Arucas, Gran Canaria: population, climate, prices
Las Palmas, Canary Islands · 39,232 inhabitants (1 Jan 2025)
Living in Arucas
Arucas is a small town of 39,232 inhabitants on the coast in Las Palmas (Canary Islands), with mild winters and warm, dry summers (January nights 13.5°C, August afternoons 25.3°C). Winter nights are mild for Spain: 13.5°C on average in January, warmer than 97% of the towns compared. Summers stay moderate: August afternoons average 25.3°C, cooler than 92% of the towns. The nearest international school (Canterbury School, British curriculum) is 6.9 km away. Against that, sunshine is scarce by Spanish standards (5.4 hours a day, 40 rainy days a year). Around 2055, Spain's official climate scenarios put August afternoons here at about 25.9°C and the number of warm nights at 48 a year.
Each sentence is chosen by where the town ranks among the 333 places compared on that measure (top or bottom 20%); the numbers are the ones in the sections below, from the sources named there.
About Arucas
Arucas is a municipality in the northern part of the island of Gran Canaria, province of Las Palmas, Canary Islands. Arucas borders Las Palmas to the west and is part of its urban area. Its population is 36,852 (2013), and the area is 33.01 km2 (12.75 sq mi). The GC-2 motorway passes north of the town.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Read more on Wikipedia →
Getting there
- Nearest airport
- Gran Canaria Airport (LPA), 25 km, 15,826,553 passengers in 2025, 130 destinations
- Direct to Amsterdam
- Gran Canaria airport, 25 km (year-round)
- Direct to Brussels (Zaventem or Charleroi)
- Gran Canaria airport, 25 km (year-round)
- Direct to London
- Gran Canaria airport, 25 km (year-round)
- Direct to Paris
- Gran Canaria airport, 25 km (year-round)
- Direct to Frankfurt
- Gran Canaria airport, 25 km (year-round)
- Direct to the US
- Lisbon airport, 1,325 km (year-round); summer only from Faro, 1,215 km
- Train station
- no long-distance station within 15 km
- Fastest train to Madrid
- no direct train
- Fastest train to Barcelona
- no direct train
Distances are straight-line. Flights as listed in airport route tables on 4 Oct 2026; train times from Renfe's timetable (Iryo and Ouigo not included).
Healthcare
- Nearest public general hospital
- Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular Materno Infantil (9 km away, in Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las, 916 beds)
- Nearest large public hospital (500+ beds, most specialties)
- Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular Materno Infantil (9 km away, in Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las, 916 beds)
- Nearest private general hospital
- Hospital Perpetuo Socorro (9 km away, in Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las, 195 beds)
- General hospitals within 25 km
- 10
- Waiting time for planned surgery (Canary Islands)
- 106 days on average; 17.4% wait more than 6 months (Spain: 121 days)
- Waiting time for a first specialist visit
- 162 days on average; 89.9% wait more than 60 days (Spain: 102 days)
Ministry of Health, National Hospital Catalogue 2025 (situation on 31 Dec 2024); general hospitals only. Distances are straight-line to the hospital's municipality. Residents registered in Spain use public hospitals; non-EU applicants for some visas must have private health insurance. Waiting times are for the whole region (public health service, 31 Dec 2025), as reported by each region to the Ministry of Health (SISLE-SNS); private insurance usually avoids most of the wait.
International schools
- Nearest international school
- CANTERBURY SCHOOL (British), San Lorenzo, 6.9 km
- International schools within 25 km
- 8
- Nearest by curriculum (within 100 km)
- British 6.9 km · American 9.2 km · French 17 km · German 6.9 km · Nordic 38 km
Within 30 km (up to five):
| School | Curriculum | Levels in the register | Where | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CANTERBURY SCHOOL | British | infant, primary, secondary | San Lorenzo | 6.9 km |
| ALEMÁN | German | infant, primary, secondary | Almatriche | 6.9 km |
| THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF LAS PALMAS | American | infant, primary, secondary | Tafira | 9.2 km |
| THE BRITISH SCHOOL OF GRAN CANARIA | British | infant, primary, secondary | Tafira | 9.2 km |
| BOSQUEKO FOREST SCHOOL | curriculum not stated | not listed | Monte Lentiscal | 9.4 km |
Ministry of Education, register of non-university schools (RCD), October 2026: every school authorised to teach a foreign curriculum in Spain, without the business, arts and hairdressing schools in the same list and without schools for one nationality (Japanese, Libyan, Iraqi, Russian, Panamanian). Curriculum as labelled in the register or clear from the school's name; levels as listed in the register, which leaves them out for some schools. Straight-line distance from the town centre. We do not rate schools: visit, and ask about accreditation and fees.
