Exploring the World’s Most Artistic Cities for Designers and Creators

Creative individuals have their own way of traveling. Instead of sunscreen and flip-flops for beach vacations, creatives travel with sketchbooks, camera lenses, a 3 a.m. mood board, and a few USB sticks “just in case.”

For sightseers, travel is a matter of looking and walking, but for a creative, it is a matter of feeding their design soul. Every street corner has a new font inspiration, each building is a potential layout and even graffiti is a design in disguise.

Although, with all that creativity, a little bit of chaos creeps in too. Booking a flight 5 minutes before a potential price jump, packing at midnight and finally remembering that the laptop weighs as much as the trip is worth… This is when a thought hits: what if something goes wrong? Not to ruin the mood, but even the most creative individual can get food poisoning. This is the case in every travel itinerary. Check some tips for finding travel insurance coverage: it isn't boring, it is like backing up your project before Windows crashes.

Even in the most design-savvy cities, make sure to stay inspired... and insured.

1. Paris, France: The Eternal Art and Fashion Metropolis

Paris is this flawless and dreamy place which will make you adjust your posture. As you arrive from the train, you will feel more attention to the design of the subway station. This is a place full of history and elegance.

You will start with the Louvre museum, where you can meet some icons like the Mona Lisa ever bringing her viral essence. One more museum to visit is the Orsay where a creative caffeine illusion strikes with impressionism. There is no better place to walk on the small taped roads of Le Marais where you can find design boutique shops with objects of futuristic appeal you may not need but will strongly desire to own. Paris is an international standard setter for it’s Architecture, high fashion and furniture design.

This place is also where many fashion houses and studios get their seasonal inspiration from. You may even start to question your record keeping system the more you observe the plate of a pastry. Before making your flight arrangements, you should make sure to get some insurance in case of lost baggage. You will take more expensive photos and videos than the ticket price and your electronic devices may cost a lot.

2. Tokyo, Japan: Innovation Meets Tradition

Being in Tokyo is like shifting gears from one extreme to the other. It's a place where serenity meets the chaotic flair of the neon lighting in the skyscraper. One moment, you are in a zen tea house enjoying the calmness, and the other, you are in Shibuya, engulfed in the motion of a futuristic 20-storey neon billboard.

Tokyo is where tradition meets modernity. The minimalist zen philosophy influences multiple industries from design and artwork to branding. Speaking of design, motion design and illustration has been exported worldwide and so are the anime aesthetics. Tokyo has a balance of all these.

For a unique experience and deep appreciation of Tokyo, a visit to design districts, interactive art installations, digitally created exhibitions, and historical temples is a must. Sushi presents a new style of cuisine to most, and flights to and from Japan are long and tedious, so travel insurance with medical coverage is wise to procure.

3. Barcelona, Spain: A Living Canvas

Walking the streets, surrounded and under Gaudi's unique and twisting modernist architecture is the essence of what creativity and openness feel like. Most famous of all, the Sagrada Familia is the pinnacle of Gaudi and Barcelona’s creativity. It is constantly under architectural construction and resembles portions of Divine Nature itself.

And, of course, there is the Modernist park, Parc Guell, where the collaboration of Nature, Gaudi and Creative Construction is something to behold. The primary colors are woven into the stone and intertwined with lilting tiles and architectural creativity of Divine proportions. The city is seaside with light and ambiance to fuel creativity and mental energies.

Barcelona is filled with artistic graffiti and eclectic street art. Renowned cafes are filled with people, freelancers focused on editing and sketching portfolios, sometimes drawn facades of the closest buildings.

Barcelona is infamous for utilizing all scheduling time with a meal. The city captivates travelers for longer than planned, and it is highly recommended for short term visitors to cover their personal belongings, bags and suits with an insurance for unforeseen adjustable trip delays and personal loss. Barcelona has been known to keep travelers unexpectedly longer, apparently to see all the planning and tasting of their famous tapas.

4. New York City, USA: Stage of the World for Creative Performance

New York is the biggest in the world to orchestrate the fashion industry. It is, in fact, a coordinating center where all the world branches at different rates.

Visiting MoMA offers the opportunity to see modern art that can change one’s perspective, or make one question why they didn’t showcase their old college art projects, and then contemplate that philosophy for the rest of the day. Relax in artsy SoHo where the contents of each building are worthy of a financial portfolio. Walk through Times Square for more than the dazzling lights; there’s a giant and constantly changing design in the middle that is worth more than a passing glance.

Lights of Broadway remind you that the art of storytelling can be done in many forms: live, unrestrained, and complex. New York is a city that pays off the daring. If you are carrying equipment, prototypes, or other valuable things in a city that is famed for its overflowing subway system, I suggest to you that you carry insurance with coverage for accidental damage — they are very rough and bold.

5. Berlin, Germany: The Playground for Modern Artists

Berlin’s artistic identity is the freedom from rules, and is the result of countless times reinventing itself. Old factories, bunkers, and warehouses turn into mixed supply creative spaces. Art collectives here are not just trying to “fit in” and make the rest of the other renovations conform, they create the entire frame.

You will find experimental galleries and art don’t make sense but are still performance to think and works for installations underground. Compared to other capitals, living here is very budget friendly, which is a plus for freelancers and digital nomads.

Having travel insurance that covers multiple trips and cancellations is handout when staying in multiple places and with the travel flexibility that Europe has to offer.

6. Florence, Italy: The Birthplace of Art of the Renaissance

Florence is the embodiment of eternity. Walking through it is like looking through the greatest visual archive mankind has ever created. Uffizi Gallery showcases the power of craftsmanship and the passage of time. Everything here is crafted without modern smart devices and still sets the standard.

The city celebrates traditional arts. Sculpture, paintings, leather, and metal work. Historical techniques kept alive, and workshops where you can actually see artisans handcraft things that in concept stores cost thousands.

Florence is a pilgrimage if you want to perfect fundamentals or establish a classical core to a modern design. Make sure you have a sketchbook, a sharp eye, and insurance that covers the equipment when you don’t want to negotiate compensation with an Italian piazza.

Creating Through Culture

Each city offers something different to your creative DNA.

For Florence it's a timeless craft.
For Paris it’s elegance and balance.
New York is the challenge and the energy.
Berlin the liberation and the experimentation.
Barcelona the color and the rhythm.
For Tokyo it’s the structure and the innovation.

Art, and the travel that accompanies it, can be chaotic at times. With the right travel insurance, however, the chaos of travel can be organized and with minimal hassle.

The world is an endless source of inspiration. Go and explore to your heart's content, but be sure to take travel insurance that covers the details you'll need to handle.

Photo by RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-walking-past-an-abandoned-building-8152406/