Puntos de Interés
Culture
Ghost Hotel
Just off the Renacimiento Greenway Nature Trail, between the municipalities of Balazote and Casas de Lázaro, stands a large building popularly known as the "ghost hotel". This modern construction, today abandoned, occupies the site where the old La Rambla Station would have stood on the Baeza-Utiel railway which, likewise, never came into service.
Construction on the Baeza-Utiel railway began in the 1920s, the plan being to connect Andalusia with the Levante through Albacete. However, work was finally halted in 1946, leaving a trail of tunnels, bridges and stations that never saw a train pass through. La Rambla was one of them: a rural enclave that fell silent after the project was abandoned.
Decades later, a large building was erected on the site of the old station, destined to become - according to some local testimonies and town planning records - a small rural hotel or service area linked to the future tourist development of the railway. However, the project remained unfinished and the building was never inaugurated.
The building is currently unused and in an advanced state of disrepair. Its structure, made of concrete and rendered brickwork, preserves several floors without enclosures or joinery. The immediate surroundings are partially fenced off, although the enclosure shows clear signs of abandonment.
The building is easily recognisable from the Nature Trail, and is a visual landmark along the route, due to its size its location next to old railway embankments and the remains of retaining walls. Its presence, although removed from original route of the line, allows us to understand the different stages of occupation of the territory, from the industrial ambition of the railway to the unfinished tourist developments of the late 20th century.
For safety and conservation reasons, access to the interior or immediate surroundings of the building is prohibited.