Girona · Cataluña
Palafrugell
Tranquil, pine-covered slopes back three of the most alluring villages on the Costa Brava — Calella, Llafranc and Tamariu — each with scintillating turquoise waters.
Why people fall for Palafrugell
Portrait drawn from The Rough Guide.
Costa Brava, with no true coastal road, keeping development generally mild.
Worth the trip
- Calella, Llafranc and Tamariu, each with a distinct character
- Low-rise, whitewashed apartments and hotels rather than high-density development
Who it suits: Well-off Barcelonans with weekend/August villas · Travellers wanting Costa Brava without high-rise development
Who Palafrugell 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 Palafrugell lands.
Good for
- Families with school-age kids 96th percentile of 8,132 towns 2 km from the sea · 24,556 people
- Remote-working couples 96th percentile of 8,132 towns 2 km from the sea · 24,556 people
- Budget-first coastal settlers 95th percentile of 8,132 towns 2 km from the sea · 24,556 people
- American retirees 90th percentile of 8,132 towns 11 min to a hospital · 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
- 9.9°C top 24% of 8,131 towns 2.1°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 30.5°C top 49% of 8,131 towns 0.3°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 63 days top 48% of 8,088 towns 9% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- no local data
- 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
- €13,607 bottom 39% of 8,059 towns 6% less than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 26.5% top 47% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 13 top 5% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 28 km top 29% 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
- 11 min top 7% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 0.3 km top 1% 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
- 56 min top 31% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 96% top 24% of 8,132 towns 17% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 98% top 23% of 8,132 towns 15% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 24,556
- Born in Spain
- 69.7% 19.1% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 5.2% 1.3% above the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 0.81 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 Palafrugell 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 Palafrugell against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 56 min from Girona, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Palafrugell for you →Nearby towns
Other places we profile within easy reach.