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Valdepeñas, Ciudad Real: population, climate, prices

Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha · 30,782 inhabitants (1 Jan 2025)

Living in Valdepeñas

Valdepeñas is a small town of 30,782 inhabitants inland in Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha), with cold winters and very hot summers (January nights 0.2°C, August afternoons 34.2°C). Homes are cheap for Spain: appraised at 831 €/m², lower than 97% of the towns; a typical apartment rents for 364 € a month. Recorded crime is low: 21.1 offences per 1,000 residents in 2025 (Spain about 41). Year-round direct flights to Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Paris and the US leave from F.G.L. Airport Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX), 179 km away. Against that, the centre is thin on everyday shops and services (2 of 6 essentials within a 10-minute walk); winter nights are cold (0.2°C in January, 48 frost nights a year); summers are hot (34.2°C on an average August afternoon, 37 days of 35 °C or more a year). Around 2055, Spain's official climate scenarios put August afternoons here at about 34.7°C and the number of warm nights at 38 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 Valdepeñas

Valdepeñas
Photo: Miguel Angel Masegosa Martínez, CC BY 2.0

Valdepeñas is a municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is also the seat of the judicial district that covers the localities of Moral de Calatrava, Santa Cruz de Mudela, Viso del Marqués, Torrenueva, Castellar de Santiago and Almuradiel.

Developed in the 13th century under the auspices of the Order of Calatrava, its emergence is connected to the depopulation of the nearby settlements of Santa María, Aberturas, and Corral Rubio. It possesses a traditional wine industry. It lies on the road (A-4) and rail (Alcázar de San Juan–Cádiz railway) route traditionally connecting the Meseta Central with Andalusia through the Despeñaperros Pass.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Read more on Wikipedia →

Buying: appraised price
831 €/m²
Last 4 quarters to 2026 Q2, 384 valuations. 1 year 11.2%, 5 years 13.1%.
Renting: typical apartment
364 €/month
5.00 €/m² per month for a typical 77 m² (2024 contracts). 5 years 23.2%. Houses: 360 €/month.
Safety: recorded crime
21.1 per 1,000
Conventional crime 2025 (Spain ≈ 41). Home burglaries 0.45, violent robbery 0.23, theft 4.5 per 1,000. 1 year 10.0%.
Sea
217.4 km
Straight-line distance from the town centre to the coast.

Getting there

Nearest airport
F.G.L. Airport Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX), 179 km, 1,152,872 passengers in 2025, 12 destinations
Direct to Amsterdam
Granada airport, 179 km (year-round)
Direct to Brussels (Zaventem or Charleroi)
Madrid airport, 193 km (year-round)
Direct to London
Madrid airport, 193 km (year-round)
Direct to Paris
Granada airport, 179 km (year-round)
Direct to Frankfurt
Madrid airport, 193 km (year-round)
Direct to the US
Madrid airport, 193 km (year-round)
Train station
Valdepeñas (0.5 km)
Fastest train to Madrid
1 h 55
Fastest train to Barcelona
7 h 57

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
Hospital General de Valdepeñas (in town, 103 beds)
Nearest large public hospital (500+ beds, most specialties)
Hospital General Universitario de Ciudad Real (51 km away, in Ciudad Real, 564 beds)
Nearest private general hospital
Hospital Quironsalud Ciudad Real (51 km away, in Ciudad Real, 55 beds)
General hospitals within 25 km
1
Waiting time for planned surgery (Castile-La Mancha)
92 days on average; 16.5% wait more than 6 months (Spain: 121 days)
Waiting time for a first specialist visit
64 days on average; 65.6% 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
Escuela Internacional Waldorf Madreselva (curriculum not stated), Ciudad Real, 53.5 km
International schools within 25 km
0
Nearest by curriculum (within 100 km)
none of these within 100 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
+0.9% in ten years (30,514 in 2015, 30,782 in 2025)
Age
18.2% aged 65 or over, 15.4% under 16 (2022; Spain: 20.0% and 14.9%)
Local income
12,422 € net per person per year (2023), 83% of the Spanish average; median 15,750 € per adult-equivalent
Foreign residents
6.5% of all residents; 1.5% of residents aged 65+ (2022)
Largest nationalities
Romanian 1.4%, Colombian 1.3%, Moroccan 1.1%; all EU citizens 1.8% (share of all residents, 1 Jan 2022; the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and the Nordic countries are not published per town)

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
2 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
20 out of 100: how much there is compared with the other 332 places (big cities score highest)

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
24 (0.14% of all homes; Spain 1.28%), 0.4 tourist beds per 100 residents (May 2026)
Blue Flag beaches
nearest in Andújar, 99 km; 0 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

River basin
Guadiana
Reservoirs now
72.1% full (week of 2026-09-29); the same week in the previous 10 years averaged 40.1%
Worst week 2016-2025
22.9% full (2022-12-06)
Weeks below 40% full, 2016-2025
38% of all weeks

Ministry for the Ecological Transition, weekly hydrological bulletin: all reservoirs over 5 hm³ in the basin. Low reservoirs are what led to drought restrictions in Catalonia (2023-24) and Andalusia (2022-24). Some basins (Segura) also rely on transfers and desalination, so their reservoir level alone overstates the risk of taps running dry.

What the rankings say

Not named in the rankings we track.

