Gipuzkoa · País Vasco
Getaria
A tiny fishing port, once a major whaling centre, now a summer resort and the birthplace of both the first man to sail around the world and fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga.
What Getaria is like
Portrait drawn from The Rough Guide.
25km west of San Sebastián, sheltered by the humpbacked islet El Ratón.
On the table. Fancy fish restaurants arrayed along terraces high above the harbour.
Worth the trip
- The magnificent fourteenth-century church of San Salvador
- Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga, opened in 2011 in a hollowed-out nineteenth-century palace
- A crescent beach thronged with surfers in summer
Fiestas
- Every four years, Elcano's landing is re-enacted at the harbour during the village fiestas (week of August 6)
A little history
Juan Sebastián Elcano, the first man to sail around the world, was born in Getaria in 1487 — his ship was the only one of Magellan's fleet to make it home.
Who it suits: Fashion/design pilgrims · Seafood diners
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
- 10.8°C 3°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 24°C 6.2°C below the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 127 days 86% more than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- no local data
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 25 32 below the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- no local data
- Net income per person
- €20,176 39% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 22.9%
Schools
- Schools in town
- 3
- Nearest international school
- 63 km
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 482 1 above the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 29 min
- Nearest health centre
- no local data
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 64 days 41% less than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 45 min
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 95% 16% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 98% 14% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 2,906
- Born in Spain
- 85.9% 2.9% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 2.3% 1.6% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 0.69 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 Getaria 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 Getaria against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 31 min from Donostia/San Sebastián, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Getaria for you →Nearby towns
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