Santa Pola
Santa Pola is a coastal town twenty kilometres south of Alicante, with around thirty-five thousand residents. Its port is a working one: the fishing fleet is among the notable ones on this shore, and the fish auction runs every evening. Beside it are salt pans, still worked, where flamingos come.
For anyone moving, Santa Pola is convenient for its closeness to Alicante: twenty minutes to the city and to the airport, with cheaper housing. In summer the population grows with second homes; in winter the town is noticeably quieter but does not close — it has its own port and its own people. Facing it lies Tabarca, the only inhabited island on this coast, reached by boat.
- Alicante · 20 km — the city, the airport and hospitals
- Tabarca · 8 km — the coast's only inhabited island
- Guardamar del Segura · 15 km — the pine forest along the dunes
Santa Pola sits in Baix Vinalopó, Alicante, right on the water. The square metre is 20% below the Costa Blanca median: €2 604 against €3 258. The airport is 25 minutes away, closer than for most places in the database. Summers are packed: tourist load hits 5 out of 5 at the peak against 1 in winter.
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.
Santa Pola sea temperature by month
5 months above 20 °CsourceAverage sea surface temperature, °C, for 2015–2024 — NOAA OISST satellite series, grid cell 9.6 km from the centre.
Tourist load
Santa Pola beaches and water quality
sourceSanta Pola has 10 beaches tested under EU bathing water rules, at 10 sampling points. In the 2025 season, 9 of 10 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 Llevant | 0.3 km | good | — | none since 1990 |
| Playa de Calas de Santiago Bernabeu | 0.9 km | excellent | 16 seasons | none since 2010 |
| Playa Gran Platja | 1.5 km | excellent | 36 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa del Varador | 1.7 km | excellent | 36 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa Calas del Este | 2.1 km | excellent | 22 seasons | none since 2004 |
| Playa Llisa | 2.4 km | excellent | 16 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa Tamarit | 2.7 km | excellent | 36 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa del Bancal de Arena | 4.4 km | excellent | 4 seasons | none since 2022 |
| Playa Calas del Cuartel | 4.7 km | excellent | 2 seasons | none since 2024 |
| Playa de la Ermita | 5.4 km | excellent | 9 seasons | none since 2017 |
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 1 184 leases. It includes long-standing contracts at unchanged rents, so it sits below what is asked today: our estimate of asking rent is 900 € 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: Santa Pola
Rent by number of bedrooms
asking price, estimate| 1 bedroom | 650 €/mo | |
| 2 bedrooms | 900 €/mo | |
| 3 bedrooms | ≈ 1 170 €/mo | model: two-bed × 1.3, no measurement yet |
| Median of active leases, 2024 | 500 €/mo | SERPAVI · 78 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.
- —A community with its own services: agencies have dealt with foreigners before
- —Prices rising 10.5% 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- United Kingdom1 289
- Colombia868
- Italy832
- Ukraine652
- Russia494
- France448
- Argentina370
- Algeria360
- enEnglish~1 289school, doctors or lawyers in the languageUK citizens in the 2025 census; the largest foreign group
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 ALC
January 2026/2725 min to the airport- United Kingdom21
- other countries17
- Germany12
- Poland10
- Norway7
- Italy6
- Sweden5
- France5
- Belgium4
- Netherlands3
- Switzerland3
- Ireland2
- Denmark2
- Czechia2
- Finland1
- Austria1
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
Where to look next
- Guardamar del Segura3 363 €/m²
- Alicante2 272 €/m²
- Torrevieja2 241 €/m²