Seven Maresme towns a relocation firm recommends. What each one costs, with sources.
On 30 May 2026 Coastal Living Relocation Services published its pick of the best places to live on the Maresme coast. The list is good. It contains two figures. We put the official ones next to each town: what a home sold for, what a rent cost, how long the journey takes, where the international school is.
The essentials
- Per m², Alella (€3,879) costs 30% more than Arenys de Mar (€2,975). The typical used home sold tells a wider story: €653,926 against €295,334.
- Door to door to central Barcelona by public transport: 37 minutes from Alella, 71 from Sant Andreu de Llavaneres. Cabrils takes 62, with one departure an hour between 7 and 9.
- All seven have been rent-cap zones since March 2024 (declaration in force from 16 March 2024, for three years). Caldes d'Estrac is proposed to leave the list when the current declaration expires, in March 2027 (DOGC, 19 October 2026).
Pick a town and we'll send you its report.
The property tax on an average home, the real price per m², minutes to Barcelona and how it compares with its neighbours.
The Maresme gets described in adjectives. Prestigious, authentic, tranquil, charming. Coastal Living Relocation Services, which settles international families north of Barcelona, published on 30 May 2026 its seven best places to live on the coast: Alella, Cabrils, Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, Caldes d'Estrac, Arenys de Mar, Premià de Dalt and Teià. It is a sensible list and we would not quarrel with it. It is also a list with exactly two numbers in it: Alella is “just 20 minutes from central Barcelona”, and the coast gets “over 300 days of sunshine per year”.
The article we cite
- The Best Places to Live on the Maresme Coast
The list of seven towns that we set the official figures against.
A family choosing between those seven will want a few more. Here they are, town by town, from the registers: registered sales, registered rental contracts, the 2026 tax ordinances and the public transport timetables. Every figure carries its source and the date we read it. Tap a town's name for the full sheet.
| Alella | €653,926 | €1,465 | 37 min · six or seven/h | 3.2 km | €1,363 | 93.1% |
| Cabrils | €534,827 | €1,400 | 62 min · one/h | 2.1 km | €1,111 | 88.9% |
| Sant Andreu de Llavaneres | €426,226 | €1,163 | 71 min · six or seven/h | 8.2 km | €733 | 88.8% |
| Caldes d'Estrac | €333,887 | €1,130 | 60 min · six or seven/h | 4.9 km | €964 | 88.9% |
| Arenys de Mar | €295,334 | €848 | 60 min · six/h | 3.0 km | €621 | 87.8% |
| Premià de Dalt | €405,625 | €1,167 | 67 min · four/h | 4.6 km | €925 | 92.7% |
| Teià | €546,198 | €1,413 | 52 min · two or three/h | 5.1 km | €1,097 | 88.9% |
Town by town
- Alella
Price per m², Jul 2025 to Jun 2026: €3,879 · typical used home sold: €653,926 (180 m²) · Registered rent, 2025: €1,465 a month (94 contracts) · Door to door to central Barcelona: 37 min on a direct bus, six or seven departures an hour between 7 and 9 · by car without traffic: 23 min · International school: Hamelin-Laie International School (Montgat), 3.2 km, fees from €11,454 a year in the Verithic directory (the school's own page listed €11,186 with meals on 7 November 2026) · Acute hospital: 4.9 km (Germans Trias i Pujol) · property tax on an average home: €1,363 a year (rate 0.745%) · Residents satisfied with living there: 93.1% (402 interviews) · Say the town has got worse: 30.4% · 1.4 tourist flats per 100 residents · 13.6% foreign residents · 1,070 people per km² · beach 28 minutes on foot · cadastral values last revised in 2002. On the timetable it is 37 minutes door to door; 23 by car without traffic. Alella is the dearest of the seven per m², pays the highest property tax bill and has the most satisfied residents. Its price per m² has nearly doubled since 2015 (+98%).
- Cabrils
Price per m², Jul 2025 to Jun 2026: €2,990 · typical used home sold: €534,827 (204 m²) · Registered rent, 2025: €1,400 a month (67 contracts) · Door to door to central Barcelona: 62 min on a direct bus, one departure an hour between 7 and 9 · by car without traffic: 34 min · International school: BSB Maresme (The British School of Barcelona) (Cabrera de Mar), 2.1 km, fees from €12,220 a year · Acute hospital: 6.1 km (Mataró) · property tax on an average home: €1,111 a year (rate 0.53%) · Residents satisfied with living there: 88.9% (joint figure for the small towns of the Maresme, 148 interviews) · Say the town has got worse: 26.5% · 1.1 tourist flats per 100 residents · 14.2% foreign residents · 1,100 people per km² · beach 44 minutes on foot · cadastral values last revised in 2008. The second-lowest price per m² buys the biggest houses, which is why the typical sale still clears half a million. The weak spot is the bus: one an hour at rush hour. Prices are up 41% since 2015.
