20 Colorful Places to Photograph, With Galaxy Settings

For some locations, whether it’s brightly coloured houses or vast flower fields, the place itself supplies half of what makes a photo look good – you just need to make sure you don’t mess up the other half!

Strong colours can be tricky on a Galaxy phone – too much and it’s garish, too little and you may struggle to get enough detail in bright sunlight.

For each of these locations we’ve included a brief note on what makes it so colourful, when it’s best to visit, and which Galaxy lens and setting you should consider.

Galaxy settings for colourful places

On a Galaxy S25 Ultra (running One UI 9, checked in November 2026), the old Scene optimizer toggle is called Scene detection and can be found in Camera settings > Photo enhancer. The changes it makes are explained in our Scene Optimizer guide. According to Samsung's guide to shooting in Pro mode, once shutter speed is set manually, ISO sensitivity will no longer be set to Auto. So for festival pictures, manually set both.

Painted towns and waterfronts

• Burano, Italy – According to National Geographic, the picturesque island of Burano can be reached from Venice in around 40 minutes by boat. Located in the northern part of the Venice lagoon, Burano is known for its vibrantly coloured houses that sit along its canals. Tip: Visit in the evening to avoid the crowds (Lonely Planet says evenings are much quieter) and shoot at 1x along one of the canals to pick up the colourful reflections.
• Procida, Italy – Described by Italy’s national tourism site as an island of watercolour houses, Procida sits in the Gulf of Naples. The car-free fishing village of Corricella can be accessed either by sea or via a flight of steps. Tip: Visit in September, as Lonely Planet says it tends to be busy in August. Head to the viewpoint at Belvedere dei Cannoni and shoot at 3x.
• Manarola, Italy – One of the villages that make up Cinque Terre in the Liguria region of Italy, Manarola features brightly coloured houses perched precariously on a steep cliff-side. The surrounding Cinque Terre landscape was listed by UNESCO in 1997. Tip: To get here, Cinque Terre national park advises that some parts of the walking trail may be inaccessible and a Cinque Terre Card is required to access the coastal path, so check the park’s trail-status page before setting off. Visit at dusk and prop your phone up against a railing before shooting in Night mode.
• Willemstad, Curaçao – The historic centre of Willemstad has been listed by UNESCO since 1997. The pastel-coloured colonial architecture that lines both sides of St Anna Bay is a big drawcard for visitors. Tip: For a wide shot of the pastel-coloured buildings on the waterfront at Handelskade, stand on the opposite side of the bay and zoom in at 3x so that the whole row fits in one frame.
• Nyhavn, Denmark – The 17th-century houses that line this popular canal in Copenhagen are painted in an array of bright colours. In December there’s a Christmas market here and in summer the outdoor cafés fill up, according to VisitCopenhagen. Tip: Visit at dusk and shoot across from one of the bridges or the opposite side of the quay at 1x.
• Bo-Kaap, South Africa – The brightly coloured houses of Cape Town’s Bo-Kaap are situated on steep, cobbled streets on the slopes of Signal Hill. Tip: Shoot from the pavement and don’t block off residents’ doorways, as according to a 2025 report by The Guardian, locals are fed up with tourists and tour buses getting in the way and blocking traffic to snap photos.
• Caminito, Argentina – According to Buenos Aires’ tourism site, in 1959 the tenements that make up this roughly 150m-long street in the La Boca district were painted in an explosion of colours by local artists and residents, spearheaded by local painter Benito Quinquela Martín, turning it into an open-air museum. Tip: Shoot at 0.6x to frame as much of the street as possible.
• Guanajuato, Mexico – The tightly packed houses of Guanajuato burst with colour as they cling to the steep walls of the narrow ravine in which the city sits. Tip: Head to the monument to Pípila which overlooks Guanajuato’s centre (you can get here on foot or via the funicular railway) and shoot in panorama or use the ultrawide lens. Try lowering the brightness a little to avoid blowing out the colours on the buildings.

Blue cities

• Known as India’s Blue City, Jodhpur is found in the state of Rajasthan. From the vantage point of Mehrangarh Fort, which India’s official tourism site places on a 410-foot pinnacle, you can use 0.6x to take in all of the blue-washed houses of the old city that sprawl below the fort or 3x to zoom in on a particularly photogenic grouping of blue cubes. Just bear in mind that the same site gives May highs of around 45°C, so going up on the rooftops in the middle of the day wouldn’t be the easiest task!
• In northwest Morocco, the town of Chefchaouen clings to the slopes of the Rif Mountains and its medina is awash with blue. According to Morocco’s official tourism website, the best times to visit Chefchaouen are between April and June and again between September and October as winters tend to be rainy. As you make your way through Chefchaouen’s blue-painted alleyways, remember to set your camera’s white balance (in Pro mode) to compensate for the extra blue that shadows can impart to the scene, and don’t let it change as you move around.

