The five least-visited places in Spain that your clients will love
Rioja: the least visited region
With only approximately 10,000 British tourists in 2023, La Rioja is the least visited region of Spain and welcomes only 0.06% of the total number of British tourists that visit Spain each year. With more than 500 wineries, it is internationally known for its red wine production and vineyards. Beyond this, La Rioja has a host of cultural attractions thanks to its links to the Camino Santiago pilgrim route.
Mariña Lucense: the least visited coastal region
La Rioja isn't the only location with barely any tourists, however. Mariña Lucense in Galicia is a little-visited coastal region, which had around 1,800 tourists visiting in 2023, the equivalent of 0.01% of the total British visitors to Spain. The region is located on the shores of the Cantabrian Sea and known for its beautiful mountains and beaches, such as the Catedrais (The Cathedrals).
El Hierro: the least visited island
As the least visited island, El Hierro in the Canaries received fewer than 200 British visitors in 2023, which is equivalent to less than 0.01% of the total British visitors to Spain. As the westernmost island of Canarias, El Hierro is known for its lush volcanic landscape and clear night skies perfect for star gazing.
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The Independent
16 hours ago
- The Independent
Cruise giant offers cash incentive to address overtourism
Norwegian cruise company Hurtigruten has introduced an "Open Village" initiative to address overtourism by offering sailings to smaller, remote villages. The programme aims to immerse visitors in the everyday life of three coastal villages: Træna, Bessaker, and Sæbø. Hurtigruten will contribute 250 Norwegian Krone, approximately £18, per guest directly to each community visited. These excursions are available on the company's smaller Signature Line Voyages during the summer period between May and September. The initiative seeks to provide a more meaningful travel experience while supporting local businesses and residents in small communities.
BBC News
17 hours ago
- BBC News
What Santiago's many 'Camino' pilgrims often miss
Europe's most famous pilgrimage destination is also one of Spain's most stunning – and under-explored – cities. Now, the city is keen to show off its artsy side. For the last 1,200 years, the Unesco World Heritage city of Santiago de Compostela has best been known as a pilgrimage destination for devout Catholics. Last year alone, nearly 500,000 faithful hikers set out along the series of well-trodden trails called "the Camino", journeying through the lush wooded hills and river-flecked valleys of Galicia in north-west Spain to reach the city's towering Romanesque years, I'd heard about Santiago's beauty from friends and fellow travellers who had gazed upon its towering church spires and twisting honey-coloured lanes. Yet, one of the great ironies is that many of those who had walked for weeks or even months to get there admitted that once they arrived, they shuffled alongside the masses into the cathedral to see the tomb of St James, slumped into one of the many touristy tapas bars around Rua Franco and then quickly headed home. If they had just taken a few more steps, I'd always wondered, would they have discovered more? I wanted to dig deeper into the city's medieval and more modern heart, but I didn't have the time or energy to trek the demanding trail myself. Fortunately, a high-speed rail route now whisks travellers across the nation to Santiago, giving visitors a blister-free way to explore one of Spain's most stunning – and under-explored – cities. The fast track Though Spain boasts Europe's longest and most-advanced high-speed train network (second in the world only to China's), it wasn't until December 2021 that the nation extended its three-decade-old high-speed Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) network to Santiago. "We're in an isolated corner of Spain," Ana Munín, from the Santiago de Compostela Convention Bureau, tells me. "We get things last." Stepping onto the platform at Madrid's Chamartin station, the white flanks of my streamlined AVE train were adorned with proclamations of its top speed (330km/h) plus a logo indicating that it was powered by 100% renewable energy. According to Munín, the arrival of these high-speed trains has brought an increase of Spanish travellers to Santiago, while simultaneously reducing the number of flights arriving at its small regional airport. "A one-hour flight – it is just wrong," she remarks. As my train leaves Madrid, I watch the seat-back speedometer rise inexorably until, after 20 minutes, I'm cruising serenely along at 300km/h. Arid plains dotted with weathered