Salamanca · Castilla Y Leon
Ciudad Rodrigo
An unspoiled frontier town encircled by impressive walls — an endearingly sleepy place that was a crucial Peninsular War border point.
Why people fall for Ciudad Rodrigo
Portrait drawn from The Rough Guide.
90km southwest of Salamanca, astride the road to Portugal.
Worth the trip
- A rather austere castle, now a parador
- A handsome Plaza Mayor and Renaissance-mansion-lined old-town streets
- A thirty-minute walk around the town's encircling walls
A little history
The town fell to the French after a fierce fight in 1810, but was retaken by the British in 1812 after a devastatingly rapid siege; cannonball dents are still visible above a doorway on the Catedral.
Who it suits: Peninsular War history travellers
Who Ciudad Rodrigo 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 Ciudad Rodrigo lands.
Ciudad Rodrigo is mid-pack for all six profiles we score (between the 33rd and 72nd percentile) — a solid all-rounder, a standout for nobody. Your own priorities may read it differently: that's what the quiz is for.
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
- 6.6°C bottom 43% of 8,131 towns 1.2°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 31.1°C bottom 36% of 8,131 towns 0.9°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 64 days bottom 48% of 8,088 towns 7% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- no local data
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 20 top 16% of 8,033 towns 37 below the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- no local data
- Net income per person
- €12,815 bottom 27% of 8,059 towns 12% less than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 26.7% top 46% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 9 top 7% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 152 km bottom 1% 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
- 57 min bottom 18% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 2.8 km top 12% 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
- 89 min bottom 34% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 89% bottom 49% of 8,132 towns 10% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 96% top 40% of 8,132 towns 12% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 11,733
- Born in Spain
- 92.4% 3.6% above the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 3.8% 0.1% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 0 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 Ciudad Rodrigo 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 Ciudad Rodrigo against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 61 min from Salamanca, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Ciudad Rodrigo for you →Nearby towns
Other places we profile within easy reach.