The "New York Times" chooses Valencia, Spain as one of the best travel destinations for 2024.

The prestigious American newspaper “ The New York Times ” has chosen the city of Valencia as one of the best travel destinations for 2024. This is, at least, what the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia has reported in its pages, echoing the publication "52 Places to Go," which the aforementioned American outlet has published annually for several years now.

To give you a better understanding of this claim and in case you may have missed the mention in the Catalan newspaper we thought it appropriate to dedicate a post to it. After all, the way Valencia is perceived around the world ultimately affects all of us who live here, whether directly or indirectly.

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The "New York Times" chooses Valencia, Spain as one of the best travel destinations for 2024

The American newspaper The New York Times has compiled a ranking of what it considers the 52 best tourist destinations in the world a list meant to encourage its readers to explore different cities throughout the year, one for each week.

In this unique list, the city of Valencia appears in 20th place. The article highlights the city’s beaches and its cuisine—placing particular emphasis on our star dish: paella.

As a complement to all of this, the American newspaper also notes that this year Valencia holds the title of European Green Capital.

This distinction recognizes cities for their environmental efforts. The New York Times emphasizes this factor in its article, stating that Valencia is the ideal destination for those looking to escape overcrowded cities and who have a more sustainability-minded outlook. It also highlights the city’s major achievements in sustainable mobility, with special attention to the pedestrianization initiatives carried out in recent years.

Cultural destination

Another aspect highlighted in the aforementioned list is Valencia’s cultural offerings. A key example of this is the opening of the  Hortensia Herrero Art Center . A space that the article’s author values for housing an important private collection of contemporary art. The collection features over a hundred works by a wide range of artists, including Anish Kapoor, Andreas Gursky, and Mat Collishaw, among others. This is likely to attract many art enthusiasts to the city in the coming months, eager to experience it firsthand. If this cultural draw continues to gain traction, it could bring a new dimension to the international tourism currently received by the city enhancing it and making it more refined and discerning.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Valencia is the only Spanish city to appear in the prestigious ranking. A fact for which all Valencians should feel proud.

Valencia, tourism and foreign residents

Valencia’s inclusion in The New York Times list represents a significant boost to the city’s already growing international profile. It now stands alongside other European destinations such as Paris, Normandy, Geneva, Manchester, Vienna, Massa-Carrara, and Dresden—all of which also feature in the list.

At RALPH&MAYAS we understand how valuable publications like this are, as they help raise awareness of our city on an international level. This not only promotes tourism, but also fosters growing interest in living here. And after all, we already know that anyone who comes to Valencia falls in love with it.