OCU reveals the cheapest and most expensive places in Spain to do your shopping in 2026

If you live in Spain, you probably have a rough idea of what your weekly food shop costs. You know which items have become painfully expensive, which ones you try to buy on offer and roughly what you expect to see when you reach the till. But move to another part of the country and that same shopping trip can look rather different.

A new OCU comparison of food prices across Spain has found some surprisingly large differences between locations, with certain towns and cities coming out considerably cheaper than others. And if you happen to live in one of the places at the expensive end of the list, it could make a noticeable difference to the household budget over the course of a year. 

The cheapest places to shop in Spain

Torrent in Valencia has taken the top spot as the cheapest locality in Spain in OCU’s 2026 study, with a price index of 100. Close behind are Vila-real in Castellón and Santa Pola in Alicante, both with an index of 101. All three are in the Comunitat Valenciana, which also recorded the lowest regional price index alongside Murcia. 

The OCU comparison is based on a basket containing 244 products across 80 categories, including fresh food, packaged food, drinks, cleaning products, toiletries and other household purchases. Prices were collected from 690 establishments and online supermarkets, with the organisation calculating price indices for 189 locations. The figures therefore give an overall picture of the cost of the OCU basket in each locality rather than suggesting that every shop in one town will always be cheaper than every shop elsewhere.

Where the shopping basket costs most

At the opposite end of the table are Getxo in Bizkaia, Pozuelo de Alarcón and Majadahonda in Madrid, and Cerdanyola del Vallès in Barcelona. The three locations with the highest index, Getxo, Pozuelo de Alarcón and Majadahonda, scored 114, compared with Torrent’s 100. Cerdanyola del Vallès also appears among the most expensive locations in the study. 

The same geographical divide can be seen among Spain’s provincial capitals. Barcelona recorded an index of 110, while Bilbao and San Sebastián both reached 109. At regional level, Cantabria had the highest index at 105. Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja, Catalonia, Castilla y León, Navarra and the Basque Country all recorded 104. 

The difference can run into thousands

There is another reason the location figures are worth looking at, particularly for people living in Madrid and its surrounding towns. OCU calculates that the potential annual saving between the cheapest and most expensive establishments in Madrid city reaches €4,381. In Alcobendas, Pozuelo de Alarcón and Majadahonda, the potential difference is more than €4,270 a year. 

That figure should not be confused with saying that residents of these places necessarily spend thousands more than people in Torrent. OCU is measuring the difference between the cheapest and most expensive shopping options available within each location. In some places, the gap is far smaller. Mieres in Asturias has a potential annual saving of just €381, while Puerto Real in Cádiz comes in at €434 and Santa Pola at €447. Vila-real and San Vicente del Raspeig are both at €454. 

Spain’s cheapest and most expensive areas

The latest OCU figures also put the cost of the weekly shop into perspective across the country. The Comunitat Valenciana and Murcia share the lowest regional index of 100, followed by Asturias. At the other end, Cantabria has the highest regional index at 105, while several regions, including Catalonia and the Basque Country, sit at 104. 

The study found that prices in the OCU basket have risen 1.8 per cent over the past year. Fresh products have increased more sharply, rising by 4.7 per cent, with fish up 8.6 per cent, meat 3.7 per cent and fruit and vegetables 3.5 per cent.  So, when it comes specifically to where in Spain the shopping basket is cheapest, Torrent leads the 2026 comparison, followed by Vila-real and Santa Pola. At the expensive end are Getxo, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Majadahonda and Cerdanyola del Vallès, showing just how much the cost of filling the same kind of shopping basket can vary depending on where in Spain you live.