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Off the beaten track: Ten of Spain’s most charming seaside towns

You've heard of the partying capitals in Mallorca or the gastronomic hub of San Sebastián - but what about the other lesser known seaside towns in Spain where tourist don't usually go?

Published: 21 August 2019 13:18 CEST
Updated: 8 April 2022 11:08 CEST
Off the beaten track: Ten of Spain's most charming seaside towns
Descover less visited gems like Lastres, in Asturias. Photo: Nachosuch/Depositphotos

Most began as humble fishing villages; others, as inimitable fortified seaports.  Their wars may have ceased, but the castles still stand, providing great vantage points for tourists to take in the seaside views.

Take a look at some of our off the beaten track favourites for a taste of what these charming towns – spanning from the Basque Country all the way to the Balearic and Canary islands – have to offer. 

Altafulla, Catalonia

Photo: Kassandra2/Depositphotos

A quietly beautiful town where you can take in some of the Catalan region’s historical heritage as well as enjoy a peaceful day by the sea. Festivals throughout the year, however, ensure that this little piece of Catalan tranquility doesn’t get too sleepy.

Barbate, Cádiz


Photo: ArenaphotoUK /Depositphotos

Relatively unknown to foreign tourists, this is a holiday favourite for the Spanish in-the-know. Since the Romans put the town on the map for their fish-salting industry, it’s been a hotspot for great seafood – all cooked with that special Andalusian twist.

Es Grau, Menorca


Photo: visitmenorca.com

The calm, shallow waters make this a perfect seaside destination for families with young children. For the grown ups, enjoy the local speciality of Calderata de Langosta (Lobster Soup).

Hondarribia, Pais Vasco


Photo: Fani014 /Depositphotos
 

Wave to Spain’s French neighbours from the Hondarribia coastline as you sip a glass of Txacolí (Basque sparkling wine ) and devour pintxos in the harbourside bars and restaurants that  rival those found in neighbouring San Sebastian. Explore the cobbled streets of the walled old town after a visit to the 800meter long sandy beach.

La Aldea de San Nicolás, Gran Canaria


Photo: Maugli /Depositphotos

One of the most delightful of the cavernous beaches in Gran Canaria, it is far from the tourist hordes of the south of the island and is surrounded by nature reserves where you can stand in awe of the island’s flora and fauna.

Isla de la Toja, Galicia

Isla de la Toja, Galicia Photo: Galicia Tourism

 An island off the coast of Galicia that is protected from urban development and is famous for being a thermic centre in the region. Be sure to stop by and take a picture of the little church that is covered head to toe in local sea shells.

Peñíscola, Castellón


Photo: turismodecastellon.com

The impressive castle is surely the top attraction of this fortified seaport. Built by the Knights Templar, pull yourself back to the age of crusading and reconquering as you attempt to conquer your oversized portion of paella. It also happens to be a location used in Game of Thrones.

Lastres, Asturias


Photo: Naturasports /Depositphotos

With a coveted spot in the Association of the Most Beautiful Towns in Spain, this seaside fishing village clings to the verdant hills of Asturia’s Atlantic coast. Explore the steep winding cobbled streets and alleys and admire the backdrop across the sea to the snow dusted peaks of the Picos de Europa beyond.

Salobreña, Granada


Photo: Benkrut/Depositphotos

Just because you’ve always wanted to see the Alhambra doesn’t mean you have to miss out on a beach holiday – the seaside town of Salobreña is only an hour away! A classic white-washed Andalusian town with an enormous castle casually towering over it all.

San Vicente de la Barquera, Cantabria


Photo: Cineuno /Depositphotos

Another fishing port on Spain’s northern coast, San Vicente de la Barquera sits at the mouth of a wide river estuary within the Parque Natural de Oyambre, just on the border between Asturias and Cantabria It is been declared to be of Cultural Interest because of its array of historical monuments.

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RENTING

Who really owns all the Airbnb-style lets in Spain?

Holiday lets have been pinpointed as one of the primary reasons property prices and rents have skyrocketed in recent years in Spain. But who owns these properties, and are rich foreign buyers the straw that broke the camel’s back?

Published: 18 April 2024 11:29 CEST
Updated: 21 April 2024 08:08 CEST
Who really owns all the Airbnb-style lets in Spain?

By the end of 2023, there were 340,000 short-term holiday lets in Spain, according to the country’s national stats body INE. 