ochre-coloured villages and clusters of hardy trees scrolls by. Passing the city of Zamora, moorland gives way to sylvan valleys where mountain streams glint below the tracks. The train eases across the wide span of the Miño, Galicia's longest river, as we reach the ancient hot springs town of Ourense. From here, a series of viaducts carry us across hills carpeted by a tight arboreal tapestry, dotted with colourful villages whose facades seem brighter in the clear hill air. Barely more than three hours after leaving Madrid, I step off the train into the heart of Santiago. A new vision Pilgrims approaching Santiago on the Camino's network of trails often describe their first glimpse of the cathedral's ornate spires. Instead, I was struck by the dramatic rollercoaster curves and soaring glass facades of the City of Culture architectural complex, which rises atop Mount Gaiás and overlooks the train station below. Designed by US starchitect Peter Eisenman, this eye-popping, futuristic set of museums, gardens and libraries was designed as a "beacon for pilgrims of knowledge" when its first two buildings opened to the public in 2011. Inside the vast multipurpose cultural space (now known simply as the Gaias Centre Museum), I take in a retrospective of artist Rafael Ubeda before wandering through an exhibition on global tattoo designs and culture at the neighbouring UTESA convention and culture centre. "We have fantastic contemporary architecture, modern art – and the gastronomy scene has just grown and grown," Munín later tells me. As we sit at a communal table sipping Galicia's world-renowned Mencia wine and savouring the region's prized octopus and mackerel at Abastos 2.0, a hip diner attached to the historic food market, I look around and noticed that there doesn't appear to be a single foreign visitor in sight. "Santiago is also very much a university city," adds Munín, revealing that a quarter of the city's 100,000 residents study or work at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, which dates back to 1495. As she explained, this infuses the city with a vibrant, youthful energy, as students and young creatives frequently showcase their work at pop-up arts events – like the exhibition of contemporary photographs I soon stumble upon housed in a 17th-Century church nestled amid the city's medieval core. Santiago's Old Town is a glorious, compact melange of squares and historic porticoed streets that give way to promenade-lined parks like the central Alameda and more secluded Bonaval. Munín explains that in recent years, ancient edifices have been refashioned into atmospheric museums. But unlike the tourist-thronged cathedral, I experience near solitude in every other cultural space I visit – as if the pilgrims don't realise that reflection can be stirred in Santiago's quiet corners, as well as on the trail. Inside the austere granite outlines of CGAC (Galician Centre for Contemporary Art), for example, I see just four other people during my hour spent exploring three floors that include a brilliant exhibition of Galician photographer Mar Caldas. Mere metres from the end of three Camino trails (the French, Northern and Primitivo Ways) on Rua de San Pedro, incoming pilgrims walk right past a showcase by young Galician artists at the tiny Defímeras gallery. After taking it in, I tuck into a luscious Galician bean stew and generous pork loin at the nearby local favourite O Dezaseis. Inside a neighbouring Dominican convent now housing the Museum of the Galician People, there's just one other person absorbing evocative displays of ancient industries, linked via a dazzling Baroque spiral staircase. At Colexio de Fonseca, the university's oldest college, I immerse myself in a contemporary art show beside its leafy Renaissance courtyard while all alone. Ditto at the nearby Fundacion Eugenio Granell, which showcases Surrealist art inside an 18th-Century mansion once believed to be Santiago's loveliest. The following day I visit Casa RIA, a foundation opened in 2023 by famed British architect David Chipperfield which aims to promote sustainable development in the area. As well as displaying exhibitions on topics like Galician food markets, there's a stylish in-house cantina whose affordable daily menus include produce from the foundation's allotment in its tranquil rear garden. "We've welcomed academics from Shanghai's Tongji University and MIT, but also a few people every day visiting the exhibition or stopping by the canteen," Casa RIA's director, Inés Piñeiro Ozores, tells me. Interestingly, she adds, very few of their visitors are pilgrims. Back at the city's main square, the vast Praza do Obradoiro, I watch the melee of faithful mill around the cathedral. Suddenly, the sound of