Navarra · C. Foral De Navarra
Pamplona
A robust, visceral place with a rough-hewn edge and a strong streak of macho self-confidence — a Navarran capital combining rich history and a youthful, buzzing bar scene, world-famous for the Running of the Bulls.
Why people fall for Pamplona
Portrait drawn from Lonely Planet & The Rough Guide.
A fortress town defending the northern approaches to Spain at the foothills of the Pyrenees, taking its name from Roman general Pompey.
On the table. At Cafe Iruña, you might expect former regular Ernest Hemingway to swing through the doors at any moment.
Worth the trip
- The Casco Antiguo, centred on Pza. del Castillo
- Catedral de Santa María, basically Gothic despite an 18th-century facade, with the tomb of Carlos III
- Museo de Navarra, with a Roman mosaic floor and Goya's portrait of the Marqués de San Adrián
- The city walls overlooking the Río Arga
Fiestas
- Fiestas de San Fermín (Running of the Bulls), early July
A little history
It later became capital of Navarra — often a semi-autonomous state — and an important stop on the Camino de Santiago.
Who it suits: San Fermín festival-goers · Hemingway literary pilgrims
Who Pamplona 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 Pamplona lands.
Good for
- Heat-averse settlers 91st percentile of 8,132 towns 59 km from the sea · a hospital in town
- Families with school-age kids 90th percentile of 8,132 towns a hospital in town · 107 schools in town
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
- 6.9°C bottom 46% of 8,131 towns 0.8°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 28°C top 21% of 8,131 towns 2.2°C below the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 99 days bottom 12% of 8,088 towns 44% more than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- no local data
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 32 top 35% of 8,033 towns 24 below the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- €2,737/m² bottom 27% of 306 towns 24% more than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
- Net income per person
- €17,247 top 14% of 8,059 towns 19% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 26.8% top 45% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 107 top 1% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 1 km top 1% of 8,132 towns
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 492 #6 of 17 regions, +13 vs national 11 above the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 0 min top 1% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 0.6 km top 2% of 7,025 towns
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 96 days #9 of 17 regions, −7 days vs national 11% less than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 13 min top 1% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 98% top 11% of 8,132 towns 19% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 100% top 1% of 8,132 towns 17% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 209,676
- Born in Spain
- 77.4% 11.4% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 2.9% 0.9% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 1.87 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 Pamplona 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 Pamplona against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 62 min from Logroño, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Pamplona for you →Nearby towns
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