Although they barely represented 1.3 percent of the total number of homes in Spain last year, the number of holiday lets increased by 9 percent after increases in all 17 regions except the Balearic Islands.

According to data from Spain’s Tax Agency, there are about 2 million rented homes in the country. 

The number of holiday lets fell as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic but it’s been picking up at record speeds, especially in 2022, where an increase of more than 16 percent saw 41 holiday lets set up every day. 

The autonomous regions with the most short-term lets were Andalusia (79,065), followed by the Valencia region (58,337), Catalonia (52,026), the Canary Islands (44,376), the Balearic Islands (26,507), Madrid (16,970) and Galicia (18,080).

If the figure for Madrid strikes you as low that’s because the Spanish capital has a big problem with holiday lets without a licence, which in turn calls into question the real figure of Airbnb-style rentals across the country as a whole. 

READ ALSO: Why Madrid is struggling with its explosion of illegal holiday lets

According to Spanish tourism association Exceltur, which admittedly has the interests of hoteliers at heart, 60,000 new holiday lets have been added to Spain’s 25 main tourist destinations so far in 2024, describing the rise as “out of control”. 

What’s clear is the number of apartamentos turísticos or viviendas turísticas is on the up and that its negative impact for long-term residents who rent, particularly in city centre locations, is widespread. 

There are now 28 percent fewer long-term rental properties available in Spain than in 2019 and rents have never been so expensive.

So it’s no surprise that there’s growing discontent among locals particularly in popular tourist spots where rents have spiked, and sometimes a somewhat mistaken sense that wealthy foreigners buying homes in Spain are one of the chief reasons for the current housing crisis (cue the government’s decision to axe golden visas). 

READ MORE: Is Spain’s decision to axe golden visa about housing or politics?

Who owns all the holiday lets in Spain?

So what do we know about the people and companies behind the mountain of Airbnb-style lets that according to Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez are causing “price speculation” in the market? 

Are they foreign individuals, Spanish landlords or vulture funds capitalising on Spain’s popularity among tourists?

The Spanish government has not released any data illustrating which group owns the most flats, and whether they’re using it for short-term, temporary or long-term renting.

What it did do in 2023 was divide them into two groups: pequeños propietarios (landlords with up to 10 properties) and grandes tenedores (a major or multi-property landlord with more than 10 properties, five in saturated areas).

The best approximation of the structure of property ownership in Spain is that of the Barcelona Metropolitan Housing Observatory (OHMB), which in a study on the subject published in 2022 concluded that 36 percent of rental apartments in Barcelona belonged to landlords who owned more than 10 properties.

The OHMB also found that 79 percent of landlords only have one property they rent out, but crucially, the remaining 21 percent own 61 percent of Barcelona’s stock of rental properties.

Therefore, in the Catalan capital at least, multi-property landlords, investment companies and vulture funds own a sizable proportion of Barcelona’s rental market.

According to property giants Idealista, legislation introduced to limit prices and rents has actually spurred more landlords and companies to ditch long-term leases for temporary lets of a maximum of 11 months (up by 40 percent) and holiday lets of a maximum of 32 days (up by 9 percent). 

From a business perspective, Airbnb-style lets are more profitable than long-term leases as they have no price caps and no nationwide legislation limiting it, so it’s a no-brainer for vulture funds, which bought Spanish real estate at distressed prices and are now capitalising on it.

Caixabank and Blackstone alone own 41,000 rental properties in Spain; how many of them are probably being used now as more lucrative holiday lets?

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz recently said that property purchases by “vulture funds” and non-resident population represent 40 percent of transactions in Alicante, 38 percent in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 32 percent in Málaga, 30.85 percent in Girona and 31 percent in the Balearic Islands.

So does that mean that wealthy foreign second home owners own a sizable portion of Spain’s holiday rental market? Not necessarily.

According to Spain’s Real Estate Credit Union (UCI) around 68 percent of international buyers bought properties in the country in 2023 to use as their main home, 21 percent as a second home and just 11 percent as an investment for rental, without specifying if this is long or short-term rental. 

This would suggest that individual foreign investors do not make up a large proportion of ‘the Airbnb market’, even though property purchases by foreigners did hit a record 15 percent last year.

Overall, it can be concluded that the number of tourism rentals in Spain is probably higher than the 350,000 suggested by the Spanish government, and that the role real estate investment firms and vulture funds are playing in warping the country’s rental market is most likely underestimated.

READ ALSO: Spain urges regions to limit Airbnb-style lets in ‘stressed rental areas’

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