Don't let a fear of heights prevent you from admiring these amazing cliffside cities
Breathtaking Photos of Cities Perched on the Edge of Cliffs
Updated on May 16, 2025
Castellfollit De La Roca, Spain
This Spanish town of about 1,000 people is in the Garrotxa region of Catalonia. Castellfollit De La Roca is built on the cliffs above where the Toronell and Fluvià rivers meet. The old historic town dates back to the Middle Ages, and when you visit, you can wander through its streets and see the restored 11th-century Sant Salvador church. The best views of the town are likely from a hot air balloon, from where you can also admire the whole Garrotxa region’s unique volcanic landscape.
Busan, South Korea
Busan is the second-largest city in South Korea, and it’s built right up to its beaches and seaside cliffs. This photo depicts the dramatically situated Haedong Yonggungsa Temple in Busan’s northeast. The temple, which remains a popular tourist attraction, was founded by Naong Hyegeunin in 1376. Naong dreamed of a sea god who told him that building the temple would bring an end to famine, the return of rain for crops and happiness to the people who prayed there.
Arcos De La Frontera, Spain
The cliffside village of Arcos De La Frontera is in the Spanish province of Cadiz. It’s one of Andalucia’s pueblos blancos, or white villages, known for its many whitewashed buildings. The village sits on a limestone cliff above the Guadalete River. With a source of fresh water and the hilltop location allowing defensive views of anyone approaching, it was an ideal spot for a settlement. It’s been occupied for a very long time—artifacts and ruins have been found there that date to the Neolithic and Bronze Age, as well as from the Phoenician, Roman and Moorish periods. If you’re planning a visit, it’s worth considering the best time to go to Spain to make the most of the region’s beauty and history.
Ronda, Spain
Another picturesque cliffside village in Spain is Ronda, another of Andalucia’s popular pueblos blancos. The town sits above the 360-foot-deep El Tajo gorge. The gorge separates the old Moorish town, La Ciudad, and the new town, El Mercadillo, which dates to 1485. The bridge that connects them, Puente Nuevo, was completed in 1793.
Ronda’s strategic location made it popular with the region’s legendary bandits in the 1700s to the early 1900s. Ernest Hemingway also spent time in Ronda, where he was supposedly a fan of the bullfighting in the Plaza de Toros. It’s one of Spain’s oldest bullrings, dating to 1785.
Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy
The Mediterranean Sea has several cliffside towns, and the villages of Italy’s Cinque Terre are perhaps its most famous. The Cinque Terre are five seaside villages on Italy’s Ligurian coast, linked by cliffside hiking trails and a train. The Cinque Terre, with its colorful buildings and grape- and olive-strewn cliffs, were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The town of Manarola, pictured here, is 230 feet above the sea, and the church’s bell tower was reportedly the best spot in town to keep watch for pirates. Manarola is connected to Riomaggiore by a walking path carved into the cliff called Via dell’Amore, or Lover’s Lane.
Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Italy
The towns of Cinque Terre are among the most colorful cities in the world, thanks to their beautiful buildings. Riomaggiore is the easternmost and southernmost village of the Cinque Terre, and the best place to start if you’d like to hike the eight miles through all five colorful villages.
The first inhabitants in Riomaggiore weren’t overly interested in a beautiful place to live, however. It was much more important that they have a location safe from pirate raids and with a mild climate to grow grapes and olives. Two ideal spots originally for pirate-watching, and now for admiring the coast, are the Castle of Riomaggiore (built in 1260) and, at more than 1,100 feet above the sea, the Sanctuary of Madonna di Montenero. From the latter, you can see the entire Cinque Terre coast. Other top sites within the town are the Church of San Lorenzo, built in 1338, and the Church of San Giovanni Battista, built in 1340.
Positano, Italy
Down the coast from Cinque Terre, on the Amalfi Coast, is Positano, beloved for the beautiful beaches that stretch out below. The houses on the treed cliffs of Monti Lattari are also colorful, painted bright yellow, pink and white. Positano’s history is that of a popular spot for ancient Romans to relax, and the town itself developed around a 9th-century abbey.
