Area guide · the top of the coast
Nueva Andalucía
Marbella's golf valley: villas and big penthouses between Puerto Banús and La Concha, with a planning history worth understanding before you buy.
Nueva Andalucía isn't a town. It's a district of Marbella that runs from Puerto Banús and the A-7 up into the hills under La Concha, between the Río Verde on the Marbella side and the Guadaiza on the San Pedro side. José Banús started it in the 1960s, and most of it is what people call the Golf Valley: Los Naranjos, Las Brisas, Aloha and Magna Marbella, with villas, gated urbanisations and apartment complexes laid out around the fairways. La Campana, the older Spanish barrio, has the public health centre and the state primary school. Aloha College is in the district, and Banús, the beach and the shops are a few minutes' drive from most front doors.
It suits buyers who want a proper house or a big penthouse within ten minutes of a beach, a school and a golf club, and who are happy to drive everywhere. Irish buyers have had it on the shortlist for a long time, and it's a deep market: on the day we looked, one portal carried about two thousand homes for sale in the district, which means choice and real comparables. It's less suited to anyone who wants to walk to the sea from a villa, or who wants a Spanish town around them; up the valley it's residential and quiet. At €6,214 a square metre the money buys space and setting rather than a village. In the listings we opened, a two-bed penthouse was about €950,000, three-bed penthouses started around €1.2m, and detached villas with a pool and a proper plot were plentiful between €1.5m and €3m, with a few below that which were older, smaller or needed a closer look.
Photos: Adobe Stock, licensed
Property
What your money buys here.
The average asking price in Nueva Andalucía was €6,214 per m² in September 2026, +3.5% on a year earlier (idealista price report). The examples below were opened and read on 2 October 2026. Stock moves weekly, so treat them as the shape of the market, not as houses to buy.
€945,000
A two-bed, two-bath duplex penthouse of 109 m² built, frontline to Aloha Golf, south and south-west facing, renovated this year and sold furnished, with a private rooftop solarium, and a pool, gym, tennis and padel in the complex.
Opened and read. That's about €8,670 a built square metre, roughly 40% over the district average, and you're paying it for the frontline golf view and a new renovation. The terrace and solarium sizes aren't given, so ask, and check the rooftop kitchen is on the licence.
€1,700,000
A four-bed, three-bath detached villa in Las Brisas: 474 m² built on a 944 m² plot, private pool, lift, garage for three cars, views of La Concha, and a guest apartment on the lower level.
Opened and read. At about €3,590 a built square metre it's a little over half the district average, and marble floors throughout with no build year stated point to older stock and a refurbishment budget. Make sure the guest apartment and the full 474 m² are on the licence and in the Catastro before you count them.
€2,850,000
A five-bed, six-bath villa in Las Brisas, ready to move into: 448 m² built on an 802 m² plot, new kitchen, sauna, underfloor heating, a roof terrace with views of La Concha, golf course views, and one bedroom set up as a lock-off with its own entrance.
Opened and read. About €6,360 a built square metre, close to the district average. The lock-off suits family and guests; it's part of one house, not a second dwelling, so don't buy it on the assumption you can let it on its own.
Add 10 to 13% on top of any price for taxes and fees. The cost calculator gives the real number for a given price.
Homes we can show you
Homes we can show you close by, in San Pedro.
Resales and new builds from agencies and developers we work with, each one read, priced with its tax and with what we'd check before an offer. We arrange the viewing and sit on your side of it. See them all on Properties.
The practical page
Where things actually are.
Every link below was opened and checked on 2 October 2026. Measured on 2 October 2026 from Centro Plaza, beside the bullring at the bottom of the valley, with the OSRM route planner. It assumes empty roads, so we added 10% and rounded up to the minute. From the top of the valley near Aloha Golf it's about three minutes more to the airport and five more to Banús. Summer traffic at the Banús junctions is not in these numbers.
Getting there and around
- 3 min to Puerto Banús (1.2 km, via Avenida de Manolete)
- 6 min to The beach (Playa del Duque, beside Puerto Banús) (2.3 km)
- 14 min to Marbella old town (Plaza de los Naranjos) (8 km, via A-7)
- 14 min to Hospital Costa del Sol (15.3 km)
- 53 min to Málaga airport (61.1 km, via AP-7 (toll) and MA-20)
- 62 min to Gibraltar airport (66.8 km, via AP-7 and A-7), Driving time only. The border at La Línea comes on top, and it varies.
- Avanza coaches to and from Marbella and Puerto Banús ↗
The coast coaches run along the A-7 at the bottom of the district. Up the valley, you'll be driving.
- All Avanza Málaga lines, with PDF timetables ↗
- Málaga airport (AENA) ↗
About 53 minutes on the AP-7 toll road from the bottom of the valley.
- Gibraltar International Airport ↗
About an hour's drive, plus the border.
- Puerto Banús (the port's own site) ↗
Everyday life
- Ayuntamiento de Marbella (town hall) ↗
- Nueva Andalucía district office, Avenida Miguel de Cervantes 15 ↗
The district has its own municipal office and board, so a lot of local paperwork doesn't need a trip into Marbella.
- Padrón certificate through the town hall's online office ↗
You register on Marbella's padrón; there isn't a separate one for the district.
