If you hold a Spanish passport, you're carrying the most powerful travel document in Europe. That's the headline finding of a new ranking by Passport Reports, which scores passports on how many destinations their holders can reach without a visa, with an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), or by picking up a visa on arrival.

Spain ranks third globally with a mobility score of 174, behind only the UAE and Singapore and just ahead of Malaysia. Spanish passport holders can enter 121 countries visa-free and another 42 with a visa on arrival. There are a few catches: 11 destinations require an ETA, and 24 still require a visa arranged in advance.

Luxembourg takes fifth place worldwide and tops no one's expectations for a country of that size, scoring 173 with 122 visa-free destinations — actually one more than Spain — plus 41 accessible on arrival, ETAs needed for 10, and prior visas for 25.

Belgium and France share sixth place, also on 173, with the same 121 visa-free and 41 visa-on-arrival counts as Spain. Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden sit together in seventh, also on 173, each with 120 visa-free destinations and 42 on arrival. In short: the top tier of European passports is tightly packed, with only a handful of destinations separating first and seventh place.

Further down the global list but still strong, Greece ranks eighth, Portugal and Switzerland share ninth, Austria is tenth, Norway eleventh and Ireland twelfth. Japan appears at thirteenth — notable, since it long held the top spot in similar rankings. Malta comes in at fourteen, with Hungary and Poland tied at fifteen.

For most European travellers, the practical takeaway is that the differences are marginal. Whether your passport opens 174 destinations or 173 barely changes how you plan a holiday. What matters more is the shift towards electronic travel authorisations: rather than fully visa-free entry, more and more countries now ask for a quick online pre-clearance and a fee. It's faster than a consulate appointment, but it's another step and cost to remember when booking. Travellers from any of these top-ranked European countries still enjoy some of the smoothest border crossings anywhere — the days of lengthy visa paperwork for mainstream trips are largely behind them, with a handful of destinations remaining the exception.