Two Spanish experiences have made it into the top ten best-selling paid activities globally this summer, sharing the ranking with classics such as the Colosseum in Rome, the Vatican Museums, Auschwitz-Birkenau, or cruises on the Seine and the Danube. These are data from the Spanish platform Civitatis, the website for guided tours, excursions, and activities in over 4,200 destinations, showing the attraction of our geography for spending vacations.
The main national protagonist has been the guided tour of the Neocave and Altamira Museum in Santillana del Mar, which has become the best-selling Spanish experience of the summer and the second in the global ranking, surpassed only by the visit to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill in Rome.
This result places the Cantabrian prehistoric heritage ahead of some of the best-known tourist sites in Europe and confirms the appeal that experiences capable of bringing travelers closer to a destination's history continue to have.
During the visit, travelers can explore the National Museum and Research Center of Altamira and the Neocave, a reproduction of the original cave that allows them to see its famous cave paintings and understand how those who inhabited this territory thousands of years ago lived and expressed themselves.
"The success of Altamira shows that it is not always necessary to resort to major international tourist icons to find experiences capable of generating enormous interest among travelers. Spain has an extraordinarily diverse cultural and natural heritage, and these results also reflect an increasing desire to discover destinations through their history, identity, and what makes them unique," says David Fernández, communication manager at Civitatis.
The second Spanish name in the ranking takes us to Galicia. The ferry to the Cíes Islands from Vigo has been the second best-selling Spanish experience of the summer and ranks eighth globally.
In this case, cultural heritage gives way to nature. The journey allows access from Vigo to the Cíes archipelago, part of the Maritime-Terrestrial National Park of the Atlantic Islands of Galicia, where visitors can enjoy a day among beaches, trails, and Atlantic landscapes.
Altamira and the Cíes Islands are also the only two Spanish experiences to have made it into the top 10 globally this summer, representing two very different ways to travel through Spain: one linked to culture and history, and the other marked by nature and landscape.
Beyond Spain, Rome tops the preferences of travelers, with the visit to the Colosseum,Forum, and Palatine Hill in first place. The Italian capital appears again on the podium thanks to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, which rank third. Among the most demanded international experiences are the guided tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a boat ride on the Seine in Paris, and a visit to the Parliament in Budapest.
The Hungarian capital stands out in the ranking, with two more activities among the top ten: the cruise of the six bridges and the night cruise in Budapest. The ranking is completed by the ferry to the Cíes Islands and the excursion to Volendam, Marken, Edam, and Zaanse Schans in the Netherlands. Thus, among major European capitals and some of the most recognizable monuments on the continent, Spain manages to secure two spots among travelers' favorite experiences this summer.