The old town of a city or town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are many places throughout the world named old town (and this is sometimes construed as a proper noun and capitalized). Silicon Valley's Old Town Realty originated from Los Gatos, CA and the Old Town area of San Diego, CA. This is a list of some famous old towns:
Casbah of Algiers, in Algeria
Medieval Cairo, in Cairo
Old Rashid
Saint Catherine's Monastery, in Sinai
Mombasa Old Town
Old Meknes in Morocco
old Essaouira, in Morocco
Old Fes, in Morocco
old Marrakech, in Morocco
Tétouan in Morocco
El Jadida in Morocco
Stone Town in Zanzibar City (World Heritage site)
old Kairouan, in Tunisia
Medina of Sousse in Tunisia
Medina of Tunis in Tunisia
Old Town in Dhaka
Forbidden City and Old Town remnants of Beijing
Mountain Resort temple town in Chengde
Old Town of Dengfeng
Old Town of Kaiping
Old Town of Lijiang
Historic Centre of Macau
Walled old town area of Nanjing
Old Town of Pingyao
Old Town of Qufu
Old Town of Suzhou
Historical centers of Xidi and Hongcun
Old Town of Yinxu
Old Town of Zhouzhuang
Old Town and monuments of Agra
Historical center of Alchi
Historical center of Amritsar
Old Town of Delhi
Old Goa
Historical center of Hyderabad
Historical ruined center of Mandu
Historical center of Mumbai
Old Town and palace of Udaipur
Historic remnants of old Kyoto
Historic remnants of old Nara
Historic remnants of old Nikkō
Historic centers of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama
Old Town in Ipoh
Old Town in Petaling Jaya
Old Town in Karachi
Philippines as the former colony of Spain has numerous heritage structures, most notably in:
Old Town remnants of Intramuros in Manila
Old Town of Vigan
Old Town of Malolos
Old Town of San Fernando
Old Town of Pila
Old Town of Batangas
Old Town of Baclayon
Old Town of Iloilo
Old Town of Laoag
Old Town of Loboc
Old Town of Carcar
Old Town of Silay
Old Town of Baclayon
Old Town of Dapitan
Bukchon Hanok Village(Seoul)
Insa-dong(Seoul)
Nampo-dong(Busan)
Hahoe Folk Village(Andong)
Yangdong Folk Village(Gyeongju)
Old Town and Potala Palace of Lhasa
Tashkent
Samarkand
Bukhara
Khiva
Old Town of Hanoi
Old Town of Hội An
Old Town of Huế
Old Town in Plovdiv
Old Town in Lovech
Old Town in Nessebur
Old Town of Dubrovnik, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Old Town of Split with Diocletian's Palace, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Old Town of Trogir, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Old Town of Varaždin
Gradec and Kaptol, twin old towns of Zagreb
Staré Město in Prague
Walled city of Nicosia
Walled city of Famagusta
Old town of Limassol
Den Gamle By in Aarhus
Old Town (Vanalinn) of Narva
Old Town (Vanalinn) of Tallinn, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Old Town (Vanalinn) of Tartu
Finland
Vanhakaupunki in Helsinki
The equivalent of "Old Town" in French is vieille ville, although the more formal centre historique ("historical center") is usually written on road signs.
