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We're Bianca and Omèr, and after 20 years on the Costa del Sol we know El Chaparral street by street: which town-house rows back onto the golf and which onto the A-7, which face the pine forest, and where an asking price has drifted ahead of what a home is worth. We'll always tell you which is which.
“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.”
Ground floor is the format people come to El Chaparral hoping to find, and for good reason. These are the homes with the wraparound private garden rather than just a terrace — somewhere to put a table under the pines, let a dog out, or keep the doors open onto a lawn rather than a balcony rail. Most sit within the newer gated complexes spread between the El Chaparral Golf Club side and the lower streets running down towards the N-340 and the beach, where the developments were laid out with garden apartments deliberately in mind. You'll find them as two- and three-bedroom plans, typically single-level with no steps from the parking, which is precisely why they suit buyers who don't want stairs.
Who buys them tends to fall into two camps: golfers and semi-retired couples who want the garden and the level walk to the clubhouse, and younger families who like the lawn and the proximity to La Cala de Mijas, five minutes east. As a band, garden-floor apartments here generally run a clear step above the upper floors in the same block — you're paying for the plot — with most landing somewhere in the upper-three-hundreds to high-five-hundreds depending on garden size, sea glimpses and how new the build is. We'll always tell you when that premium isn't justified by the actual plot you're getting.
If you've driven the A-7 along the Costa del Sol, you've passed El Chaparral without quite noticing it, and that's rather the point. It sits about five minutes east of La Cala de Mijas and roughly ten from Fuengirola, on the slope between the motorway and the sea. What sets it apart from the busier resort centres either side is the green: El Chaparral Golf Club anchors the whole area, and behind it the protected Chaparral pine forest runs down towards the coast, so a good number of homes look out over fairways, umbrella pines or the Mediterranean rather than over their neighbours. It's leafy, low-rise and calm, and it stays that way because the forest and the golf course aren't going anywhere.
It's a genuine mix, which is part of why we like sending people here. You'll find golfers who want to be a buggy-ride from the first tee, Northern European families drawn by the international schools and the safe, green setting, and a steady run of holiday-home owners and buy-to-let investors who let their places out through the season. Plenty are full-time residents; plenty more are here for long winters and the summer. Because it's that bit removed from the nightlife of Fuengirola and the bar strip of La Cala, it suits people who want the coast for its walking, swimming and golf rather than for going out every night. It's a place to settle into, not to be seen in.
Town houses set the tone here. The dominant stock is rows of modern town houses and semi-detached villas in gated communities, much of it in the clean, white, flat-roofed Andalusian-contemporary style, clustered around the golf and the forest with shared pools and gardens. Around and between those you'll find duplex penthouses, ground-floor apartments with private gardens, penthouses with large terraces, standard apartments and the occasional semi-detached house. There are detached and front-line-golf villas too, but they're the exception rather than the rule. The essential point is that El Chaparral is about well-built community living — town houses and semis in managed urbanisations — rather than rows of standalone mansions. Names you'll come across include Evergreen Homes and Soleia Living, alongside the established El Chaparral Golf and El Faro de Calaburras pockets. Build quality is generally good, but it varies scheme to scheme, and we'll always tell you where the finish and the community fees genuinely justify the price, and where they don't.
As a rough guide — and these are typical bands rather than a price list — apartments and ground-floor garden homes generally start in the mid €200,000s and run up through the €300,000s and €400,000s depending on size, terrace, sea view and the age of the build. Town houses and semi-detached villas typically sit from the high €300,000s into the €600,000s, with the best golf-side and forest-facing rows pushing higher. Penthouses and duplex penthouses carry a premium for their terraces and views. Detached and front-line-golf villas run from around €600,000 up into seven figures, and the few beachfront villas are well into the millions. A new-build town house with a sea glimpse will always ask more than an older one backing onto the road, and that gap is where buyers most often overpay, so it's worth getting a local read before you offer.