Who lives here
- Population trend
- +5.9% in ten years (37,054 in 2015, 39,232 in 2025)
- Age
- 16.4% aged 65 or over, 13.2% under 16 (2022; Spain: 20.0% and 14.9%)
- Local income
- 13,772 € net per person per year (2023), 92% of the Spanish average; median 18,550 € per adult-equivalent
- Foreign residents
- 2.4% of all residents; 1.1% of residents aged 65+ (2022)
INE: population register (Padrón) and household income atlas. Local income is a rough guide to local prices and affluence; Spain publishes no official cost-of-living index for towns.
Within a 10-minute walk of the centre
- Everyday essentials on foot
- 5 of 6 ✗ 15+ food shops ✓ 3+ pharmacies ✓ 25+ cafés, bars or restaurants ✓ 2+ parks ✓ 3+ bus stops ✓ 2+ libraries, theatres, cinemas or cultural centres
- Lively centre
- 32 out of 100: how much there is compared with the other 332 places (big cities score highest)
- 6 food shops (supermarkets, bakeries, greengrocers…)
- 3 pharmacies
- 2 doctors, clinics or hospitals
- 25 cafés, bars and restaurants
- 41 parks and gardens
- 22 bus stops
- 3 libraries, theatres, cinemas, cultural centres
- 0 market places
Counted in OpenStreetMap within 800 m of the town centre, taken as the point OpenStreetMap marks as the town's centre, moved at most 500 m to the busiest nearby spot (for a few spread-out municipalities without such a point: the busiest spot near the official coordinate). OpenStreetMap is kept by volunteers: very complete in most Spanish towns, thinner in some. “Everyday essentials” only asks whether the basics are there, so a small town can score 6 of 6; “lively centre” ranks each count among all 333 places and averages them, so it mostly reflects size. Large municipalities with several centres (Lorca, Oleiros, Ames…) can score low because their official centre is a small village.
Holiday lets and beaches
- Tourist apartments
- 126 (0.74% of all homes; Spain 1.28%), 1.6 tourist beds per 100 residents (May 2026)
- Blue Flag beaches
- 2 in town; 15 within 30 km
Tourist apartments: INE count of homes listed on Airbnb, Booking and Vrbo. A high share means busy summers and pressure on rents. Blue Flag 2026 (ADEAC): beaches meeting water-quality, safety and service standards; this includes some lake and river beaches. Distances are straight-line between town centres.
Water
No reservoir data: the Balearic and Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla get most of their water from groundwater and desalination plants, which this bulletin does not cover.
What the rankings say
Not named in the rankings we track.
Climate
● average daily high ● average nightly low ■ rainy days (1 mm or more). These are 1991-2020 averages, not record temperatures: a hot spell will be warmer and a cold night colder than these values.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average daily high, °C | 18.8 | 19.1 | 20.0 | 20.5 | 21.6 | 23.0 | 24.1 | 25.3 | 25.2 | 24.4 | 21.8 | 20.2 |
| Average nightly low, °C | 13.5 | 13.6 | 14.0 | 14.7 | 15.9 | 17.6 | 18.9 | 19.9 | 19.6 | 18.6 | 16.6 | 14.8 |
| Rain, mm | 44 | 31 | 21 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 33 | 43 | 34 |
| Rainy days (1 mm or more) | 5.8 | 4.8 | 3.9 | 3.2 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 4.7 | 6.5 | 5.5 |
| Sunshine, hours per day | 4.3 | 4.6 | 5.2 | 6.0 | 6.5 | 6.6 | 6.1 | 6.8 | 5.9 | 4.9 | 4.0 | 4.2 |
| Humidity, % | 78 | 76 | 78 | 78 | 79 | 81 | 82 | 81 | 81 | 79 | 79 | 78 |
| Days reaching 30 °C / 86 °F | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
The year in numbers
- Köppen climate class
- BSh: Hot semi-arid
- Summer mugginess (August average dew point)
- 19.0°C – oppressive
- Typical hottest day of the year
- 33.6°C
- Typical coldest night of the year
- 10.2°C
- Days reaching 25 °C / 77 °F
- 51 a year (estimate)
- Days reaching 30 °C / 86 °F
- 6 a year
- Days reaching 35 °C / 95 °F
- 0 a year (estimate)
- Warm nights (low of 20 °C / 68 °F or more)
- 25 a year (estimate)
- Frost nights (0 °C / 32 °F or less)
- 0 a year
- Overcast days
- 93 a year
- Average humidity
- 79%
Dew point measures how sticky the air feels: under 13 °C (55 °F) feels dry, 16-18 °C (61-64 °F) muggy, over 18 °C oppressive. For comparison, Davis, California (also Köppen Csa) has a summer dew point of about 11 °C. "Typical hottest day" is the 1991-2020 average of each year's single hottest day. Estimates are counted from daily satellite data adjusted to this place's averages; checked against AEMET's own 30 °C counts they are usually within 4 days a year.