UNESCO World Heritage old towns in France:
Albi (Tarn)
Avignon (Vaucluse)
Bordeaux (Gironde)
Carcassonne (Aude)
Lyon (Rhône)
Provins (Seine-et-Marne)
Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin)
Other notable/famous old towns include:
Auxerre (Yonne)
Besançon (Doubs)
Lille (Nord)
Nice (Alpes-Maritimes)
Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine)
Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine)
Toulouse (Haute-Garonne)
Old Tbilisi (Dzveli Tbilisi) in Tbilisi
Historical Center in Mtskheta, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Old Town in Kutaisi
Old Town in Batumi
UNESCO World Heritage old towns in Germany:
Bamberg (Franconia)
Goslar (Lower Saxony)
Lübeck (Schleswig-Holstein)
Quedlinburg (Saxony-Anhalt)
Regensburg (Bavaria)
Stralsund (Western Pomerania)
Wismar (Mecklenburg)
Other notable/famous old towns include:
Northern Germany:
Bad Doberan (Mecklenburg)
Binz (Western Pomerania)
Celle (Lower Saxony)
Eckernförde (Schleswig)
Flensburg (Schleswig)
Friedrichstadt (Schleswig)
Güstrow (Mecklenburg)
Hamelin (Lower Saxony)
Hann. Münden (Lower Saxony)
Heringsdorf (Western Pomerania)
Lüneburg (Lower Saxony)
Neustrelitz (Mecklenburg)
Putbus (Western Pomerania)
Ratzeburg (Holstein)
Schwerin (Mecklenburg)
Stade (Lower Saxony)
Waren (Mecklenburg)
Wolfenbüttel (Lower Saxony)
Eastern Germany:
Bautzen (Lusatia)
Erfurt (Thuringia)
Görlitz (Silesia)
Meissen (Saxony)
Pirna (Saxony)
Stolberg (Saxony-Anhalt)
Weimar (Thuringia)
Wernigerode (Saxony-Anhalt)
Southern Germany:
Baden-Baden (Baden)
Dinkelsbühl (Bavaria)
Freiburg (Baden)
Füssen (Bavaria)
Heidelberg (Baden)
Konstanz (Swabia)
Landshut (Bavaria)
Lindau (Bavaria)
Nuremberg (Franconia)
Ravensburg (Swabia)
Rothenburg (Bavaria)
Schwäbisch Hall (Swabia)
Tübingen (Swabia)
Western Germany:
Bacharach (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Beilstein (Rhineland)
Bernkastel-Kues (Rhineland)
Cochem (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Hattingen (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Landau (Palatinate)
Lemgo (Westphalia)
Limburg (Hesse)
Linz am Rhein (Rheinland)
Marburg (Hesse)
Monschau (Rhineland)
Montabaur (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Rüdesheim (Hesse)
Soest (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Wetzlar(Hesse)
Xanten (Rhineland)
Old Town in Rhodes, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Old Town of Corfu (city), UNESCO World Heritage Site
Ireland
An Seanbhaile in County Roscommon
UNESCO World Heritage old towns in Italy:
Assisi (Umbria)
Ferrara (Emilia-Romagna)
Florence (Tuscany)
Mantua (Lombardy)
Modena (Emilia-Romagna)
Naples (Campania)
Pienza (Tuscany)
Pisa (Tuscany)
Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna)
Rome (Lazio)
San Gimignano (Tuscany)
Siena (Tuscany)
Siracusa (Sicily)
Urbino (Marche)
Venice (Veneto)
Verona (Veneto)
Vicenza (Veneto)
I Borghi più belli d'Italia is an association of small Italian towns of historical interest.
Other notable old towns include:
Northern Italy
Bassano del Grappa (Veneto)
Bergamo (Lombardy)
Bologna (Emilia-Romagna)
Bolzano (Trentino-Alto Adige)
Castelfranco Veneto (Veneto)
Chioggia (Veneto)
Cittadella (Veneto)
Genoa (Liguria)
Palmanova (Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
Parma (Emilia-Romagna)
Pavia (Lombardy)
Polcenigo (Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
Sacile (Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
Trento (Trentino-Alto Adige)
Treviso (Veneto)
Trieste (Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
Turin (Piedmont)
Udine (Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
Vittorio Veneto (Veneto)
Central Italy
Ancona (Marche)
Arezzo (Tuscany)
Camerino (Marche)
Colle di Val d'Elsa (Tuscany)
Gubbio (Umbria)
Loreto (Marche)
Lucca (Tuscany)
Massa Marittima (Tuscany)
Montalcino (Tuscany)
Montefiascone (Lazio)
Monteleone di Spoleto (Umbria)
Montepulciano (Tuscany)
Orvieto (Umbria)
Perugia (Umbria)
Tivoli (Lazio)
Viterbo (Lazio)
Volterra(Tuscany)
Southern Italy
Bari (Puglia)
Catania (Sicily)
Lecce (Puglia)
Palermo (Sicily)
Vecrīga in Riga, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Senamiestis in Vilnius (a part of UNESCO)
Senamiestis in Kaunas
Senamiestis in Klaipėda
Senamiestis in Trakai
Old Town of Kotor, a World Heritage Site
Old Town of Budva
Old Town of Herceg Novi
Stara Varoš (Podgorica)
Stari Bar
Netherlands
Oude Stad in Nijmegen
Oude Stad (Tilburg)
Poland
Kraków Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Warsaw Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Old City of Zamość, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Medieval Town of Toruń, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Poznań Old Town
Old town of Chełmno
Old town of Sandomierz
Old town in Gdańsk
Old town in Lublin
Old town in Przemyśl
Old town of Szczecin
Old town of Stargard Szczeciński
Old town of Trzebiatów
Old town of Wrocław
Police Old Town
Old town of Nowe Warpno
Old town in Póvoa de Varzim, named "old town" (Vila Velha) since 1343.
