La Alzambra and Vasari: a buyer’s guide to the address with several names

Ask ten people in Marbella what La Alzambra is and you will get several different answers, all of them partly right. Some mean the whole official district behind the marina, including older neighbouring complexes that the portals list under the La Alzambra name and that offer some of the best value within walking distance of Puerto Banús. Some mean the gated Vasari urbanisation with its villas, townhouses and private security. Some mean the holiday resort that operates within it. And some mean La Alzambra Hill Club, which is a different gated community altogether, further up the hill.

That confusion is not trivial. Listings use the names interchangeably, prices under the name range from around €430,000 in the wider district to over €2.5 million, and a buyer comparing two properties under the same heading may be comparing an older apartment in a neighbouring complex with a villa from 2019.

This guide sorts it out. It sets out what each of these communities actually is, where they sit relative to Puerto Banús, what the properties are like, what they cost to buy and to run, and what to check before committing. If you take one thing from it, make it this: establish which community a property belongs to before you form any view on whether the price is reasonable.

La Alzambra is a residential district of Nueva Andalucía, immediately inland of Puerto Banús, in the area officially designated La Dama de Noche-La Alzambra. It sits behind the marina rather than on the coast, close to the La Dama de Noche golf course, and it is within walking distance of Puerto Banús itself.

Within that district sit several distinct communities.

The neighbouring complexes. The official district, La Dama de Noche-La Alzambra, also takes in older apartment complexes that are not part of La Alzambra itself, such as La Dama de Noche and Los Naranjos de Marbella. The portals list them under the district name, which is where much of the confusion starts. They are the accessible end of the market and the reason the address has a reputation for value: you can own an apartment within walking distance of one of the most expensive marinas in Europe for a fraction of what a beachfront address costs. Just be clear that you are not buying in La Alzambra.

La Alzambra-Vasari. A gated urbanisation developed from 1998 by Grupo Vasari, comprising villas, semi-detached villas, townhouses and apartments, with private security and tropical gardens. This was the group's first major project and remains the location of its headquarters.

Vasari Vacation Resort. A complex of 57 apartments across seven buildings within the Vasari urbanisation, built between 2001 and 2003 and operated as a holiday resort, which means some apartments here are held as investments rather than homes.

La Alzambra Hill Club. A separate gated community, built around 2007, higher up towards the Golf Valley, with tropical gardens, waterfalls, a communal pool and 24-hour security. Duplex penthouses here have traded at €1.5 million and above.

Offices and commercial premises. Worth knowing and rarely mentioned: the developer's own description of La Alzambra-Vasari refers to villas, apartments, offices and premises, and the group's head offices are located here. It is also where the Swedish School sits, which adds school-run traffic at drop-off and pick-up times. That means part of the urbanisation is commercial rather than purely residential, which affects traffic, parking and the flow of people through the day. It is not a drawback, and for some buyers the convenience of having professional services on site is an advantage, but a buyer should know whether a specific property sits near the commercial element or away from it.

The thing we find ourselves explaining most often about this address is precisely that list. Buyers arrive having seen a listing described as La Alzambra, form a view about price levels, and then find a second listing under the same name at twice the figure. Both are accurately described. They are simply different communities that share a district and a name.

La Alzambra sits inland of Puerto Banús, between the marina and the Golf Valley, along Camino del Ángel and Calle Vasari. The coast road and the marina lie below to the south, Nueva Andalucía and the golf courses rise behind it to the north, and San Pedro de Alcántara is a few minutes west.

Approximate times:

• Puerto Banús marina, restaurants and shops: a walk of roughly ten to fifteen minutes, or a very short drive
• The beach: around one to two kilometres depending on which part of the district
• El Corte Inglés and Marina Banús: a few minutes by car
• Centro Plaza and the Nueva Andalucía services: around five minutes
• The Golf Valley courses, Las Brisas, Los Naranjos and Aloha: five to ten minutes
• Marbella centre: around fifteen minutes
• San Pedro de Alcántara: around ten minutes
• Málaga airport: around 45 to 55 minutes via the AP-7

The position is the whole argument for the address, and it is a specific one. You are close enough to Puerto Banús to walk there for dinner, and far enough back that you do not live inside it. In August, when the marina and the streets around it are at their most intense, that distance is worth a great deal. In February, when Banús is quiet, you are still five minutes from everything.

The honest caveat is that this is not a beachfront address and should not be priced or imagined as one. The sea is a kilometre or more away depending on where exactly you are, and while the walk down is easy, the walk back up is less so with shopping in August. Most residents use the car for the beach.

