Burgos · Castilla Y Leon
Burgos
The capital of Old Castile for almost five hundred years, home of El Cid, and a firm station on the Camino pilgrim route — a handsome, much-restored cathedral city that isn't as big as it feels.
Why people fall for Burgos
Portrait drawn from Lonely Planet & The Rough Guide.
The Río Arlanzón bisects the city, with the casco histórico on the north bank; retains small-town intimacy from its 9th-century roots as a strategic fortress.
Worth the trip
- The 13th-century Gothic Catedral, one of the greatest in Spain, holding El Cid's tomb
- The mirador of Castillo de Burgos, with a huge 3-D bronze landmark map
- Two monasteries on the outskirts
- El Cid's legend — born in nearby Vivar in 1043
A little history
Capital of Old Castile for almost five hundred years; home of El Cid in the eleventh century; base of Fernando III, reconqueror of Córdoba and Seville; during the Civil War, Franco temporarily installed his Fascist government here.
Who it suits: Camino de Santiago pilgrims · Cathedral/history travellers
Who Burgos 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 Burgos lands.
Good for
- Families with school-age kids 91st percentile of 8,132 towns a hospital in town · 178,370 people
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
- 4.7°C bottom 8% of 8,131 towns 3.1°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 28°C top 18% of 8,131 towns 2.2°C below the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 85 days bottom 20% of 8,088 towns 24% more than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- 6.3 h/day bottom 17% of 3,829 towns 13% less than the Spanish average (7.2 h/day)
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 95 bottom 22% of 8,033 towns 39 above the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- €1,959/m² top 47% of 306 towns 11% less than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
- Net income per person
- €16,707 top 19% of 8,059 towns 15% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 20% bottom 18% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 88 top 1% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 3 km top 2% of 8,132 towns
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 499 #1 of 17 regions, +20 vs national 18 above the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 0 min top 1% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 0.2 km top 1% of 7,025 towns
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 87 days #5 of 17 regions, −16 days vs national 19% less than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 87 min bottom 37% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 99% top 7% of 8,132 towns 20% 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
- 178,370
- Born in Spain
- 85.3% 3.5% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 3% 0.8% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 0.67 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 Burgos 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 Burgos against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 73 min from Palencia, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Burgos for you →Nearby towns
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