Alicante/Alacant · Comunidad Valenciana
Orihuela
A once-royal town rich in Baroque and Muslim-influenced heritage, capital of the Vega Baja district, retaining a provincial charm despite its coastal proximity.
What Orihuela is like
Portrait drawn from the Michelin Green Guide & The Rough Guide.
At the foot of a mountain, roughly 50km southwest of Alicante, surrounded by a palm grove and huerta (irrigated farmland).
Worth the trip
- A Gothic cathedral (14th century) with a Mudéjar-influenced 14th-century Puerta de las Cadenas
- The Museo Diocesano de Arte Sacro, in the Baroque Palacio Episcopal, holding a Velázquez painting (The Temptation of St Thomas)
A little history
Los Reyes Católicos held court in Orihuela in 1488.
Who it suits: History and architecture 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
- 13.1°C 5.3°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 30.8°C 0.6°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 31 days 55% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- no local data
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 259 203 above the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- €2,166/m² about the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
- Net income per person
- €11,512 21% less than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 26.9%
Safety
- Recorded crime
- 59.2 per 1,000 35% more than the Spanish average (44 per 1,000)
Schools
- Schools in town
- 36
- Nearest international school
- 15 km
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 473 8 below the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 0 min
- Nearest health centre
- no local data
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 88 days 18% less than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 54 min
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 91% 12% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 97% 14% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 84,279
- Born in Spain
- 61% 27.8% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 20.2% 16.4% above the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 0.82 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 Orihuela 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 Orihuela against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 34 min from Torrevieja, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Orihuela for you →Nearby towns
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