Ok, I´m going to kick off this section to tell you a little about where we live.
We live in the small town of Manilva on the Costa del Sol. Manilva is about 20 minutes from Gibraltar and 40 minutes from Malaga. Manilva is ideally situated next to the A7 toll motorway which runs from Sotogrande to Malaga (great road although not cheap) and also just 2 minutes from the established N340 costal route.
What makes Manilva special, in my opinion, is it´s perfect location. Manilva is a Spanish white-washed village on a hill overlooking the town of Sabinillas, which is where the beaches are. To get to Sabi (as it´s more affectionately known by the ex-pats) takes just a couple of minutes in the car and there are some great beaches in the area. Beacuse of it´s raised location there are some fantastic views and you can see all the way to Marbella and beyond from the village.
In the opposite direction you can head into the mountains and within 15 minutes be in the beautiful village of Casares and after another 10 minutes be in Gaucin, which is also really stunning.
Everything is to hand and easy to get to. From that point of view Manilva is an excellent place to live.
The port of Duquesa is also just down the road although recently it´s become very ""English" so it´s losing a little of it´s original charm. But it´s a nice place to go in the evening for a stroll to see the boats or for an ice-cream, meal or just a cool beer.
Kids seem to love it here too. They all play outside. Our kids love the
local school. It´s really handy for children in general with a couple
of decent parks.
Manilva is undergoing huge expansion so it´s a bit of a building site at the moment. Lorries and construction everywhere. The now ex-mayor was also recently arrested due to corruption charges which hasn´t helped really.
But thinking long term, once most of the construction has finished (think at least 5 or 6 years) I think this place is going to be one of the best places to live on the Costa del Sol. If you´ve bought a property in Manilva then my advice would be to hold on to it, sit tight and in a few years it´s really going to be worth something.
Regards
Justin