This is a website for buyers, owners, and sellers of property in Spain, offering reliable information and resources to help you get things done with confidence. It is run by Mark Stücklin, author of the Spanish Property Doctor Column in The Sunday Times (2005-2008), and the book ‘Need to Know: Buying Property in Spain’ published by Collins.
Mark Stücklin
Rural depopulation has left a legacy of abandoned villages in Spain. Who’s to say some might not come back to life?
This article was about a map created in 2021 pinpointing abandoned villages in Spain. The map was available online. The map has since disappeared.
Rural depopulation happens to all industrialised societies but it came to Spain later than many other Western European countries. As a result there are numerous abandoned villages all over Spain, as this map shows.
In other countries like France and the UK there has been a move back to the countryside in the last 50 years, as technology and other structural changes in society and the economy made it more viable to make a living outside of big cities (I read that somewhere). I guess the same is starting to happen / will happen in Spain. Some of the villages on this map are in the process of being “rescued”, explains the map’s creator.
Judging by this map there appear to be very few abandoned villages in the south of Spain (and plenty in the centre and north), but in reality that is probably not the case. It’s more likely that they are just not identified on the map, which has been put together by one person who admits that many villages have not yet been included.
So if you want to create your own Arcadia out of an abandoned village in Spain this map might be the place to start your search. You might be able to buy a Spanish hamlet today for a song, but I imagine everything else about the process, like finding out who has title, could be a minefield. Not for the fainthearted.
The map used to be hosted at a website called Pueblos Abandonados, but the site is no longer active.
Mark Adkinson says:
Hi Mark; Here in Galicia there are over 1.500 abandoned villages. I have some on my website but shortly will be setting up the website aldeasabandonadasgalicia.com and will have a the site specialising in these villages and hamlets.
Laura says:
I’d like to inquire if there’s more abandoned villages up for sale and if so, do you please have the list of agents representing them? I’d prefer to view properties in Andalucia, but am happy to consider properties in central spain also. I’ve visited the above website, but being unable to read in spanish has proven an almost impossible fete, Your help would be gratefully appreciated.
Ilyas says:
I’m interested in cultivable orchids or abandoned properties for redevelopment; can anyone suggest English websites.
David says:
Looking for an abandon village with some hectares in the Pyrenees Mountains.
Water, arable land, 10-20 buildings that can be refurbished.
Remote but accessible.
Want to own and yes for a song.