Flowers in season

• The tulip fields in South Holland’s Bollenstreek bloom from late March to mid-May, and according to Holland.com they’re usually at their best in mid-April. Keukenhof will be open from 18 March to 9 May in 2027. Mind you, no drones in the park! The fields belong to growers, so photograph them from the road, and use 3x to stack the rows of colour into leading lines.
• The ‘lavender’ fields on the Valensole plateau in Provence are actually lavandin (a lavender hybrid) most of the time. According to the local tourist office, flowering usually starts in mid-June, is at its best in early July and harvesting usually starts around 14 July. Best time of day to visit? The office suggests the hour after sunrise. Don’t wander into the lavender itself. Stick to the fringes. Compress the lines with 3x.
• In spring (late April to May, weather depending) you can walk through tunnels of wisteria (white to purple) at Kawachi Fujien in Kitakyushu, Japan. In season, tickets have to be booked in advance for a certain time slot and in the biggest tunnel you’ll walk in one direction only. Tripods and drones are banned. Shoot handheld 1x pictures looking into the tunnel.
• In Kyoto cherry trees are in full bloom on average on 4 April (Japan’s weather agency), though this differs a bit every year. According to Kyoto City’s visitor guide, taking pictures is not allowed in many areas of Gion and you shouldn’t take pictures of geiko or maiko without asking first. Use 3x to place flowers in front of temple roofs.

Landscapes and natural colour

• Vinicunca, aka Peru’s Rainbow Mountain in the Cusco region, is a roughly 5,200m mountain whose stripes are caused by sediments of different colours from various minerals. According to Peru’s state news agency, the best time to visit Vinicunca is during the dry season (May to October). Getting there takes around a three-hour drive from Cusco followed by a 90 to 120 minute hike. Tip: turn the brightness down slightly for midday shots to stop the colours looking washed out.
• The other-worldly travertine formations of Pamukkale were created by thermal water high in calcium deposits and can be found on a hillside next to the ancient city of Hierapolis in Türkiye. According to Türkiye’s tourism website, the formations are being conserved. Tip: dial down the brightness a bit in sunny weather so you get some texture on the rims of the white terraces.
• The sinuous, narrow walls of Antelope Canyon, a sandstone slot canyon on Navajo Nation land close to Page, Arizona, make it a photographer’s dream. According to Navajo Nation Parks, guided tours are mandatory to visit any of the Antelope Canyons and photography permits aren’t available. Tip: shoot handheld at 1x or 0.6x and expose for the brightest part of the canyon walls.
• The once intensely pink Lake Hillier, found on Middle Island, Western Australia, is usually viewed on a scenic flight. According to Tourism Western Australia, the lake isn’t as bubblegum-pink as it once was and according to ABC News the lake’s salt levels were reduced following heavy rainfall in 2022. Tip: check out recent images of Lake Hillier before you book that plane ticket!

Festivals of colour

• In the Braj region of Uttar Pradesh (particularly around Mathura), people take to the streets for Holi armed with coloured water and powder. Take pictures using a fast shutter speed, preferably using burst mode. Make sure your phone is protected in a waterproof pouch. According to India’s official tourism website, Holi is celebrated on the last full moon day of the lunisolar month which usually falls in March. The two-day Lathmar Holi celebration in nearby Barsana takes place in February or March.
• On the last Wednesday of August, the Spanish town of Buñol (near Valencia) holds La Tomatina, a one-hour tomato fight! You’ll need a ticket to take part and selfie sticks are not allowed. The festival’s official website recommends protective goggles and keeping your phone safe in a waterproof pouch. Use 0.6x for the crowd and take pictures of the throws using burst mode.

For more on colours, see our colour theory guide which looks at which colours go well together and why, and 21 red photo ideas which focuses on a single colour. Our travel photography tips show you how to shoot and pack for travel.

Editing colourful travel photos

Colour may appear duller or more intense in the photo than you remember. Use Snapseed’s Tune Image to tweak your photo’s colours. For washed-out skies and walls, try dragging the Highlights slider down. Make small adjustments to the Saturation slider until you’re happy with the result.

If your photo’s oranges and yellows look unnatural, use a selective adjustment to tone down those colours, as that way, you won’t have to compromise the rest of your image.