Spain · Where to live
There is no single best place to live in Spain, but official figures narrow it down. The Canary Islands have by far the warmest winters, with January afternoons of about 21–22°C, while on the mainland Almería city has the mildest winter nights and the lowest asking price of the twelve towns compared here, €1,802 a square metre. Estepona and Jávea ask more than twice that, Mojácar and Jávea have the highest British shares of their populations, and Málaga, Valencia and Las Palmas have an airport and large public hospitals within half an hour by road.
Looking at a home in Spain? Four quick questions, then Rory tells you plainly what your budget reaches and whether the timing works.
See what fits →The twelve run from Estepona in the west to the Canary Islands, and mix resort towns, villages and cities. We introduce buyers to developers on some of these coasts and not on others, so every place is measured the same way, from the same published sources.
| Town | January high / low | Sun, Dec–Feb | Asking price | Foreign / British residents | Nearest main airport (road) | Nearest public hospital (road) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estepona, western Costa del Sol | 16.8°C / 7.4°C | 520 hrs | €5,021/m² | 28.6% / 5.1% | Málaga, 84 km (Gibraltar, 45 km) | In town (14 beds); Marbella, 38 km |
| Fuengirola, central Costa del Sol | 16.8°C / 7.4°C | 520 hrs | €4,452/m² | 37.5% / 5.1% | Málaga, 28 km | Torremolinos, 22 km (89 beds); Marbella, 25 km |
| Málaga city | 16.8°C / 7.4°C | 520 hrs | €3,969/m² | 11.7% / 0.2% | Málaga, 13 km | In the city |
| Nerja, eastern Costa del Sol | 16.8°C / 7.4°C | 520 hrs | €3,964/m² | 30.0% / 6.7% | Málaga, 71 km | Vélez-Málaga, 25 km |
| Almería city | 16.9°C / 8.3°C | 563 hrs | €1,802/m² | 12.2% / 0.1% | Almería, 11 km | In the city |
| Mojácar, Almería coast | 16.9°C / 8.3°C | 563 hrs | €2,676/m² | 49.3% / 25.5% | Almería, 76 km | Huércal-Overa, 44 km |
| Torrevieja, southern Costa Blanca | 16.0°C / 5.5°C | 500 hrs | €2,561/m² | 49.5% / 4.4% | Región de Murcia, 58 km; Alicante-Elche, 61 km | In town |
| Jávea (Xàbia), northern Costa Blanca | 17.0°C / 6.3°C | 525 hrs | €4,166/m² | 47.5% / 14.8% | Alicante-Elche, 101 km | Dénia, 13 km |
| Valencia city | 16.4°C / 7.1°C | 497 hrs | €3,473/m² | 19.4% / 0.3% | Valencia, 12 km | In the city |
| Los Alcázares, Mar Menor (Murcia) | 16.0°C / 5.5°C | 500 hrs | €2,150/m² | 36.8% / 5.8% | Región de Murcia, 33 km | San Javier, 11 km |
| Adeje, south Tenerife | 21.7°C / 15.2°C | 583 hrs | €4,763/m² | 48.1% / 5.6% | Tenerife South, 24 km | Arona, 12 km |
| Las Palmas de Gran Canaria | 20.8°C / 15.0°C | 554 hrs | €2,843/m² | 9.5% / 0.2% | Gran Canaria, 25 km | In the city |
Weather stations: Málaga airport for the four Costa del Sol towns, 55 km from Nerja and 65 km from Estepona in a straight line; Almería airport for Almería and Mojácar, 56 km from Mojácar; San Javier airport, on the Mar Menor, for Los Alcázares and for Torrevieja, 23 km away; Alicante city for Jávea, 74 km away, as AEMET publishes no normals nearer; Valencia city; Tenerife South airport for Adeje; and Gran Canaria airport for Las Palmas, because AEMET's table for its city station holds no data. Sun is the total for December, January and February. idealista's figure is the average price asked in its listings, not the price paid, and idealista says it improved its method from July 2026. INE builds its census on the padrón, the register every town hall keeps, checked against other official records.
