From the Acropolis above Athens to the towers of Hong Kong and the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, these 30 cityscapes show how hills, rivers, coasts and history shape the way a city looks from above. Each one comes with the landmarks to find in the frame and a little of the story behind them.

The Acropolis above the dense buildings of Athens, Hellas, with Lycabettus Hill beyond
Athens, Hellas: the Acropolis rising above the city, with Lycabettus Hill beyond.

Athens, Hellas: the Acropolis and Lycabettus

Few skylines carry as much history as that of Athens. The rock of the Acropolis, crowned by the Parthenon, rises straight out of the modern city, and from many rooftops it lines up with Lycabettus Hill, at 277 metres the highest point in central Athens. A funicular climbs Lycabettus from Kolonaki to the 19th-century Chapel of St George on the summit, and the open-air theatre near the top reopened in September 2023 after some fifteen years.

Go at sunset for the classic view across the city to the Acropolis and, on a clear evening, the Saronic Gulf. The official Athens guide lists viewpoints, museums and neighbourhoods to walk afterwards.

North American skylines

New York City, USA

A Manhattan cityscape with the Empire State Building among surrounding blocks
New York City: the Empire State Building among Midtown Manhattan's blocks.

The Empire State Building, finished in 1931, still anchors Midtown Manhattan's skyline. Its Art Deco tower reaches 381 metres to the roof and 443 metres to the tip of its antenna. For a hand-drawn version of the same streets, see Patrick Vale’s hand-drawn Manhattan panorama, and for green space between the towers, Central Park.

Vancouver, Canada

Vancouver, Canada – city skyline photograph
Vancouver, Canada.

Vancouver's glass towers sit between the sea and the Coast Mountains, with the forest of Stanley Park at the tip of the downtown peninsula.

Seattle, USA

Seattle, USA – cityscape photograph by Thatcher Photography
Seattle, USA. Photo: Thatcher Photography

Seattle's signature is the Space Needle, built for the 1962 World's Fair. On clear days, Mount Rainier appears behind the skyline.

Los Angeles, USA

Los Angeles, USA – city skyline photograph
Los Angeles, USA.

Los Angeles spreads across a wide basin ringed by mountains, so its downtown towers stand out as a compact cluster in a low, sprawling city.

Chicago, USA

Chicago, USA – lakefront skyline photograph
Chicago, USA.

Chicago is often called the birthplace of the skyscraper: the Home Insurance Building of 1885 is widely regarded as the first. Today the skyline lines the shore of Lake Michigan.

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu, Hawaii – city and coast photograph
Honolulu, Hawaii.

Honolulu's hotels run along Waikiki Beach towards Diamond Head, the volcanic tuff cone that frames the city's best-known view.

Mexico City, Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico – cityscape photograph
Mexico City, Mexico.

Mexico City was built on the site of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, on the bed of the old Lake Texcoco, in a high valley surrounded by mountains and volcanoes.

European cityscapes, from capitals to hill towns

Turin (Torino), Italy

Turin (Torino), Italy – cityscape photograph by Tiziano
Turin (Torino), Italy. Photo: Tiziano Nikon D610

Turin's skyline is dominated by the spire of the Mole Antonelliana, which houses the National Cinema Museum, with the Alps rising behind the city on clear days.

London, UK

London, UK – skyline photograph
London, UK.

London's skyline mixes St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London with the newer towers of the City, all strung along the curves of the Thames.

Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy – cityscape photograph by Martin Molcan
Florence, Italy. Photo: Martin Molcan

Florence is ruled by Brunelleschi's dome on the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Piazzale Michelangelo, across the Arno, is the classic viewpoint.

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, Spain – cityscape photograph by Adam Myszkowski
Barcelona, Spain. Photo: Adam Myszkowski

From above, Barcelona shows Ildefons Cerdà's Eixample grid of chamfered blocks, with Gaudí's Sagrada Família rising out of it. Watch it in motion in Barcelona GO!: Rob Whitworth’s Flowing City Time-Lapse.

Berlin, Germany

Berlin, Germany – cityscape photograph
Berlin, Germany.

Berlin's tallest landmark is the Fernsehturm, the television tower at Alexanderplatz, which can be seen from much of the flat city.

Ålesund, Norway

Ålesund, Norway – coastal town photograph
Ålesund, Norway.

A fire on the night of 23 January 1904 destroyed almost all of Ålesund. The town was rebuilt in stone and brick in Art Nouveau style, mostly between 1904 and 1907, and Kaiser Wilhelm II sent ships with supplies to help. The Aksla viewpoint looks down over the rooftops and islands.