- Puerto Banús Saturday market, 09:00 to 14:00, Avenida Pilar Calvo ↗
- Duty pharmacies (Colegio de Farmacéuticos de Málaga) ↗
Health
Residents register with the public system through the local health centre. How that works for Irish owners is in the healthcare guide.
- Centro de Salud La Campana (Nueva Andalucía), the public health centre ↗
On Avenida Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer in La Campana. Your padrón address decides which centre you're assigned to.
- Hospital Costa del Sol (public) ↗
The public hospital for the western coast, about 14 minutes east.
- Hospital Quirónsalud Marbella (private) ↗
- HC Marbella International Hospital (private) ↗
Schools
- Aloha College, British curriculum with IGCSE, A-level and IB, in the district ↗
In El Ángel, about seven minutes from the bottom of the valley. If it's the reason you're buying here, ring admissions before you shortlist a house.
- Laude San Pedro International College, San Pedro de Alcántara ↗
British or Spanish curriculum on one campus, in the next town west.
- Swans International School, Marbella ↗
- Atalaya International School, IB, on the Estepona side ↗
- State schools: the Junta's school finder (catchments and places) ↗
The state primary in the district is CEIP José Banús in La Campana. Places go by catchment, so check the address you're buying against the finder.
Sport and outdoors
- Los Naranjos Golf Club ↗
Open to visitors; green fees are on the club's site.
- Real Club de Golf Las Brisas ↗
A private members' club. Living beside it doesn't get you on it.
- Club de Golf Aloha ↗
Members only, with a par 3 course as well.
- Magna Marbella (PG by Magna Marbella Golf) ↗
Nine holes you can play twice, and a Toptracer driving range.
- Sierra Blanca and La Concha (Marbella tourism) ↗
La Concha, at 1,215 metres, is the mountain behind the valley.
- The beach catalogue: every beach in Marbella, including Banús and El Duque ↗
Before you offer
What to check here.
- Legality comes first in Marbella. The town ran on a 1986 plan, built well beyond it in the 1990s under a 1998 revision that was later thrown out, tried to regularise the result with a new plan in 2010, and had that plan annulled by the Supreme Court in 2015, which put the 1986 plan back. On 18 September 2026 the council gave final approval to a new general plan (PGOM) that replaces the 1986 one; the detailed rules (the POU) are still being drafted, so for now the transition rules decide which provisions apply to a given plot. The council's own figure is about 18,000 homes left outside planning by that history. Your lawyer needs to say which side of it your house is on.
- Ask for the licence and the occupation paperwork, and compare them with what's actually built. A home that is "AFO" (asimilado a fuera de ordenación) has been recognised as too old to demolish, but under Andalusian law that is not legalisation, the works you can do on it are limited, and it can put off lenders and the next buyer. Extra rooms, guest apartments, enclosed terraces and rooftop kitchens are the usual places where built area outruns the licence; check the Catastro and the Land Registry figures match the listing.
- Community fees and statutes. Many villas here sit inside an urbanisation with its own community as well as any complex community, so there can be two sets of fees. Ask for the last two years of accounts and minutes, look for special levies agreed or coming (roofs, lifts, pools, security), and read the statutes for rental rules before you assume you can let.
- Orientation and the mountain. South and south-west get the sun and the view of the sea; north-facing rooms on the lower slopes look straight at La Concha, which is a fine view and a cold winter. Visit at four in the afternoon in January if you can, or ask the seller for photos taken then.
- Frontline golf is a view and a hazard. Behind a tee or along the inside of a dogleg, balls end up in gardens and pools; look for netting, chipped render and balls in the hedge. Frontline also means the mowers early in the morning.
- Noise and water. The A-7 runs along the bottom of the district and Puerto Banús is busy late into the night in summer, so anything close to either needs a visit at night. The Río Verde and the Guadaiza mark the district's edges; for anything near either, check the ministry's flood-zone map (SNCZI) and ask your lawyer to look for flood restrictions on the plot.
None of this replaces your own lawyer, and the lawyer guide says what to expect of one.
What we'd tell you on the phone
The parts that aren't in the brochure.
Marbella turns up in Irish headlines for the wrong reasons. The valley itself is golf clubs, school runs, gated urbanisations and supermarkets. Don't let the headlines put you off, and don't let the glamour of Banús sell you something either.
The planning history is the real risk at this budget, and it's the one most often waved away. A house can be beautiful, sold several times, and still have a pool, a guest flat or a whole floor that was never licensed. The new 2026 plan helps in time, but it doesn't turn an irregular extension into a legal one on its own. Pay for a lawyer who will actually check, and a survey that measures the house.
The district has been building since the late 1960s, so plenty of what's for sale is older stock. Old marble, single glazing, tired pool plant and electrics are worth looking for, and asking prices don't always allow for them. Two villas the same size can be a million apart because one has been redone. Get a refurbishment quote before you offer on the cheaper one, not after.
Frontline golf costs more and isn't always better. A villa one row back with a clear view over the fairway can be quieter and safer than one beside the tee. Walk the course side of the garden before you pay for the word 'frontline'.
Banús in July and August is a different place: traffic at the junctions onto the A-7, full car parks and noise late into the night. Up the valley you won't hear it; near the bottom you will. Drive the route to school or the airport at the time you'd actually be driving it.
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