Bewitchingly beautiful villages
If we’ve learned one thing from this pandemic, it’s that there is a big wide world beyond the urban roar – a world of natural splendour and rural tranquillity, where we can discover an altogether different way of life. How would you like to live in one of Spain’s most beautiful villages?
Here at The Singular Space, we’ve handpicked five extraordinary village properties – homes, businesses and investment opportunities – you can’t help but fall in love with.
Spain’s most beautiful villages
Founded in 2011, the Association of the Most Beautiful Villages in Spain is driven by a passionate desire to show off the wealth of picturesque villages scattered across the length and breadth of the country.
It’s a network of Spain’s most enchanting rural enclaves, meticulously selected for their beauty and outstanding contribution to the country’s built heritage.
To qualify for the distinction, aspiring members must undergo an assessment and meet certain strict criteria, such as having fewer than 15,000 inhabitants and recognised cultural, natural or artistic merits.
Just 20% of all applications are successful. On 1 January 2021, 11 new villages joined these lofty ranks, taking the list to 104. Can you imagine living in one of Spain’s most beautiful villages?
Live, work and invest in a place that’s full of charm
Rediscover a more serene way of life amid valleys and mountains, by the ocean or surrounded by rolling fields. If you dream of pure, fresh air and a more wholesome pace of life, we have five extraordinary properties that could tempt you to make the leap. All five revel in exceptional (and unexpected) natural beauty – idyllic settings in which to live, work and invest.
Fully restored historic mill.
Just minutes from Pedraza, a medieval hamlet with just 125 inhabitants that stole adjudicators’ hearts, stands this fully refurbished historic mill, nestled in an enchanting rural landscape.
This unique former mill recently underwent a painstaking and sympathetic restoration, resulting in a beautifully designed and singularly charming home.
Outdoors, it benefits from mature gardens with its own well, plus two wrap-around terraces with views over the stream and landscaped areas – perfect for whiling away afternoons reading a much-loved book, while listening to the gentle, cascading waters of the stream.
Unique character home in restored 17th-century flour mill
In Teruel, we encounter a landscape that surprises with its undulating hills and rivers – home to seven of Spain’s most beautiful villages (Mirambel, Rubielos de Mora, Puertomingalvo, Calaceite, Albarracín and Valderrobres). It’s a magnificent setting for this period two-bedroom home, occupying a restored flour mill built in the seventeenth century.
This extraordinary property is cradled between the Cabra and Martín Rivers, which define a biological corridor between the vast Iberian mountain range and the Ebro valley. Classed as a Site of Community Importance for its range of natural habitats and biodiversity, it’s a nature-lovers paradise and a wonderful base for discovering the diverse natural splendour of this part of eastern Spain, where you can enjoy riparian woodland, fragrant pine forests carpeted in heather, mountains, canyons and plunging ravines and breathe pure air scented delicately with thyme, lavender and chamomile.
Hotel complex in the heart of the Sierra Nevada National Park
Exploring the province of Granada, just a few kilometres from Pampaneira, you may come across a picturesque whitewashed village that still preserves a certain Berber sensibility typical of Capileira and its hinterland – the “gateway to the Sierra Nevada”. With stunning panoramic views of the snowy peaks of the Cerro Mulhacén and Picacho Veleta, this newly renovated hotel complex offers two swimming pools, a spa and a generous banqueting suite
The 53-apartment hotel complex sits at an altitude of 1,700 metres overlooking the Trevélez ravine, with the craggy peaks of the Sierra Nevada rising just beyond. At only 90 minutes from Granada, it’s an ideal opportunity for a buyer looking to acquire a successful hotel with breathtaking views.
Picturesque exclusive country estate tucked away in unspoiled countryside.
Affording outstanding views of the Sierra de Espadán in Castellón, this exceptionally fine country home dates from the eighteenth century and rests on the foundations of an old Moorish farmhouse. It has a colourful history: local legend has it that the writer Blasco Ibáñez found sanctuary here in the early twentieth century.
The estate lies not far from Vilafames, regarded as one of Spain’s most picturesque villages: a quaint hamlet of narrow, twisting streets where there’s a surprise around every corner, with a historic castle at its tip and a tiny church at its toes.
This exceptional property currently serves as tourist accommodation and is perfectly equipped for hotel use, making it a very promising business opportunity. That said, this haven of outdoor living would also make a magnificent family retreat.
Eco-house in a charming village setting, surrounded by orange trees.
Next, it’s off to the Mediterranean coast, to Malaga and this stunning rural hotel. The property boasts a fabulous setting just minutes from one of Spain’s most beguiling villages, Genalguacil, in an area known as “the Vizier’s Gardens”. A picture-perfect hamlet set in the terraced landscape that speaks to its Moorish origins, the passing years have seen it grow into a pastoral vision wrapped in chestnut, holm oak and cork oak trees.
The hotel is blissfully ensconced in a charming Andalusian whitewashed village, tucked away in the Serrenía de Ronda. Its pretty garden, strewn tantalisingly with hammocks and sun-loungers and planted with orange trees, nestles in a picturesque scene where the crystal-clear Guadiaro River trickles through a lush green valley.
If you dream of a simpler life in the sun as the owner of a thriving independent business, this property is a must-see.
As we rewrite our own rules and rediscover what truly matters, many of us are dreaming of a more peaceful life surrounded by the beauty of nature. Where better to begin your search than Spain’s most beautiful villages?