Tešnjar, Valjevo - Cultural Heritage of Extraordinary importance
Stari Grad, Sremski Karlovci - Cultural Heritage of Extraordinary importance
Stara čaršija, Grocka, Belgrade - Two quarters of Old City are a Cultural Heritage of Extraordinary importance
Stara čaršija, Novi Pazar - Cultural Heritage of Extraordinary importance
Stari Grad, a municipality in Belgrade
Stari Grad, a neighborhood in Novi Sad
Stari Grad, a municipality in Kragujevac
Stari Grad, the remains of a fort in Užice
Staré Mesto in Bratislava
Staré Mesto in Košice
UNESCO World Heritage old towns in Spain:
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid)
Ávila (Castile and León)
Baeza (Andalusia)
Cáceres (Extremadura)
Córdoba (Andalusia)
Cuenca (Castile-La Mancha)
Salamanca (Castile and León)
San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Canary Islands)
Santiago de Compostela (Galicia)
Segovia (Castile and León)
Toledo (Castile-La Mancha)
Úbeda (Andalusia)
Other notable/famous old towns include:
Albarracín (Aragón)
Andújar (Andalusia)
Avilés (Asturias)
Arévalo (Castile and León)
Besalú (Catalonia)
Bilbao (Basque Country)
Burgos (Castile and León)
Cádiz (Andalusia)
Carratraca (Andalusia)
Castro Urdiales (Cantabria)
Covarrubias (Castile and León)
Culla (Valencian Community)
Elorrio (Basque Country)
Ferrol (Galicia)
Fregenal de la Sierra (Extremadura)
Getaria (Basque Country)
Girona (Catalonia)
Granada (Andalusia)
Hondarribia (Basque Country)
Ibiza (Balearic Islands)
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canary Islands)
León (Castile and León)
Lorca (Murcia)
Lugo (Galicia)
Orihuela (Valencian Community)
Oviedo (Asturias)
Palma de Mallorca (Balearic Islands)
Pals (Catalonia)
Pamplona (Navarre)
Pedraza (Castile and León)
Peniscola (Valencian Community)
Plasencia (Extremadura)
San Sebastián (Basque Country)
San Roque (Andalusia)
Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Andalusia)
Santillana del Mar (Cantabria)
Sepulveda (Castile and León)
Seville (Andalusia)
Tarragona (Catalonia)
Teruel (Aragón)
Trujillo (Extremadura)
Vélez-Málaga (Andalusia)
Vic (Catalonia)
Villena (Valencian Community)
Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country)
Zamora (Castile and León)
Gamla staden, Malmö
Gamla stan, Stockholm
Gamlestaden, Gothenburg
Gammelstaden, Luleå Municipality
Istanbul, Historic Penisula (Fatih district)
Ankara, Historic city center (Altındağ district)
Amasya, Historic city center
Stare Misto in Lviv
Old Kyiv
England
UNESCO World Heritage old towns in England:
City of Bath
Maritime Greenwich
Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City
Old Town, Barnsley
Old Town, Chard
Old Town, Croydon
Old Town, Cumbria
Old Town, Eastbourne
Old Town, Hastings
Old Town, Isles of Scilly
Old Town, Northumberland
Old Town, Southampton, a district of the city of Southampton
Old Town, Swindon
Old Town, West Yorkshire
Scotland
Old Town, Edinburgh, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the New Town, Edinburgh
Historic Town of St George, Bermuda, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Old City of Acre
Old City of Beersheba
Old City of Haifa
Old Jaffa
Old City of Jerusalem in Israel
Old City of Nazareth
Old City of Ramle
Old City of Tiberias
Old City of Safed
Old City of Lydda
Neve Tzedek in Tel Aviv
Sakhnin
Peki'in (also includes native Jewish community alongside Druze, Christians and Muslims
Shefa-'Amr
Afula