The second caveat is that "walking distance to Puerto Banús" covers a range. The southern edge of the district is genuinely close. The parts up towards the Golf Valley are a fifteen-minute walk or more, which in practice means driving. Establish the actual distance for the property you are looking at rather than accepting the phrase.

The gated part of this address has a clear history, and it explains much of the quality.

Grupo Vasari began the La Alzambra-Vasari urbanisation in 1998, and it was the group's first major project. It established them on the Costa del Sol and it remains the location of their head offices, which is a reasonable signal of how they regard it.

The development came in phases.

1998 to 2001, the villas. Twenty detached villas and eighteen semi-detached villas, all with large gardens and private pools, within a closed area with private security. They were designed by the Andalusian architect Manuel Burgos, in what the developer describes as a mix of Mediterranean and Italian style, and built by Vasari themselves.

1999 to 2002, Colinas del Puerto. Thirty-two townhouses with communal gardens and swimming pools, built within the same urbanisation. Each has a private garden and a closed garage, and the façades alternate in colour and finish rather than repeating, which is why the terrace reads as a street rather than a block.

2001 to 2003, Vasari Vacation Resort. Fifty-seven apartments across seven buildings, again by Manuel Burgos, built for holiday use and operating under the highest tourist classification. One-, two- and three-bedroom layouts.

2016 to 2021, Villas de Vasari. Seven detached five-bedroom villas of contemporary architecture and design, a generation on from the originals and built to current standards.

That sequence is useful to a buyer because it tells you what you are looking at. A villa here might be from 1999 in Mediterranean style with a mature garden, or from 2019 in contemporary style with everything new. Both are Vasari. They are entirely different products.

The mix across La Alzambra and Vasari is unusually broad, and it is why the district serves such different buyers.

Apartments in the wider district. In the neighbouring complexes, two-bedroom apartments of around 85 to 100 square metres currently list from roughly €430,000 to €500,000. Within La Alzambra itself, apartments start at around €750,000, and that gap is the first thing to understand about this address.

Apartments in Vasari. A different proposition inside the gated urbanisation, with 24-hour security, tropical gardens and a resort-standard pool. Recent asking prices have included a 100-square-metre two-bedroom at €825,000, which is around €8,250 per square metre, and a fully renovated 217-square-metre three-bedroom ground-floor apartment with a 51-square-metre terrace at €2,200,000, which is roughly €10,138 per square metre. Renovated three-bedroom apartments of around 190 square metres with generous terraces sit between those figures.

Duplex penthouses. Present in several of these communities and generally the top of the apartment market here. In La Alzambra Hill Club, duplex penthouses have been listed at €1,500,000 for 346 square metres and €1,900,000 for a three-bedroom with mountain views.

Townhouses. Principally Colinas del Puerto, with private gardens and closed garages within the gated urbanisation.

Villas and semi-detached villas. The Vasari villas, with private pools and gardens inside the gated area. A six-bedroom semi-detached villa of 402 square metres on a 614-square-metre plot has been listed at €2,495,000, with community fees of €141 a month and IBI of €3,245 a year. A five-bedroom villa of 462 square metres within the Vasari urbanisation has been listed at €2,575,000.

The spread from around €430,000 in the neighbouring complexes to over €2.5 million for the Vasari villas, all advertised under one district name, is the single most important thing to grasp here. It is not an inefficient market. It is several markets sharing a name.

Beyond the four communities set out above, the naming goes one level deeper, and this is where listings become genuinely unreliable.

Listings also refer to La Alzambra by phase, with references to La Alzambra Phase III appearing on apartment listings and agents describing one phase as better than another, which tells you the phases were built at different times to different standards. Within the gated Vasari urbanisation, the sub-developments have their own names too: Colinas del Puerto for the townhouses, Villas de Vasari for the contemporary villas, Vasari Vacation Resort for the holiday apartments. A property might reasonably be advertised under any of those names, or simply as La Alzambra.

The practical consequence is that two listings under the same heading may sit in different phases, built a decade or more apart, with different layouts, different specifications, different community structures and different fees. Before comparing anything, establish the phase or sub-development, not only the district.

This is also where the gating question resolves itself. The Vasari urbanisation and La Alzambra Hill Club are gated with 24-hour security and controlled access. In the neighbouring complexes of the wider district, some are gated and some are not, and whether the gated sections share one perimeter or have separate entrances varies. Ask specifically: is this property behind a barrier, is that barrier manned, and who else has access through it?

We can tell you which phase a given property sits in and what that means in practice, which is information that is not reliably available from the portals.

