7 Most Beautiful Villages To Visit In Europe

Towns and villages give you a good, big picture of the soul of a country. Europe boasts breathtakingly beautiful towns and villages, each offering examples of regional architecture. Many towns and villages in Europe are located in a wonderful natural environment and are popular tourist destinations. Below we feature some of the most beautiful towns and villages you can find when you travel around Europe.

# Reine, Norway

Reine is the administrative centre of Moskenes municipality, located on the northern coast of Norway, above the Arctic Circle, about 140 miles (225 km) south of Tromsø. As of 2005, its population is of 342 inhabitants. Reine has been a commercial centre since 1743. Today tourism is important, and despite of its remote location, thousands of people visit this neighborhood annually. The largest weekly magazine in Norway (Allers) selected Reine as the most beautiful village in Norway in the late 1970s. A photograph over Reine from the mountain Reinebringen has been used for the front page of several tourist brochures and books.

# Geiranger, Norway

Geiranger is a small tourist village in the western part of Norway. It lies at the head of the Geirangerfjord. The nearest city is Ålesund. Geiranger is home to some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, and has been named the best travel destination in Scandinavia by Lonely Planet. Since 2005, the Geirangerfjord has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This third biggest cruise ship port receives 140 to 180 ships during the four-month tourist season. Several hundred thousand people pass through every summer, and tourism is the main business for the 250 people who live there permanently.

# Smögen, Sweden

Smögen is a village situated in southwest part of Sweden with 1,329 inhabitants in 2010. It is one of the liveliest "summer towns" of the Swedish West Coast. The community actually straddled several islands that lay so close together that the space in between has since been filled, and is now considered as a single island. Smögen is well known for its long, wooden pier (around 600 m or 1,970 ft), filled with shops in old fishing huts, which are frequented by a multitude of tourists during the summer.

# Ísafjörður, Iceland

Ísafjörður is a town in the north west of Iceland, seat of Ísafjarðarbær municipality. With a population of about 2,600 Ísafjörður is the largest town in the peninsula of Vestfirðir (Westfjords). It is located on a spit of sand in the Skutulsfjörður fjord. Fishing has been the main industry in Ísafjörður, and the town has one of the largest fisheries in Iceland. A severe decline in the fishing industry, for a variety of reasons such as political fishing restrictions in the early 80s and a decline in the fish population, has led the inhabitants to seek work elsewhere, leading to a decline in the town's population.

# Siglufjörður, Iceland

Siglufjörður is a small fishing town in a narrow fjord with the same name on the northern coast of Iceland. Population in January 2011 was 1,206 but the town has been shrinking in size since the 1950s when the town reached its peak with 3,000 inhabitants. Today the town remains dependent on fishing industries although the herring are gone. The government of Iceland is attempting to reverse the population shrinking in the area by improving land transportation.

# Castle Combe, UK

Castle Combe is a small village in Wiltshire, England, with a population of about 350. Situated in a conservation area on the southernmost edge of the Cotswolds and just twelve miles from Bath, this hidden gem has been welcoming visitors for at least a century. It is renowned for its attractiveness and tranquillity, and for fine buildings including the medieval church. Castle Combe is often called 'the prettiest village in England'.