The most beautiful villages in Spain
Colourful harbours on the Bay of Biscay, granaries by the sea, medieval towns, stone-built Mallorca and Pyrenean hamlets.
From the team
The village next door
Some trips don’t need a plane. This issue is all about villages: colourful harbours on the northern coast, stone granaries by the sea, medieval towns you can explore in a morning, stone and orange groves in the Tramuntana and mountain hamlets in the Pyrenees.
They are getaways for a weekend or a long weekend, and most of them combine well: several villages in one trip, at an easy pace and eating well.
Every village comes with its full guide. When you choose, we plan your trip in under a minute. We travel together.
The Bagintravel team
Asturias
Colourful houses above the Bay of Biscay
Fishing harbours clinging to the hillside, coastal towns between cliffs and mountain hamlets at the foot of the Picos de Europa.
Fishing villages of colourful houses stacked above the harbour, coastal towns with cliffs and beaches, and mountain hamlets between the Picos de Europa and Somiedo: the most beautiful villages in Asturias, each with its own guide.
In Cudillero the houses tumble down to the harbour as if they wanted a closer look at the sea.
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01 Spain
Cudillero
An amphitheatre of colourful houses tumbling down to the harbour, one of the most photographed fishing villages in northern Spain.
Read the guide -
02 Spain
Lastres
Houses that run down the hillside to the harbour, with viewpoints over the Bay of Biscay and the Sierra del Sueve behind.
Read the guide -
03 Spain
Tazones
A small harbour of colourful houses on the Villaviciosa estuary, where Charles V came ashore on his first journey to Spain.
Read the guide -
04 Spain
Llanes
A medieval old town, the painted Cubes of Memory in the harbour and dozens of beaches and blowholes all around.
Read the guide -
05 Spain
Cangas de Onís
The medieval bridge with the Victory Cross hanging beneath it, gateway to Covadonga and the Picos de Europa.
Read the guide -
06 Spain
Somiedo
Mountain pastures with thatched huts, mountain lakes and one of the best places in Europe to see brown bears.
Read the guide
Galicia
Granaries, estuaries and the end of the world
Stone granaries on the water’s edge, fishing towns with fortresses and the cape where the Romans saw the land come to an end.
Granaries by the sea, fishing towns with fortresses, medieval granite old towns and the cape the Romans placed at the end of the world: the most beautiful villages in Galicia, from the Rías Baixas to the coast of Lugo.
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01 Spain
Combarro
Stone granaries on the water's edge and stone crosses on street corners, on the Pontevedra estuary.
Read the guide -
02 Spain
Cambados
The capital of Albariño wine, with the Fefiñáns manor and the ruins of Santa Mariña de Dozo.
Read the guide -
03 Spain
Baiona
The Monterreal fortress above the sea and the harbour where the Pinta arrived with news of the discovery of America.
Read the guide -
04 Spain
Finisterre
The cape the Romans took for the end of the world, with its lighthouse, and the end of the Camino for many pilgrims.
Read the guide -
05 Spain
Ribadeo
Emigrants' mansions facing the Eo estuary and the Cathedrals Beach a few kilometres away.
Read the guide -
06 Spain
Allariz
A restored medieval stone old town beside the river Arnoia, with riverside walks.
Read the guide
Basque Country
Harbours with colourful balconies
Fishing villages a stone’s throw from San Sebastián and Bilbao, and wine towns in Rioja Alavesa.
Fishing harbours of colourful houses, walled towns, the flysch coast and wine villages in Rioja Alavesa: the most beautiful villages in the Basque Country are less than an hour from Bilbao or San Sebastián.
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01 Spain
Hondarribia
A walled old town with colourful balconies and the fishermen's quarter of La Marina, facing France.
Read the guide -
02 Spain
Getaria
Elcano's home town, with the "mouse" above the harbour and txakoli vineyards on the slopes.
Read the guide -
03 Spain
Pasaia
Pasai Donibane, a single-street village along the bay, where Victor Hugo lived.
Read the guide -
04 Spain
Lekeitio
A Gothic basilica, a lively harbour and the island of San Nicolás, which you can walk to at low tide.
Read the guide -
05 Spain
Bermeo
A colourful harbour and, next to it, San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, the hermitage on an islet joined to the coast by a stairway.
Read the guide -
06 Spain
Laguardia
A walled town above wine cellars dug beneath the streets, with the painted portico of Santa María de los Reyes.
Read the guide
History
Towns that haven’t changed in centuries
Walls with a single gate, fortified bridges and arcaded squares: the best-preserved medieval villages.
Walled towns with a single gate, castles on the rock, Jewish quarters, fortified bridges and arcaded squares that have barely changed in centuries: a selection of the best-preserved medieval villages in Spain, from north to south.
You walk in through the same gate as centuries ago.
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01 Spain
Albarracín
Walls climbing the hillside above reddish houses hanging over the river, in the mountains of Teruel.
Read the guide -
02 Spain
Pedraza
A town enclosed by walls with a single entrance gate, its castle and an arcaded square.
Read the guide -
03 Spain
Besalú
A fortified Romanesque bridge over the river and a medieval Jewish quarter.
Read the guide -
04 Spain
Peratallada
Cobbled streets, a castle and a moat carved into the rock, in the Empordà.
Read the guide -
05 Spain
Santillana del Mar
Mansions with coats of arms and a Romanesque collegiate church in a stone town next to Altamira.
