Life on the Costa Blanca Gets Top Marks in Spain's Happiness Study 2026
The Costa Blanca Confirmed as One of Spain's Happiest Places to Live
If you have ever wondered whether life on the Costa Blanca is as good as it looks, Spain's most comprehensive happiness study has now provided an answer — and it is a resounding yes. The Spain Happy Index 2026, compiled by property research firm Sonneil Homes, evaluated more than 8,000 Spanish municipalities and ranked each one on a 100-point scale across a range of lifestyle, climate, and service criteria.
The results place the Costa Blanca — and the Province of Alicante more broadly — among the very best places to live in the entire country, with towns across the Vega Baja, Marina Baixa, and greater Alicante area all scoring highly.
Province of Alicante: The Top Three
Within the Province of Alicante, the top-performing municipalities were:
| Rank | Municipality | Score (out of 100) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Pola | 90.62 |
| 2 | Alicante city | 89.99 |
| 3 | Elche | 89.40 |
Santa Pola — the charming fishing town and beach resort south of Alicante — claiming the top spot in the province will surprise many. With its salt flats, sandy beaches, Blue Flag status, relaxed pace of life, and excellent seafood, it exemplifies what the Costa Blanca does best: combining natural beauty with the amenities and services that make daily life comfortable.
Alicante city narrowly misses the top spot with 89.99 points, a score that reflects its exceptional blend of urban vibrancy, coastline, infrastructure, and the 299 days of annual sunshine that make it one of the sunniest cities in all of Spain. Elche, inland from Alicante and famous for its UNESCO-listed palm grove, rounds out the top three.
Costa Blanca South: The Vega Baja's Best Towns
The Vega Baja comarca — the southern stretch of the Costa Blanca stretching from Guardamar down to the Murcia border — performed exceptionally well across the board, with several of its towns posting scores that put them among the best in Spain:
| Town | Score (out of 100) |
|---|---|
| Guardamar del Segura | 87.55 |
| Torrevieja | 87.19 |
| Orihuela | 85.15 |
Guardamar del Segura leads the Vega Baja with 87.55 points. Its vast pine-forested dunes, clean beaches, well-maintained town centre, and excellent local infrastructure make it a perennial favourite among both Spanish families and international residents.
Torrevieja, one of the largest expat communities in Spain, scores 87.19 — a strong result that reflects its extensive amenities, lively social scene, year-round population, and the famous salt lakes that give the area its distinctive character.
Orihuela — including the sprawling Orihuela Costa development — scores 85.15, with its combination of beaches, golf courses, and inland cultural heritage contributing to a well-rounded lifestyle score.
Other Vega Baja towns also featured in the rankings: Los Montesinos, Catral, San Fulgencio, Dolores, and San Miguel de Salinas all received recognition — testament to the consistently high quality of life across the region, not just in the headline resort towns.
Costa Blanca North: Marina Baixa's Top Performers
The Marina Baixa comarca — home to some of the Costa Blanca's most recognisable names — also produced a strong showing in the study. Towns including Benidorm, Villajoyosa, l'Alfàs del Pi, Finestrat, and Altea all ranked among Spain's top-rated municipalities.
The diversity of this area is reflected in the range of lifestyles on offer — from the international resort experience of Benidorm to the bohemian art scene of Altea, the family-friendly beaches of Villajoyosa, and the expat-popular residential areas of l'Alfàs del Pi. The study's methodology, which assesses multiple criteria rather than just one dimension, rewards this kind of well-rounded liveability.
Around Alicante City: Strong Suburban Scores
The municipalities surrounding Alicante city also performed well, with El Campello, San Vicente del Raspeig, San Juan, and Mutxamel all posting rankings that reflect their appeal as residential areas within easy reach of the city's services and coastline while offering a quieter, more affordable quality of life.
Inland, Crevillent, Monforte del Cid, and Aspe also featured — a reminder that the happiness criteria extend beyond the coast, and that the interior of Alicante province has its own genuine appeal.
What Makes the Costa Blanca Score So Highly?
The Spain Happy Index assesses municipalities across a comprehensive set of criteria that reflect the real factors behind quality of life:
- Climate — sunshine hours, rainfall levels, average temperatures, and wind exposure. This is where the Costa Blanca excels: Alicante records 299 days of sunshine per year and an average temperature of 20°C, figures that are hard to beat anywhere in Europe
- Healthcare access — proximity to hospitals and medical centres
- Transport connections — proximity to airports (Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport is one of Spain's busiest) and road infrastructure
- Education — access to schools, including international schools popular with expat families
- Coastal location — coastal versus inland positioning, with beach access given significant weighting
Spain's National Happiness Rankings
At the national level, the Spain Happy Index 2026 crowns Málaga as Spain's happiest city — a result driven in no small part by its extraordinary 310 days of sunshine per year, the highest of any major Spanish city. Almería and Ibiza complete the national podium.
Alicante's strong national ranking — with 299 days of sunshine and a 20°C annual average — places it firmly in the upper tier of Spain's most liveable cities. The province as a whole, with its combination of coastline, infrastructure, and climate, is arguably the most consistently high-performing region in the entire index.
What This Means for Expats Considering the Costa Blanca
For the tens of thousands of British, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, and other European residents who already call the Costa Blanca home — and for the many more who are considering making the move — the Spain Happy Index 2026 provides independent validation of what residents already know: this stretch of Spain's Mediterranean coast offers an exceptional quality of life.
The combination of factors that drives those high scores — climate, healthcare, transport, education, and coastline — are exactly the criteria that matter most to people choosing where to build their lives. The fact that towns right across the region, from large resorts to small inland villages, score well suggests that the appeal is not confined to a handful of premium spots but is genuinely widespread.
Whether you are drawn to the social energy of Torrevieja, the charm of Guardamar, the beaches of Santa Pola, the culture of Altea, or the resort experience of Benidorm, the data confirms that the Costa Blanca delivers — not just as a holiday destination, but as a place to live.
The Spain Happy Index 2026 was compiled by Sonneil Homes based on data from over 8,000 Spanish municipalities, scored on a 100-point scale across climate, lifestyle, and service criteria.