Galician bagpipes draws me around a corner to discover a piper named Fernando Hernandez playing alone in an ancient archway as a flow of people go by without pausing. He happily tells me about the link between Galician pipes and those of Scotland, Ireland and Brittany before lamenting Santiago's pilgrim hordes. "The Camino has just become a walk for too many people – companies now even carry their bags each day!" he says, before returning to his pipes. More like this:• St James Way: The return of the UK's medieval highway• The Lighthouse Way: Walking Spain's 'other' camino• A 77km hike that could inspire miracles As a record-number of pilgrims have descended on Santiago three years in a row, the city has started pushing back against the negative aspects of overtourism that have prompted fierce protests in other Spanish destinations like Barcelona and the Canary Islands. In Santiago, these include a surge in short-term rentals that push out locals, an influx of souvenir shops selling cheaply manufactured wares and bad tourist behaviour such as pitching tents near the cathedral. In addition to local campaigns such as Compostela Resists, in 2024 the city launched a "Fragile Santiago" campaign to encourage visitors to engage differently. The hope is that visitors seek out handmade local crafts, savour traditional Galician cuisine and take time to discover the city's cultural – and not just religious – heritage. "Every month, Santiago has some sort of arts festival," says Flavia Ramil, director of the city's tourist office, adding a note on their affordability, with tickets starting at just a few euros. "Now, we are seeing more tourists from places like Japan, the US and UK who are very interested in the culture of the city," she says happily. Amen to that. -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
The Independent
18 hours ago
- The Independent
Hurtigruten will pay remote Norwegian villages to host passengers
A Norwegian cruise company has said they have found an "antidote to overtourism ' by offering sailings to smaller villages as part of their packages. Cruise giant Hurtigruten has introduced new 'Open Village' experiences along Norway 's remote coastline in collaboration with local residents. The company said they will be sending a fee per guest to communities involved. The exclusive experiences have been designed to immerse visitors in the everyday life of three villages on the coast: Træna, Bessaker, and Sæbø. Excursions will be available to passengers on Hurtigruten's Signature Line Voyages in the busy summer period between May and September. These voyages take place on the cruise line's smaller ships: the only vessels that visit the remote coastal villages during the summer season. There is space for up to 500 passengers on each ship, with Hurtigruten saying they will directly contribute 250 Norwegian Krone (around £18) per guest to each community they visit. In Bessaker, guests will be welcomed with a festive village parade and will gain access to historic buildings. Live music, woodcarving activities and homemade treats are also planned. Over in Sæbø, tourists can attend church concerts, explore the Avalanche Centre and get a guided tour of the town's natural and cultural history. Meanwhile, a visit to Træna, one of Norway 's oldest fishing communities, will include tours of the local museum and church, plus self-guided wanders around the town. 'As some of Europe's best-known destinations struggle with the pressures of overtourism, our approach is deliberately different: slower, more meaningful travel rooted in genuine connection,' said Odd Tore Skildheim, head of product development at Hurtigruten. 'These villages, with a combined population of fewer than 1,000, are not just points on a map. Through our 'Open Village' concept, there is no cost to our guests. 'Instead, for every visit we make, there is a direct financial contribution made by Hurtigruten to each community based on the number of guests onboard, ensuring the benefits are felt by the people who live there. 'Our aim is for guests to feel truly welcomed and for locals to feel genuinely supported,' he added. Knut Johan Monkan, from tourism company Coastal Host Bessaker, said that while the community will be making an income, the Open Village initiative will also be an opportunity for growth. 'In a village of just 170 people, 12 businesses benefit directly from activity providers to artists, bakers and local producers. 'Without this initiative, places like FABrikken, our new restaurant, and Stokkøy Bakeri, named Norway's best bakery in 2023, would not have managed to keep going. 'The ripple effects are wide-reaching, and Hurtigruten's presence is essential to creating a sustainable, living village and district.'
