Santander has just been named one of the best places in the world to visit in 2027, and the reason is well worth knowing

National Geographic has chosen the Cantabrian capital as the only Spanish city on its annual Best of the World list, driven by a wave of new cultural openings planned for next year

National Geographic published its annual Best of the World list on October 20, selecting 25 destinations across six continents worth visiting in 2027. Santander is the only Spanish city to make the cut, chosen largely for a series of significant cultural projects due to open next year that will add real depth to what the city has to offer visitors.

The headline arrival is a branch of the Reina Sofía Museum, set to open in a historic 18th-century building in the city. It will house the Lafuente Archive, a collection of 138,000 pieces spanning paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and books connected to the artistic avant-garde. The collection covers movements including Dadaism and includes material related to the Spanish Civil War, as well as works by artists from Spain, Latin America and North America.

Also planned for 2027 is the relocation of the Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria to a new purpose-built headquarters designed by the Mendoza Partida architecture studio. The building will have space to display around 2,600 archaeological pieces, ranging from Palaeolithic hunting tools to medieval objects.

These new openings sit alongside existing attractions that already give Santander considerable appeal. The Faro Santander art collection, which has been housed in a neoclassical building overlooking the bay since September 2016, brings together more than a thousand works by artists including Rubens, Titian, El Greco, Velázquez and Goya. The beaches of El Sardinero, the bay and the city's food scene all feature in the National Geographic write-up too.

The list puts Santander in some varied company. Other destinations selected for 2027 include Luxor in Egypt, where a total solar eclipse will be visible in August, Leipzig in Germany for events marking the anniversaries of Beethoven and Bach, and the Norwegian region of Vestland, known for its fjords.

For anyone considering a trip within Spain next year, the Cantabrian capital is clearly having a moment.

Images: Turismo de Santander