All four use Málaga airport, the busiest in this comparison: 26.76 million passengers in 2025 and 1.68 million in December alone, according to Aena. They share a winter of about 17°C on January afternoons. The difference is price. Estepona, to the west, has the highest asking price in the table, €5,021 a square metre, and Fuengirola asks €4,452, against €3,969 in Málaga city and €3,964 in Nerja.
Fuengirola, a town of 84,857 people, 37.5% of them foreign nationals, is the last stop on Málaga's suburban rail line C1, which runs through the airport to the city centre. Mijas, next door, has 7,541 British residents, 8.0% of its population, and lower asking prices, at €3,717.
Málaga itself is mainly a Spanish city: 597,173 residents, 11.7% of them foreign and only 0.2% British. Its two university hospitals, the Regional and the Virgen de la Victoria, list 523 and 657 beds in the national catalogue. Nerja, 71 km east of the airport, has 22,062 residents, three in ten of them foreign, and relies on the Axarquía hospital in Vélez-Málaga, 25 km away.
Estepona has a small public hospital of its own, with 14 beds, and the 408-bed Hospital Costa del Sol 38 km away in Marbella. The town, and Casares and Manilva beside it, are covered in more detail in our Estepona and Casares guide.
Almería city is the cheapest place in the table, at €1,802 a square metre. Its airport station also has the mildest January nights on the mainland here, 8.3°C, and the most winter sun, 563 hours from December to February. It is a city of 204,772 where 12.2% of residents are foreign nationals and the British barely register (0.1%). Its main public hospital, Torrecárdenas, has 779 beds.
Mojácar is the opposite: a hilltop village with a beach strip below, home to 7,642 people, almost half of them foreign and one in four British. Asking prices average €2,676. The nearest public hospital, La Inmaculada at Huércal-Overa, is 44 km by road, and Almería airport 76 km.
Flights are the weak point. Almería airport handled 801,949 passengers in 2025, and only 43,303 in December, under half its August figure. The coast is covered in our guides to Almería province and Mojácar.
Torrevieja is a town of 100,470, half of them foreign nationals (49.5%), with its own 269-bed public hospital. Asking prices average €2,561 a square metre. Two airports are around 50 minutes away by road: Región de Murcia, 58 km, and Alicante-Elche, 61 km, which handled 19.95 million passengers in 2025 and 1.32 million in December.
Orihuela, the next municipality south, has more British residents than any other place named in this guide, 8,780, or 10.4% of its population. On its coastal strip, Orihuela Costa, asking prices average €3,058.
Jávea (Xàbia), on the northern Costa Blanca, is dearer, at €4,166, and has one of the highest foreign shares in the table: 47.5% of its 30,817 residents, with British nationals at 14.8%. The public hospital is in Dénia, 13 km away, and Alicante-Elche airport is about 100 km. AEMET publishes no normals for this stretch of coast, so the table borrows Alicante city's.
Alicante city, 16 km from its airport, has 365,586 residents and asks €2,743 a square metre.
Valencia is the largest place in the table, with 841,558 residents, and has the most public general hospitals, five, led by La Fe with 1,000 beds. Asking prices average €3,473 a square metre. About one resident in five is a foreign national, but only 0.3% are British.
It is also the least sunny place here in winter, with 497 hours from December to February. Its airport, 12 km from the city hall, handled 11.85 million passengers in 2025, and its traffic drops less in winter than Málaga's: December was about three-quarters of August.
Los Alcázares, on the Mar Menor lagoon, is the second-cheapest place in the table at €2,150 a square metre, in the region with the lowest average on Spain's Mediterranean coast: €1,689 across Murcia in September 2026. It has 20,163 residents, 36.8% of them foreign and 5.8% British.
Its winter nights, shared with Torrevieja, are the coolest in the table: 5.5°C in January at San Javier airport, 7 km away. The Los Arcos del Mar Menor public hospital is 11 km by road, and Región de Murcia airport 33 km. That airport is small, with 949,046 passengers in 2025, and in December its traffic fell to about a third of August's.