- Sant Andreu de Llavaneres
Price per m², Jul 2025 to Jun 2026: €3,390 · typical used home sold: €426,226 (136 m²) · Registered rent, 2025: €1,163 a month (173 contracts) · Door to door to central Barcelona: 71 min on bus and Rodalies with one change, six or seven departures an hour between 7 and 9 · by car without traffic: 38 min · International school: International School of Maresme (Canet de Mar), 8.2 km, fees not yet on our sheet · Acute hospital: 5.0 km (Mataró) · property tax on an average home: €733 a year (rate 0.498%) · Residents satisfied with living there: 88.8% (403 interviews) · Say the town has got worse: 22.5% · 1.5 tourist flats per 100 residents · 13.6% foreign residents · 1,007 people per km² · beach 31 minutes on foot · cadastral values last revised in 2013. The golf-and-marina town of the article has the longest public transport journey of the seven and the farthest international school. It also has the lowest property tax rate and, by number of contracts, the second-largest rental market. Foreign residents: 13.6%, the same share as Alella.
- Caldes d'Estrac
Price per m², Jul 2025 to Jun 2026: €3,476 · typical used home sold: €333,887 (106 m²) · Registered rent, 2025: €1,130 a month (41 contracts) · Door to door to central Barcelona: 60 min on a direct Rodalies train, six or seven departures an hour between 7 and 9 · by car without traffic: 41 min · International school: International School of Maresme (Canet de Mar), 4.9 km, fees not yet on our sheet · Acute hospital: 8.3 km (Mataró) · property tax on an average home: €964 a year (rate 0.92%) · Residents satisfied with living there: 88.9% (joint figure for the small towns of the Maresme, 148 interviews) · Say the town has got worse: 26.5% · 5.9 tourist flats per 100 residents · 18.7% foreign residents · 3,805 people per km² · beach 7 minutes on foot · cadastral values last revised in 1994. Third-dearest per m², yet the typical sale is a 106 m² home, so the cheque is smaller than in Alella and Teià. It has 5.9 tourist flats per 100 residents, four times the next town on the list, 18.7% foreign residents, the highest share, and 3,805 people per km², the densest of the seven. It is also the one town set to leave the rent-cap list in March 2027. Cadastral values were last revised in 1994, the oldest here, which matters if you will own the home without living in it.
- Arenys de Mar
Price per m², Jul 2025 to Jun 2026: €2,975 · typical used home sold: €295,334 (104 m²) · Registered rent, 2025: €848 a month (228 contracts) · Door to door to central Barcelona: 60 min on a direct Rodalies train, six departures an hour between 7 and 9 · by car without traffic: 42 min · International school: International School of Maresme (Canet de Mar), 3.0 km, fees not yet on our sheet · Acute hospital: 9.9 km (Sant Jaume de Calella) · property tax on an average home: €621 a year (rate 0.802%) · Residents satisfied with living there: 87.8% (400 interviews) · Say the town has got worse: 31.6% · 1.3 tourist flats per 100 residents · 13.4% foreign residents · 2,516 people per km² · beach 3 minutes on foot · cadastral values last revised in 2002. The cheapest to buy and, by a distance, the cheapest to rent: €848 against €1,130 in the next town. The train is direct and frequent; the car is the slowest of the seven. Satisfaction stands at 87.8%, and 31.6% say the town has got worse. Prices are up 85% since 2015.
- Premià de Dalt
Price per m², Jul 2025 to Jun 2026: €3,082 · typical used home sold: €405,625 (141 m²) · Registered rent, 2025: €1,167 a month (86 contracts) · Door to door to central Barcelona: 67 min on two buses, four departures an hour between 7 and 9 · by car without traffic: 31 min · International school: BSB Maresme (The British School of Barcelona) (Cabrera de Mar), 4.6 km, fees from €12,220 a year · Acute hospital: 9.0 km (Mataró) · property tax on an average home: €925 a year (rate 0.676%) · Residents satisfied with living there: 92.7% (402 interviews) · Say the town has got worse: 16.8% · 0.5 tourist flats per 100 residents · 10.4% foreign residents · 1,614 people per km² · beach 33 minutes on foot · cadastral values last revised in 2010. “Popular with families”, says the article. The figures agree: 0.5 tourist flats per 100 residents, the fewest on the list, the fewest residents saying the town has got worse and 31 minutes to Barcelona by car. Public transport is another matter, at 67 minutes with a change. Prices are up 89% since 2015.
