Girona · Cataluña
Roses
A site inhabited for over three thousand years, since Greek traders called it Rhoda — but today a full-blown package resort trading on its 4km sandy beach.
Why people fall for Roses
Portrait drawn from the Michelin Green Guide & The Rough Guide.
At the head of a grand, sweeping bay.
Worth the trip
- A Renaissance-style sixteenth-century citadel built by order of Charles V, with the ornamental Porta de Mar
- The Museu de la Ciutadella, exploring the site's Greek and Roman remains
- 4km of sandy beach with a large watersports industry
A little history
The Greeks called the place Rhoda when they set up a trading colony around the natural harbour in the ninth century BC.
Who it suits: Package-resort beachgoers · Watersports enthusiasts
Who Roses 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 Roses lands.
Good for
- Families with school-age kids 93rd percentile of 8,132 towns 2 km from the sea · 20,175 people
- Remote-working couples 93rd percentile of 8,132 towns 2 km from the sea · 20,175 people
- Budget-first coastal settlers 91st percentile of 8,132 towns 2 km from the sea · 20,175 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
- 10.2°C top 21% of 8,131 towns 2.4°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 31°C bottom 41% of 8,131 towns 0.8°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 59 days top 37% of 8,088 towns 15% 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
- €13,152 bottom 32% of 8,059 towns 9% less than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 26.4% top 47% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 9 top 7% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 44 km top 48% 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
- 27 min top 36% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 1.8 km top 8% 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
- 69 min top 45% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 98% top 11% of 8,132 towns 19% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 99% top 16% of 8,132 towns 16% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 20,175
- Born in Spain
- 63.5% 25.3% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 9.6% 5.8% above the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 1.54 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 Roses 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 Roses against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 60 min from Girona, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Roses for you →Nearby towns
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