It is nothing new that Malaga city and Malaga province are magnificent places to spend your holidays, with towns such as Torremolinos, Fuengirola, Marbella, San Pedro de Alcántara, Benalmádena, Frigiliana, Nerja or Mijas as prominent tourist destinations of a lifetime. Now, Benarrabá probably does not appear in any ranking: it only has 452 inhabitants and has no coast, since it is in the heart of the Serranía de Ronda (another place worth visiting).
Málaga city and Benarrabá are night and day. In the 21st century, the population statistics have the arrow pointing down. Currently, its population density is of 18.35 inhabitants per square kilometeralmost 100 times less than the 1516.69 inhabitants/km² of Malagathe provincial capital and an entire technological cluster within Spain: it is home to one of the leading AI companies within the EU (freepik), Total Virus and even Google has a center there.
Between one municipality and another, 133 kilometers and approximately an hour and a half by car. To the nearest airports, (Gibraltar and Malaga), one hour and one hour and a half respectively. There is only one bus daily to larger municipalities such as Ronda or Algeciras. It is not that it is next to a big city (although the distances are relative) and it is well connected precisely. Obviously, there is also a huge difference in the price of housing. Due to its small size, Benarrabá makes it difficult to find rental data (there is none), but in terms of sales prices, it goes from 3,802 euros per square meter in the capital to €220/m² in the aforementioned town. according to Indomio data.
Benarrabá is a coliving town. If we take a look at your economic statisticswe will see that sectors such as agriculture, transport, construction or hospitality appear, but no trace of tourism. However, in 2025 alone, this small municipality welcomed 52 digital nomads from more than 19 different countries, more than 10% of its census population.
What does Benarrabá have to attract digital nomads?. An infrastructure that greatly simplifies the process of going to spend some time there knowing that you are going to find accommodation that is rented by the week (with prices ranging from 22 euros/day in a shared room and 35 euros/day for an individual), sociocultural activities and a hospitable neighborhood and spaces for teleworking with 1GB of symmetrical fiber, call rooms, good views and specialty coffee that can be accessed 24/7.
What is Rooral?. In one word: Roorala coliving project that is defined as a rural activator and in which both the Benarrabá City Council and the local community participate. The idea is to partner to create a coliving and coworking experience in towns located in unpopulated areas to welcome those people who want to telework and integrate into the life of the municipality. According to La Opinión de Málagathe average stay of these teleworkers is 24 days. In that period of time, they revitalize the life of the municipality and revitalize the economy. Benarrabá is the first permanent base of the project and it is no coincidence.
Juan Barbed, co-founder of Rooral, account how when his grandmother died and he had to return to town, he met numerous strangers who welcomed him with open arms. On the one hand, cities are full of stress and loneliness (not to mention sky-high prices), on the other, many towns in Spain are disappearing. He connected the dots to combat this imbalance: remote work. And it’s been three years now.
Things to do in Benarrabá. Rooral
You don’t have a town? Now yes. The co-founder explains for the Malaga environment that for those people accustomed to living in large cities, settling in Benarrabá is a surprising experience due to the closeness and human warmth: “An emotional bond is generated that is difficult to forget and the desire of many of them to return to Benarrabá in the future.” It marks some people so much that one of the artists who lived there has painted portraits of 45 neighbors, recorded a documentary and created a map of points of interest.
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Cover | Albertoac1990 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 and Annie Spratt
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