Northern Spain has fallen

The secret of "la España fresca" is out - the market will do the rest.

Northern Spain had a good run.

Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country have long served as cool, lush refuges from the parched parts of Spain. What they lacked in guaranteed sunshine hours, they made up for with wild and diverse landscapes, outstanding food, and relative tranquility even in peak summer.

Under-developed air travel connections to cities like A Coruña and San Sebastián have helped maintain a relative disconnectedness. It takes effort to get up here - just ask the Camino peregrinos. And hotel capacity is limited, even in larger cities like Bilbao. This infrastructural firewall has kept these regions tucked away from mass tourism and gentrification.

But the times they are a-changin'.

Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Málaga are buckling under the pressure of mass tourism colliding with a generational housing crisis and climate change. The giddy gold rush has started to slow down - investors are now looking for virgin territory.

The money machine has shifted gears…