Barcelona

Hospital, terrain, getting around

Where from: the Ministry of Health hospital catalogue, road time · elevations from the Copernicus terrain model · OpenStreetMap · ratingswinter liveabilityOur 1-to-5 rating of whether a town lives from November to March — open places, running transport, people around.Why it matters. Most resorts shut for winter. Tourists never notice; someone who moved gets four empty months. An estimate, not a measurement. for car-free and hospital minutes are ours.

Tourist load

This is the median rent on active leases — tax records for 2024, a sample of 140 872 leases. It includes long-standing contracts at unchanged rents, so it sits below what is asked today: our estimate of asking rent is 1 600 € 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: SERPAVISERPAVIThe Ministry of Housing's public registry of rents: medians of actual signed leases by municipality.Why it matters. Asking rent and signed rent are different things: across our base listings run about one and a half times above the registry. The registry shows what people actually pay., Ministerio de Vivienda · municipality: Barcelona

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.

• Deutsche Schule BarcelonaEsplugues de LlobregatGermanGerman, Spanish · 2–18 · privateGerman Abitur + Spanish Bachillerato, recognised by the German government
• Lycée français de BarceloneBarcelonaFrenchFrench · 2–18 · private
• Kensington SchoolBarcelonaBritishEnglish · 3–18 · private
• Oak House SchoolBarcelonaBritishIBIBThe International Baccalaureate — an international school programme whose diploma universities worldwide accept.Why it matters. If the child may move country again, the IB avoids having to validate the school certificate. A Spanish bachillerato has to be homologated.English, Spanish · 3–18 · private
• Benjamin Franklin International SchoolBarcelonaAmericanIBIBThe International Baccalaureate — an international school programme whose diploma universities worldwide accept.Why it matters. If the child may move country again, the IB avoids having to validate the school certificate. A Spanish bachillerato has to be homologated.English · 3–18 · private
• St. Peter's SchoolBarcelonaIBIBThe International Baccalaureate — an international school programme whose diploma universities worldwide accept.Why it matters. If the child may move country again, the IB avoids having to validate the school certificate. A Spanish bachillerato has to be homologated.English · 1–18 · private
• American School of BarcelonaEsplugues de Llobregat / Sant Just DesvernAmericanIBIBThe International Baccalaureate — an international school programme whose diploma universities worldwide accept.Why it matters. If the child may move country again, the IB avoids having to validate the school certificate. A Spanish bachillerato has to be homologated.English · 3–18 · private

Checked against registries and school sites: 2026-09-17. Fees are on each school's site: nobody publishes them centrally.

• —25.5% foreign residents — income from abroad is routine for landlords here
• —A community with its own services: agencies have dealt with foreigners before
• —Prices rising 9% a year — the landlord picks, and the first filter is a nómina
• —A big city: queues at viewings and a bank guarantee as the norm

This is our model, not a measurement: demanding a nóminanóminaA Spanish employment contract with payslips. Landlords ask for it as proof of income.Why it matters. A newcomer does not have one and will not in the first year. Where it is required, a long lease is nearly impossible — even with money in the bank. 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.

• itItalian~35 000school, doctors or lawyers in the language
• zhChinese~25 000school, doctors or lawyers in the language
• frFrench~20 000school, doctors or lawyers in the language
• urUrdu~20 000Pakistani community, concentrated around Raval

Where from: INEINESpain's National Statistics Institute. It keeps the padrón — the official register of residents of every municipality.Why it matters. The only primary source of population for the whole country. A figure 'per INE' can be checked against a table; a figure 'from the internet' cannot., Censo Anual de Población · the register-based census counts padrónpadrónThe municipal register of residents. Registering in it — empadronamiento — proves you live here.Why it matters. Official population comes from it, and you will need it yourself: without registration there is no health card and no school enrolment. registrations by citizenship on 1 January, not everyone living here: seasonal owners and the unregistered are outside it, and naturalised residents count as Spanish.

• other countries76
• Italy16
• United Kingdom14
• France11
• Germany9
• Poland6
• Netherlands3
• Switzerland3
• Portugal3
• Ireland2
• Belgium2
• Denmark2
• Austria2
• Sweden1
• Norway1
• Finland1
• Czechia1

Destinations served at least weekly in January; checked 2026-09-17.

Paperwork and practicalities

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