Daily life here is defined by proximity without immersion, and it suits a particular kind of buyer very well.

Inside the gated parts, the environment is quiet, green and secure, with tropical gardens, pools and private security. There is no through traffic. The Vasari urbanisation in particular has the feel of a resort rather than a street, which is unsurprising given that a resort operates within it.

Outside the gates, everything is close. Puerto Banús with its restaurants, bars, shops and marina is a walk or a very short drive. Centro Plaza, the supermarkets and the everyday services of Nueva Andalucía are five minutes. The Golf Valley is five to ten. El Corte Inglés and Marina Banús are a few minutes by car.

The rhythm most residents settle into reflects that. Mornings at home or at the pool, errands in Nueva Andalucía, lunch or dinner in Banús or at one of the Golf Valley restaurants, and a drive rather than a walk to the beach.

The seasonal contrast matters less here than it does on the marina itself. Because you are set back, August is busy on the roads but not on your doorstep, and February is quiet without being deserted, since a good proportion of the district is occupied year round rather than seasonally. For buyers who want Banús access without Banús intensity, that is precisely the appeal. For the wider picture of day-to-day life on this coast, see our guide to living in Marbella.

The community in La Alzambra

The character varies considerably between the different communities within the district, which is another reason to establish which one you are buying into.

The older neighbouring complexes in the wider district have a settled, year-round, international resident population, with a mix of owners and long-term tenants, which keeps the rental market active.

The gated Vasari urbanisation is quieter and more private, with a higher proportion of second-home owners.

It also contains an operating holiday resort, and that deserves to be stated plainly rather than glossed over, because it cuts both ways. Fifty-seven apartments let to holidaymakers within a residential urbanisation means visible summer turnover: arrivals and departures, luggage, hire cars, and guests who are here for a week rather than a decade. For an owner who wants a settled residential community twelve months a year, that is a genuine consideration and worth understanding before buying rather than discovering in July.

For an investor, the same fact is an asset. A licensed resort operating on site demonstrates that the location works commercially, supports rental values across the urbanisation and makes it considerably easier to let a privately owned apartment here than in a community with no letting culture at all. Which of those two readings matters more depends entirely on why you are buying.

La Alzambra Hill Club, being newer and smaller, has a different feel again: more contemporary, more gated, with tropical gardens and waterfalls and a correspondingly higher price point.

None of these is better than the others. They are different, and a buyer should know which they are choosing.

Gardens, pools and security in La Alzambra

Across the gated communities, the landscaping is one of the genuine strengths. Tropical gardens, mature planting, communal pools described in listings as resort-standard, and in the case of La Alzambra Hill Club, waterfalls within the grounds.

Security is comprehensive in the gated parts, with 24-hour manned security and controlled access. The neighbouring complexes in the wider district vary, and some have gating and some do not, so this is a specific question rather than an assumption.

As always, the condition of the gardens on the day you visit is the best available indicator of how well a community is run and how realistically it is funded. Walk them before you look at a property. Our guide to judging a Marbella apartment complex covers what else to look for.

Golf and sport near La Alzambra

The Golf Valley is on the doorstep, which is one of the quiet advantages of an inland Banús address. Las Brisas, Los Naranjos and Aloha are all within five to ten minutes, and La Dama de Noche, the floodlit nine-hole course that allows play after dark, is immediately adjacent to the district. In July and August, when a midday round is unthinkable, that last one is worth more than it sounds.

Padel and tennis clubs are spread through Nueva Andalucía, and the promenade at Puerto Banús serves for running and cycling.

We cover the quieter residential side of the Golf Valley in our guide to La Cerquilla, which is the natural comparison for buyers weighing an inland Banús address against a Golf Valley one.

Schools, healthcare and daily life in La Alzambra

The position is strong for families, and one school is inside the urbanisation itself. Svenska Skolan Marbella, the Swedish School, sits within La Alzambra-Vasari at the Vasari commercial centre. Founded in 2003, it teaches the Swedish curriculum from preschool through year 6 on site, supports older pupils through supervised Swedish distance learning, and has added an English-language international programme based on the Cambridge pathway from year 8. It is a large part of why the district has such a strong Scandinavian presence. Beyond it, Aloha College in Nueva Andalucía is around five to ten minutes away, Laude San Pedro International College around ten, and there are further options towards Marbella. Our guide to the international schools of the Costa del Sol covers curricula, fees, admissions and waiting lists. Drive the school run at half past eight before you commit, since the roads around Banús at that hour are not the roads at eleven.

