Gipuzkoa · País Vasco
Getaria
A tiny fishing port, once a major whaling centre, now a summer resort and the birthplace of both the first man to sail around the world and fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Why people fall for Getaria
Portrait drawn from The Rough Guide.
25km west of San Sebastián, sheltered by the humpbacked islet El Ratón.
On the table. Fancy fish restaurants arrayed along terraces high above the harbour.
Worth the trip
- The magnificent fourteenth-century church of San Salvador
- Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga, opened in 2011 in a hollowed-out nineteenth-century palace
- A crescent beach thronged with surfers in summer
Fiestas
- Every four years, Elcano's landing is re-enacted at the harbour during the village fiestas (week of August 6)
A little history
Juan Sebastián Elcano, the first man to sail around the world, was born in Getaria in 1487 — his ship was the only one of Magellan's fleet to make it home.
Who it suits: Fashion/design pilgrims · Seafood diners
Who Getaria 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 Getaria lands.
Good for
- Heat-averse settlers 98th percentile of 8,132 towns 2 km from the sea · mild 24°C summer highs
- Families with school-age kids 96th percentile of 8,132 towns 2 km from the sea · a real food scene
- Remote-working couples 95th percentile of 8,132 towns 2 km from the sea · a real food scene
- Budget-first coastal settlers 94th percentile of 8,132 towns 2 km from the sea · 2,906 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
- 10.8°C top 17% of 8,131 towns 3°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 24°C top 6% of 8,131 towns 6.2°C below the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 127 days bottom 3% of 8,088 towns 86% more than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- no local data
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 25 top 30% of 8,033 towns 32 below the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- no local data
- Net income per person
- €20,176 top 3% of 8,059 towns 39% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 22.9% bottom 31% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 3 top 19% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 63 km bottom 34% of 8,132 towns
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 482 #9 of 17 regions, +3 vs national 1 above the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 29 min top 40% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- no local data
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 64 days #2 of 17 regions, −39 days vs national 41% less than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 45 min top 19% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 95% top 26% of 8,132 towns 16% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 98% top 30% of 8,132 towns 14% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 2,906
- Born in Spain
- 85.9% 2.9% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 2.3% 1.6% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 0.69 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 Getaria 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 Getaria against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 31 min from Donostia/San Sebastián, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Getaria for you →Nearby towns
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