Cottages in Spain

Table of Contents

• At a glance: What should you know about renting a cottage in Spain?
• Cottages in Spain: find your perfect retreat
• Exploring Spain: our top recommendations
• Activities: What are the top things to do and see in Spain?

• A local name for it: What British visitors call a cottage, Spain calls a casa rural - a stone or whitewashed village house let out on a self-catering basis, often by the family that restored it.
• Green Spain and beyond: Galicia, Asturias and the Basque Country deliver damp green valleys, while Andalusia and Castile and Leon offer olive groves and high plains.
• Guests rate the welcome: Our best-reviewed rural homes score 9.7+, with reviewers singling out mountain views, gardens and hosts who share their own valley.
• Country cooking: Inland Spain eats slowly - fabada in Asturias, roast lamb in Castile, and Michelin kitchens in villages of 300 people.
• Walks, wine and history: The Picos de Europa, the Camino de Santiago, Rioja cellars and hilltop pueblos blancos fill the days between long lunches.

Spain's answer to the country cottage carries many names. In Andalusia you will find whitewashed cortijos among the olives; Catalonia has stone masies; Galicia and Asturias restore granite and slate farmhouses complete with a raised horreo granary in the garden. Most sleep four to eight guests. Rural lets usually share a familiar set of features:

• Wood-burning stoves or an open fireplace for cool inland evenings
• Gardens with a barbecue, shaded terrace and long outdoor table
• Private pools, common even well away from the coast
• Pet-friendly policies and space for muddy boots
• Wi-Fi and parking, useful on villages reached by narrow lanes

What are the best areas to stay in Spain?

For classic rural Spain within easy reach of a city, Castile and Leon is hard to beat, though the choice depends on whether you want green mountains or dry southern light. The table below details regions for specific interests:

What do our guests say?

Guests booking rural homes in Spain rate the setting and the hosts above everything else: a valley to wake up to, a garden nobody overlooks, and owners who point you towards the right village bakery. Reviews scoring 9.7+ mention mountain views, generous outdoor space and quiet nights, from the Asturian foothills to the interior of the Canaries.

Here are our top-rated rural places to stay in Spain from the past year:

1. Apartamentos Rurales Les Xanes - 9.7+: A four-guest country house at Cangas de Onis in Asturias, with mountain views, a garden and pets welcome.
2. Palmeral de Taidia - 9.7+: A three-guest home in the hills of San Bartolome de Tirajana, inland Gran Canaria, praised for its garden and quiet.
3. Villa Rural El Poleo - 9.7+: An eight-guest rural house near Galdar in the Canaries, rated highly by families for its views and outdoor space.

Spain occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe, rising from the coast into a high central plateau, with wet green mountains in the north and terraced olive country in the south.

🥗Where to eat in Spain?

According to Google Maps data and reviews, Casa Marcial is the best rated restaurant in Spain. Below is a table showing the top 5 highly-rated restaurants hand-picked by our travel experts.

⭐Our guests' recommendation: Our guest traveller Charlotte recommends the Casa Gerardo in Spain: a roadside Asturian house serving fabada the same family has cooked for five generations, worth the drive from any rural bolthole.

1. Walk the Picos de Europa
2. Pour cider in an Asturian sidreria
3. Drive the Ribeira Sacra in Galicia
4. Wander the pueblos blancos of Andalusia
5. Taste your way through Rioja
6. Cross the Castilian plains by castle
7. Escape into Valencia's interior

1. Walk the Picos de Europa

   Spain's first national park straddles Asturias, Cantabria and Leon, and its limestone walls rise so abruptly that shepherds' huts sit beneath 2,500-metre peaks. The Ruta del Cares, cut into a gorge between Cain and Poncebos, is the classic day out; the cable car at Fuente De is the shortcut for anyone who would rather look than climb. Base yourself in a valley hamlet, start early, and carry more water than feels necessary in August.

2. Pour cider in an Asturian sidreria

   Asturian cider is poured from above the head into a wide glass held low, aerating it for the few seconds you have to drink it. The ritual is taken seriously in the sidrerias of Villaviciosa, Nava and Gijon, where the pour comes with cabrales cheese and a bowl of fabada. Cider season peaks between January and June, and most villages hold their own espicha, a standing party around a freshly tapped barrel.

3. Drive the Ribeira Sacra in Galicia

   Inland Galicia hides a canyon country where the Sil and Mino rivers cut 500 metres below terraced vineyards worked by hand. Romanesque monasteries sit on the ridges above, and catamaran trips leave from Doade for the best view upward. Combine it with the granite villages of Ourense province and a glass of mencia, the local red, which almost never leaves the region. Late September brings the harvest and the clearest light.

4. Wander the pueblos blancos of Andalusia

   The white villages string across the hills between Ronda and Arcos de la Frontera, each one lime-washed against the heat. Zahara de la Sierra perches above a turquoise reservoir, Grazalema catches the highest rainfall in Spain and stays green, and Setenil de las Bodegas tucks its houses under an overhanging rock shelf. Go in spring, when the sierra is covered in wildflowers and lunch on a terrace is still comfortable at three o'clock.

5. Taste your way through Rioja

   An hour inland from Bilbao, La Rioja and the Rioja Alavesa fill a broad valley with vines, walled towns and cellars dug beneath the streets. Laguardia bans cars from its centre because of the caves below it; nearby, Frank Gehry's titanium roof at Elciego sits incongruously above the vineyards. Many family bodegas take visitors by appointment, and the harvest festivals in late September are the region at its most sociable.

6. Cross the Castilian plains by castle

   Castile and Leon is a high, wide landscape punctuated by fortresses, and the drive between them is half the pleasure. Segovia has its Roman aqueduct and fairytale Alcazar, Salamanca glows honey-coloured at sunset, and the walled circuit at Avila is one of the most complete medieval walls in Europe. Roast suckling lamb is the regional dish. Green Cantabria lies just over the mountains if the plateau's summer heat becomes too much.

7. Escape into Valencia's interior

   Half an hour behind the Costa Blanca the land climbs into a different country. The Guadalest valley stacks a castle on a rock above a reservoir; Bocairent honeycombs its cliff with medieval cave chambers; and the Serra de Mariola is walked for its wild herbs. Villages here still make honey, almond turron and their own rice dishes, and rural houses cost noticeably less than anything within sight of the sea.