Articles

Short pieces built from the same official data as the compare page.

• Best coastal towns in Spain to live in, and the cheapest

  113 coastal towns scored on hospitals, waits, winters, price, walkability and beaches; the cheapest, the cheapest that are still connected, and the quiet ones with few holiday lets.

• Best places in Spain for digital nomads: 2026 ranking

  153 towns of 50,000+ scored on rent, lively centre, airport, trains, summer heat and safety; by the sea, the cheapest, the big cities, and the visa basics.

• International schools in Spain: which towns have one nearby

  184 of 333 towns have an international school within 10 km, 47 are over 50 km away; where the British, American, French and German schools cluster, and a coastal family shortlist.

• Where in Spain is it not too hot in summer?

  78 of 333 towns stay at or below 28 °C on an average August afternoon (61 by 2055): the coolest coasts, inland towns and big cities, and the few that are cool and sunny.

• Wintering in Spain: what does it cost per month?

  Real rents in the 105 towns with January afternoons of 16 °C+, the cheapest with a flight home and a hospital, the Canaries, where winter lets are plentiful, and what a seasonal let really costs.

• Living in Spain: the honest pros and cons, by the numbers

  Sun, healthcare, housing, safety, daily life, water: each pro and con with the number behind it for 333 towns, and how many towns escape the catch.

• Safest places to live in Spain: 333 towns ranked

  Recorded crime per 1,000 residents in all 333 towns: the 25 safest, the safest big cities and coastal towns, burglary rates, and why resorts look worse than they are.

• Where to buy property in Spain: prices in 333 towns

  Appraised home values in 333 towns: cheapest and dearest, cheap towns by the sea, five-year rises, rental yields, and a buyers' shortlist that stays liveable in 2055.

• Málaga vs Alicante vs Valencia: which to live in?

  Prices, rents, crime, summer heat and humidity, waiting times, flights, walkability and who lives there: the three cities side by side, each ranked among 333 towns.

• Costa Blanca or Costa del Sol? 22 towns compared

  The median town of each coast on 19 measures, then every town: the Costa del Sol has warmer winter nights and drier summers, the Costa Blanca cheaper homes and shorter hospital waits.

• Retiring to Spain from the UK or the US: where?

  Two data-picked shortlists: 298 towns within reach of year-round London flights, 106 within reach of US flights, scored on winter, hospitals, waits, price and walkability, plus the healthcare and visa basics.

• Where the British, Germans and other expats live in Spain

  Residents by nationality in 333 towns: the most British, German, French and Italian towns, where foreigners are the majority, and the big cities where they are rare.

• Best places to live in Spain (2026): six shortlists

  Shortlists for retirees, the sea on a budget, small towns, families, remote workers and a hotter future, each computed from official data and open in the tool.

• Best climate in Spain: pleasant all year round, ranked

  We scored 333 towns on how many months are pleasant: 11 have all twelve, all on the Canary Islands; outside them Estepona and Marbella come closest. With humidity, nights and 2055.

• Warmest places in Spain in winter, town by town

  December to February in 333 towns: the Canaries are warmest by day and by night; on the mainland the coast of Almería, Granada and Málaga leads. Month by month, coast by coast, with winter flights home.

• Spain's climate around 2055: the north stays mild

  Official projections for 333 towns: summer heat, warm nights, rain and sunshine around 2055, region by region.

• Same budget, different Spain: what €250,000 buys where

  Floor space for the same money in 302 places, and cheap towns that still have a big hospital, an airport and shops within walking distance.

• Healthcare in Spain for expats: waits and hospitals

  Waiting times by region, which towns are far from a big hospital, and where private hospitals are.

• Walkable towns in Spain: living without a car

  68 places, big and small, where shops, pharmacies and the bus are a short walk away, with a station and a hospital close by.

• A Coruña, ‘best quality of life’: what the ranking left out

  A Coruña topped a famous ranking. We checked it against weather, healthcare, flights, prices and the climate of 2055.

• Galicia vs the Costa del Sol in 11 numbers

  Sun, rain, summer nights, prices, holiday lets, waiting times and flights home: the green north against the sunny south.

• Hot but not sticky: where in Spain summers are dry

  20 places with a Mediterranean climate and dry summer air, all of them inland.

• The hidden cost of a beach summer: humidity

  Why coastal summers feel stickier than the thermometer suggests: dew points and warm nights by distance to the sea.

• Winter sun: where Spain is still bright in December

  December sunshine for 275 places: the Canaries, the south-east, and the grey north.

• Where Spanish home prices rose most in five years

  Median +45% in five years, but towns near Valencia doubled while inland towns stood still.

• Holiday lets: where the neighbours are tourists

  In 19 places at least one home in twenty is a tourist apartment; in 239 it is fewer than one in a hundred.

• Water: where Spain's droughts hit hardest

  Reservoir levels by river basin since 2016: the south-east ran lowest, the north never came close.

• Flights home all year: Amsterdam, London and the US

  Which places can fly home directly all year, and which only in summer.

• Where the foreigners are, and where they aren't

  In 16 places a quarter or more of the over-65s are foreign; in 40 fewer than one in a hundred.

• The north of Spain is not one climate

  Sunshine, rain and summer heat province by province, from the bright Rías Baixas to cloudy Bilbao.