Day to day, life revolves around the golf, the forest trails and the beach. The Senda Litoral coastal boardwalk runs along the shore here, past the Faro de Calaburras lighthouse on its rocky point, linking the quiet Chaparral and El Faro beaches towards Torreblanca and Carvajal, and it's the kind of path residents actually use, morning and evening. For shopping and a wider choice of restaurants you've got La Cala de Mijas a few minutes west and Fuengirola, with its Miramar centre and weekly market, a short hop east. Families tend to ask about schools first: there are local schools within El Chaparral itself, the British St Anthony's College is over at Mijas Golf, and the larger international schools of Marbella are within driving distance. As for getting around, the A-7 is on the doorstep, Málaga Airport is about 25 to 30 minutes away, and the Fuengirola terminus of the Cercanías train line, which runs up the coast to Málaga city and the airport, is only a few kilometres along the road, so you can manage here without being chained to the car.
We treat El Chaparral the way we'd want it treated if we were buying here ourselves. That means walking you through the practical differences a brochure won't: which urbanisations get the afternoon breeze off the sea and which sit in a still pocket, which town-house rows enjoy the golf and forest outlook and which look onto parking or the motorway side, what the community fees genuinely buy you, and where an asking price has drifted ahead of what the home is worth. We'd rather you bought the right place once than the wrong place quickly, and after 20 years on this coast we've no interest in talking anyone into a home that doesn't fit. If you'd like an honest, local steer on El Chaparral, whether you're after a golf-side town house, a garden apartment near the beach or a villa in the pines, drop us a line.
The defining feature is the private garden. In El Chaparral's gated complexes, ground floor apartments come with their own enclosed garden plot — usually a lawn and planted border wrapping the terrace — instead of the balcony or roof terrace you'd get higher up. They also offer level, step-free access from the parking and communal areas, which is why they appeal to buyers who want single-level living. The trade-off is slightly less privacy and fewer sea views than the penthouses above.
Most are two- or three-bedroom homes built within the newer residential complexes near El Chaparral Golf Club and the streets running down towards the beach. Three-bedroom garden apartments commonly sit around 120 to 165 square metres of interior space, before you add the private garden and terrace. Two-bedroom layouts are a little more compact and tend to be the entry point into the format.
Garden-floor apartments usually carry a premium over the upper floors in the same development because you're buying the private plot as well as the home. As a typical band, expect most to fall in the upper-three-hundreds to high-five-hundreds of thousands of euros, with the figure driven mainly by garden size, build age, and whether there are sea views. Larger three-bedroom garden apartments in the newest complexes sit at the top of that range.
El Chaparral is on the Mijas Costa coastline, between La Cala de Mijas and Fuengirola in the municipality of Mijas, Málaga province. It's about five minutes east of La Cala de Mijas and ten minutes from Fuengirola along the A-7 coastal motorway. Málaga Airport is roughly 25 to 30 minutes away, and the Fuengirola Cercanías train station, which links up the coast to Málaga city and the airport, is only a few kilometres along the road.
The area is mostly modern town houses and semi-detached villas in gated communities, with duplex penthouses, ground-floor garden apartments, penthouses and standard apartments alongside them, plus some detached and golf-front villas. As a typical guide, apartments generally start in the mid €200,000s and run into the €400,000s; town houses and semis usually sit from the high €300,000s into the €600,000s; and detached or front-line-golf villas run from around €600,000 into seven figures, with beachfront villas higher still.
Yes, golf is central to the area. El Chaparral Golf Club is an 18-hole course set among pine forest with sea views, regarded as one of the better courses in southern Spain, and many homes are within a short buggy-ride or walk of it. A number of properties enjoy front-line-golf positions looking straight over the fairways, which is a large part of why golfers and golf-tourism investors buy here.
El Chaparral has its own quiet, roughly 940-metre sandy beach where you can hire a sunbed, and the neighbouring El Faro beach sits beneath the Faro de Calaburras lighthouse on its rocky point. The Senda Litoral coastal boardwalk runs along the shore, connecting these calmer beaches towards Torreblanca and Carvajal, with the busier main beach at La Cala de Mijas a few minutes west. Most homes are a short walk or drive from the sand.
Yes. There are local schools within El Chaparral itself covering younger and secondary ages, the British St Anthony's College is nearby at Mijas Golf, and the larger international schools of Marbella are within driving distance. For day-to-day amenities you have La Cala de Mijas minutes to the west and Fuengirola to the east, with supermarkets, medical centres, the Miramar shopping centre and the Costa del Sol hospital all within easy reach.
