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The best cities for street art – chosen by travel bloggers, part 4

(Last Updated On: 27/12/2023)

When I asked fellow travel bloggers what are their favorite street art cities I didn’t expect to get that many answers! And each place they’ve recommended sound pretty amazing, making me daydream about visiting them so much! Here you can find part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this series and now, without further ado here come few last awesome places every fan of street art should check!


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Cali, Colombia by Hannah and Adam from Getting Stamped

Cali, Colombia a city never on our tour radar but a city we found ourselves exploring in October 2013. The street art scene is top notch, right on par with Berlin if you ask me. The art is so colorful, capturing, and addicting. You will find gorgeous pieces throughout the city, unlike many other cities where the street art is mainly in one area of town. We found ourselves roaming the street looking for more, and snacking on all the tasty street food along the way.

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Lisbon, Portugal by Lizzie from Wanderful World

Lisbon is world famous for its street art scene. Almost every single wall from the spiralling streets of Alfama to the alleyways of Bairro Alto is covered in colourful art. The area surrounding Picoas metro station is home to the most impressive examples, though, thanks to a project that aims to renovate one of the city’s most rundown neighbourhoods. Internationally renowned street artists were invited to create huge murals on abandoned office and apartment blocks, resulting in surreal scenes with weird and wonderful characters.
This black and white piece is by Lucy McLauchlan.

Street art Lisbon
Coimbra, Portugal by Jowita from Polacos de Polonia

I love street art. I love those spectacular paintings, hyponotizing colours but I’m also the fan of regular, colourless street art (as long as it doesn’t abuse anyone!). My favorite city with street art is Coimbra, Portugal. It’s full of messages about politics, social life and mottos to follow. What amazed me the most was that I found there one of my favorite musicians. Merrill Garbus from tune-yards. She’s not well-known and yet she was painted on Portuguese walls in Coimbra. That made my day ; )

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Berlin, Germany by Tati from Poszli-Pojechali

I’d never thought I would regret some piece of streetart so much. And now 2 most known murals by BLU in Berlin are the history. The artist decided to paint the walls black as a kind of protest to planned changes in Kreuzberg. Great pity but his right to do so, We recommend Berlin to every streetart lover as its walls express more thoughts and opinions than any politician/celebrity ever decided to show in the daylight. Check Kreuzberg and East Side Gallery first of all!

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Montreal, Canada by Susan from Solo Trips and Tips

Montreal has a strong street art and graffiti community. The Under Pressure Graffiti Festival held each August began 19 years with a focus on community development and artist empowerment. The Mural Public Art Festival held it’s second edition in June 2014 featuring 20 murals created while the public looked on. One of my favorite pastimes when I visit Montreal is to wander the downtown streets to discover the street art.

Montreal street art - Fear and Loathing in Montreal
Austin, US by Susan from Solo Trips and Tips

In downtown Austin Texas there is a graffiti park called the Hope Outdoor Gallery located at 1101 Baylor Street. The site is an abandoned construction site so there are several concrete walls making for perfect graffiti canvases. It is private property owned by an investment firm that agreed to a proposal from a non-profit organization to begin the graffiti park. The ever changing gallery of street art is a great place to spend some time while visiting Austin.

Austin TX Graffiti Park - Hope Outdoor Gallery
Brisbane, Australia by Julia from Where is Juli + Sam

Let’s paint all the Traffic Signal Boxes in the city, let’s take something which is inherently ugly and turn it into something truly beautiful, said somebody about 15 years ago. Since that day Brisbane streets have looked awesome! On almost every corner, you will find a colourful unique box (that control the traffic lights), which have been converted from dull and lifeless into art. Each one is hand-painted by a Brisbane resident and usually reflects the community and environment in which it is located.

TSB Brisbane Julia
Bogota, Colombia by Patrick from The Backpack Diary

Bogota’s arrio Candelaria is home to a vibrant and diverse street art culture, with crews and solo artists arriving from around the World to prove themselves hoping to make it big. Little wonder, as some of the city’s bigger names have really begun to make the step from street artist to commercially successful entities. Artist StinkFish, for example, is now able to sell canvas works as well as being flown around the world for commissioned pieces. This is in no small part thanks to the community, who has accepted street art as part of Bogota’s cultural identity as opposed to treating it as illegal graffiti. This includes local schools that provide safe zones for painting, with guidance from popular artists. With Colombia’s turbulent past and current political climate, there is no shortage of inspiration for artists new and seasoned. As you walk the streets of Bogotá the pieces range from abstract and beautiful to politically volatile and controversial, conveying messages of the civil wars and institutional corruption. One recurring theme is that of the displacement and exploitation of Colombia’s indigenous people, something which is very close to the heart of most locals. The only true way to understand the works of the various artists and the cultural past of the city is to take the free graffiti walking tour, every day at 10am – highly recommended!

