Property for sale in Casares

Buying a house in Casares in practice almost always means buying on the coast. The white village on its limestone ridge, protected as a historic ensemble for decades, is what appears in photographs, but most of what is for sale lies below in the urbanisations between Estepona and Manilva. A winding mountain road of about twenty minutes separates village and coast. The facts block on this page measures from the village, so the distance to the beach and the slope shown there do not apply to the coast. If you buy on the coast, you mainly choose a direction: towards Manilva or towards Estepona.

On the west side lies Doña Julia, around a golf course on the boundary with Manilva; for shopping you drive to Sabinillas, not to Casares village. Marina de Casares is close to the sea on Playa Ancha. A little further east, in the hills above the coast, are the gated complexes of Casares del Sol near a small golf course in the valley, and Finca Cortesín, a hotel and golf resort that has hosted the Solheim Cup. The village itself, high and steep, attracts buyers looking for Spanish village life who see the coast as a day out.

In Doña Julia it is mostly terraced houses, plus apartments and the odd villa. In Casares del Sol and around the golf course in the valley you usually buy an apartment or penthouse in a gated complex with communal gardens and pools. Around Finca Cortesín lies the most expensive and most private part of the municipality, with villas and apartments by the resort. The village has village houses on narrow streets; if you want to renovate in the protected core, have an adviser establish beforehand what is allowed. Projects under construction now are on the new-build page for Casares.

Casares suits people who want peace and space and value golf or nature more than a promenade lined with bars. It suits those who want convenience less: the coastal urbanisations have little centre of their own, so you take the car for almost everything. The village is steep and has few shops; it is not a comfortable place for anyone with limited mobility. Málaga airport is more than an hour’s drive away, and further still from the village. The Casares beaches have lost sand in heavy winter storms, something to check with a frontline home.

Gibraltar is closer to the Casares coast than Málaga and is a useful alternative for flights to the UK. The AP-7 and A-7 run along the coast; from the coast road the MA-8300 climbs to the village. For healthcare Casares belongs to the Costa del Sol area: the hospital in Estepona for emergencies and outpatients, the large hospital in Marbella for everything else, and a medical centre in the village. International schools are in Sotogrande and Estepona. Right behind the village lies the Sierra Crestellina, a protected natural area with a large colony of griffon vultures.