Girona · Cataluña
Santa Pau
A beautifully preserved medieval village at the heart of the volcanic region, known for its beloved fesols (haricot beans).
Why people fall for Santa Pau
Portrait drawn from The Rough Guide.
9km southwest of Olot, right in the middle of La Garrotxa's volcanic region.
On the table. Known for its fesols (haricot beans), celebrated with its own bean festival.
Worth the trip
- Stone houses, narrow lanes and ancient archways
- The thirteenth-century Pl. Mayor, once the Firal dels Bous (Cattle Market)
Fiestas
- Fira de Sant Antonic / Fira de Fesol (bean festival), mid- or late January
Who it suits: Volcanic-region base
Who Santa Pau 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 Santa Pau lands.
Santa Pau is mid-pack for all six profiles we score (between the 56th and 85th percentile) — a solid all-rounder, a standout for nobody. Your own priorities may read it differently: that's what the quiz is for.
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
- 5.4°C bottom 22% of 8,131 towns 2.3°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 29.6°C top 36% of 8,131 towns 0.6°C below the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 79 days bottom 29% of 8,088 towns 14% more 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
- €18,407 top 6% of 8,059 towns 27% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 30% top 27% of 6,605 towns
Schools
- Schools in town
- 3 top 19% of 7,042 towns
- Nearest international school
- 29 km top 31% 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 8% of 8,132 towns
- Nearest health centre
- 7.7 km top 41% 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
- 62 min top 37% of 8,132 towns
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 83% bottom 34% of 8,132 towns 4% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 85% bottom 28% of 8,132 towns 2% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 1,578
- Born in Spain
- 93.1% 4.3% above the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 2.2% 1.7% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 1.27 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 Santa Pau 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 Santa Pau against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 53 min from Girona, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Santa Pau for you →Nearby towns
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