Vilassar de Mar: who the town suits and what to check before buying

Vilassar de Mar is a seaside town in the comarca (county-level district) of the Maresme: 21,234 residents on 4 km² (Idescat, 2025), 4.4 times denser than the comarca average. The R1 train takes about 36 minutes from Barcelona-Pl. Catalunya (Rodalies 2026 timetable). Almost half of the main homes have an area of 61–90 m², and greenhouses cover about 6% of the territory.

The coastal law, storm-fed rieras (seasonal watercourses) and the appraised prices of the coast are covered in the article on the Maresme and Garraf. Below is the profile of the town itself: housing, the commute, parts of the town and checks by address.

What housing predominates and how the town differs from its neighbours

Mid-sized homes of 61 to 90 m² predominate: 47.1% of main homes in the 2021 census. Large homes of more than 120 m² are fewer than the comarca average.

The shares are calculated from Idescat tables. Neighbouring Mataró has 131,370 residents, 6.2 times more, and non-main housing there is 9.2% (Idescat). Residents with foreign nationality are fewer in Vilassar de Mar than the Maresme average, and the share of renting is at the comarca level. The town museum notes that already in the 20th century Vilassar became a summer holiday place and since the 1970s has been growing with new residents from the Barcelona conurbation (Museu de Vilassar de Mar).

How to get to Barcelona

The main route is the Rodalies R1 train, with no change. By the 2026 timetable, from Barcelona-Pl. Catalunya to Vilassar de Mar station takes 35–37 minutes, most often 36 (R1, Rodalies); Rodalies timetables change, so before buying they are checked again. On the Molins de Rei/L'Hospitalet–Mataró section a train runs every 6 minutes at rush hour and every 10 off-peak (R1 line page). Worked example, not a forecast: at 20 working days a month, a round trip of 36 minutes each way takes 24 hours a month, not counting the way to the station.

The Ajuntament (town hall) names two R1 stations: Vilassar de Mar and Cabrera de Mar-Vilassar de Mar. The distance from the house to the nearest one is checked on foot. By car you join the C-32 (A-19) motorway at the Vilassar de Mar junction or take the N-II. The C10 bus Mataró–Barcelona runs along the N-II almost all day at 45-minute intervals, and the N-80 night services run hourly from midnight to 5 a.m. (Ajuntament).

How the parts of town differ and what the greenhouses have to do with it

The historic buildings are tied to the maritime trade of the 19th century, and the town's farmland to the flower growing of the 20th. What a buyer sees from the window and hears next door depends on this.

Vilassar de Mar has been an independent municipality since 1784. In the 19th century local shipyards built sailing ships that went to the Americas, in 1876 the Escola Nàutica-Mercantil (the merchant navigation school) opened, and the wealth from overseas trade left many houses in the modernisme (Catalan Art Nouveau) style (Museu). The arcades of Plaça de l'Ajuntament belonged to the Casino de capitans i pilots (the captains' and pilots' club), and the mansion Can Bisa was built in 1851 (the route "Ruta dels americans").

Cut flowers were introduced by Beniamino Farina in 1923, and the Mercat de Flor i Planta Ornamental de Catalunya (the Catalan flower and ornamental plant market) was founded in 1983 (Museu, Ajuntament). By the 2020 agricultural census the town has 51 ha of used land out of 400 ha of territory, of which 25 ha are taken by greenhouses (Idescat). For a house next to farmland, that means the proximity of greenhouses is checked on the map and on site, by day on a weekday.

What to check by address

An address is judged by neighbourhood features, not by the town average.

1. Find the house on the map and look at its proximity to greenhouses and farmland.
2. Compare the price with closed transactions by municipality or postcode in the Portal Estadístico del Notariado (the notaries' statistics portal). It is an average price, not a valuation of a specific flat, and for small areas the information may be insufficient.
3. In an old house in the centre, check damp, foundations, utilities and the facade, and order a technical report before the deposit.
4. Match the area and layout in the escritura (notarial deed), the registry and the cadastre with the real ones: discrepancies after extensions are cleared up before signing.
5. For a flat in a complex with a pool or garden, look at the fees and works plans in the comunidad (owners' association); how to do that is described in the article on the owners' community.

DNPI checks the price of a specific address against transactions as part of a property valuation. A description of the town is not a price forecast.

Who Vilassar de Mar does not suit

The town does not suit when you need something it has little of by its structure.

• A large labour market nearby. In the régimen general (the general Social Security scheme), by place of work there are about 3,630 registrations in the town (06/2026, provisional): 0 in companies of 250 or more employees, 1,340 in companies of up to 9 employees, 1,435 in those of 10 to 49 employees (Idescat). If you need a university and a business environment, look at Cerdanyola del Vallès; if you need a bigger town, at Mataró.
• A house with a garden without farmland nearby. Greenhouses take about half of the used land, so near the farmland their proximity is worth checking.
• An international environment. 8.9% of residents hold foreign nationality, against 14.0% in the Maresme.
• Buying at the average coastal price. The town's districts differ, and the average figure for the Maresme does not apply to a specific street.