Browse Costa Sunsets homes for sale across Marbella and the wider Costa del Sol.
Our first viewings on this coast were in Torremuelle, reached along the old N-340 before the bypass took the through-traffic away. Twenty years on, we still walk the stretch from Bil-Bil Castle to Puerto Marina before pricing anything on it — stairwells, noticeboards and community minutes tell us what the listings leave out.
“They found us a frontline villa that wasn't even on the open market. Smooth, honest.”
“Three viewings, no pressure, sound advice on schools. Best agency on the coast.”
“Bianca speaks Dutch, knew our notary, and introduced us to other Dutch families nearby.”
The flat is the natural home here. The strip running from Puerto Marina down through Benal Beach to Torrequebrada is built mostly of apartment blocks, and the buildings closest to the paseo and the marina are where you feel that most. Expect one, two and three-bedroom layouts, usually with a generous terrace doing the real living for half the year, and a community pool and gardens as standard. The frontline names recur for a reason — Tamarindos, Las Islas, Dos Mares and the marina-side buildings sit a few steps from sand and the promenade, while Benal Beach and the Torrequebrada complexes give you the same proximity a little further west.
Two things shape value more than anything: how far the terrace sees, and how far you walk to the water. A sea-facing apartment a block back is a very different price from the identical floorplan facing inland, and we'll always tell you which orientation you're actually paying for. The Carvajal and Torremuelle stations put the Cercanías line — and Malaga airport — within easy reach without a car, which is part of why so many of these flats earn their keep as holiday homes and licensed rentals. As a rule of thumb, a sound two-bed near the front generally runs in the mid-to-upper hundreds of thousands, with studios and inland flats well below that and marina penthouses above.
Benalmádena Costa is the seafront district of Benalmádena, stretched along the old N-340 — Avenida Antonio Machado — between Torremolinos and the Fuengirola border at Carvajal. Puerto Marina anchors the eastern end with its moated island apartments; from there the promenade runs west past Malapesquera and Santa Ana beaches, the red neo-Moorish Bil-Bil Castle and the Torrequebrada headland to the quieter coves of Torremuelle. Arroyo de la Miel, the municipality's working town, sits on the slope directly above, with Benalmádena Pueblo higher still and Monte Calamorro — and its cable car — behind everything. This is a proper year-round coast rather than a seasonal one, and that shapes both the property stock and the prices.
The mix is broader than most outsiders expect. British and Irish owners have been settled along this strip for decades, joined by Scandinavian, Dutch and Belgian buyers and, just as importantly, by Málaga families who keep summer flats and fill the beaches from June to September — the town hall counts residents from more than a hundred countries. The train line has added a newer crowd: people working in Málaga, or remotely, who want the sea without Marbella's prices. Around Puerto Marina and parts of Solymar, holiday lets dominate certain communities in high summer, while blocks a street back are almost entirely owner-occupied. We will always tell you which is which before you view, because the difference matters far more than any listing photo shows.
Apartments dominate Benalmádena Costa, and the honest picture is of three generations of stock. The seventies and eighties left mid-rise blocks along Avenida Antonio Machado and through Solymar — solid builds, generous terraces, communal pools, interiors ranging from immaculate to untouched since handover. Puerto Marina added something genuinely unusual: low whitewashed apartment islands ringed by water, with boats moored where other communities have parking. The newer chapter sits on the hill — gated developments through Nueva Torrequebrada and around the golf course, with gyms, gardens and underground parking — and continues west towards Carvajal and the Higuerón border, where contemporary schemes climb the slope for the sea view.
The prize stock is on the top floors. Penthouses here come in two distinct flavours: older frontline ones, often modest inside but with terraces and sea views no new build below the headland can replicate, and the duplex penthouses of the newer hillside communities, built over two levels with private solariums and, in the best cases, plunge pools. When we assess either, we look past the view — who owns the terrace under the community statutes, whether the lift reaches the top floor directly, how the building handled its last facade works, and which way the terrace faces, because a west-facing solarium in August is a different proposition than the brochure suggests.
Benalmádena Costa generally trades at a meaningful discount to Marbella and a premium to Torremolinos, which is exactly where it deserves to sit. One-bedroom apartments in older second-line blocks typically start from around €180,000 to €250,000. Two-bedroom apartments generally run €250,000 to €450,000 depending on line, orientation and condition, with refurbished frontline homes with clear sea views pushing €450,000 to €700,000. Penthouses typically sit between €450,000 and €900,000, and duplex penthouses in the frontline or newer hillside schemes run from around €700,000 to beyond €2,000,000 for the largest terraces. Sea views attract optimistic pricing on this coast; we will always tell you which homes are over-priced and why, with the comparable sales to back it up.
