Barcelona

Hospital, terrain, getting around

Where from: the Ministry of Health hospital catalogue, road time · elevations from the Copernicus terrain model · OpenStreetMap · ratingswinter liveabilityA 1-to-5 score of whether a town lives from November to March. Computed from state data: how many cafés, hotels and shops operate in January compared with the summer peak.Why it matters. Most resorts shut for winter. Tourists never notice; someone who moved gets four empty months. A few villages inside another municipality have no state figure of their own — there the score is our estimate, and it is labelled so. for car-free and hospital minutes are ours.

Average sea surface temperature, °C, for 2015–2024 — NOAA OISST satellite series, grid cell 17.3 km from the centre.

Tourist load

Barcelona has 10 beaches tested under EU bathing water rules, at 10 sampling points. In the 2025 season, 8 of 10 were graded excellent. The last “poor” grade here was in 1993: Playa de la Nova Mar Bella.

The grade is bacteria in water samples over the last four seasons — not sand, views or crowds. “Poor” means bathing there is advised against.

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

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: an advert is today's price, while the registry also holds old leases whose rent has not moved in years. 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

Where to look next