What’s Estepona like? Our Impressions

What’s Estepona like? Our Impressions

Estepona has become quite a popular place among expats looking to settle down on the Costa del Sol. When we were in Nerja, we knew a few couples who decided to leave to live in Estepona.

So we were curious what Estepona would be like.

Note: the below are our honest impressions. Some people won’t agree. If you don’t agree, tell me what I’ve got wrong. I’m always open to a different opinion.

Impressions of Estepona

General first impressions

I expected Estepona to be more of a beach resort town. While the beaches are fantastic (more on that later) Estepona also feels like a real Spanish town. Outside the historic center you’ll find highrises where locals live. Estepona feels Spanish, something I couldn’t always say about Nerja.

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A horticulturists’ wet dream

I said it before: Estepona must have an army of horticulturists – I’ve never seen a place so full of plants and flowers as Estepona. Colourful pots line all the streets of the old town, each in their own colour scheme. The seaside promenade is literal a botanical garden of trees, bushes and exotic flowers. It’s unbelievable. Whoever is in charge here has done an incredible job of trying to make Estepona a beautiful place.

Estepona’s historic center

Estepona has a pretty historic center with lots of pretty streets lined with flowers. The highlight is the main square (Plaza de las Flores). There you’ll find Casa de las Tejerinas, a pretty building housing art exhibits and a tourism office (a good place to pick up a map similar to the one I’m attaching below).

Estepona’s old town doesn’t have the highlight attractions of Marbella’s old town or the stunning location of Nerja’s old town – but it’s one of the prettiest of the old towns on the Costa del Sol.

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Estepona’s promenade and beach

Both the promenade and beach in Estepona are phenomenal. The beach is wide and sandy. There’s a LOT of beach in Estepona and you’ll always be able to find your own private spot. Likewise, the promenade is wide and goes on forever. We walked along the promenade from the marina to the Carrefour close to the bus station..about 4 km…but it continued even past that point. People walked, jogged, rode bikes. They even had bathrooms on the promenade which were sparkling clean. And as I mentioned, you’ll see trees, bushes and exotic flowers along the way. Everything is meticulously cared for. It also feels relaxed, there are restaurants along the way but it’s not like some other towns on the Costa del Sol where it’s one restaurant after another.

We haven’t been to every single town on the Costa del Sol…but of what we’ve seen, Estepona has the most inviting beach and promenade in the region. Fantastic if you like beach and outdoor activities.

The expat factor

I mentioned previously the Estepona generally feels like a Spanish town. Where you do see a lot of expats is in the old town and along the promenade.

My unscientific measure of the “expat factor” is the number of Indian restaurants in a place. In Nerja there are about 15 Indian restaurants. Truth be told, after not eating Indian food for several months (Antequera has none) we looked forward to finding a good Indian restaurant in Estepona. Google told me that there were a few but nowhere near the center. There was one at the marina (which was buzzing with a lot of restaurants)…but it was closed.

Instead we found a typical Spanish restaurant with a menu del dia offering a 3 course meal for 12 Euros.

Estepona has a good-sized expat community but it never feels overwhelming (unlike some of the other towns on this coast). It’s a place where you still live in your expat bubble…or a place where you can have a “Spain-immersion” experience. You have options in Estepona.

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Highrises and murals

I mentioned that Estepona has highrises outside the old town where a (majority) Spanish population live. They’re not the ugly highrises you’ll see in places like Malaga – these are much nicer and many have been decorated by huge murals (you’ll find a lot of blogs featuring Estepona’s “mural route”. Again, we were very impressed by the efforts of the city in beautifying their space.

You need a car

When we left Estepona our bus for Fuengirola/Malaga was delayed by 90 minutes. 90 minutes! By the time we arrived in Malaga’s Maria Zambrano station we missed our onward train to Antequera by 5 minutes. I was pissed. It reminded me of the various reasons we left Nerja, one of the reasons being dependency on public transport if you don’t have a car.

I would tell anything thinking of settling in Estepona that they should have a car. You’ll have a much better quality of life.

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Would Estepona ever be for us?

We lived in the Costa del Sol for 2 ½ years and realized it wasn’t our vision of Spain. We’re not beach people and we’re not in the demographic of most expats. And we bore easily. Moving inland to Antequera was the right thing for us.

But we can see the attractions of Estepona. It’s a very pretty, very clean town. City Hall has done an incredible job here. And Estepona doesn’t strive to be a happening, party place (it’s not). It’s a nice, quiet and liveable town with a great beach and promenade where you can enjoy the outdoors year long. These are all qualities important to many people looking for a home in Spain.

Accommodation tip: We stayed 3 nights at Apartamentos Miguel Angel. It was fantastic and excellent value (we were there in late February and paid 65 Euros/night).

Related: Nerja Or Estepona (as places to base yourself in Spain)

Related: Why you should Visit Marbella (in Photos)

Related: Where to live on the Costa Del Sol