Positano, like several other parts of the Amalfi coast, was damaged in 1343 by an earthquake and the resulting tsunami. Like other cliffside towns, Positano had a defensive location. However, the cliffside location wasn’t enough to protect Positano from pirates, so the residents strengthened their fortifications by building walls and watchtowers.
Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia
On the other side of the Mediterranean from Italy is Tunisia, where the architecture and history date back centuries before medieval times. A popular tourist spot on Tunisia’s coast is the cliffside city of Sidi Bou Said. Famous for its whitewashed buildings with blue trim, this city on a cliff sits high above the Bay of Tunis and a sailboat-filled harbor.
The blue-and-white architecture is Andalusian and Ottoman, and given the popularity of the town with tourists, the buildings are used for cafés, shops, galleries and hotels. Designer Azzedine Alaȉa’s former house has been turned into an art gallery. In Sidi Bou Said, the best views of the Mediterranean and nearby Carthage and Tunis are from the Mausoleum of Abu Said el Baji, the Christian saint-turned-Sufi teacher for whom the village is named.
Santorini, Greece
To the east of Sidi Bou Said and Tunisia is the Greek island of Santorini, also known for its white-and-blue architecture high above the sea. Like many destinations in Greece, Santorini offers a mix of natural beauty, mouthwatering cuisine and rich history, so there’s no shortage of things to do in Greece if you’re planning a visit.
The island is an active volcano, though its last eruption was 3,600 years ago. Santorini’s capital city is called Firá, and it sits on the edge of the volcano’s caldera, or crater, which is covered by the sea. You can walk from Firá to the next-door towns of Firostefani and Imerovigli to admire the island’s particularly beautiful sunsets from each of its cliffside towns. The most exclusive village is Oia, in the north, a truly magnificent Mediterranean city on a cliff.
Bonifacio, Corsica, France
To the west, on France’s island of Corsica, is Bonifacio, the city known as the Citadel of Cliffs. Bonifacio is a medieval town built on Corsica’s white limestone cliffs. It’s also known as Bunifaziu—Corsica and the Italian island of Sardinia were once connected, until volcanic activity separated them into two islands, which eventually belonged to two different nations. The residents of the Citadel of Cliffs and neighboring towns speak a French-Italian dialect.
Bonifacio is the oldest town on Corsica, founded in the early 800s, and is supposedly where Odysseus had his poetic run-in with the cannibalistic Laestrygonians. You can descend from the top of the cliffs down to the sea by a steep stone staircase called the Staircase of King Aragon Alfonso V.
Rocamadour, France
Also in France is the sacred city of Rocamadour in the Dordogne Valley. Built on three levels of cliffs overlooking the Alzou Canyon, Rocamadour is a medieval city on a cliff towering almost 400 feet from the valley below. The car-free town has just one street, and from it you can climb the 216 steep steps of the Great Staircase halfway up the cliff to a square with eight churches.
Pilgrims have come here for hundreds of years to worship, and that makes Rocamadour a place to be especially careful about being a responsible tourist, including dressing respectfully. Rocamadour’s gorgeous medieval castle sits atop the village, and tourists can walk the ramparts to admire the views of the Alzou Valley. If you want a photo of the sky-high village, it’s best taken from the hamlet of L’Hospitalet.
Azenhas do Mar, Sintra, Portugal
Further west, in Portugal, is the popular tourist area of Sintra and the town of Azenhas do Mar. This tiny fishing village has a population of just 800 people. The town of white buildings with red roofs sits on the cliffs and has one of the world’s most beautiful natural pools next to the sandy Atlantic Ocean beach.
Lima, Peru
The new world has cliffside cities too, including modern ones like Lima. Peru’s capital city sits on the Costa Verde cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. While most of this city of almost 11 million stretches far from the cliffs, the Miraflores neighborhood is a prime place for tourists to admire the views from the city’s edge. Down below in the Pacific are surfers, and soaring above the cliffs are colorful paragliders. Tourists who want an even higher view of this city and its high cliffs can take a flying ride in tandem with a pro.
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