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Which cities with street art would you recommend?

If you want to read more about the street art and my great finds around the world check out more posts about it!


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48 Comments

  • Reply
    Paweł Nowakowski
    27/03/2015 at 21:01

    Kraków! :D

  • Reply
    Sebastian Robaszkiewicz
    27/03/2015 at 21:16

    Byłem w kilku miastach z tych które tu są wymienione ale jakoś nigdy na to nie zwracałem uwagi. A całkiem interesujące są niektóre :)

  • Reply
    Monika Marcinkowska
    27/03/2015 at 22:20

    Aż się zaczynam zastanawiać czy bywasz w miastach bez street artu ;)

    • Reply
      Kami and the rest of the world
      28/03/2015 at 10:50

      wszędzie coś znajdę, nawet w potencjalnie słabym miejscu ;)

  • Reply
    Kinga Bielejec
    28/03/2015 at 00:43

    Byłam w Berlinie i Lizbonie, ale dziwię się, że nie ma w rangkingu malajskiego Georgetown, które słynie ze street artu :)

  • Reply
    Julia
    28/03/2015 at 08:31

    I love both form Colombia <3 Thanks for having us Kami :)

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:23

      thank you for contributing! :)

  • Reply
    Ursula
    28/03/2015 at 09:13

    Thanks for this interesting article about street art. It is really hard to decide, which one I like Best.
    A great destination for street art is Athens. Feel free to have a look, if you like https://blog.myvideomedia.com/graffiti-and-street-art-athens/

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:24

      thank you for your comment Ursula! I’ve been to Athens last year and also explored its street art, you can find it on my blog too! It is definitely one of the best street art cities ever!

  • Reply
    Marcin Wesołowski
    28/03/2015 at 10:49

    No teraz to polecam Teheran :)

    • Reply
      Kami and the rest of the world
      28/03/2015 at 10:50

      to lepiej trzymaj kciuki, żeby mnie tam wpuścili ;)

  • Reply
    Maciej Marczewski
    28/03/2015 at 10:59

    Łódź ;)

  • Reply
    Marta Czaczkowska
    28/03/2015 at 12:07

    Zdecydowanie Berlin :)

  • Reply
    Angela Michalik
    28/03/2015 at 15:19

    polecam także murale w Belfaście :)

  • Reply
    Lukasz
    28/03/2015 at 19:07

    Great rank! Recently, I have been to Berlin and I found out a really unique piece of street art – pretty big cosmonaut keeping his arm like he wants to grab something. During day it looks like he just keeps his arm without any particular reason, but in the night, the street lights throw the shade of a small flag from nearby parking, so it looks like cosmonaut putting a flag on a surface of the moon. Pretty amazing!

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:26

      I think I know which one you mean! Is it in Kreuzberg? I will have to take a closer look next time I’m there! Thank you for this tip!

  • Reply
    https://olazplecakiem.blogspot.com/
    28/03/2015 at 20:15

    amazing graffiti. So beautiful

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:26

      I have to agree :)

  • Reply
    Asia | Byłem tu. Tony Halik.
    29/03/2015 at 12:43

    My most fav street art place is definately Beco do Batman, Vila Madalena, in Sao Paulo :)

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:26

      Too bad I didn’t have to go there when I was in Sao Paulo!!

  • Reply
    Angela
    29/03/2015 at 17:07

    You have also nice-looking murals in Belfast, I totally recommend.

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:28

      it’s definitely on my list!

  • Reply
    Ibazela
    30/03/2015 at 11:43

    I love to see how passionate you are about the street art. Although I’m not a big fan of this kind of art, I simply can’t imagine Berlin without it! It…. no, it wouldn’t be the same. The history wouldn’t be the same! :)

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:29

      there are more places like Berlin, where street art is a huge part of it! But yes, Berlin is exceptional!

