Cantabria · Cantabria

Comillas

A curious rural town with pretty cobbled streets that seems almost oblivious to the sea, yet home to the first house ever designed by Antoni Gaudí.

2,071 residents~29 min to Torrelavega
Comillas, Cantabria
Photo: Tony Rotondas (Wikimedia Commons uploader; no explicit author on file page) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Living in Comillas

Comillas is a small Cantabrian coastal town of 2,000 with pretty cobbled streets that seem almost to turn their back on the sea, best known for El Capricho — the whimsical sunflower-tiled villa designed by Gaudí. It has two good beaches on its doorstep and a genuinely Atlantic climate: mild but wet, with cool summers around 22°C, mild winters near 11°C and rain on well over a hundred days a year. It's a mostly Spanish town with a small French contingent. A hospital is about half an hour away, Torrelavega the same, and Santander's airport around forty-five minutes.

Comillas's Spainability Scores — by who's moving

Not our opinion: we ran the same scoring engine behind the quiz for six settler profiles across all 8,132 municipalities. Each score is Comillas's percentile for that group — 87 means it beats 87% of the towns we could score. How scoring works.

Heat-averse Spainability Score 96

Higher than 96% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for heat-averse settlers.

A curious rural town with pretty cobbled streets that seems almost oblivious to the sea, yet home to the first house ever designed by Antoni Gaudí. A strong pick if you can't stand hot summers — 4 km from the sea and mild 22.4°C summer highs.

  • Summer high (Jul–Aug) 22.4°C
  • Rainy days a year 122 days
  • Summer water stress (WEI+) 6
  • Winter average temp 10.5°C
Retiree Spainability Score 76

Higher than 76% of the 8,088 Spanish municipalities we could score for retiring couples.

A curious rural town with pretty cobbled streets that seems almost oblivious to the sea, yet home to the first house ever designed by Antoni Gaudí. A strong pick for a retiring couple — 30 min to a hospital and a health centre close by.

  • Winter average temp 10.5°C
  • Drive to a hospital 30 min
  • Surgical wait (region) 137 days
  • Registered long-let rent €6.85/m²·mo
Family Spainability Score 75

Higher than 75% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for families.

A curious rural town with pretty cobbled streets that seems almost oblivious to the sea, yet home to the first house ever designed by Antoni Gaudí. A strong pick for a family with school-age kids — 4 km from the sea and 30 min to a hospital.

  • PISA maths (region) 495
  • Registered long-let rent €6.85/m²·mo
  • Drive to a hospital 30 min
  • Nearest international school 21 km
Remote-work Spainability Score 73

Higher than 73% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for remote workers.

A curious rural town with pretty cobbled streets that seems almost oblivious to the sea, yet home to the first house ever designed by Antoni Gaudí. A strong pick for a remote-working couple — 4 km from the sea and 30 min to a hospital.

  • 100 Mbps+ coverage 99%
  • Drive to nearest airport 45 min
  • Registered long-let rent €6.85/m²·mo
  • Summer high (Jul–Aug) 22.4°C
American-retiree Spainability Score 70

Higher than 70% of the 8,088 Spanish municipalities we could score for American retirees.

A curious rural town with pretty cobbled streets that seems almost oblivious to the sea, yet home to the first house ever designed by Antoni Gaudí. A strong pick for American retirees — 30 min to a hospital and a health centre close by.

  • Winter average temp 10.5°C
  • Drive to a hospital 30 min
  • U.S.-born residents 0.97 per 1,000
  • Registered long-let rent €6.85/m²·mo
Budget-coastal Spainability Score 67

Higher than 67% of the 2,555 Spanish municipalities we could score for budget-first coastal settlers.

A curious rural town with pretty cobbled streets that seems almost oblivious to the sea, yet home to the first house ever designed by Antoni Gaudí. A strong pick for coastal living on a budget — 4 km from the sea and 30 min to a hospital.

  • Registered long-let rent €6.85/m²·mo
  • Net income per person €14,226
  • Summer high (Jul–Aug) 22.4°C

What is the climate like in Comillas?

Comillas's reported winter average is 10.5°C, while July–August highs reach 22.4°C.

