The tiny Spanish village helping British travellers discover a new way of life

"British digital nomads have traditionally headed to Europe's big cities, but with rising rents and increased tensions with locals who feel they are being invaded, popular locations like Barcelona, Lisbon and Malaga have become less attractive. Now, a growing number of travellers are heading to the interior of Spain, which has suffered from chronic depopulation in recent decades, in search of a more genuine experience of local life."

"Helen McNamara, who worked for a company analysing customers' buying experience in London, decided to spend seven weeks in Benarrabá, a tiny village with a population of less than 500 about 133 kilometres (83 miles) west of Malaga. "I was in Bali and I think they are having similar problems with overtourism," the 45-year-old told The i Paper. She wondered: "How can tourism be flipped on its head and help local culture survive rather than destroying it?""

"After asking ChatGPT where she should go, she discovered Benarrabá, where a non-profit initiative, Rooral, has teamed up with residents to introduce foreign remote workers for a skills exchange. The village, in the hills of Andalusia, had 1,500 inhabitants in 1900, but this number has dropped sharply as many young people left for jobs in cities. The scheme offers a chance for travellers to preserve local culture rather than damaging it by driving up house prices or altering local habits to suit the demands of foreign visitors."

"Ellie Pratt, 28, a remote marketing worker, spent two weeks in the village last month. She said she went to the gym with the octogenarian grandmothers, played padel with local people and painted with residents. "I just wanted to experience something very different from city life. The village was very different. And the remote workers were very integrated with the community, unlike other co-livings which were very separate or just focused on digital nomads alone," she said."

Rising rents and local tensions have made major European cities less attractive to British digital nomads. Many travellers now head to Spain’s interior, where chronic depopulation has left small communities seeking new ways to sustain local life. A remote worker spent seven weeks in Benarrabá, a village of fewer than 500 people west of Malaga, after searching for alternatives to overtourism. A non-profit initiative called Rooral partners with residents to host foreign remote workers through a skills exchange. The program aims to preserve local culture and reduce harm from tourism-driven housing pressure and habit changes. Participants integrate through shared activities such as gym visits, padel, and painting with residents.

Read at The i Paper