Barcelona · Cataluña
Cardona
A medieval hilltop village clinging to a castle-crowned slope above a salt mountain, cradle of the powerful Cardona family, 'lords of salt.'
What Cardona is like
Portrait drawn from the Michelin Green Guide.
12.4 miles southeast of Solsona, on the Cardener plain.
Worth the trip
- The Sant Vicenç castle and Collegiate Church, a jewel of Lombard Romanesque art in Catalonia (built 1040)
- The Parc Cultural de la Muntanya de Sal, a unique salt-mountain mine with transparent stalactites and stalagmites
A little history
The castle was the cradle of the powerful Cardona family, nicknamed the 'lords of salt.'
Who it suits: Castle and geology enthusiasts
The numbers
The decision data — each figure against the Spanish average. Regional overlays and estimates are labelled, and where there's no local reading we say so plainly.
Climate
- Winter average temp
- 7.7°C 0.1°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 31.6°C 1.4°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 54 days 22% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine estimated
- 7.2 h/day about the Spanish average (7.2 h/day)
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 73 16 above the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- no local data
- Net income per person
- €15,730 9% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 16.8%
Schools
- Schools in town
- 5
- Nearest international school
- 50 km
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 469 12 below the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 27 min
- Nearest health centre
- 1.9 km
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 142 days 32% more than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 88 min
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 70% 9% below the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 88% 5% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 4,540
- Born in Spain
- 89.6% 0.8% above the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 1% 2.8% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 0.44 per 1,000
Numbers: SettleSpain town dataset, derived from INE, AEMET, Mitma, Ministerio del Interior and the Catastro. National average = the unweighted mean across all 8,132 Spanish municipalities with data. A blank means no municipal-level figure is published — not a zero.
How does Cardona 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 Cardona against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 34 min from Manresa, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Cardona for you →Nearby towns
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