Climate

Winter average temp
10.5°C top 17% of 8,131 towns 2.8°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
Summer high (Jul–Aug)
22.4°C top 3% of 8,131 towns 7.8°C below the Spanish average (30.2°C)
Rainy days a year
122 days bottom 6% of 8,088 towns 78% more than the Spanish average (69 days)
Sunshine
no local data
Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
6 top 6% of 8,033 towns 50 below the Spanish average (56)
River-flood depth (T=100, town centre) estimated
0 m top 1% of 8,129 towns 0.04 m below the Spanish average (0.04 m)
River-flood risk score estimated
0 top 1% of 8,129 towns about the Spanish average (0)
Wildfire burn rate (2010–23)
0.29 ha/km² bottom 32% of 8,132 towns 2.02 ha/km² below the Spanish average (2.31 ha/km²)
Forest fires (2010–23)
3 bottom 32% of 8,132 towns 3 below the Spanish average (6)
High fire-weather days (province) regional estimate
21.8% top 40% of 8,130 towns 1.1% below the Spanish average (22.9%)

The year, month by month

AEMET 30-year climate normals — what a January or an August actually feels like, not the annual average.

vs London: ~3°C milder winters+1h December daylight~2× the rain
10° 15° 20° 25° 150 0 mm 13° 13° 14° 15° 17° 11° 20° 14° 22° 16° 23° 16° 21° 15° 20° 12° 16° 14° day high night low JFMAMJJASOND
day high → night low (°C) rain (mm/month, right axis) Measured at the SAN VICENTE DE LA BARQUERA station.

How good is healthcare in Comillas?

Comillas's nearest health centre is 8.4 km away, and the reported hospital drive is 30 min.

Healthcare

Drive to a hospital
30 min top 42% of 8,132 towns
Nearest health centre
8.4 km top 49% of 8,132 towns
Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
137 days #15 of 17 regions, +34 days vs national 27% more than the Spanish average (108 days)

What are schools like in Comillas?

Comillas's reported nearest international school is 21 km.

Schools

Schools in town
no local data
Nearest international school
21 km top 22% of 8,132 towns
PISA maths (region) regional estimate
495 #2 of 17 regions, +16 vs national 14 above the Spanish average (481)

How much does it cost to live in Comillas?

Comillas's reported registered long-let rent is €6.85/m²·mo.

Cost & economy

Home price
no local data
Asking price
no local data
Registered long-let rent
€6.85/m²·mo
Registered rent p25
€5.67/m²·mo
Registered rent p75
€9.16/m²·mo
Registered-rent yield
no reliable sale-price data — yield not imputed
Net income per person
€14,226 bottom 49% of 8,059 towns about the Spanish average (€14,495)
Income growth ’18–’23
30.6% top 24% of 6,605 towns

Which languages are used in schools in Comillas?

Spanish is the only region-wide official language in Cantabria, and Spanish-medium teaching is the public-school default. Individual bilingual and international programmes can use other languages, so check the specific school. See the Cantabria region guide for the wider regional context.

What is the community like in Comillas?

Comillas's reported population is 2,071.

Who lives here

Population
2,071
Born in Spain
88.4% 0.4% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
Born elsewhere in EU/UK
4.5% 0.7% above the Spanish average (3.8%)
U.S.-born residents
0.97 per 1,000

How easy is it to get around Comillas?

Comillas is a reported 45 min drive from the nearest airport, with 97% fibre-to-home coverage.

Getting around

Drive to nearest airport
45 min top 20% of 8,132 towns
Fibre-to-home coverage
97% top 17% of 8,132 towns 18% above the Spanish average (79%)
100 Mbps+ coverage
99% top 17% of 8,132 towns 16% above the Spanish average (83%)
Nearest airport Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport (SDR) — 45 min drive · international: direct flights to 10 countries (incl. UK)

Numbers: Spainability town dataset, derived from INE, AEMET, Mitma and the Catastro. Registered long-let rent is SERPAVI declared-contract data; its p25–p75 values show the observed band. Registered-rent yield is gross, excludes costs and is never imputed. 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.

How does Comillas 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 Comillas against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 29 min from Torrelavega, if that's your anchor.

Take the quiz — rank Comillas for you →

Questions to verify locally

  • Ask whether current long-let rents match the registered-contract figure.
  • Request comparable sales; neither appraisal nor asking data is published.
  • Test fibre speed at the exact address, not the town average.
  • Visit the school and ask about places for incoming families.
  • Confirm health-centre registration and opening hours in person.
  • Ask about summer rental crowds and parking near the coast.

Nearby towns

Other places we profile within easy reach.

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