IELTS Speaking · Part 2 Cue Card
A complete preparation guide: the cue card itself, a 60-second prep framework, a band 7.5 sample answer, topic vocabulary, and likely Part 3 follow-up questions.
Cue card
Describe a place you have visited that you found particularly beautiful.
You should say:
Specific to this cue card — not generic advice.
Read it once for shape, then aloud for rhythm. Don't memorise it — examiners can tell.
The place that immediately comes to mind is a small fishing village called Cinque Terre on the Italian coast. I went there with my partner about three years ago, in late September, because we wanted to avoid the summer crowds. We took a slow regional train from Milan and arrived just before sunset, which turned out to be perfect timing. We spent two days hiking the coastal path that connects the five villages, stopping for seafood and white wine in each one. What I found genuinely beautiful wasn't a single landmark; it was the way the houses are stacked up the cliffs in these clashing pastel colours — pink, mustard, sea-green — and the contrast against the deep blue Mediterranean below. I remember on the second evening we sat on a sea wall in Vernazza, watching the sun drop behind the headland, and the whole village turned this warm orange for about ten minutes. There was almost no noise apart from the waves. It struck me as beautiful precisely because it felt unpolished — it wasn't trying to impress anyone. Beauty for me usually has that quality of not performing, and Cinque Terre had it in abundance.
Phrases used in the sample answer that lift fluency naturally.
comes to mind
the first thing you think of
perfect timing
happening at exactly the right moment
stacked up
piled on top of each other
clashing colours
colours that don't match traditionally
drop behind the headland
(of the sun) set behind a cliff
unpolished
rough in a charming, authentic way
in abundance
in large quantities
The examiner will move from your story (Part 2) to broader, abstract questions (Part 3). Prepare answers for these.