New build Duplex Penthouses for sale in Benalmádena.

Benalmádena's three towns in one — the whitewashed Pueblo up the hill, the year-round heart of Arroyo de la Miel, and the seafront strip around Puerto Marina, all about 20 minutes from Málaga airport.

Who lives in Benalmádena

Benalmádena is one of the most genuinely lived-in towns on the coast — not a place that empties out in winter. It's a real mix: Spanish families who've been here for generations in the Pueblo and Arroyo, a long-established British and Scandinavian community (there's a Norwegian school here for a reason), Northern European retirees who came for the climate and stayed, and a steady flow of holiday-home buyers and investors drawn to Puerto Marina and the beachfront. Arroyo de la Miel is the everyday hub where most year-round residents actually live and shop, built around the train station and the market squares. Benalmádena Costa is more seasonal and lettings-driven, full of holiday apartments. Benalmádena Pueblo, 200-odd metres up the hill, keeps the old-village feel and tends to attract people who want views and quiet over walking-to-the-beach convenience. If you want a place where the bakery, the pharmacy and the school run all still happen in Spanish, this is one of the easier coastal towns to settle into.

Architecture & property types

The stock here is overwhelmingly apartments and penthouses rather than villas — Benalmádena grew upward, in mid-rise blocks stepping down towards the sea, so flats are the bread and butter of this market. The penthouse is the signature purchase — a top-floor home with a big wrap-around terrace and, in the right building, open Mediterranean views reaching Gibraltar on a clear day. You'll find plenty of standard apartments across every age and budget, a good run of duplex penthouses split over two levels for buyers who want more space without leaving the apartment lifestyle, and ground-floor apartments with private gardens or large terraces that suit anyone who'd rather skip the lift. Detached villas exist — particularly up in Torrequebrada and the higher zones — but they're the exception, not the rule. Build quality and outlook vary enormously block to block: a 1980s tower and a brand-new gated resort can sit a street apart, and the difference between a terrace that faces the sea and one that faces the car park is the difference of a hundred thousand euros. That's exactly the sort of thing we walk you through.

Price expectations

Benalmádena spans a wide range, which is part of its appeal — you can still buy in here without a Marbella budget. For a resale apartment in Arroyo de la Miel you'd typically be looking from the mid €200,000s upwards, with more space, a sea view or a newer build pushing you into the €300,000s and €400,000s. Modern sea-view apartments along Benalmádena Costa generally run from the high €300,000s into the high €500,000s depending on size, terrace and how open the view really is. Penthouses are where the ceiling rises: a good one typically starts around the €500,000s and climbs comfortably past a million for large duplex penthouses with panoramic frontline-style views. Ground-floor apartments with gardens sit broadly in the same band as the flats above them, sometimes at a small premium for the outdoor space. Villas, where you find them, start well above the apartment market and run up into the millions. Those are typical bands, not a snapshot of any given month — and we'll always tell you when an asking price is ahead of what a property is genuinely worth, and why.

Lifestyle, schools & getting around

This is one of the easiest coastal towns to live in without a car, which is rare on the Costa del Sol. The Cercanías C1 train runs straight from Málaga airport and the city centre to Arroyo de la Miel station, every 20 to 30 minutes from early morning until around midnight, then continues on to Fuengirola — so trips to the airport or into Málaga are genuinely simple. By road the airport is roughly 20 minutes via the A-7. Beaches are the daily draw: Malapesquera (Torrebermeja) is the long, family-friendly stretch beside the marina, and the whole seafront is lined with paseo, chiringuitos and Puerto Marina itself, one of the largest leisure marinas in Andalucía with its artificial islands, restaurants and nightlife. For families there's the Colegio Internacional Torrequebrada and the Norwegian school, plus good Spanish state and private options. Golfers have Torrequebrada (a proper hilly 18-holer with sea views, open since 1976) and the friendly 9-hole Benalmádena Golf. Add the cable car up Mount Calamorro, Selwo Marina and the Sea Life aquarium, and you've got a town that keeps families and visitors busy all year — which is also why the lettings market here is strong.

How we work in Benalmádena

We don't just send you links. We know the difference between Cortijo and Hacienda Torrequebrada, which Arroyo blocks have reasonable community fees and which have a special levy looming, and which Costa apartments lose their sea view the moment the next phase gets built. We'll tell you when a frontline-marina flat is priced for the postcard and not the reality, and we'll happily steer you towards a quieter, better-value street one block back that you'd never have found online. Whether you're after a lock-up-and-leave penthouse with a terrace for the winters, a ground-floor garden apartment for full-time living, or an apartment that earns its keep as a holiday let, tell us what matters to you and we'll be honest about where Benalmádena delivers and where it doesn't. When you're ready to look properly, drop us a line.