For healthcare, Quirónsalud Marbella is around fifteen minutes and the private clinics of Nueva Andalucía and Puerto Banús are closer. Our Marbella healthcare guide sets out how the public and private systems work for international residents.

For everyday needs, Nueva Andalucía is comprehensively served, and the Saturday market at the bullring is five minutes away. We cover the restaurant scene area by area, including what stays open out of season, in our guide to eating out in Marbella.

The original villas, townhouses and apartments of La Alzambra-Vasari date from 1998 to 2003, and some have barely been touched since. As at every established address on this coast, the gap between an untouched property and a well-renovated one is where much of the value has been created.

The arithmetic can work, because the underlying position is strong. An apartment bought at the lower end of the Vasari range, around €750,000 to €900,000, and properly reworked sits in an urbanisation where fully renovated apartments have listed at €8,250 to over €10,000 per square metre. That spread is wide enough to make the exercise worthwhile, provided the budget is realistic and the community permits what you intend.

Three things to establish before committing to that route.

What the community allows. Interior reconfiguration is generally your own affair provided you are not touching structure, but anything visible from outside, including terrace enclosures, glazing, awnings and external air conditioning units, is a community matter. In communities with a consistent Andalusian architectural language, this is taken seriously. Get it in writing before you buy, not after you have drawn plans.

When you can work. Communities of this type commonly restrict noisy works during the high season. In a district that contains an operating holiday resort, expect those restrictions to be enforced. Confirm the position, because a four-month project started in April can become a nine-month project if it runs into a summer shutdown.

What is behind the surfaces. Installations that are now twenty-five years old or more, with the plumbing, wiring and waterproofing of their era. Have a proper survey rather than relying on what you can see, and build in a contingency.

Buying already renovated avoids all of that and costs more. Which route suits depends on budget, timeline and appetite rather than on one being cleverer than the other.

Prices across the district span a wide range precisely because the district spans several communities. All figures below are asking prices as at October 2026, and the market moves, so treat them as a guide rather than a valuation.

• Neighbouring complexes in the wider district: two-bedroom apartments from roughly €430,000 to €500,000, depending on complex, size and condition. Listed under the district name, but not La Alzambra itself
• Vasari apartments: from around €750,000, with a 100-square-metre two-bedroom at €825,000 and a renovated 217-square-metre ground floor at €2,200,000
• Duplex penthouses in La Alzambra Hill Club: around €1,500,000 to €1,900,000
• Villas and semi-detached villas in Vasari: in the region of €2,495,000 to €2,575,000 and upwards

On a per square metre basis, the gated Vasari apartments have listed between roughly €8,250 and €10,138, while apartments in the neighbouring complexes sit well below that, closer to €5,000. That gap is the clearest illustration of why the community matters more than the district name.

On purchase costs, a resale carries Andalusian transfer tax at 7% (set to fall to 6.75% in 2027, subject to approval), plus roughly 1% to 2% in notary, registry and legal fees, so budget around 8% to 9% over the price. Our Marbella buying process guide sets out the full picture, including the cadastral reference value point that catches buyers out.

Running costs vary as widely as prices, and for the same reason.

One useful published example: a six-bedroom semi-detached villa of 402 square metres on a 614-square-metre plot in La Alzambra, listed with community fees of €141 a month and IBI of €3,245 a year. That is a modest community fee for a gated address, and it reflects the fact that the villa carries its own garden and pool rather than sharing them.

Apartments in the gated communities will pay more, since the fee funds tropical gardens, pools and 24-hour security shared between a smaller number of units. Ask for the exact current figure for the specific property, what it covers, and whether any derrama has been approved or is under discussion.

Beyond that, budget for IBI, refuse charges, utilities, insurance, and for non-resident owners the annual non-resident income tax, which applies whether or not the property is let. On a villa, add gardening and pool maintenance, which on a 600-square-metre plot in this climate is a real annual figure rather than a rounding error.

This district performs unusually well on rentals, and for reasons that are specific rather than generic.

The long-term market is genuinely active, helped by a substantial year-round resident population and by the fact that prices here allow tenants to live within walking distance of Puerto Banús at rents that the marina addresses do not offer. Published long lets have included two-bedroom apartments between roughly €1,400 and €2,000 a month, and a duplex penthouse in the Vasari Resort at €3,800 a month.

The short-term market is equally real, given the position, and the Vasari Resort operates as a licensed holiday complex within the urbanisation. Some apartments here hold tourist licences with established rental histories. Others do not.

