To do in the world

Go large at an 11-day music bash
Barcelona, Spain

Remember when tickets went on sale for Primavera 2022? It really felt like mass hysteria. But there’s a reason why there’s so much hype. For starters, the festival always turns Barcelona into one, huge beachside party (and draws a fun audience from all corners of the globe). But next year it’ll also be bigger than ever: the 2022 event takes place across two weekends in June, with bonus concerts scheduled in between and an extra DJ event at the end. That means an 11-day sun-kissed bender with music’s hottest names. The organisers have got together a pretty diverse programme: the Strokes, Tyler the Creator, Pavement, Gorillaz and Dua Lipa are all lined up, along with DJs Jamie XX, Jeff Mills, LCY and Shanti Celeste. Ooft.

Get lost in the world of Hans Christian Andersen
Odense, Denmark

Just 90 minutes by train from Copenhagen is dinky, charming Odense. This place is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, and as of this month, it is now home to the brand-new architectural wonder that is the HCA Museum, an affectionate tribute to the fairytale master. With its inventive biographical exhibits – including theatrical imaginings of his memoirs and inanimate projects that come alive (much like in his stories) – this thoroughly fun museum would no doubt have delighted the ‘Little Mermaid’ and ‘Snow Queen’ author himself.

Retrace the Silk Road... by train
Tashkent to Khiva, Uzbekistan

Next year you’ll be able to retrace the fabled route of Marco Polo through Uzbekistan, from glitzy capital Tashkent to the sand-dusted city of Khiva in the west, all by high-speed rail. The extension of Uzbekistan’s railways will put Khiva – whose 94 mosques and 63 madrasas make it a Unesco World Heritage Site – within easy reach of visitors. And you know what else is cool? Both the new Silk Road Samarkand museum and the national State Museum of Arts are also set to open in 2022, no doubt shining further light on the region’s rich trading history.

Book a show at this colossal new theatre
Taipei, Taiwan

Seven years late to the date, the NT$5.4 billion (£147 million), 59,000-square-metre Taipei Performing Arts Centre will no doubt wow visitors when it finally opens in summer 2022. Looking like an industrial cake with a giant silver sphere bulging towards an adjacent metro station, this arresting structure has been turning heads for years as construction has plodded on. An 800-seat playhouse lies snugly in the ball, while two equally surprising box-like protrusions house another 1,500-seat ‘grand theatre’ and 800-seat ‘multiform theatre’. But the best thing about this outlandish venue, designed by architects Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten, is a looped walkway that links all three auditoriums with windows into hidden spaces (and which can be freely accessed by the public). We can’t wait for the show to start.

Hit up the world’s most remote club night
Þingeyri, Iceland

Already bored of going out out again? Sticky floors, sweaty ceilings and overpriced cab home not quite cutting it? How about a ‘party at the edge of the world’ to spice things up? Detour Discotheque has got you covered. In the fishing village of Þingeyri, in the Westfjords of Iceland, you’ll soon find a pop-up club night based on the discos of 1970s New York (from April 29 to 30). The capacity will be limited to just 160, so it’s very intimate. A line-up of DJs from Iceland, the USA and UK will be providing the tunes, and the room will be decorated with a gigantic spinning mirror ball (of course). The first in a series of parties in remote locations around the world, it’s sure to be a night out like no other.

Peek behind the Broadway curtain
New York, USA

When visitors head to a Broadway show next summer, they may want to consider getting there a few hours early. That way, they’ll be able to spend some time exploring the brand-new Museum of Broadway, the first-ever institution dedicated to the history of the Great White Way. The new museum will be divided into three parts. First, a map room will lay out how the city’s theatre scene migrated across the city over the years before landing in Times Square; the second will illustrate the development of the Broadway art form through various artefacts and works of art; and a third, the ‘backstage’ area, will dive into the working professionals that make the shows happen every day. It’s certain to be an informative and entertaining peek behind the curtain.

Browse an art museum of epic proportions
Oslo, Norway

In June 2022, the new National Museum of Norway will become the largest museum in the Nordics (and no doubt cement Oslo’s place as one of Europe’s great cultural capitals). The museum collection includes a whopping 100,000 objects, with highlights including the Norwegian Baldishol tapestry from 1150, Munch’s ‘The Scream’ and an array of Golden Age Flemish landscapes. But the standout feature of the new building is the 2,400-square-metre ‘Light Hall’ at the top, with its shimmering marble glass surrounds making it a truly dazzling setting for the museum’s many masterpieces. Smack bang in the buzzy Aker Brygge harbour area, the building has also been praised for its energy-efficiency and low ecological footprint.

Discover the Black filmmakers who pushed cinema forward
Los Angeles, USA

Though you can linearly chart decades of Oscar winners, you can’t really do the same with the history of cinema: there are many stories that have pushed the medium forward, as the new Academy Museum’s collection so competently spells out. So to follow its retrospective of beloved animator Hayao Miyazaki, the L.A. museum will next focus on nearly an entire century of often-overlooked cinema. A collaboration with Washington, D.C.’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, ‘Regeneration’ dives into the works of Black filmmakers from the birth of the motion picture industry through to the Civil Rights era. Set to debut in the second half of 2022, the exhibition counts filmmakers Ava DuVernay and Charles Burnett among its advisers.

Visit a once-in-a-decade flower show
Almere, Netherlands

Spectacular doesn’t come close to describing the ambition of international horticultural exhibition Floriade, an event so huge it happens only once every ten years. The 2022 edition, which starts on April 14 in the Dutch city of Almere, will platform various topics under the banner of ‘growing green cities’, with countless pavilions, an arboretum, a magnificent greenhouse complex and a rich art and culture programme. The new, custom-built waterside site will also feature 40 country pavilions, live music, workshops and a cable-car ride that soars over the park. No wonder it’s known as the world’s ultimate flower show.

Get to know Coco Chanel through her garms
Melbourne, Australia

Running until April 25 at the National Gallery of Victoria is an exhibition that’s the first in Australia to focus solely on the life and work of twentieth-century French designer Gabrielle (AKA Coco) Chanel. In collaboration with Paris’s leading fashion museum, the Palais Galliera, Melbourne will be the first city outside of France to host the epic touring show. More than 100 Chanel garments will deck the halls of the NGV, exploring Coco’s enduring influence on fashion, perfume, jewellery and accessory design – all with a multimedia twist that’s unique to the Aussie museum.

Catch a gig at a stunning new concert hall
Budapest, Hungary

There may not be 4,000 holes in Budapest, but the next best thing is the perforated white roof atop Sou Fujimoto’s House of Music in City Park. Its 100 or so cavities allow natural light, trees and sound to infiltrate the two performance venues, exhibition spaces and library, which are linked by magnificent spiral staircases. A complete glass exterior aids reliance on renewable energy. Opening in early 2022, this is the standout initiative of the Liget Budapest Project to regenerate historic grounds fringing north-east Pest – a new Museum of Ethnography will follow.

Snoop around an eccentric star’s living room
Paris, France

The Parisian townhouse where the feted (and more than occasionally controversial) French singer Serge Gainsbourg spent the last 20 years of his life is already something of an unofficial shrine to his legacy. The interior has been completely closed off to the public since Gainsbourg’s death in 1991, but next spring it’ll finally open as a museum dedicated to his life and work. The project has been led by his daughter – the actor and singer Charlotte – and the main attraction will surely be Serge’s famously eccentric living area, with its piano, art deco bar and huge collection of sculptures.