Joshua Parfitt
DEMAND for hotel rooms in Cadaqués is almost as high as a painting by former resident Salvador Dalí.
So it’s incredibly rare for a hotel to come up for sale.
With proportional demand for hotel beds in summer beating Roses, Begur and every other destination on the Costa Brava, it’s a guaranteed money spinner.
Cadaqués’ only problem is that supply can’t catch up.
Official data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute show that in August 2023, Cadaqués recorded 33,508 hotel stays with barely 1,182 beds available.
That isn’t counting AirBnb stays.
But with Spain’s government beginning the removal of 65,000 illegal holiday rentals in Spain, those hotel beds in Cadaqués are about to get very rare.
And you know what’s rarer still?
The boutique hotel for sale in Cadaqués named “Mas dels Arbres”.
It’s one of two of its kind in a 25km radius surrounding the town that National Geographic named the “most beautiful in the world” in March 2025.
Cadaqués, Spain’s “best kept secret”
Cadaqués has been heaped with praise this year.
First, The Times called it the 2nd-best destination in Spain for an autumn break. Then, the New York Times placed an image of Cadaques’ beachfront and whitewashed buildings atop its Costa Brava hotel guide.
Most recently, Condé Nast Traveller named Cadaques Spain’s “best kept secret” in September 2025.
Of course, none of these got there first.
Salvador Dali was the first to call Cadaqués – with the world-famous Salvador Dali House Museum – the “most beautiful place in the world”.
A few decades later, the El Bulli restaurant was #1 on The World’s Best 50 Restaurants list five times, and brought 3 million restaurant reservations a year to Cadaqués.
The town with a population of 2,918 could not accommodate them all.
But it’s Cadaqués’ charm as an artsy fishing village with incredible food that continues to make it the “best” of many things high on the upmarket tourist’s list.
One of two of its kind
So what makes Mas dels Arbres so rare?
It’s a 17th-century farmhouse renovated in 2021 into a boutique hotel with a rural hotel license.
It still has hooks outside its doors for farmers to hang a torch.
But that’s not what makes it rare.
Let me explain.
A rural hotel license is not like a regular hotel license.
This Turisme Rural license lets hotel owners use a range of business models. For example, unlike an urban hotel, you can operate on a per-room basis and rent out the entire building.
You operate as a short-term boutique hotel, a wedding venue, a retreat centre and a private residence – all at the same time.
And that’s exactly what Mas dels Arbres does.
One week, it’s hosting a retreat by a world-leading Dubai-based psychologist. The next week, it rents out its two suites and three rooms for prices starting from €360 a night, according to a local property rental portal.
Imagine the potential.
A boutique hotel. A 15-minute drive from Spain’s “best-kept secret”. And it doesn’t need peak-summer day tourists to turn a profit.
Mas dels Arbres is one of two boutique hotels with a rural tourism license in any of Cadaques and its neighbouring three towns.
It’s a rare opportunity for investors.
Won’t be seen for a “generation”
There’s another thing about boutique hotels for sale with a rural license.
Put it this way.
You won’t find another one this close to Cadaques for a “generation”, according to Cottage Properties co-director, Angels Sabater Anell.
“Mas dels Arbres is inside the Cap de Creus Natural Park, which surrounds Cadaqués and is one of the most protected landscapes in Catalonia,” she says.
“Securing a rural tourism licence here is impossible. You have to meet requirements covering everything from environmental integration, architectural preservation, energy efficiency and accessibility standards.”
She explains that her real estate agency, Cottage Properties, not only sells Catalan farmhouses but also restores them.
She says their rehabilitation of Mas dels Arbres was so true to regulations it was featured on Spain’s Canal Decasa television channel as an example of authentic restoration.
For example, on the property’s listing page, we learn the property is fully self-sufficient with a solar energy installation. It has its own well. Plus wheelchair access.
(It’s also connected to the national grid for backup power.)
Historical features were preserved during the restoration, such as dry stone walls, historic floor tiles, a private chapel and original arches.
The property preserved its olive grove with 40+ centennial trees, plus almond trees and apricot trees.
According to Ponc Feliu, the director of the Cap de Creus Natural Park:
“I really think Mas des Arbres is the best farmhouse restoration in the Park so far.”
As a bonus, future owners can access public grants to plant the 100-hectare plot with traditional crops such as grape vines, or extend the olive grove to make olive oil.
Accounts available
Mas dels Arbres is a boutique hotel for sale in Cadaques, in Spain.
It is a boutique hotel with a rural tourism license.
This means it can operate as a luxury seasonal rental, a private residence, and be rented out entirely as a retreat centre.
The property has 7 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms with 685 m² of built area on a 100-hectare plot.
Accounts are available for enquiry.
For more information, please contact Angels Sabater Anell, the co-director of Cottage Properties.
Contact details are on the listing page for the property.
Cottage Properties is the leading estate agency in Catalonia specialised in the sale of masías – or traditional Catalan farmhouses.
It has the largest portfolio of masías for sale, with 174 at the time of writing.
For more investment opportunities, visit their collection of boutique and rural hotels for sale in Catalonia.
Click here to read more Property News from The Olive Press.
