Property for sale in Mijas

Buying a house in Mijas starts with working out which Mijas is meant. The municipality has three centres: the village high against the Sierra de Mijas, La Cala on the coast, and Las Lagunas, which has grown into Fuengirola. Between them runs a coastal strip that listings often call simply ‘Mijas Costa’, and that tells you little: such a home can be on the beach or five kilometres inland on a golf course. Most of what is for sale is on the coast, while the facts block on this page measures from the village up the hill. So ask about the urbanisation for every property, not just the municipality.

By the sea are the flat urbanisations: El Faro around the Calaburras lighthouse, El Chaparral among the pines, and Miraflores, all within walking distance of the beach. Calahonda, on the coast halfway between Fuengirola and Marbella, is one of the oldest urbanisations on this coast. Riviera del Sol sits higher and further from the beach, built in phases. Behind La Cala the golf valley begins, with La Cala Golf, Cerrado del Águila and Mijas Golf: green and calm, but with no sea on the doorstep. Valtocado and the area around the village are mountain country, with villas on their own land and views to the coast.

On the coast and in the lower urbanisations, most of what is for sale is an apartment or a townhouse in a complex with a communal garden and pool; Riviera del Sol, Miraflores and Calanova are typical examples. Villas are more common in the golf valley, in El Faro and high up around Valtocado, where rural houses with land also come up. In Calahonda you pay, on top of the owners’ community, a contribution to a separate body that maintains roads and green spaces; ask for both figures. New builds appear mainly around the golf courses; the current overview is on the new-build page for Mijas.

Mijas suits people who want to live on the coast between Fuengirola and Marbella with golf a few minutes away, and people looking for a Spanish village with a view. It suits those who want to do everything on foot less well. The village is steep, and the winding drive between village and coast takes longer than the map suggests. A golf urbanisation here is often several kilometres from the sea. And if you have El Faro in mind, know that the beaches around the lighthouse are not machine-cleaned because plovers nest there: natural, then, but not a raked resort beach.

Málaga airport is about half an hour from the village; from the western urbanisations allow a little longer. Mijas has no railway station of its own: the suburban train to Málaga and the airport leaves from Fuengirola. Mountain roads run from the village to Fuengirola and Benalmádena, and the free A-7 and the AP-7 toll road follow the coast. There are several golf courses in the municipality, including a resort with three courses. There are health centres in the village, La Cala and Las Lagunas; the hospitals are in neighbouring towns. For more on daily life, see Living in Mijas.