The autonomous communities with the most searched municipalities in 2019 were Castilla-La Mancha (3), Aragon (3), Andalusia (1), Castile-Leon (1), Asturias (1) and Valencia (1)
Setenil de las Bodegas in Cadiz took the top spot once again, followed by Alcalá del Júcar (Albacete), Valverde de los Arroyos (Guadalajara), Riópar (Albacete) and Llanes (Asturias).
Alhama de Aragón, Montanejos and Alquézar featured in the top 10 from last year and Alcalá del Júcar climbed more than any other village compared to 2018.
Enjoying rural tourism and visiting some of Spain’s most charming villages is still one of the preferred options for people looking to disconnect from it all and get closer to nature. Once again, the leading website in the sector, EscapadaRural.com has compiled a list of the 10 most searched Spanish municipalities from a total of 100 that jointly registered more than 1,500,000 searches over the last year.
The top 10 most searched villages are concentrated in six autonomous communities, with Castilla-La Mancha and Aragon both having three villages among the top rankings. More specifically, the Aragonese region is the only autonomous community that can boast of having representation from its three provinces in the rankings with Albarracín in Teruel, Alhama de Aragón in Zaragoza and Alquézar in Huesca.
The four remaining villages in the top 10 are found in Andalusia, Asturias, Castile-Leon and the Valencia. Guadalupe lost its place among the top 10 most searched villages for rural tourism in 2019, leaving Extremadura unrepresented on this occasion.
Setenil de las Bodegas is once again the most searched
Setenil de las Bodegas in Cadiz took the top spot for the second consecutive year, arousing the most interest among Internet users with more than 48,000 searches (48,273). The unusual nature and beauty of its quaint urban framework declared a Historic Site, and many of the houses embedded in the huge rocks make this village one of the most sought after tourist destinations in the Sierra de Cadiz.
It’s also one of the 19 towns located around the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park that make up the popular white villages route. Enough credentials, together with its wide offer of rural tourism, to repeat it top position.
To encounter the second most searched village, we move to Castilla-la Mancha, which has three of its municipalities among the top four. The second most searched village was Alcalá del Júcar in the province of Albacete with 36,183 searches during the last year. It also climbed the most in the classifications compared to previous years, jumping from ninth to second place.
A castle perched on the side of the mountain and the erosion left by the Júcar canyon on the limestone rocks for centuries tells us that we are in an extraordinary place with a lot of history. Its unique architecture is complemented by a range of leisure options linked to nature and adventure.
Valverde de los Arroyos in the province of Guadalajara also improved its ranking, moving from sixth to third place in the top 10 most searched villages with just over 35,000 searches (35,511). The Alcarria municipality forms part of the well-known route of the black villages, where it’s common to find houses made of slate. Visitors can also see the Chorreras de Despeñalagua – consecutive waterfalls with a drop of more than 80 metres.
Continuing in the La Mancha region and once again in the province of Albacete, we find Riópar in fourth position with 30,875 searches. The top 10 most searched municipalities for rural tourism is completed by Llanes (Asturias), stays on in fifth place; Orbaneja del Castillo (Burgos), which went from 2nd to 6th place compared to 2018; Albarracín (Teruel), also dropped from 4th to 7th place and the newcomers Alhama de Aragón (Zaragoza) Montanejos (Castellón) and Alquézar (Huesca).