- Teià
Price per m², Jul 2025 to Jun 2026: €3,702 · typical used home sold: €546,198 (171 m²) · Registered rent, 2025: €1,413 a month (70 contracts) · Door to door to central Barcelona: 52 min on bus and Rodalies with one change, two or three departures an hour between 7 and 9 · by car without traffic: 31 min · International school: Hamelin-Laie International School (Montgat), 5.1 km, fees from €11,454 a year (directory; school page, 7 November 2026: €11,186 with meals) · Acute hospital: 7.2 km (Germans Trias i Pujol) · property tax on an average home: €1,097 a year (rate 0.775%) · Residents satisfied with living there: 88.9% (joint figure for the small towns of the Maresme, 148 interviews) · Say the town has got worse: 26.5% · 0.6 tourist flats per 100 residents · 10.2% foreign residents · 1,040 people per km² · beach 32 minutes on foot · cadastral values last revised in 2011. Second-dearest per m² after Alella, and quiet in the figures too: 10.2% foreign residents, the lowest share of the seven, and 0.6 tourist flats per 100. The municipal tax on land value when you sell (plusvalía) is 27% here where the other six charge 30%.
Same coast, same list, €359,000 apart.
How we worked it out
Price per built m² and the typical used home sold (price and size) come from registered resale sales from Jul 2025 to Jun 2026. The typical used home sold is neither one particular house nor a median: it is the average total price and the average built surface of all the resale homes sold in the period, as the Generalitat publishes them in its registered-sales statistics. Verithic copies them from the same sheet as the price per m², together with the number of sales, and neither computes them nor multiplies metres by price. New homes are not included. With few sales, a handful of big houses moves the average, which is why the number of sales sits beside it. Rent is the average of the rental contracts registered in 2025, and we show how many contracts because 41 and 228 are not the same evidence. Property tax is Verithic's estimate for an average home under each town's 2026 ordinance. Public transport is door to door from the town centre to the centre of Barcelona on the 2026 timetables, with departures counted between 7 and 9; car minutes are to plaça Catalunya without traffic. The school is the nearest international school to the town centre, with the published starting fee where there is one. Satisfaction comes from the DIBAròmetre 2023-2024; for Cabrils, Caldes d'Estrac and Teià the survey publishes one joint figure for the small towns of the Maresme (148 interviews), and we say so each time. The rise since 2015 compares the registered €/m² of 2015 and 2025, and is only shown when both years have 40 sales or more; Caldes d'Estrac (no series in 2015) and Teià (27 sales in 2015) do not reach it, and there the sentence goes without a percentage. Where a source publishes nothing, we show the gap instead of an estimate.
- Generalitat de Catalunya · Compravendes d'habitatge registrades: price per m² and typical home sold, Jul 2025 to Jun 2026 · read 3 November 2026
- Incasòl · average rent of registered contracts · read 3 November 2026
- Municipal tax ordinances, 2026: IBI rate and estimated bill · read 24 September 2026
- Public transport timetables of Catalonia (Rodalies, bus), 2026: door-to-door minutes and departures 7 to 9 · read 11 October 2026
- Minutes by car and on foot, 2026 · read 3 November 2026
- Directori de centres docents, 2026-27: nearest international school, distance and starting fee · read 3 November 2026
- Acute hospitals, 2026: distance to the nearest · read 19 September 2026
- Diputació de Barcelona · DIBAròmetre 2023-2024: satisfaction with living in the municipality · read 3 November 2026
- Registre de Turisme de Catalunya · tourist-use dwellings per 100 residents · read 3 November 2026
- Population census: foreign residents and density · read 3 November 2026
- Generalitat de Catalunya · rent-cap zone declarations 2024-2027; DOGC núm. 9775, 19 October 2026 (TER/3739/2026) · read 3 November 2026
- Dirección General del Catastro · year of the last cadastral revision · read 3 November 2026
- Coastal Living Relocation Services · “The Best Places to Live on the Maresme Coast”, 30 May 2026 · read 8 November 2026
Insights, once a month in your inbox
The month's new pieces, and the figure nobody else has told you about.
Verithic Insights, once a month, in your inbox. Sergio Aguilar sends it with your consent, and one click unsubscribes you. You can see, correct or delete your data at hello@verithic.com. More in Privacy.
