Property for sale in Ojén

Buying a house in Ojén means buying in a municipality with two faces. The village lies in the mountains behind Marbella, with white houses on different levels against the slope and a street pattern from Moorish times. On the coastal side, high above Elviria, lie the municipality’s urbanisations, which you reach from the coast. Ojén has no beach of its own; the nearest is in Marbella. So buying here means first choosing between the mountain village and the green hills above the coast.

In the village you live on steep ground, but with the supermarket, the pharmacy, the primary school and a health post a few hundred metres away. La Mairena lies high in the hills above Elviria, among cork oaks and pines, with plenty of green between the houses. El Soto is on the same road, with a small golf course. Adverts often call these areas east Marbella or Elviria, but they are in Ojén, and on the edge with Marbella the plans of both municipalities overlap. So check on the paperwork which municipality it is.

In the village it is village houses on different levels against the slope, often with steps and little room to park. In La Mairena and El Soto there are villas in a spacious, green urbanisation, and new flats and penthouses are also sold in the hills. The municipality belongs to the Sierra de las Nieves biosphere reserve; with a rural home, have an adviser check whether it is legal and what you may renovate. With a villa against the woods, the distance to the edge of the forest and the access road deserve extra attention.

Ojén suits people looking for quiet, nature and views, with Marbella a short drive away, and German-speaking families: the German school on this coast is in La Mairena. It suits those who want to live without a car or walk to the beach less well. The village is steep, which makes it less suitable for anyone unsteady on their feet. And the urbanisations border the woods: in two consecutive years, large forest fires advancing from Mijas and from Coín led to homes in La Mairena and El Soto being evacuated.

The village is on the road from Marbella inland to Monda and Coín; to reach the coast you wind down about nine kilometres. You reach the urbanisations via Elviria. The large public hospital for this coast is on the A-7 near Marbella, and the village has a health post. There is no train; the nearest leaves from Fuengirola. Málaga airport is three quarters of an hour to an hour away by car. Read more about this coast on the page about the Costa del Sol.