Costa Blanca or Costa del Sol? 22 towns compared

Winter days and nights, summer humidity, prices, rents, holiday lets, foreigners, crime, hospitals and flights home for every town of 25,000+ on the two coasts, from official data.

The two coasts where most northern Europeans settle or spend the winter look alike on a map: both face south-east, both have an airport with year-round flights home, both have towns where a fifth of the residents are foreign. The official numbers show a consistent pattern: the Costa del Sol is warmer at night in winter and less humid in summer, and costs about 30% more to buy. The table gives the median town of each coast; the lists below give every town.

Winter: the nights decide

Winter afternoons are nearly the same (-0.2 °C for the Costa del Sol). Winter nights are not: the median Costa del Sol town is 2.0 °C warmer at night from December to February. For anyone spending the winter in an apartment without central heating, that gap is what you feel. The warmest winter nights on each coast: Alacant/Alicante (7.5°C) on the Costa Blanca, Fuengirola (11.6°C) on the Costa del Sol. The winter article has the month-by-month figures.

Summer: hotter afternoons and stickier air on the Costa Blanca

The Costa Blanca's August afternoons are hotter (31.3°C against 29.4°C) and its air is more humid (dew point 20.0°C against 18.2°C). The median town has 64-71 nights a year above 20 °C. Around 2055 the official scenarios add 0.8-1.0 °C to the August afternoons.

Money: the Costa del Sol premium

The median Costa del Sol town is appraised at 3,390 €/m² against 2,605 €/m² on the Costa Blanca (+30%); typical apartment rents are +21%. The cheapest towns with a price: Sant Vicent del Raspeig/San Vicente del Raspeig (1,908 €/m²) and Vélez-Málaga (2,554 €/m²). Holiday lets take a larger share of homes on the Costa del Sol (6.1% against 3.5%), which pushes up summer rents.

Healthcare: the biggest difference is not on the map

A large public hospital (500+ beds) lies within 25 km of 6 of the 12 Costa Blanca towns and 6 of the 10 Costa del Sol towns; the farthest town on each coast is 75 km and 73 km from one. The bigger difference is the region: the Valencian Community's public health service reports an average wait of 88 days for planned surgery, Andalusia's 173. Private insurance, which many newcomers need for their visa anyway, avoids most of that wait on both coasts.

Costa Blanca, town by town

Costa del Sol, town by town

Towns of 25,000+ whose centre is within 10 km of the sea; Orihuela's coastal districts belong to a municipality whose centre lies further inland and are judged by that centre. * = climate estimated from nearby stations (Benidorm, Vila Joiosa, la/Villajoyosa and Mijas).

Choosing

Warmer winter nights, drier summers, more Spanish city life (Málaga) and higher prices on the Costa del Sol; cheaper homes, a shorter hospital wait and the largest foreign communities (Calp, Xàbia/Jávea and Torrevieja) on the Costa Blanca. To weigh these for yourself, open the compare tool with mild winters, dry summers, price and waiting times preset, or put two towns side by side on the compare page.

How we did this

Coasts defined as the towns of 25,000+ in the provinces of Alicante and Málaga whose centre lies within 10 km of the sea (Natural Earth coastline). Medians across those towns. Winter = December-February mean of AEMET 1991-2020 monthly highs and lows at the town's station (or estimate, marked *). Other sources as on the place pages: Ministry of Housing (appraised values to Q2 2026, SERPAVI rents 2024), INE (population, foreign residents 2022, holiday lets May 2026), Ministry of the Interior (crime 2025), Ministry of Health (hospitals; regional waits 31 Dec 2025), Escenarios-PNACC 2024 (2055), airport route tables 4 Oct 2026, OpenStreetMap. Built 2026-10-18.