Carmel City (the historic centers of Daliyat al-Karmil and Isfiya)
Old Byblos
Old Sidon
Old Tripoli
Old Tyre
Beirut Central District
Old Batroun
Deir el Qamar
Rachaya
Old City (Jerusalem) in Palestine
Old Nablus
Old Bethlehem
Old Hebron
Diriyah in Riyadh
Ancient City of Aleppo, in Syria
Ancient City of Bosra, in Syria
Ancient City of Damascus in Syria
Old City of Sana'a in Yemen
Old Walled City of Shibam in Yemen
Zabīd in Yemen
Old Town, Toronto, Ontario
Old Town Eureka, California an original 19th Century Victorian commercial district in Eureka, California
Old Town, Kern County, California
Old Town, Marin County, California
Old Town, Santa Barbara County, California
Old Town, Ventura County, California
Old Town, California, former name of Pine Town, California, in Lassen County
Old Town Pasadena, California
Old Sacramento State Historic Park, Sacramento, California
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, San Diego, California
Old Town, San Diego, a neighborhood of San Diego
Old Town, Florida, a town in Dixie County, not to be confused with the one in Orlando
Old Town Fernandina, Fernandina Beach, Florida; the last town in the Western Hemisphere to be platted according to the Spanish "Law of the Indies" in 1811; named for King Ferdinand VII
Old Town, Key West, the historic section of the city of Key West, Florida
Old Town, an amusement park/shopping center in Kissimmee, Florida
Old Town, Brunswick County, North Carolina
Old Town, Forsyth County, North Carolina
Old Town Township, Forsyth County, North Carolina
Old Town (Franklin, Tennessee) a location along the Natchez Trace named for the Mississippian mound complex there
Old Town (Mississippian culture mound complex), Franklin, Tennessee
Thomas Brown House (Franklin, Tennessee), also known as Old Town, NRHP-listed
Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona
Old Town, Augusta, Georgia
Old Town, Chicago, Illinois
Old Town, Indiana
Old Town, Wichita, Kansas
Old Town, Maine, a city
Olde Towne Gaithersburg, Maryland
Old Town Lansing, Michigan
Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico
Old Town, Staten Island, New York
Old Town Chinatown, Portland, Oregon
Old Town Fairfax, Virginia
Old Town Alexandria, Virginia
Old Town Manassas, Virginia
Olde Towne Portsmouth, Virginia
San Telmo and La Boca in Buenos Aires
La Candelaria, a historic neighborhood in downtown Bogotá
Ciudad Colonial in Santo Domingo, oldest European city in America, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Quito´s Historic Center has one of the largest, least-altered and best-preserved historic centers in the Americas. This center was, together with the historic centre of Kraków in Poland, the first to be declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO on 18 September 1978. The Historic Centre of Quito is located in the center south of the capital on an area of 320 hectares (790 acres), and is considered one of the most important historic areas in Latin America.There are about 130 monumental buildings (which hosts a variety of pictorial art and sculpture, mostly of religious inspired in a multi-faceted range of schools and styles) and 5,000 properties registered in the municipal inventory of heritage properties.
Ciudad Vieja in Montevideo, "Old City" is the name of the oldest part of the city
The Girls of Old Town, a group of prostitutes in the comic series Sin City
Old Town (song), a song by Phil Lynott, later covered by the Corrs
