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Marbella Este, Marbella
Presenting a luxurious south-facing triplex located in the exclusive gated community of Los Altos de los Monteros, nestled within Marbella East, Marbella, Mala…
We're Bianca and Omèr, and after twenty years on the Costa del Sol we know Marbella Este street by street, from beachside Marbesa to the cooler hills of La Mairena. We'll tell you honestly which homes are sensibly priced, which sit in the pine shade, and which catch the afternoon levante.
“Incredibly happy with Bianca, who helped us find our dream house. Extremely professional.”
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The triplex here is rarely a standalone build. Far more often it's the top tier of a beachside scheme — a duplex-or-triplex penthouse that climbs to a private solarium, or a townhouse arranged over three levels with garage and garden below and a roof terrace above. You'll find them threaded through Elviria and the Hacienda Playa and Hacienda Las Chapas developments, in Los Monteros and Altos de Los Monteros, around El Rosario and Río Real, and in the pueblo-style village schemes near Las Chapas beach. The pattern is consistent: living space stacked vertically so the bedrooms sit apart from the entertaining floor, and the best room in the house is the one open to the sky.
Most run to three or four bedrooms, often with a self-contained guest or staff level on the lower floor. Lifts are common in the newer penthouse builds and absent in the older townhouses, which matters more than buyers expect over three storeys — we'll always point out which is which. Buyers tend to be families who want golf and beach within a short drive, or second-home owners who like a lock-up-and-leave with proper outdoor space. As a guide, triplexes in this part of Marbella generally run from the high six figures into the low millions, with frontline-beach and full-sea-view examples sitting at the top of that band.
This is the part of Marbella that families settle into. The big draw is space and greenery: umbrella pines, gardens, beach within walking distance and a clutch of international schools on the doorstep, so you'll meet a lot of British, Scandinavian, Dutch and German residents who came for a few years and stayed for twenty. It's less see-and-be-seen than the Golden Mile or Puerto Banús and more about everyday living — school runs, padel, a Sunday at the beach club. You'll find year-round residents and second-home owners side by side, with the quieter, leafier pockets like El Rosario, Las Chapas and La Mairena leaning permanent, and the beachside enclaves of Elviria and Cabopino busier in summer. Buyers tend to be people who want Marbella's climate and amenities without the noise, plus a steady stream of investors who like the rental demand the beaches and golf generate.
Villas dominate Marbella Este, and they come in every vintage — from the Andalusian-style homes of Las Chapas and El Rosario, built from the 1960s onwards and now set in mature gardens, through gated golf-estate houses, to crisp contemporary new-builds in Santa Clara, Río Real and the Elviria hills. Around the villas runs a healthy spread of apartments and penthouses, including duplex and triplex penthouses and ground-floor garden apartments in resort-style communities near the beach. You'll also find semi-detached houses, townhouses, the occasional finca and a scattering of building plots inland for those who want to design from scratch. Marbesa, Hacienda Las Chapas and Santa María hold the top of the market, with substantial beachside and front-line plots; La Mairena and El Soto, set higher up, trade beach proximity for cork-oak forest, cooler air and long views to the sea, Gibraltar and, on a clear day, the Rif mountains of Morocco.
Marbella Este covers a wide spread, so think in bands rather than a single figure. Apartments typically start somewhere in the mid-hundreds of thousands of euros for a modest two-bed, with most family-sized flats and penthouses running into seven figures and the best beachside duplex penthouses well beyond that. Townhouses and semi-detached homes generally sit from the high-hundreds into the low millions. Villas are where the range really opens up: a comfortable inland or golf-side villa might begin around two million euros, while front-line beach and front-line golf homes in Marbesa, Hacienda Las Chapas and Santa María regularly run into the high single-digit millions and, at the very top, beyond fifteen million. Plots and fincas are priced largely on location and buildability. We'll always tell you which homes are over-priced for what they are, and why — the east side has plenty of fairly priced property and a few hopeful asking prices, and we won't pretend otherwise.
The beaches are the heart of it — Real de Zaragoza, El Alicate, Las Chapas and Cabopino, ending in the protected Dunas de Artola, a rare run of natural dunes backed by pine. Elviria gives you the social side with Nikki Beach and the five-star Don Carlos, while Cabopino has its small marina, sandy bays and a cluster of relaxed restaurants. Golf is everywhere: Río Real, Santa María, Santa Clara, Cabopino, the par-three Greenlife in Elviria Hills and Marbella Golf Country Club. For families, the schools are a major reason people choose this side — the English International College sits between Elviria and El Rosario following the British curriculum, the Deutsche Schule (German school, roots back to 1898) is up in La Mairena, and Colegio Las Chapas, for girls, and Colegio Ecos, for boys, serve the area too. Getting around is straightforward: the A-7 coast road and the AP-7 toll motorway both run the length of Marbella Este. Marbella town is a 10-to-20-minute drive depending where you start, and Málaga airport is roughly 30 to 35 minutes east on the AP-7.
