Costa del Sol home to Spain’s priciest property neighbourhood

La Zagaleta is home to Spain’s most expensive properties, and some of its most beautiful.

The key attraction of the Costa del Sol is its sheer variety. While Ibiza may have the clubs, Majorca the cycling, the Canaries the year-round-weather and the Costa Blanca the beaches, the Costa del Sol borrows a little from all and excels on many fronts…

It is the same with property. While Madrid certainly holds the mantle for having some of the most prestigious streets in Spain, and inland pueblos in Andalucía are the place to head to in order to make your money stretch the furthest, the Costa del Sol covers both ends of this spectrum extremely well.

Indeed, new data published by nationwide estate agency firm Idealista has analysed Spain’s house price data and found that the most expensive postcode for property in all of Spain can be found in – you guessed it – the Costa del Sol.

The exclusive urbanisation of La Zagaleta, tucked into the verdant hills that undulate westwards from Benahavis, has an average property price of €5.6 million. This is not surprising. The gated communities that dot this part of the world are home to some of the planet’s richest and most famous people.

The world’s elite are drawn to La Zagaleta for a multitude of reasons, and the property prices reflect this exclusivity. The area has a superb climate, wonderful views of the Mediterranean, great accessibility to the super clubs and excellent restaurants of Puerto Banús, and most importantly – seclusion. The paparazzi can’t get in, so there are no prying eyes, and many villas also have their own helipads meaning access to and from the urbanisation can be as secretive as homeowners would like.

Beyond the Costa del Sol, Madrid’s La Moraleja neighbourhood is Spain’s second-most expensive postcode (with average property values of €5.05 million), followed by C/del Castillo de Aysa (€5 million) – also in Madrid – with Barcelona’s Avenida del Tibidabo in fourth place, with an average property price of €4.83 million.