Tarragona · Cataluña
Salou
A former village transformed into a prestigious residential and tourist center, its main appeal being beaches ranging from vast sand stretches to small coves.
Why people fall for Salou
Portrait drawn from the Michelin Green Guide.
Sheltered by Cap Salou.
Worth the trip
- The Passeig de Jaume I, running parallel to the immense Levant Beach
A little history
Salou's first tourists, attracted by an exceptional landscape and climate, transformed the former village into a prestigious residential center.
Who it suits: Beach holidaymakers
Who Salou 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 Salou lands.
Good for
- American retirees 99th percentile of 8,132 towns a hospital in town · a health centre close by
- Retiring couples 96th percentile of 8,132 towns a hospital in town · a health centre close by
- Families with school-age kids 92nd percentile of 8,132 towns 9 km from the sea · 31,018 people
- Remote-working couples 92nd percentile of 8,132 towns 9 km from the sea · 31,018 people
- Budget-first coastal settlers 90th percentile of 8,132 towns 9 km from the sea · 31,018 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
- 10.4°C top 19% of 8,131 towns 2.7°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 30°C top 45% of 8,131 towns 0.2°C below the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 48 days top 13% of 8,088 towns 31% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- 7.3 h/day bottom 47% of 3,829 towns about the Spanish average (7.2 h/day)
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 73 bottom 31% of 8,033 towns 16 above the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- €2,555/m² bottom 33% of 306 towns 16% more than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
- Net income per person
- €14,097 bottom 47% of 8,059 towns 3% less than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 23.6% bottom 36% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 11 top 6% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 2 km top 1% 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
- 0 min top 1% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 1.1 km top 4% 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
- 26 min top 5% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 99% top 9% of 8,132 towns 20% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 100% top 9% of 8,132 towns 16% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 31,018
- Born in Spain
- 57.3% 31.5% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 7.2% 3.4% above the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 1.39 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 Salou 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 Salou against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 15 min from Reus, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Salou for you →Nearby towns
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