The great artdoors: 12 captivating art trails and sculpture parks around the world

Spring is here, summer is coming and in Europe we are emerging from hibernation and hoping to spend more time outside. Diving into the often-windowless interiors of art galleries and museums may not be top of the good-weather to-do list. Thankfully that doesn’t mean giving up your art fix. In Europe and around the world there is plenty of art outside, and a plethora of ways to enjoy it. So, we’ve picked out a dozen inspirational art trails across the globe: urban street murals to site specific rural installations; prehistoric rock art to contemporary sculpture parks.

12 captivating art trails and sculpture parks around the world

Colour is part of the character of Havana, from its faded pastel houses to its paintbox of 1950s cars, but for an extra helping of visual vibrancy, head to Callejón de Hamel. Walk the length of the street and you’ll pass barely a bare inch. The heart of the Afro-Cuban creative community, everything here is covered in murals, reliefs and sculptures made from repurposed materials (particularly bathtubs!). It all began in 1990 when local artist Salvador (1948-2021) started treating this once-slum street as his studio. He went on to exhibit from Scandinavia to the US but remained based in Hamel Street until his death. Wander this eye-popping – and supremely instagrammable – open-air gallery before stopping at the bar-café for a negroni. Best of all, come on a Sunday lunchtime, when the visual rhythms are accompanied by traditional Cuban Rumba.

More information: Always open. Free

Rodin to Richard Deacon, Henry Moore to Antony Gormley – a remarkable range of sculptures splays out across Middelheim’s 30 acres of landscaped parkland and a gaggle of buildings as diverse as its art (including an 18^th-century manor, ‘the castle’). Currently in the process of re-presenting its collection, Middelheim is putting more of its 1800 artworks on display and aligning them more closely with the natural environment. New work is added annually and occasionally  commissioned – Ai Weiwei’s The Bridge Without A Name (2012) was created specifically for Middelheim - and there are regular temporary shows. Apps and maps are available via the website, as well as an Antwerp City Sculpture Trail taking you well beyond the parkland. You can even tour much of it virtually online.  

More information: Open Tues-Sun. Free. middelheimmuseum.be

A rural trail along a stunning stretch of rugged Irish coastline, the North Mayo Sculpture Trail was inspired by the discovery of an extensive Neolithic settlement at Céide Fields. Overlooking the Atlantic, there is now a visitors’ centre explaining the remains of stone-age farms, homes, and the oldest known stone-walled fields in the world.  Drop by here (open mid-March to early November) before heading off to discover the fourteen site-specific sculptures it inspired. Dotted between Ballina and Blacksod, the works – ranging from ‘Stratified Sheep’ at Ballinaboy Visitor Farm to ‘Wind Trees’ at Muingelly (which also has striking nature-sculpted rock formations), the works were all built of natural materials in a three-week meitheal (community effort) in 1993 and have now become part of the landscape.  

More information: Always open. Free. mayo-ireland.ie

Regarded by many – including Picasso – as the father of modern European art, Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) was born, died, and spent much of his life in Aix-en-Provence. He loved the place – saying when away that, “it’s hopeless, nothing else is good enough” – and made many of his most famous works here. This trail takes in his studio (still home to objects recognisable from his still lifes), a museum with ten of his oil paintings, a cottage where he painted prolifically, and iconic Cezanne views. It ends with a walking tour around the town covering 32 sites related to the artist, his family and local friends (including Emile Zola). The walk traces Cezanne’s life here from his birth at 28 Rue de l’Opéra, via homes, schools, marriage, and artistic influences, to his grave in the city’s St Pierre Cemetery.

More information: Some sites require pre-booking and payment; others are always open and free. calameo.com

Alice Springs is the heart of Australia’s aboriginal art scene, from some of the earliest known rock art on earth to the vibrant indigenous art of today. On this three-day art trail, you’ll see modern takes on traditional dot paintings, craft and design (including jewellery), as well as the dramatic desert scenery that inspired much of this creativity. After touring galleries and studios in Alice itself, the trail takes you out into the Red Centre to visit rural arts centres, including the home of one of the most famous aboriginal artists, Albert Namatjira, as well as Ikuntji Artists, the first centre established by and for women in the Western Desert Art Movement. Time your trip right and you could join in one of the many arts festivals that pepper the Northern Territory’s year.

More information: Pre-booking required for some sites. northernterritory.com

Glasgow has become something of a creative powerhouse and its thriving artistic community is evident on this mural walking tour around the city centre: from a 200m ‘wonderwall’ celebrating the (mostly scientific) achievements of Strathclyde University to Fellow Glasgow Residents in which animals of all (Glaswegian) sorts poke their noses out to engage with the viewer. The World’s Most Economic Taxi depicts a black cab floating beneath a colourful bunch of balloons (against a wall of painted bricks) while local legend Billy Connolly appears more than once in multistorey mega-portraits. There’s bonus material too. For each mural a ‘what’s nearby’ section points visitors to neighbouring places of interest from the Cathedral and museums to a Sunday craft and design fair.    

