The quieter Costa del Sol: Casares, Manilva and Estepona

Why owners, investors and people in search of a second life are choosing this stretch of coast.

By Michael Hannes, NM Luxury Estates

There is a stretch of the Costa del Sol that never makes it into the brochures. It begins east of Sotogrande, runs through Casares, Manilva and Sabinillas, and ends in Estepona. No towers on the shoreline, no traffic warnings in August. What it offers instead is space, real villages, and the pace of life people come to Spain for.

I live and work on this coast, and I see it happen again and again: visitors arrive on their way to Gibraltar, or for a round at Valderrama, and they leave thinking about a house.

Why the west is winning

• Space and privacy. Plots are wider, gardens are larger, and you are more likely to look out over pines and sea than at a neighbouring terrace.
• Villages that work all year. Casares, Manilva and Sabinillas are lived in, not just visited. Bakeries, hardware shops, daily life.
• Golf without the queues. Valderrama, Sotogrande, Finca Cortesin, Dona Julia and La Duquesa are all a short drive away, and you can still get a tee time.
• Everything within reach. Malaga airport is around an hour away; Gibraltar considerably less.
• More home for your budget. Against the eastern coast, your money generally secures more square metres, more land and more privacy.

Casares: two places in one

The white village climbs a hillside, with narrow streets, a ruined castle and, on a clear day, views across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco. It is spectacular, and it is not for everyone: steep streets and limited parking are part of the deal.

Casares Costa is the coastal half: golf, pine woods, low-rise urbanisations and the sea a short drive away. This is where most international owners settle, because it combines landscape with practicality.

Finca Cortesin: the resort on the doorstep

Just inland from Casares Costa lies Finca Cortesin, one of the most established resorts in southern Europe: a championship golf course, a five-star hotel and spa, a beach club, and a standard of service that is hard to find anywhere else on this coast. It is also where two quite different opportunities are open right now.

A finished home: Las Albercas

A ground-floor garden residence inside the resort: 370 m2, four bedrooms, four bathrooms, at 4,490,000 euros. It is on our books as an exclusive collaboration, and the full file is here: Las Albercas, Finca Cortesin — €4,490,000.

Or build your own: Lake Essence

We offer the last six plots within the resort in collaboration with the development team: from roughly 1,485 m2 to 2,777 m2, from 708,345 euros plus VAT, with three architecture studios to design the house with you. The hotel, the spa, the golf and the beach club of Finca Cortesin, on your doorstep.

Ask me about either one.

Manilva and Sabinillas: vineyards, harbour and open space

Manilva is one of the last places on this coast where vineyards still run down towards the sea, and where the town keeps a Spanish rhythm all year rather than only in summer.

San Luis de Sabinillas lies just below it: a working harbour, a seafront promenade the locals use in every season, family restaurants on the sand, and none of the beach-club formality. A few minutes along the coast, the marina at La Duquesa adds moorings and an international community that grew up around it rather than being built for it.

For the right owner, this stretch offers what the eastern coast no longer can: a seafront apartment for the winter months, low-rise living with sea views a few minutes inland, or one of the frontline properties that comes to market only once in a while. The best of it never reaches the portals. It moves quietly between owners and the agents who live here.

If you would like to know what is genuinely available between Casares Costa and Sabinillas at the moment, including what is not advertised, tell me what you are looking for and I will put a shortlist together. No obligation, and you deal with me directly.

Estepona: the coast's best transformation

Estepona may be the success story of the whole coast. Its old town has been restored with real care, and a collection of large murals has turned the streets into an open-air gallery. A new generation of developments has followed, and the New Golden Mile, which links Estepona to Marbella, is now one of the most active residential stretches in Spain.

What to check before you commit

• Urbanisations differ enormously. Two developments a kilometre apart can be completely different in quality, management and cost.
• Licences on older homes. In Andalucia an existing property may not hold the documentation a resale is expected to have, such as the licence of first occupation. Check this before you commit.
• Community fees and debts. Ask for the minutes of the last meetings and a certificate of outstanding debts.
• Your NIE number and the annual taxes that come with owning property in Spain as a non-resident.
• Notary and Land Registry. Both, always. A private contract is not a title.

How I can help

I am Michael Hannes, and I source, sell and advise on property along this coast through NM Luxury Estates. I live here, and I speak Dutch, German, English and Spanish.

My work starts with listening. You tell me what you are looking for, and from there I guide you from the first viewing to the notary and beyond. I am direct: if something does not match the brief you gave me, I say so. That way of working has earned us five-star reviews from the clients who have been through it with us.

If you would like a shortlist of what is genuinely available between Casares and Estepona, or my opinion on something you have already seen, contact me directly. You will deal with me, not with a call centre.