Every year, when The New York Times publishes its list of 52 travel destinations, it feels like the Oscars of tourism are being awarded. It is not just a selection of places but a cultural thermometer, a roadmap of travelers' intentions at a global level. And, in 2026, Spain sneaks back onto the map. On this occasion he does it twice and with two very different but complementary options: the most creative and modern Poblenou of Barcelona and the Spain of Joaquín Sorolla, interpreted halfway between Madrid and Valencia.
Poblenou as a tourist destination in itself
It is in position number 10 where the American newspaper has set its sights on Poblenou, a neighborhood that summarizes Barcelona's vital moment better than any other. While the city prepares for a year marked by architecture (it is, in 2026, both the World Capital of Architecture and the anniversary of Gaudí's death), the publication proposes to avoid the most saturated tourist centers and drop by this old industrial district on the coast.
Where once there were factories and warehouses, there are now modern cafes, art galleries, concert halls, design hotels and hybrid spaces that function as creative laboratories. Places like the Can Framis Museum of Contemporary Painting or the Sala Beckett are good examples of an alternative Barcelona that is growing, turning urban reconversion into a new identity for a city that is much more than tourism.
Kirill Khripunov
However, the neighborhood has not only been transformed culturally, but also in a green key. The new Plaça de les Glòries, once dominated by traffic, is today a large urban park. And, as it could not be otherwise, the gastronomic scene accompanies: restaurants like Atipical, with its hyperlocal Italian-inspired cuisine, or Casa Güell, which updates Catalan tradition, reinforce the idea of Poblenou as a destination in itself and not just as an alternative.
Sorollesque Madrid and Valencia
The second bet looks at the past although to talk about the present. It is in position 21 where Sorolla's Spain appears, a cultural and emotional journey through the landscapes, light and identity of the country through the work of Joaquín Sorolla. Although the centenary of his death was commemorated in 2023, the celebrations continue and gain weight in 2026 with two key milestones. On the one hand, the progressive reopening of the Sorolla Museum in Madrid, his former home and workshop under construction. On the other hand, Valencia, his hometown, which will open the European headquarters of the Hispanic Society of America, with 220 works by the painter exhibited for the first time.
The newspaper itself presents this itinerary as a united experience: Madrid and Valencia that, connected by high speed, allow us to explore in a few hours the artistic evolution of a painter who knew how to capture like few others the light of the Mediterranean, the everyday scenes and the modernity of his time. Traveling following Sorolla is, deep down, traveling through an idea of Spain that continues to be aspirational.
Pelayo Arbués
Beyond our borders, the 2026 list mixes large capitals, extreme landscapes and cultural celebrations. From Bangkok or Warsaw to the wildest Canada by train. also mythical festivals such as Bayreuth, which celebrates 150 years, to proposals as unique as the Traena Festival, held under a cave in a remote Norwegian archipelago. There are also anniversaries that have become an excuse to travel (such as Winnie-the-Pooh in the United Kingdom or Saint Francis of Assisi in Italy), legendary routes such as Route 66, nature reserves, deserts, jungles and emerging destinations that still have a lot to tell.
What is clear is that traveling in 2026 will not only consist of moving, but rather about understanding the world through its transformations, its memory and its contradictions. Like the peculiar duo that Poblenou and Sorolla form.
Cover photo | Manuel Torres Garcia
