
A Coruña
A Coruña is the capital of the province of the same name in Spain's far north-west, with around two hundred and forty thousand residents. The city sits on a narrow peninsula: ocean on one side, bay on the other, its old quarter almost surrounded by water. Above the headland stands the Tower of Hercules, a second-century Roman lighthouse still working and on the UNESCO list.
Galicia is a different Spain. It rains all year, the winter comes without frost, the summer is cool, and the sea is cold even in August. In exchange: greenery instead of burnt hills, and housing cheaper than on any Mediterranean coast. The city works all year — port, university, hospitals, airport. By Mediterranean standards there is little tourism, and seasonal emptying does not happen here at all.
- Santiago de Compostela · 75 km — the cathedral and the end of the pilgrim road
- Ferrol · 55 km — the shipyards and naval port to the north
- Costa da Morte · 60 km — the rocky shore and lighthouses to the west
A Coruña sits in Galicia, right on the water. The square metre is 112% above the Rías Altas median: €2 762 against €1 300. You can live here without a car: our rating is 4 out of 5, rare on the Spanish coast, and the town has its own train station. Winters are damp at 78% humidity, so ask about mould before you sign.
Hospital, terrain, getting around
Where from: the Ministry of Health hospital catalogue, road time · elevations from the Copernicus terrain model · OpenStreetMap · ratings for car-free and hospital minutes are ours.
A Coruña sea temperature by month
0 months above 20 °CsourceAverage sea surface temperature, °C, for 2015–2024 — NOAA OISST satellite series, grid cell 3.3 km from the centre.
Tourist load
A Coruña beaches and water quality
sourceA Coruña has 7 beaches tested under EU bathing water rules, at 7 sampling points. In the 2025 season, all 7 were graded excellent. No beach here has been graded “poor” since testing began in 1990.
The grade is bacteria in water samples over the last four seasons — not sand, views or crowds. “Poor” means bathing there is advised against.
| Beach | From the centre | Grade 2025 | “Excellent” in a row | Last “poor” |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playa Riazor | 0.7 km | excellent | 18 seasons | none since 2008 |
| Playa Orzan | 1.3 km | excellent | 36 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa Matadero | 1.6 km | excellent | 23 seasons | none since 2003 |
| Playa O Parrote | 1.6 km | excellent | 1 season | none since 2025 |
| Playa As Lapas | 2.4 km | excellent | 24 seasons | none since 2002 |
| Playa San Amaro | 2.5 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 1991 |
| Playa Oza - Lazareto | 2.9 km | excellent | 9 seasons | none since 1991 |
No longer tested: Playa Porti O (last season 2019).
Where from: European Environment Agency, bathing water register, seasons 1990–2025, licence CC BY 4.0. Distance is from the centre in a straight line. Every place in one table
On the map
What tenants actually pay
sourcedThis is the median rent on active leases — tax records for 2024, a sample of 24 978 leases. It includes long-standing contracts at unchanged rents, so it sits below what is asked today: our estimate of asking rent is 850 € for a two-bedroom.
The point of the 75th percentile: it is closer to what is being signed now than the median. The gap between them shows how much a new tenant overpays relative to long-standing ones.
Where from: SERPAVI, Ministerio de Vivienda · municipality: A Coruña
Rent by number of bedrooms
asking price, estimate| 1 bedroom | 650 €/mo | |
| 2 bedrooms | 850 €/mo | |
| 3 bedrooms | ≈ 1 110 €/mo | model: two-bed × 1.3, no measurement yet |
| Median of active leases, 2024 | 538 €/mo | SERPAVI · 79 m² |
Asking prices are what long lets are advertised at today; the registry is what tenants pay on signed leases, including old ones. The gap between them is your negotiating argument.
Schools nearby
from registries- Coruña British International SchoolCulleredo (Sésamo), A CoruñaBritishEnglish, Spanish · 3–18 · privateGlobeducate group, opened 2015
- British Royal SchoolCulleredo (Rutis), A CoruñaBritishEnglish, Spanish · 3–16 · privateConfirmed by an official Xunta de Galicia authorisation (DOG gazette); grade levels are being added year by year, currently up to age 16
Checked against registries and school sites: 2026-09-17. Fees are on each school's site: nobody publishes them centrally.
Renting without a Spanish contract
How realistic a long lease is without a nómina — on foreign income, savings or prepayment.
- —Prices rising 8% a year — the landlord picks, and the first filter is a nómina
This is our model, not a measurement: demanding a nómina is an individual landlord's practice and nobody publishes it. The rating is derived from the share of foreign residents, the presence of a community with services, price growth, seasonality of the stock and the size of the town.
Who lives here
INE 2025- Venezuela4 720
- Colombia3 138
- Peru2 547
- Cuba1 296
- Italy1 191
- Brazil1 006
- Senegal833
- Argentina728
- enEnglish~1 500
- ptPortuguese~800Proximity to the Portuguese border (~200 km)
Where from: INE, Censo Anual de Población · the register-based census counts padrón registrations by citizenship on 1 January, not everyone living here: seasonal owners and the unregistered are outside it, and naturalised residents count as Spanish.
Winter direct flights from LCG
January 2026/2710 min to the airport- Switzerland1
- Italy1
Destinations served at least weekly in January; checked 2026-09-17.
Paperwork and practicalities
From OpenStreetMap — an open map filled in by volunteers. Something missing there may still exist: read this as «we found this many», not «there are no more».
Articles that include this place
- How long the swimming season actually lasts«Three hundred days of sunshine» is said of every coast. You swim in the water, and by water the places range from two months to nine.
- Retiring to coastal Spain: who already lives there, how far the hospital is, and whether the town stays open in winterThe share of residents over 65 and over 80 in every place we cover, from the INE census, the drive to the nearest public hospital, and the measured winter score. No ranking: only what the numbers show.
Where to look next
- Vigo2 335 €/m²
- Pontevedra2 027 €/m²
- Sada1 900 €/m²
- Badalona2 769 €/m²
- Vélez-Málaga2 745 €/m²
- Alhaurín de la Torre2 736 €/m²