Villa Valentina M5

Life here begins with a short descent. Marbella Club Golf Resort is a five-minute drive, the La Zagaleta course nine and Flamingos ten, which puts three very different rounds within a quarter of an hour of the front door. A tennis and padel club sits twelve minutes away for the late afternoons. The nearest beach, Playa del Saladillo, is fourteen minutes down the hill, the stretch of coast between Estepona and Marbella where the chiringuitos stay open through the shoulder months rather than shutting in October.

Everyday needs are closer than the altitude suggests. A bar, a café and a pharmacy are all within six minutes. Hospiten Estepona is fourteen minutes away and HC Marbella International Hospital twenty, which reassures families and older buyers in equal measure. For dinner, Benahavís village is a short drive through the hills and Puerto Banús is twenty-three minutes by car when the evening calls for a marina table and a walk past the yachts.

The rest of the time, the hillside does the work. Cork oaks, silence, an annual average high of 21.1°C and a low of 14.5°C and a horizon that reaches two continents.