The historic Nao Santa María sailing ship that will open its decks to visitors in Malaga

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The replica of Christopher Columbus' famous ship will be berthed at the city's megayacht marina for the first time from the 9 to 25 January

SUR

Malaga

Wednesday, 31 December 2025, 10:56 | Updated 11:03h.

The Nao Santa María sailing ship will be docked in Malaga just after the festive period. The replica of Christopher Columbus' famous ship will visit the city for the first time after its grand European tour this year. It will remain docked at Muelle Uno from 9 to 25 January, during which time it can be visited.

The opening hours will be from 10am to 6.30pm. Tickets cost eight euros for adults, four euros for children and there are family packs for 20 euros.

The Nao Santa María undertook the voyage that has been described as one of the most remarkable transformative achievements in human history: the Discovery of America, the meeting of two worlds, which changed the course of world history.

This full-scale replica was built by the Nao Victoria foundation in Punta Umbría (Huelva) in Spain, with the support of the provincial council of Huelva and the Cajasol foundation, during fourteen months of work, which began in January 2017 and ended in March 2018. Its construction was carried out in the Varaderos Palmás shipyard and involved nearly a hundred professionals from various disciplines: shipwrights, net-makers, rope-makers and other maritime craftsmen, alongside historians and engineers who worked on planning the initial blueprints of the replica and designing the ship’s shapes and dimensions.

After fourteen months of intense work, the Nao Santa María was launched on 16 March 2018. A 200-tonne ship, with a maximum length of 28.3 metres, a beam of 7.96m, and a depth of 3.49m. Like the original, this replica features three masts - main, mizzen and foremast - as well as a bowsprit, with the mainmast reaching almost 25 metres from the waterline to the top. It carries five sails with a total area of 303m², and the standing and running rigging consists of around three kilometres of ropes.