1991-2020 averages, AEMET station LAS PALMAS DE G.C. (TAFIRA CMT) (C658L), 8.8 km away; temperatures adjusted to the town's altitude. © AEMET.
Around 2055 (projection)
- August average high
- 25.9°C: +0.5 °C compared with today (models range from 0.0 °C to 1.5 °C)
- Warm nights (low of 20 °C / 68 °F or more)
- 48 a year, +19 (models: +4 to +55)
- Frost nights
- 0 a year (+0)
- Rainy days (1 mm or more)
- 34 a year, -7 (models: -13 to -3)
- Rain amount
- -26% over the year: summer -40%, winter -24%
- Sunlight reaching the ground
- not projected for the Canary Islands
Spain's official climate scenarios (Escenarios-PNACC 2024, AEMET regionalisation of 11 global climate models, ~5 km grid), middle emissions scenario SSP2-4.5: average change from 2011-2040 to 2041-2070, added to today's 1991-2020 values above. The range shows the lowest and highest of the 11 models. Rain: the same models regionalised by CSIC (DeepESD). Sunlight: EURO-CORDEX regional models (RCP4.5). A projection, not a forecast. Read: Spain around 2055, region by region →
Questions people ask
Where is Arucas?
Arucas is in the province of Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Spain, on the coast. The nearest airport is Gran Canaria Airport (LPA), 25 km away.
How many people live in Arucas?
39,232 registered residents on 1 January 2025 (INE), +5.9% in ten years.
What is the climate of Arucas?
January afternoons average 18.8°C and nights 13.5°C; August afternoons 25.3°C. 5.4 hours of sunshine a day and 40 rainy days a year (AEMET 1991-2020).
Is Arucas safe?
Recorded conventional crime in Arucas was 25.0 offences per 1,000 residents in 2025, low for Spain (national rate about 41). Home burglaries: 0.71 per 1,000.
How hot is Arucas in summer?
August afternoons average 25.3°C (1991-2020), with 25 nights a year above 20 °C and 0 days of 35 °C or more.
How cold is Arucas in winter?
January afternoons average 18.8°C and January nights 13.5°C, with 0 frost nights a year.
Is there a hospital in Arucas?
The nearest public general hospital is Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular Materno Infantil in Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las, 9 km away. Planned surgery in Canary Islands waits 106 days on average.
Can you fly direct from Arucas to Amsterdam or London all year?
Yes. Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) (25 km away) has year-round direct flights to Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Paris and the US.
What does it cost to rent or buy in Arucas?
A typical apartment (88 m²) rented for 501 € a month in 2024 contracts. Homes were appraised at 1,583 €/m² on average over the last four quarters, 41.6% in five years.
Nearby and similar towns
- Nearest towns in this comparison
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Las Palmas, 9 km), Gáldar (Las Palmas, 13 km), Telde (Las Palmas, 17 km), San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Las Palmas, 22 km), Santa Lucía de Tirajana (Las Palmas, 23 km)
- Most similar towns (summer heat, winter nights, rainy days, home prices, size)
- Los Realejos (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), La Orotava (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), Agüimes (Las Palmas), Ingenio (Las Palmas), La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz)
Distances are straight-line between town centres. Similarity is the distance in standardised values of the five measures.