Zurgena will turn the old Casa del Médico into a hostel for young people and hikers
Zurgena Town Council will adapt the old Casa del Médico as an affordable hostel for young people and hikers, starting with an accessible ground floor.
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Zurgena’s old Casa del Médico (the doctor’s house) will have a second life as a tourist hostel. The town council is already working on adapting the building, as the mayor, Domingo Trabalón, explained on the programme ‘Es la Mañana de Zurgena’, on esRadio Almería. The idea is to offer affordable accommodation to young people, hikers and visitors who come to the town for sporting or cultural activities.
The project will be carried out in stages. The first phase will focus on the ground floor, where the old garage will be converted into an accessible space for people with reduced mobility, with its own kitchen, bathroom and bed. Trabalón argued for bringing disused municipal buildings back into use as a way of expanding the municipality’s tourist services. The information released does not specify the budget for the works or the timescale.
Routes, heritage and cruise passengers
The mayor linked the hostel to the promotion of the mountain routes, heritage and food of Zurgena, a town that this summer already hosted the 2nd Urban Slalom in its streets and the 3rd Rail Festival at its old station. And he also looked to the sea: he announced a meeting with the manager of the Port of Almería Foundation to study whether Zurgena can be included in the visits offered to cruise passengers.
A town that is gaining residents
Behind the project lies another piece of good news for the town: Zurgena is growing. According to Trabalón, the municipality has gone from around 2,900 to 3,350 inhabitants in three years; the latest official figure from the INE, Spain’s National Statistics Institute, as of 1 January 2025, was 3,059. To sustain that growth, the mayor listed among his next challenges the creation of urban land to facilitate new housing.
Bringing a disused municipal building back into use to welcome those who come to walk, to compete or for a cultural event is, moreover, a way of showcasing what the town already has.