We treat Marbella Este as our own back garden, because it more or less is. We'll walk you through the trade-offs nobody else mentions: which beachside streets pick up the cooling sea breeze and which bake in August, where the pine shade keeps a garden usable at midday, which urbanisations have low community fees and good upkeep, and where a quiet lane is about to get a lot less quiet. We're a small family agency, not a volume operation, so you deal with us directly from first viewing to keys. If you're weighing up the beachside life in Elviria or Marbesa against the cooler, greener hills of La Mairena, or you just want a straight answer on whether an asking price stacks up, drop us a line.
A triplex is a home arranged over three connected floors. In Marbella Este it usually takes one of two forms: a duplex-or-triplex penthouse that rises to a private roof solarium, or a townhouse-style property with a garage and garden on the lower level, living space in the middle and a terrace on top. The appeal is vertical separation — bedrooms sit on a different floor from the kitchen and living area, giving a house-like feel with the lower maintenance of a community development.
Triplexes cluster in the beachside and golf-side developments of Marbella Este: Elviria and the Hacienda Playa and Hacienda Las Chapas schemes, Los Monteros and Altos de Los Monteros, El Rosario, Río Real and the village-style developments near Las Chapas beach. Most have three or four bedrooms, frequently with a self-contained lower floor that works as a guest suite. Newer penthouse-style triplexes often include a lift; older townhouses generally do not.
Over three floors, two things matter most: whether there's a lift, and how the levels are oriented for sun and sea views. We'd also look closely at the roof terrace or solarium — its size, its privacy and whether it's south or west facing — because that space is usually the reason to buy a triplex in the first place. Check the community fees, the condition of any private pool, and the drive times to the beach, the international schools and the golf courses, since proximity to these is what underpins value in this part of Marbella.
Marbella Este (Marbella East) is the coastal strip running east from the Marbella welcome arch to the boundary with Mijas at Calahonda — about twelve kilometres. It takes in Río Real, Los Monteros, Bahía de Marbella, Santa Clara, El Rosario, Costabella, Las Chapas, Hacienda Las Chapas, Marbesa, Carib Playa, Elviria, the inland hills of La Mairena and El Soto, and Cabopino at the far end. It's known for pine forest, long sandy beaches and established, family-oriented urbanisations rather than nightlife.
It spans a broad range. Apartments generally start in the mid-hundreds of thousands of euros and run into seven figures for larger or beachside flats and penthouses. Townhouses and semi-detached homes usually sit from the high-hundreds of thousands into the low millions. Villas commonly begin around two million euros inland or golf-side, and front-line beach and golf villas in Marbesa, Hacienda Las Chapas and Santa María regularly reach the high single-digit millions, occasionally beyond fifteen million. Plots and fincas are priced on location and buildability.
The English International College (EIC), following the British curriculum for ages 3 to 18, sits between Elviria and El Rosario and is the main draw for English-speaking families. The Deutsche Schule Málaga (German school, originally founded in 1898) is in La Mairena and teaches bilingually in German and Spanish. Colegio Las Chapas, a girls' school, is in Las Chapas itself, with its brother school for boys, Colegio Ecos, up in La Mairena. All are within a short drive of most of the area's urbanisations.
Golf is one of the area's signatures: Río Real, Santa María, Santa Clara, Cabopino and Marbella Golf Country Club are all full courses, with the par-three Greenlife in Elviria Hills. The beaches run almost the whole length — Real de Zaragoza, El Alicate, Las Chapas and Cabopino — finishing at the protected Dunas de Artola, a natural dune reserve. Elviria has Nikki Beach and the Don Carlos resort, while Cabopino has a small marina and relaxed beachfront restaurants.
Marbella town centre is typically a 10-to-20-minute drive depending on which urbanisation you're starting from — the closer enclaves like Río Real and Los Monteros are nearer, Cabopino furthest. Málaga airport is roughly 30 to 35 minutes east using the AP-7 toll motorway. Both the free A-7 coast road and the AP-7 run the length of Marbella Este, so access in either direction is easy.
