Badajoz · Extremadura
Mérida
A living Roman city — ancient Augusta Emerita, once capital of Roman Lusitania — where spectacular ruins turn up in the most unlikely corners of an otherwise everyday modern city.
What Mérida is like
Portrait drawn from Lonely Planet.
Extremadura, on the Río Guadiana.
Worth the trip
- The Alcazaba, Puente Romano and Teatro Romano
- The Templo de Diana
- The Acueducto de los Milagros
A little history
Born Augusta Emerita, once the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania.
Who it suits: Roman-history travellers
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
- 10.5°C 2.7°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 35.2°C 5°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 54 days 21% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- no local data
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 106 49 above the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- €1,096/m² 50% less than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
- Net income per person
- €13,297 8% less than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 26.1%
Schools
- Schools in town
- 34
- Nearest international school
- 50 km
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 469 12 below the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 0 min
- Nearest health centre
- 8.7 km
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 135 days 25% more than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 62 min
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 97% 18% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 100% 16% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 60,319
- Born in Spain
- 93% 4.2% above the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 1.1% 2.7% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 0.43 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 Mérida 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 Mérida against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 59 min from Badajoz, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Mérida for you →Nearby towns
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