For winter warmth, the islands are in a different league. AEMET's Tenerife South station averages 21.7°C on January afternoons and 15.2°C at night, against 16–17°C and 5.5–8.3°C at the mainland stations in the table. Their airports are busier in winter too: Tenerife South handled 1.27 million passengers in December 2025, more than in August.
Adeje, in the south-west of Tenerife, is the second-dearest place in the table, at €4,763 a square metre, and almost half its 50,612 residents are foreign nationals. The Hospital del Sur in neighbouring Arona, 12 km away, has 98 beds; the island's largest public hospitals are in Santa Cruz and La Laguna.
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is a city of 384,023 with prices nearer the mainland's, €2,843 a square metre, and a far smaller foreign share than Adeje, 9.5%. It has two large public hospitals, the Doctor Negrín (652 beds) and the Insular-Materno Infantil complex (916), and its airport is 25 km away. Across the Canaries, asking prices average €3,349 a square metre, above Spain's €2,930.
On asking prices, the cheapest parts of Spain are inland. idealista's September 2026 averages are lowest in Extremadura (€1,049 a square metre), Castilla-La Mancha (€1,157) and Castilla y León (€1,386), against €2,930 for Spain as a whole. By the sea, the cheapest places in this guide are Almería city (€1,802), Los Alcázares (€2,150) and Torrevieja (€2,561).
Day-to-day spending tells a similar story. INE's 2025 household budget survey found the lowest spending per person in Andalucía (€12,197), Extremadura (€12,346) and Murcia (€12,408), against €14,066 nationally and €16,642 in the Basque Country; the figures count a notional rent for people who own their home. A monthly budget for a retired couple is worked through in our guide to retiring in Spain, and official valuations for coastal and inland towns are compared on our Spain property hub.
Figures cannot tell you how a place feels in January, so see any shortlist in winter before you commit. To live in Spain beyond 90 days in any 180 you need a residence visa, set out on our non-lucrative visa page; our winter guide compares the weather station by station; and the taxes on a purchase are on our property taxes and costs page. This page compares places; it is not advice on where to live or buy.
Weighing up a home in Spain?
Rory speaks to every buyer before anyone is introduced: fifteen minutes, your budget and your timing, and a straight answer on whether it fits.
Talk to us about Spain →It depends on what matters most. On official figures, the Canary Islands have the warmest winters, with January afternoons of about 21–22°C. Almería city has the lowest asking price of the twelve places we compared, €1,802 a square metre in September 2026, and Málaga and Valencia combine big airports, several public hospitals and city life. Mojácar and Jávea have the largest British communities for their size.
Compare places on winter weather, healthcare, flights and cost. The Canaries lead on warmth; Málaga, Valencia and Las Palmas have large public hospitals and an airport within about 25 minutes by road; and Almería city and Los Alcázares are the cheapest to buy in of the twelve places compared. Whichever you pick, a residence visa is required to live there beyond 90 days in any 180.
Inland Spain is cheapest. idealista's September 2026 asking prices average €1,049 a square metre in Extremadura, €1,157 in Castilla-La Mancha and €1,386 in Castilla y León, against €2,930 nationally. By the sea, Almería city averages €1,802 and Los Alcázares, on the Mar Menor, €2,150. INE's 2025 survey also found spending per person lowest in Andalucía, Extremadura and Murcia.
Winters are similar: AEMET's normals give January afternoons of 16.8°C at Málaga airport and 17.0°C in Alicante. The Costa del Sol is dearer, with asking prices of €4,452 a square metre in Fuengirola and €5,021 in Estepona, against €2,561 in Torrevieja. Both coasts have a big airport: Málaga handled 26.76 million passengers in 2025 and Alicante-Elche 19.95 million.
Valencia is larger, with 841,558 residents to Málaga's 597,173, and cheaper to buy in, at €3,473 a square metre against €3,969 in September 2026. Málaga gets a little more winter sun, 520 hours from December to February against 497, but more wet days. Both have their airport within about 25 minutes of the centre by road, and several public hospitals.
Last checked 2026-10-19. Rules and rates change; this is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm your own position with an independent Spanish lawyer or tax adviser before you act.