More information: Always open. Free. citycentremuraltrail.co.uk

Across 30 acres of lawns, terraces and forest, as well as the shoreline of Flint’s Pond (more of a small lake, about 3.5 miles in circumference), are dotted modern and contemporary sculptures and installations. “In dialogue” with the natural landscape you will find works by well-known international names like Andy Goldsworthy, Antony Gormley, Dan Graham and Nam June Paik alongside those by New England artists. There’s a rolling programme of special exhibitions, site specific creations, events and hands-on workshops, or you can book an out-of-hours Twilight Tour (summer) or Full Moon Tour (winter) to see it all in a different light.

More information: Open daily in summer, Wed-Sun in winter. Adult entry $14. thetrustees.org

Greeted as your ferry docks by a ‘half buried’ red and black spotted Yayoi Kusama pumpkin, the tone is set for an island dedicated – indoors and out - to modern and contemporary art. There is another pumpkin (whole and yellow) further round the shoreline. This one sits on the coast outside the Benesse House Museum, designed by Japanese architect Tadeo Ando, a master of space. It’s opening in 1992 kicked off the transformation of this formerly industrial island by billionaire Japanese businessman Soichiro Fukutake. It displays work by big names like David Hockney, Andy Warhol, and Cy Twombly, as well as artistically framing beautiful views of the Seto Inland Sea. And this is only one of several galleries and multiple installations on the island, so it may be worth availing yourself of the Benesse House hotel rooms, and enjoying a couple of days of art trailing around the island.

More information: Some freely open, galleries chargeable. benesse-artsite.jp

The San people (or Bushmen) are the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa. Hunter-gatherers who once ranged far and wide across this region, the San left their mark – literally. The 5km Sevilla Rock Art Trail along the Brandewyn River takes you to nine rock art sites, mostly painted in red and including depictions of human hunters.  It’s a beautiful walk too, rich in plantlife (especially colourful in spring), birds and animals, including eland (often depicted by the San), springbok, and occasional rock hyrax and baboons. And if you need to sleep over, the host farm has 29 self-catering cottages. The Sevilla trail is part of a vastly bigger route, Cradle of Human Culture – the Artists’ Journey, spanning the Western Cape including Cape Town and a San cultural centre, !Khwa ttu (Yzerfontein).

More information: Permits R40 (about £1.75) including a guide booklet. clanwilliam.info

As the brand new Istanbul Modern, Turkey’s first dedicated modern and contemporary art museum (designed by Shard architect Renzo Piano) opens its doors on the banks of the Bosphorous, this walking trail takes you across the water to discover a different side of the city’s art. The impressive street art on this route is not only by local artists but international figures from as far afield as Poland, Chile and South Africa. Mostly on the sides of buildings, styles range across abstract, real and surreal – with subjects from a wading elephant to a five-storey girl with sunflowers, a diverse group of bucket-carriers to a pretzel-munching seagull. The works are political, environmental, colourful, and all within easy walking distance.

More information: Always open. Free.

An ‘art jog’ created by Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), this trail encourages running between artworks, but if that’s not your thing it can just as well be walked. The route takes in ten statues and sculptures around the harbour and streets of Helsinki: from a nineteenth-century bust of “the father of Finnish music”, Fredrik Pacius, to Reijo Hukkanen’s twenty-first century (and slightly surreal) Song Trees, via Emil Cedercreutz’s touching 1928 mare and foal, Maternal Love. The HAM is ‘an art museum the size of Helsinki’, responsible for a collection of some 10,000 pieces, almost half of which are in public places. It offers two other trails of 10 sculptures, as well as a Pride trail and one in the footsteps of Moomin creator, Tove Janssen.

More information: Always open, Free. reitit.hamhelsinki.fi

Also known as Xieng Khuan (Spirit City), Buddha Park sits on the banks of the Mekong River about 25km (a 40-minute bus ride) from the capital. Created in the late 1950s by an eccentric priest-shaman who integrated Buddhism and Hinduism, the site is a gallimaufry of purpose-made statues of gods, demons and fantastical figures. Hindu Shiva, Vishnu and Arjuna stand amid Buddhas of all sorts and sizes - including one reclining at 40m long. Perhaps the other most striking sculpture is a giant cauldron-like structure with a demonic head. Enter through its gaping mouth – a torch is helpful – to find yourself ‘in hell’. Climb the interior staircase to ‘Earth’ and finally heaven, emerging at the top to a panoramic view over the whole park.  

More information: Open daily, 40,000 Kip (about £1.85). 

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