Read the guide -
06 Spain
Sos del Rey Católico
The birthplace of Ferdinand the Catholic, with cobbled streets and houses bearing coats of arms.
Read the guide
Mallorca
The island of stone
Green shutters, orange groves and stepped streets in the Serra de Tramuntana: Mallorca at its most peaceful.
Stone villages with green shutters in the Serra de Tramuntana, orange groves, coves and walled towns in the north: the Mallorca of villages is another island, quieter than the beach one, and many can be explored on a trip from Palma.
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01 Spain
Valldemossa
Stone streets lined with flowerpots and the Charterhouse where Chopin and George Sand spent a winter.
Read the guide -
02 Spain
Deià
A stone village hanging above the sea, where the writer Robert Graves lived and is buried.
Read the guide -
03 Spain
Sóller
A valley of orange groves reached from Palma on an early 20th-century wooden train, with a tram down to the port.
Read the guide -
04 Spain
Fornalutx
Stepped streets, stone houses and green shutters among orange groves and mountains, above the Sóller valley.
Read the guide -
05 Spain
Pollença
The Calvary steps lined with cypresses, a square full of terraces and Cap de Formentor a short drive away.
Read the guide -
06 Spain
Alcúdia
Medieval walls around the old town, the ruins of the Roman city of Pollentia and a bay of long beaches.
Read the guide
Pyrenees
Mountain villages
Slate roofs, green valleys and the highest peaks in the range, from Navarre to the Catalan Pyrenees.
Stone houses with slate roofs, green valleys, beech forests and the highest peaks in the range: the most beautiful villages in the Spanish Pyrenees, from the valleys of Navarre to the Catalan Pyrenees, for summer walks and autumn colour.
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01 Spain
Ansó
Stone houses with large chimneys and a traditional costume the village still keeps alive, in the Ansó valley.
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02 Spain
Torla
The gateway village to the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park.
Read the guide -
03 Spain
Aínsa
A medieval town with an arcaded square and a castle, facing the mountains of Sobrarbe.
Read the guide -
04 Spain
Benasque
A mountain village beneath the Aneto, the highest peak in the Pyrenees.
Read the guide -
05 Spain
Aran Valley
Stone villages with Romanesque churches, such as Vielha, Arties and Salardú, in a valley that faces the Atlantic.
Read the guide -
06 Spain
Roncesvalles
The collegiate church and the hostel at the foot of the Ibañeta pass, where many pilgrims begin the Camino Francés in Spain.
Read the guide
In the kitchen
Food from the north
Three dishes from our guides to bring the north home: Asturian fabada, pulpo á feira and Biscay-style salt cod.
Oviedo, Spain
Fabada asturiana
Asturias’s most famous dish: fabes beans slow-cooked with the compango (chorizo, morcilla and lacón), a winter stew served in any traditional eatery in Oviedo.
Ingredients
- 500 g Asturian fabes beans
- 2 Asturian chorizos
- 2 Asturian morcillas
- 200 g lacón (cured pork shoulder) or pork belly
- A few saffron threads
- Salt
Method
- Soak the beans in cold water the night before; soak the lacón too if it’s salty.
- Put the beans in a pot with the compango and cover with cold water to two fingers above.
- Bring to the boil, skim off the foam and simmer very gently for 2½ hours, without stirring.
- Every time it boils, “scare” it with a splash of cold water so the skins don’t split.
- Add the saffron, adjust the salt and leave to rest before serving with the compango cut into pieces.
Tip: Shake the pot by the handles instead of stirring with a spoon: that way the beans don’t break.
Recipe in its guide
Vigo, Spain
Pulpo á feira (Galician octopus)
Boiled octopus cut with scissors onto a wooden plate, with olive oil, coarse salt and paprika. At festivals and fairs in Galicia, Vigo included, it’s the star dish.
Ingredients
- 1 octopus of about 2 kg (previously frozen)
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Coarse salt
- Sweet and hot paprika
- 4 potatoes (optional, “cachelos”)
Method
- Thaw the octopus in the fridge (freezing it makes it tender).
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Hold the octopus by the head and “scare” it: dip it in and lift it out three times.
- Cook it for about 30–40 minutes (depending on size), until it’s tender when pierced. Leave it to rest in the water for 10 minutes.
- Boil the potatoes in their skins in the same water if you want them.
- Cut the tentacles into rounds with scissors, place them on a wooden plate and dress with coarse salt, paprika and oil.
Tip: Scaring it three times stops the skin from coming away during cooking.
Recipe in its guide
Bilbao, Spain
Bacalao a la vizcaína
Bilbao’s classic: desalted salt cod in a sauce of choricero peppers, onion and garlic. Vizcaína sauce is red from the choricero peppers, not from tomato.
Ingredients
- 4 desalted salt cod loins
- 8 dried choricero peppers (or 4 tablespoons of their pulp from a jar)
- 3 red onions
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 slice of bread
- Olive oil
- Fish stock or water
Method
- If you’re using dried peppers, soak them in hot water for 1 hour and scrape out the flesh with a spoon.
- Very slowly soften the chopped onion and garlic in oil for about 40 minutes, until very soft and sweet.
- Add the choricero pulp and the fried bread, pour in a little stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Blend and strain the sauce.
- Confit the cod loins in warm oil for about 5 minutes, skin side up.
- Put the cod in an earthenware dish, cover it with the sauce and let it simmer gently for 5 minutes.
Tip: The secret is the onion: the more slowly it softens, the sweeter and silkier the sauce.
Recipe in its guideDownload the app
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