vineyard views down both sides of the main street and a wine cellar behind more or less every third door.
08
A Victorian seaside resort on the North Wales coast, with the longest pier in Wales and a headland tram ride most visitors to Britain have never even heard of.