Girona · Cataluña
Banyoles
A town beautifully set on Lake Banyoles, founded around a 9th-century Benedictine monastery and drawing tourists since the 19th century for its medicinal waters.
Why people fall for Banyoles
Portrait drawn from the Michelin Green Guide.
On the right bank of Lake Banyoles.
Worth the trip
- Lake Banyoles itself, over 1.2 miles long, an Olympic rowing venue during the 1992 Games
- Museu Arqueològic, in the 14th-century Pia Almoina building with a Gothic gallery
A little history
Dates back to the founding, in the 9th century, of the Benedictine Monastery of Sant Esteve; became an important city in the 13th-15th centuries.
Who it suits: Rowing/watersports enthusiasts
Who Banyoles is for — and who it isn't
Not our opinion: we ran the same scoring engine behind the quiz for six settler profiles across all 8,132 municipalities and read off where Banyoles lands.
Good for
- Remote-working couples 96th percentile of 8,132 towns 20,887 people · a hospital in town
- Families with school-age kids 95th percentile of 8,132 towns 38 km from the sea · a hospital in town
- Budget-first coastal settlers 95th percentile of 8,132 towns 20,887 people · a hospital in town
- American retirees 91st percentile of 8,132 towns a hospital in town · a health centre close by
The numbers
The decision data — each figure placed among all Spanish municipalities that report it ("top 10%" always means good, also where lower is better). Regional overlays and estimates are labelled, and where there's no local reading we say so plainly.
Climate
- Winter average temp
- 8.8°C top 30% of 8,131 towns 1°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 30.7°C bottom 47% of 8,131 towns 0.5°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 65 days bottom 46% of 8,088 towns 5% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- 6.7 h/day bottom 22% of 3,829 towns 7% less than the Spanish average (7.2 h/day)
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 73 bottom 31% of 8,033 towns 16 above the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- no local data
- Net income per person
- €16,164 top 24% of 8,059 towns 12% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 23.1% bottom 33% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 11 top 6% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 17 km top 16% of 8,132 towns
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 469 #12 of 17 regions, −10 vs national 12 below the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 0 min top 1% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 0.7 km top 3% of 7,025 towns
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 142 days #16 of 17 regions, +39 days vs national 32% more than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 37 min top 12% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 100% top 2% of 8,132 towns 21% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 100% top 8% of 8,132 towns 17% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 20,887
- Born in Spain
- 76.7% 12.1% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 2.5% 1.3% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 1.77 per 1,000
Numbers: SpainScore town dataset, derived from INE, AEMET, Mitma and the Catastro. Percentile chips count only the municipalities that report the figure — the "of n" says how many. Region-ranked figures (PISA, surgical waits) compare Spain's 17 comunidades autónomas. A blank means no municipal-level figure is published — not a zero.
The year, month by month
AEMET 30-year climate normals — what a January or an August actually feels like, not the annual average.
How does Banyoles fit you?
These are the town's numbers. Whether it's your town depends on what you're optimising for — winter sun or mild summers, a city or a village, short medical waits, an easy flight home. The 3-minute quiz scores Banyoles against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 28 min from Girona, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Banyoles for you →Nearby towns
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