Mijas

The character

Mijas Pueblo is the postcard: a white village on the mountainside, with narrow streets, viewpoints over the coast and a calm that returns every evening when the day visitors leave. Las Lagunas, down by Fuengirola, is where a large share of the municipality lives — schools, a health centre, sports grounds and shops, Spanish in its daily rhythm. Mijas Costa is the coastal strip: La Cala de Mijas, a beach village with a wooden boardwalk along the sea, and the large estates of Calahonda, Riviera del Sol and El Faro. Inland, the valleys around Mijas Golf and La Cala Resort are villa and golf country.

Who buys here

Golfers, above all in the golf valleys. Families, in Las Lagunas and around La Cala, for the schools and the space. Buyers who want a house with a garden rather than an apartment — Mijas has more of them than its neighbours. And a British community that has lived in Calahonda and Riviera del Sol for decades.

What it costs

Mijas is split into many areas in the listing system, and they differ more than anywhere else on the coast. The median asking price per square metre for apartments today:

• La Cala de Mijas: €5,000/m² (95 apartments)
• Calahonda: €4,618/m² (114 apartments)
• Riviera del Sol: €3,611/m² (77 apartments)
• Mijas Costa: €4,676/m² (38 apartments)
• Mijas: €4,097/m² (49 apartments)
• Mijas Golf: €3,421/m² (25 apartments)
• Las Lagunas: €3,674/m² (27 apartments)
• El Faro: €4,667/m² (15 apartments)

Villas in the golf valleys and on the hillsides above La Cala ask the most; older apartments in Calahonda and Las Lagunas are the entry point. Every area is on our price page, updated every night.

Getting around

Mijas has no railway station of its own. Las Lagunas is next to Fuengirola, whose C-1 station is a short bus or taxi ride away. Everywhere else a car makes life simpler: Mijas Costa runs along the A-7, the golf valleys are reached by road, and the village is a winding drive up from the coast, about fifteen minutes from Fuengirola. Málaga airport is roughly 20 to 35 minutes by car from most of the municipality.

Schools

Las Lagunas has Spanish state primary and secondary schools within walking distance of most homes, and there are several international schools in Mijas and the neighbouring towns, all within a short drive.

The February test

Las Lagunas and La Cala pass easily: people live there all year. Parts of Calahonda and Riviera del Sol are quieter in winter, when some homes stand empty until spring. The village is calm on weekdays and busy with visitors at weekends.

Our honest reservations

Outside Las Lagunas and the village centre you will want a car. Some estates along the coast sit close to the A-7 and hear it. The urbanisations of the 1970s and 80s vary a great deal in upkeep, so a community's condition and accounts need checking as carefully as the home itself. And the spread that makes Mijas interesting is also its difficulty: two homes at the same price can be very different buys a few kilometres apart.