Daily life arranges itself along the paseo. Malapesquera and Santa Ana are the big family beaches, flat and fully serviced; Bil-Bil beach sits beneath the castle, and the coves grow rockier and quieter towards Torremuelle and Torrevigía. Parque de la Paloma, just above the coast road, offers two hundred thousand square metres of lawns, lakes and free-roaming animals. Golf Torrequebrada — a José 'Pepe' Gancedo par seventy-two from the mid-seventies, folded between sea and mountain — sits behind the headland with the casino at its feet. Two international schools operate within the district itself: Colegio Internacional Torrequebrada, a bilingual IB World School for ages two to eighteen beside the golf course, and the Benalmádena International College in Nueva Torrequebrada, teaching the British curriculum through to Sixth Form.
The Cercanías C-1 is the quiet advantage. Torremuelle and Carvajal stations sit close to the shore at the western end, with Benalmádena–Arroyo de la Miel on the hill above the centre; trains run every twenty to thirty minutes, reaching Málaga airport in around twenty minutes and María Zambrano station — and its AVE connections — in about half an hour. By car, the airport is roughly twenty minutes up the A-7 and Marbella a little over half an hour down it. One honest caveat: the climb from the seafront to Arroyo de la Miel is genuinely steep. If you do not plan to keep a car, buy near the paseo or within reach of a station, not halfway up between the two.
We preview before we recommend, and we walk this district the old-fashioned way — along Antonio Machado, through the Solymar communities, up Ronda del Golf — because noticeboards, stairwells and pending facade works tell you what listings will not. We will tell you which blocks empty in winter and which never do, when the terral turns a west-facing terrace into an oven for a few days each summer, and when an asking price reflects the seller's hope rather than the street's evidence. If you are weighing a frontline penthouse against a newer duplex on the hill, or simply want to understand how Benalmádena Costa compares with Fuengirola or La Cala for the same budget, drop us a line.
Most are one, two or three-bedroom flats, with two-beds the commonest. Interiors of roughly 70 to 110 square metres are usual, almost always paired with a sizeable terrace that functions as a second living room through the warmer months. Blocks generally come with a communal pool, gardens and parking, and penthouses add larger wraparound terraces with open sea views.
The frontline runs from Puerto Marina west through Benal Beach to Torrequebrada. Buildings such as Tamarindos, Las Islas and Dos Mares, along with the marina-side blocks, sit a few steps from the promenade and beach. Orientation matters as much as address: a sea-facing apartment commands a clear premium over the same floorplan facing inland, even within one building.
They suit it well. The promenade location, the Sea Life aquarium and the long sandy beaches draw steady tourism, and the Carvajal and Torremuelle train stations link straight to Malaga airport without a car. Some apartments are sold with an active tourist rental licence in place, which is worth confirming before you buy, since licensing rules and community by-laws vary block to block.
A two-bedroom apartment in the established blocks along Avenida Antonio Machado or in Solymar typically trades between €250,000 and €450,000, depending on condition and distance to the sand. Refurbished frontline apartments with clear sea views generally run €450,000 to €700,000, while one-bedroom flats in older second-line buildings can still be found from around €180,000.
Sea-view penthouses generally sit between €450,000 and €900,000, with price driven more by terrace size and orientation than by interior square metres. Duplex penthouses in frontline or recent hillside developments typically start around €700,000, and the largest, with wraparound terraces over the Mediterranean, can pass €2,000,000.
By car it is around twenty minutes up the A-7. The Cercanías C-1 train also serves the municipality at three stations — Torremuelle and Carvajal near the shore, and Benalmádena–Arroyo de la Miel on the hill above the coast — with trains roughly every twenty to thirty minutes, reaching the airport in about twenty minutes and Málaga María Zambrano, with its AVE connections, in about half an hour.
Two international schools sit within the district itself. Colegio Internacional Torrequebrada, beside the Torrequebrada golf course, is a bilingual IB World School teaching the full PYP, MYP and Diploma continuum from age two to eighteen. The Benalmádena International College in Nueva Torrequebrada follows the British curriculum from Early Years to Sixth Form. Spanish state schools are concentrated in Arroyo de la Miel, ten minutes up the hill.
Benalmádena Costa is the beachfront strip — apartments, the promenade and Puerto Marina. Arroyo de la Miel is the working town on the slope above, with the train station, daily commerce and most of the year-round Spanish life. Benalmádena Pueblo is the whitewashed old village higher still, quieter and mostly low-rise. The three sit within a ten-minute drive of one another.
