Pirineu Turístic: bringing buildings back to life and supporting the future of our villages
Behind Pirineu Turístic there’s no big real estate company, investor group, or construction firm. There’s a family, countless hours of work, and a vision of rural tourism that goes beyond simply offering accommodation.
Walking through villages like Borredà or La Pobla de Lillet in Berguedà, you’ll still find old buildings that are part of their story. Some have been preserved, others restored, and sadly some were left abandoned until they fell into serious disrepair.
At Pirineu Turístic, we believe these buildings deserve a second chance.
Recovering what seemed lost
A big part of our work is about restoring buildings and spaces that were often in very poor, almost ruined condition.
It’s not just about painting walls, swapping furniture, and renting out an apartment. These are renovations that demand time, physical effort, dedication, and a lot of patience.
There are tough days filled with surprises, dust, and debris. Days when it feels like the work will never end. But there’s also the reward of seeing a place that’s been falling apart for years become livable and useful again.
We try to preserve the character of the buildings wherever possible, adapting them to today’s needs without losing sight of their history and surroundings.
A family behind every renovation and accommodation
One thing guests rarely see when booking with us is all the work behind the scenes.
At Pirineu Turístic, it’s us — a family — who handle the renovations, maintenance, cleaning, and preparation of the accommodations.
There are no outside teams managing everything while we just handle bookings from an office.
We’re the same people restoring the spaces and then making sure they’re clean, cared for, and ready to welcome visitors.
This means many hours of dedication, often doing unseen work that goes far beyond tourism itself.
It’s not always easy, but it’s how we’ve chosen to carry this project forward.
Restoring isn’t about speculation
These days there’s a lot of talk about property investment, returns, and business opportunities. We see things differently.
Of course, Pirineu Turístic is a business and needs to be viable. But our goal isn’t to buy buildings to speculate on their value, let them appreciate, and then sell to the highest bidder.
The buildings we’ve acquired weren’t viable for restoration under that model, which is why they were left to ruin. We made it possible by dedicating many hours and patience ourselves, without any external funding.
What we want is to recover deteriorated spaces, give them real use, and keep them in good condition.
We don’t claim to be saviours of any village. We simply believe that restoring a building that was falling apart is better than letting it decay further.
And if this work also helps generate economic activity locally, all the better.
Rural tourism can help keep villages alive
Borredà and La Pobla de Lillet are much more than tourist destinations. They are villages with residents, shops, services, traditions, and their own history.
When visitors stay in our apartments or farmhouse, they can also support local shops, dine at nearby restaurants, visit local businesses, and discover activities in the area.
We know rural tourism alone won’t solve issues like depopulation, lack of services, or housing shortages affecting many towns. But when developed respectfully and thoughtfully, it can help maintain local activity.
For us, rural revitalisation isn’t about turning villages into tourist showcases, but helping them remain living places with their own identity.
A project that keeps growing, one building at a time
There’s still work to do. We continue restoring new spaces, especially in La Pobla de Lillet, with the same philosophy we started with.
Each building brings different challenges and every renovation has its own pace. We don’t have a big corporate structure or unlimited resources. We have our hands, our time, and the desire to keep recovering places we believe are worth preserving.
Often, behind a freshly painted wall or a room ready for visitors, there are weeks or months of unseen work.
And perhaps that’s what best defines Pirineu Turístic.
We don’t just offer rural accommodation. We also dedicate a big part of our lives to restoring buildings that deserve to remain part of our villages.
No grand speeches or pretensions. Just working day by day, as a family.
Because we believe giving a building a new life is also a way of caring for the land we love.