  • Reply
    Katie Featherstone
    30/03/2015 at 13:16

    Great suggestions! Portugal is a fantastic place for street-art. I love that piece. My favourites so far have been Melbourne, Australia and Bristol, UK.

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:30

      I’ve heard so many good things about street art in Bristol I will have to visit it too, I guess!

  • Reply
    Zuza
    30/03/2015 at 18:52

    Every time I hear ‘street art’, I think ‘Vardø’. It’s a very sad town in Norway, the most eastern point of western Europe, where the entrance to the hell is located (really!). It doesn’t look like most of the country, it’s far from the stereotypical view at Norway and there ‘street art’ it’s much more than art. Being in Vardø is quite depressing, but graffiti says a lot about its citizens.

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:31

      I think I’ve heard of this place before but didn’t know they have any form of street art out there. You just made it move up my list big time! Thanks!

  • Reply
    Susan Moore
    30/03/2015 at 19:05

    I love this series of best cities for street art – Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have some incredible street art. I love when I am exploring a new city on foot and I see the beautiful street art around the neighborhoods. Thanks for including my photos Kami!

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:32

      Thank you for contributing! I really enjoyed street art in Rio de Janeiro and too bad I didn’t have time to explore the one in Sao Paulo when I was there. Guess I have to return to Brazil :)

  • Reply
    Gail at Large
    01/04/2015 at 21:36

    Porto, Portugal! I just wrote about this yesterday (see CommentLuv link below), and in that post are lots of other examples of street art around the city. Porto has some excellent local artists, and the city has commissioned them for large-scale murals, too — there’s one beside Trindade Metro Station.

    • Reply
      kami
      06/04/2015 at 22:33

      I’ve just returned from Porto and I agree with you – it has an amazing street art scene! Thank you for sharing the link!

  • Reply
    kami
    06/04/2015 at 22:33

    yup, it was in one of the earlier posts about street art!

  • Reply
    Natalia
    24/04/2015 at 13:55

    koniecznie na liscie powinno się znaleźć Sao Paulo! :)

    • Reply
      kami
      29/04/2015 at 12:02

      było w jednej z wcześniejszych edycji :)

  • Reply
    Janeen @ Green Global Travel
    02/06/2015 at 03:08

    Great post! I loved seeing the art from these different areas. Thanks for sharing!

    • Reply
      kami
      19/06/2015 at 23:41

      Thank you!

  • Reply
    Solo Trips And Tips - Other Published Writing - : Solo Trips And Tips
    20/06/2015 at 19:40

    […] Kami & The Rest of The World – Best Cities for Street Art – Chosen by Travel Bloggers, Part 4 […]

  • Reply
    Giulia Blocal
    20/11/2015 at 08:41

    I’d add Athens (Greece): the town is full of amazing street art.
    Also Rome (Italy) is developping a great street art scene. Not so stunning like other European capitals such as Lisbon, Berlin or London, but something good is growing here too :)

    • Reply
      kami
      29/11/2015 at 13:26

      I’ve already written about street art in Greece and it’s indeed pretty amazing! I’m going to check out the one in Rome soon but I’ve heard it’s pretty decent too!

  • Reply
    siva
    25/11/2016 at 08:40

    Great article. Always an enlightening read from this blog. Thank you for sharing such great information.

    • Reply
      kami
      03/12/2016 at 20:57

      Thanks you

  • Reply
    Leo neto
    20/04/2017 at 18:17

    The arts are beautiful. Congratulations!

    • Reply
      kami
      21/04/2017 at 08:50

      thank you!

  • Reply
    Mandy
    19/01/2018 at 10:06

    Detroit Michigan!! Amazing city with amazing street art everywhere. check out Murals in the Market festival!

    • Reply
      kami
      29/03/2018 at 20:12

      I haven’t been to the US yet but thank you for recommending Detroit, I will make sure to visit it when I finally get there!

  • Reply
    wahida
    12/12/2018 at 11:34

    Thanks for sharing. I am definitely going to try and get to Lisbon and Berlin as they are relatively close. However, we did go on a street art tour in Jaco, Costa Rica – which was really fab. Check it out if you get the chance! #jacócityarttour

    • Reply
      kami
      06/01/2019 at 09:54

      Thanks, I will! And you should definitely go to Lisbon and Berlin when you have a chance!

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