Climate

0°C5°C10°C15°C20°C25°C30°CJan: 5.5 rainy daysFeb: 5.7 rainy daysMar: 6.1 rainy daysApr: 7.8 rainy daysMay: 5.5 rainy daysJun: 2.7 rainy daysJul: 0.6 rainy daysAug: 0.8 rainy daysSep: 3.4 rainy daysOct: 6.3 rainy daysNov: 6.3 rainy daysDec: 5.7 rainy daysJan: 10.6 °C (51 °F)Feb: 13.0 °C (55 °F)Mar: 16.6 °C (62 °F)Apr: 19.7 °C (67 °F)May: 24.8 °C (77 °F)Jun: 30.9 °C (88 °F)Jul: 34.9 °C (95 °F)Aug: 34.2 °C (94 °F)Sep: 28.4 °C (83 °F)Oct: 22.1 °C (72 °F)Nov: 14.8 °C (59 °F)Dec: 11.0 °C (52 °F)Jan: 0.2 °C (32 °F)Feb: 1.0 °C (34 °F)Mar: 3.5 °C (38 °F)Apr: 6.4 °C (44 °F)May: 10.3 °C (51 °F)Jun: 15.1 °C (59 °F)Jul: 18.1 °C (65 °F)Aug: 17.8 °C (64 °F)Sep: 13.8 °C (57 °F)Oct: 9.1 °C (48 °F)Nov: 3.8 °C (39 °F)Dec: 0.9 °C (34 °F)JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

● 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Average daily high, °C10.613.016.619.724.830.934.934.228.422.114.811.0
Average nightly low, °C0.21.03.56.410.315.118.117.813.89.13.80.9
Rain, mm2833425234163631524445
Rainy days (1 mm or more)5.55.76.17.85.52.70.60.83.46.36.35.7
Humidity, %817265625345394353657883
Days reaching 30 °C / 86 °F

The year in numbers

Köppen climate class
BSk: Cold semi-arid
Summer mugginess (August average dew point)
13.5°C – noticeable (humidity from a nearby station)
Days reaching 25 °C / 77 °F
140 a year (estimate)
Days reaching 30 °C / 86 °F
92 a year
Days reaching 35 °C / 95 °F
37 a year (estimate)
Warm nights (low of 20 °C / 68 °F or more)
15 a year (estimate)
Frost nights (0 °C / 32 °F or less)
48 a year
Average humidity
62%

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.

Estimate: no weather station of its own within 25 km at a similar altitude. Values are the distance-weighted average of the nearest stations, adjusted to the town's altitude (estimate from 2 stations: ALMAGRO/FAMET (4116I) 38 km, CIUDAD REAL (4121) 53 km; humidity from ALMAGRO/FAMET (4116I), 38 km). Tested on towns that do have a station, such estimates are off by about 1 °C on average.

Around 2055 (projection)

August average high
34.7°C: +1.4 °C compared with today (models range from 0.4 °C to 2.7 °C)
Warm nights (low of 20 °C / 68 °F or more)
38 a year, +18 (models: +5 to +32)
Frost nights
– a year (-6)
Rainy days (1 mm or more)
63 a year, -6 (models: -12 to +1)
Rain amount
-6% over the year: summer -24%, winter +2%
Sunlight reaching the ground
+0.8% (models: -0.6% to +2.2%); no official sunshine-hours projection exists

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 Valdepeñas?

Valdepeñas is in the province of Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha), Spain, inland. The nearest airport is F.G.L. Airport Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX), 179 km away.

How many people live in Valdepeñas?

30,782 registered residents on 1 January 2025 (INE), +0.9% in ten years.

What is the climate of Valdepeñas?

January afternoons average 10.6°C and nights 0.2°C; August afternoons 34.2°C.

Is Valdepeñas safe?

Recorded conventional crime in Valdepeñas was 21.1 offences per 1,000 residents in 2025, low for Spain (national rate about 41). Home burglaries: 0.45 per 1,000.

How hot is Valdepeñas in summer?

August afternoons average 34.2°C (1991-2020), with 15 nights a year above 20 °C and 37 days of 35 °C or more.

How cold is Valdepeñas in winter?

January afternoons average 10.6°C and January nights 0.2°C, with 48 frost nights a year.

Is there a hospital in Valdepeñas?

Yes: Hospital General de Valdepeñas, a public general hospital with 103 beds. Planned surgery in Castile-La Mancha waits 92 days on average.

Can you fly direct from Valdepeñas to Amsterdam or London all year?

Yes. F.G.L. Airport Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX) (179 km away) has year-round direct flights to Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Paris and the US.

What does it cost to rent or buy in Valdepeñas?

A typical apartment (77 m²) rented for 364 € a month in 2024 contracts. Homes were appraised at 831 €/m² on average over the last four quarters, 13.1% in five years.

Nearby and similar towns

Nearest towns in this comparison
Ciudad Real (Ciudad Real, 51 km), Tomelloso (Ciudad Real, 54 km), Puertollano (Ciudad Real, 62 km), Alcázar de San Juan (Ciudad Real, 71 km), Linares (Jaén, 77 km)
Most similar towns (summer heat, winter nights, rainy days, home prices, size)
Mejorada del Campo (Madrid), Armilla (Granada), Paracuellos de Jarama (Madrid), Hellín (Albacete), Seseña (Toledo)

Distances are straight-line between town centres. Similarity is the distance in standardised values of the five measures.

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