Two Spanish communities made the UN’s Best Tourism Villages for 2025. Each held up for safeguarding heritage, working with nature rather than against it, and keeping tourism grounded in local life.
UN Tourism’s Best Tourism Villages 2025 explained
Launched in 2021 under the UN Tourism for Rural Development Programme, the initiative recognises rural destinations that pair credible sustainability with strong cultural and natural assets.
The 2025 selection spans every region of the world, with Spain represented by two places that have built tourism around local traditions and landscapes.
How villages are chosen: UN Tourism criteria at a glance
An independent Advisory Board assesses candidates across nine areas. They start with cultural and natural heritage and how it’s safeguarded. Then they weigh up economic, social and environmental sustainability, alongside how tourism is developed and linked into local value chains. They also assess governance, infrastructure and connectivity, plus health, safety and security. Baseline eligibility focuses on rural character, population size and a demonstrable role for tourism in local development.
Spain’s UN Best Tourism Villages 2025: the two selected villages
Agaete, Gran Canaria
Agaete sits where the Tamadaba mountains fall to the Atlantic in the Canary Islands. It is a pocket of valleys, volcanic forms and a rugged coast on Gran Canaria’s northwest. Life here still revolves around festivals, music and local crafts, and the valley nurtures Europe’s only coffee plantations, giving cafés an unmistakable local flavour.
Recognition leans on work to protect biodiversity, promote eco‑friendly farming and guide visitors thoughtfully through the area.
Things to do in Agaete
Swim in the natural pools at Las Salinas, wander Puerto de las Nieves for fish straight off the boats, and take a marked path into the pines of the Tamadaba Natural Park. Keep it low impact by sticking to signed trails, using refill points, and respecting parking caps around coastal spots.
Ezcaray, La Rioja
Ezcaray, in a fold of the Oja valley, has long tied its identity to wool, with workshops and weaving traditions that still anchor local livelihoods. The centre is a tight weave of cobblestones, arcades and small churches, with a calendar of community events that keeps customs in circulation. Rioja produce shapes the table here, from seasonal mushroom dishes to slow‑cooked stews.
The village’s approach to tourism is rooted in what it already does well: craft, food and access to nature. Trails and cycle routes knit the valley and the surrounding mountains, while guides and local associations keep an eye on erosion and seasonal pressures.
Things to do in Ezcaray
Go hiking in the Oja Valley and up into the Sierra de la Demanda for wide‑open views. Or hop on the bike and spin along the traffic‑free Vía Verde del Oja towards Santo Domingo de la Calzada, then have a peek inside local wool workshops to see the weaving traditions up close.
Getting to know rural Spain
Weekends in the Spanish countryside are all about slow travel and small pleasures: rail-trails through oak and pine, village markets piled with seasonal produce, and long lunches in shaded plazas. Plot a route through the most beautiful villages in Spain for 2025 and add a couple of the best medieval towns for cobbles, arcades and church towers with proper stories behind them.
Living rurally in Spain is gentler on the wallet and the nerves, but it does ask for a bit of planning around buses, fibre coverage and local clinics. Spain’s village revival has momentum: the Holapueblo project links newcomers with municipalities, and there are towns and villages in Spain where you could get paid to live. If you’re thinking of buying a house in the Spanish countryside, start with pragmatic tips on buying rural property in Spain and take your time to learn the lay of the land.
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