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Monte Carlo, Monaco – harbour and city photograph by Vaidas Tručionis
Monte Carlo, Monaco. Photo: Vaidas Tručionis

Monte Carlo is the Monaco district of the famous casino and the Grand Prix circuit, with apartment towers stacked on the slopes above Port Hercule.

Warsaw, Poland

Warsaw, Poland – city skyline photograph
Warsaw, Poland.

Warsaw's Old Town was almost totally destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt so carefully that UNESCO listed it in 1980. The Palace of Culture and Science still marks the centre of the skyline.

Arpino, Italy

Arpino, Italy – hill town photograph by Raffaele Camardella
Arpino, Italy. Photo: Raffaele Camardella

Arpino, in the province of Frosinone about 100 kilometres southeast of Rome, was the hometown of Cicero and Gaius Marius. Its ancient polygonal walls include a rare pointed arch.

Český Krumlov (Krumau), Czech Republic

Český Krumlov (Krumau), Czech Republic – town photograph by Julian Höck
Český Krumlov (Krumau), Czech Republic. Photo: Julian Höck

Český Krumlov, known in German as Krumau, wraps around a bend of the Vltava below its castle. Its historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Asia, the Gulf and the Pacific

Dubai, UAE

Dubai Marina’s waterfront towers in a broad curved-perspective photograph
Dubai Marina’s waterfront towers. Photo: Karim Nafatni

Dubai Marina is a man-made canal district lined with residential towers, and the wide-angle view bends its waterfront into a curve.

Busan, South Korea

Busan, South Korea – coastal city photograph
Busan, South Korea.

Busan, South Korea's second-largest city and its biggest port, packs its towers between steep hills and long beaches such as Haeundae.

Sydney, Australia

Sydney, Australia – harbour skyline photograph
Sydney, Australia.

Sydney's harbour holds two icons: the Harbour Bridge, opened in 1932, and the Opera House, opened in 1973 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – city skyline photograph
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The twin Petronas Towers, 452 metres high, were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004, and their skybridge links them at the 41st and 42nd floors.

Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong, China – harbour skyline photograph
Hong Kong, China.

Hong Kong's towers crowd the narrow strip between Victoria Harbour and the Peak. See the city from its roofs in Hong Kong from Above: The Full On The Roofs Photo Collection.

Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo, Japan – city skyline photograph
Tokyo, Japan.

Tokyo is one of the largest cities on earth, and the 634-metre Tokyo Skytree is its tallest structure.

Taipei, Taiwan

Taipei, Taiwan – city skyline photograph by Chia Hsien
Taipei, Taiwan. Photo: Chia Hsien

Taipei 101, 508 metres tall, was the world's tallest building from 2004 until 2010. Elephant Mountain, a short hike from the city, gives the classic view of it.

Shanghai, China

Shanghai, China – Pudong skyline photograph
Shanghai, China.

Across the Huangpu River from the old Bund, Shanghai's Pudong district rose from farmland in a few decades. The 632-metre Shanghai Tower is China's tallest building.

Malé, Maldives

Malé, Maldives – island capital photograph by Maxim Chumash
Malé, Maldives. Photo: Maxim Chumash

The Maldivian capital covers almost all of its small island, making it one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

Africa and South America

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – cityscape photograph by Emir Terovic
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Emir Terovic

Rio's granite peaks, Sugarloaf Mountain and Corcovado with its Christ the Redeemer statue, rise straight out of the city and Guanabara Bay. More in Rio de Janeiro: Beaches, Mountain Views and City Life and Rio de Janeiro in Timelapse: Mountains, City Lights and Changing Skies.

Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa – city and mountain photograph
Cape Town, South Africa.

Cape Town lies beneath flat-topped Table Mountain, which a cableway climbs from the city. On its slopes, Kirstenbosch garden has its own treetop path: Kirstenbosch’s Boomslang: A Walk through the Tree Canopy.

Alexandria, Egypt

Alexandria, Egypt – Mediterranean waterfront photograph
Alexandria, Egypt.

Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BC, and under the Ptolemies it became the great Greek city of the Mediterranean, home of the Library and the Pharos lighthouse. Today its long Corniche follows the harbour, and the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina honours the ancient library. See also Five Egyptian Bases: Giza, Luxor, Aswan, Sharm el-Sheikh and Alexandria.

Sources