
Águilas
Águilas is a town in the south-west of the Murcia region on the Gulf of Mazarrón, with around thirty-eight thousand residents. It is known for its beaches and for a carnival listed as a festival of international tourist interest. The shore here is broken up: more than thirty coves lie between rocky headlands, and far from all of them are built on.
This is the driest corner of our mainland base: around twenty rainy days a year and over three thousand hours of sunshine. For anyone moving that cuts both ways — dry and bright, but water is expensive and there is little greenery. The town works all year, though the population grows noticeably in summer. The nearest hospital is in Lorca, 37 minutes by car, and the airports at Murcia and Almería are an hour and a half away. Housing is cheap even by Murcian standards.
- Mazarrón · 40 km — the beaches and coves to the east
- Lorca · 40 km — the castle and the old town inland
- Vera · 35 km — the next province, Almería, and its beaches
Águilas sits in Alto Guadalentín, Murcia, right on the water. Summers are packed: tourist load hits 5 out of 5 at the peak against 1 in winter. As much sun as anywhere in the database: 3100 hours a year per the meteorological service. The nearest public hospital is a 37-minute drive. For half the places in our base it is 13 minutes or less.
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.
Águilas sea temperature by month
5 months above 20 °CsourceAverage sea surface temperature, °C, for 2015–2024 — NOAA OISST satellite series, grid cell 5.5 km from the centre.
Tourist load
Águilas beaches and water quality
sourceÁguilas has 13 beaches tested under EU bathing water rules, at 13 sampling points. In the 2025 season, all 13 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 de Levante | 0.5 km | excellent | 13 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa La Colonia | 0.9 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa Las Delicias | 1.1 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa de Poniente | 1.4 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 1994 |
| Playa El Hornillo | 1.8 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa de la Casica Verde | 2.5 km | excellent | 8 seasons | none since 2018 |
| Playa Matalentisco | 3.6 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 2008 |
| Playa Calarreona | 4.5 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa La Higuerica | 5.2 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 1994 |
| Playa La Carolina | 5.6 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa La Cola | 6.7 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa Calabardina | 7.3 km | excellent | 15 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa de el Charco | 9.8 km | excellent | 8 seasons | none since 2018 |
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 1 130 leases. It includes long-standing contracts at unchanged rents, so it sits below what is asked today: our estimate of asking rent is 640 € 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: Águilas
Rent by number of bedrooms
asking price, estimate| 1 bedroom | 480 €/mo | |
| 2 bedrooms | 640 €/mo | |
| 3 bedrooms | ≈ 830 €/mo | model: two-bed × 1.3, no measurement yet |
| Median of active leases, 2024 | 416 €/mo | SERPAVI · 95 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
estimateInternational schools counted in the base: 0. Names and curricula for this place are not verified yet — the school registry covers the thirty most-requested places so far.
Renting without a Spanish contract
How realistic a long lease is without a nómina — on foreign income, savings or prepayment.
- —Nothing notable either way: an ordinary market where the individual landlord decides
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- Morocco1 711
- Colombia509
- France250
- United Kingdom235
- Germany204
- Bolivia185
- Romania185
- Ecuador152
- No notable foreign-language community with services recorded.
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 RMU
January 2026/2760 min to the airport- United Kingdom6
- Czechia2
- Ireland1
- France1
- other countries1
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
- Price per m² lies unless you ask what it measuresAppraised value and asking price differ systematically. On one pair of cities the difference in sources flips the comparison entirely.
- Winter sun in Spain: 30 towns that stay open all winterWinter-sun lists usually rank the weather. This one ranks what stays open: January against the summer peak from Spain's social security data, plus sea months, rent and the drive to the airport.
- Best places to live in coastal Spain: five lists, not one rankingAlive in winter, longer swimming, no car needed, cheaper, with children — five sorts of the base by measured fields. A single ranking does not exist.
- Where property is cheapest on the Spanish coast, on a single price basisThe housing ministry's appraised value, ranked by coast and by town, with the price of a 70 m² flat and local incomes alongside. Asking prices get a list of their own: the two bases never share a ranking.
Where to look next
- Mazarrón1 581 €/m²
- Cartagena1 479 €/m²
- Los Alcázares1 750 €/m²
- Adra1 150 €/m²
- Los Llanos de Aridane1 450 €/m²
- Ribadeo1 450 €/m²
- Isla Cristina1 425 €/m²