FriuliVillas

Grado: a home between lagoon and sea, pros and cons in figures

Foreign guests account for 80% of tourist nights in Grado, and no town in the region sees more foreigners staying in homes of their own. It suits a seaside second home 2 h 26 from Klagenfurt; for year-round living, weigh the water, the town's age profile and an A&E 38 min away.

Published 22 October 2026

Driving times

Udine
57 min
Trieste
1 h 02
Trieste Airport
34 min
Klagenfurt
2 h 26
The nearest sea
5 min
The nearest slopes
1 h 44
The motorway
32 min
A station with trains
27 min

Health care

24h emergency room
38 min
zone: 25 min
Hub hospital
56 min
zone: 42 min

Sunshine

Direct sun on 21 December
8 h 37 min
zone: 8 h 36 min
Hours taken by the mountains
2 min

Prices (OMI)

Standard homes
€2,200/m²
zone: €910/m²
Detached houses
€1,560/m²
zone: €795/m²
m² for €200,000
90 m²
zone: 220 m²
Rent
€6.9/m² a month

Climate (1991–2020)

January average
6.0 °C
July highs
28.6 °C
Rain per year
970 mm
Frost days
15

Risks and broadband

Seismic zone
3
Buildings in flood area (P2)
53.2%
Households with fibre
21.5%
zone: 87.8%
BroadbandMap AGCOM, CC BY 4.0

Who lives here

Residents
7,532
Since 2001
-15%
Average age
53.3
Empty homes (2011)
67%
The horizon from Grado and the path of the sun
10°20°30°40°50°60°21 Jun21 Mar21 Feb21 Jan21 DecESESSWW

Minutes of direct sun, day by day

direct sun with a flat horizon

Grado among the 215 towns: OMI home prices€520/m² – €650/m²€650/m² – €750/m²€750/m² – €830/m²€830/m² – €910/m²≥ €910/m²Each dot is a town hall

A second home for many Austrians

In 2025 Grado logged 1,499,900 tourist nights, 199.1 per resident: 80% by foreign guests, 66% in June to August and only 3% in December to March. The Bank of Italy's international tourism survey (2021–2025) goes further: of all the nights foreigners spend in a home they own in Friuli Venezia Giulia, 20.5% are in Grado — more than in any other town — and 77% of those belong to Austrian residents. Trieste Airport is 34 min away; at weekends, Villach-bound Mi.Co.Tra. services call at Cervignano-Aquileia-Grado, 27 min by car.

Year-round residents are older than elsewhere: a mean age of 53.3, above the regional median (49.7), with 34% aged over 65. And numbers are falling: -15% since 2001.

Water and climate: the limits to know

The municipal area sits at an average of 0 m above sea level. ISPRA places 53.2% of buildings in P2 zones, where the flood hazard is rated medium: the scenario Italian flood law (Legislative Decree 49/2010) ties to a return period of 100–200 years. The figure rests on the 2011 census and may not cover storm surges: for a specific house, its own elevation and the detailed maps count, not the town average. More: floods and landslides.

January averages 6.0 °C, with 15 frost days and 56 tropical nights a year. But here the climate data are unreliable: ARPA's grid does not cover the seafront centre, so the value comes from the nearest cell that has one. Treat it as an order of magnitude.

Hospitals: Monfalcone, Udine and, in summer, in town

The nearest A&E open all year, day and night, is in Monfalcone: 38 min by car, not counting summer traffic. The hub hospital is in Udine, 56 min away. In town, a first-aid point opens only in summer. If you plan to retire here, weigh those minutes as much as the sea view. More: hospitals and A&E.

Buying in Grado, and how it compares with Lignano

The OMI median for standard homes is €2,200/m²; only 2 towns cost more across the region. It is a median across zones: the central ones reach €3,275/m², and across the town's 7 zones values run from €850/m² to €3,800/m². Last year's sales: 326 homes.

Like the whole former province of Gorizia, Grado uses the land register: you own the property once the land-register entry is made, not when you sign. The regional ILIA on a second home is 0.95%, or 0.70% once notified online as the owner's designated «first second home» (by June of the following year; one per owner in the whole region).

GradoLignano Sabbiadoro
Standard homes (€/m²)€2,200/m²€3,040/m²
m² for €200,00090 m²65 m²
Tourist nights (2025)1,499,9003,702,600
Foreign tourists80%66%
24h emergency room38 min24 min
Buildings in flood areas53.2%8.8%
From Klagenfurt2 h 262 h 32

The other beach town's profile: Lignano Sabbiadoro.

Questions

Grado or Lignano: which is better for a seaside home?

It depends on what matters most. Lignano is pricier (€3,040/m² against €2,200/m²) and closer to an A&E (24 min against 38 min); Grado has a higher share of foreign guests and many more buildings in flood-hazard areas (53.2% against 8.8%).

Does Grado have an A&E department?

Only a summer first-aid point. The A&E open all year round is in Monfalcone, 38 min without traffic; serious cases go to Udine (56 min).

How much is a flat in Grado?

OMI's first-half-2026 median for standard homes is €2,200/m², rising to €3,275/m² in the central zones. Ordinary homes only.

Sources and method

Written by Claude, TriesteVillas' AI assistant, from the data below; checked twice against the sources before publication.

The figures on this page come from:

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