As always, confirm the position for the specific property. Short-term tourist letting in Andalucía requires registration under the VFT regime, and the community statutes may restrict it. Two national changes sit on top of that. Since April 2025, starting a new tourist let in a property within a community of owners requires the community's express approval by a three-fifths majority, so a property without a licence today cannot simply assume it will get one. And the national rules on short-term letting are still settling: a single national rental register came into force in July 2025, but the Supreme Court annulled it in May 2026 for encroaching on regional powers, while upholding the digital system through which platforms report their data. Check the current position with your lawyer before relying on any letting plan. An apartment with a licence and a rental record is worth materially more than one without, and that difference should be reflected in what you pay.

For the wider picture, see our Marbella property market report.

Indicative asking prices as at October 2026. Within each community, position and condition move the number far more than the comparison between them.

The honest summary is that La Alzambra and Vasari answer a question the beachfront addresses cannot: how to be within reach of Puerto Banús, with a garden or a pool and real space, without paying beachfront prices or living inside the marina's summer intensity. What you give up is the sea at the end of the street.

• Which community, exactly. La Alzambra apartments, La Alzambra-Vasari, Vasari Resort or La Alzambra Hill Club. This is the first question and it determines almost everything else.
• Which phase or sub-development. A 1999 villa and a 2019 villa are both Vasari and are entirely different propositions, and La Alzambra itself runs to at least three phases.
• Whether the property sits near the commercial element, since part of the urbanisation is offices and premises rather than housing.
• How close it is to the holiday resort, if a settled year-round community matters to you.
• The actual walking distance to Puerto Banús, measured by walking it, not by the listing description.
• Whether the specific community is gated and secured, since some parts of the district are and some are not.
• The community accounts. Current fees, what they cover, recent minutes and any approved or pending derrama.
• The rental position, including whether the property holds a VFT licence and whether the community has approved tourist letting, if letting is part of your plan.
• The condition behind the finishes, particularly on original, unrenovated properties from the first phases, where a proper survey is worth the cost.
• Your own independent lawyer, acting for you alone rather than introduced by the seller.

It suits buyers who want Puerto Banús within reach but not on the doorstep, which is a large and underserved group. It suits families, given the schools, the space and the gated security in parts of the district. It suits buyers who want a villa with a private pool at a price that the beachfront and the Golden Mile do not offer. And it suits investors, given an active long-term rental market and a genuine short-term one where the licence exists.

It suits less well buyers who want to walk to the beach, since this is an inland position and the sea is a drive for most residents. It suits less well anyone who wants a single coherent community with one standard and one price level, because that is precisely what this district is not. And it suits less well buyers who want contemporary architecture throughout, since much of the stock is Andalusian in style and of its period.

Is La Alzambra the same as Vasari?

Not exactly. La Alzambra is the wider residential district inland of Puerto Banús. La Alzambra-Vasari is a gated urbanisation within it, developed by Grupo Vasari from 1998. There is also La Alzambra Hill Club, a separate gated community, and the Vasari Vacation Resort, a holiday complex within the Vasari urbanisation. Listings use the names loosely, so establish which one a property belongs to.

Who built La Alzambra-Vasari?

Grupo Vasari, whose first major project it was and whose headquarters remain there. The villas and the resort apartments were designed by the Andalusian architect Manuel Burgos.

When was it built?

In phases. The villas between 1998 and 2001, the Colinas del Puerto townhouses between 1999 and 2002, the Vasari Vacation Resort apartments between 2001 and 2003, and Villas de Vasari between 2016 and 2021. La Alzambra Hill Club dates from around 2007, and some of the neighbouring complexes in the wider district are older still.

Can you walk to Puerto Banús?

From much of the district, yes, in roughly ten to fifteen minutes. From the parts further up towards the Golf Valley, it is a drive. Check the actual distance for the specific property.

Can you walk to the beach?

Not comfortably. The sea is around one to two kilometres away depending on where you are, and most residents drive.

What do properties cost?

Within La Alzambra itself, apartments from around €750,000 to €2.2 million, duplex penthouses in the Hill Club between €1.5 million and €1.9 million, and villas in the region of €2.5 million and upwards. Apartments in the neighbouring complexes that the portals list under the district name start at around €430,000.

Is it gated?

Parts of it. The Vasari urbanisation and La Alzambra Hill Club are gated with 24-hour security and controlled access. The neighbouring complexes in the wider district vary, and within La Alzambra, whether the gated phases share one perimeter or have separate entrances differs. Confirm for the specific property, and ask whether the barrier is manned.

Are there offices and businesses inside the urbanisation?

Yes. The developer's own description of La Alzambra-Vasari refers to villas, apartments, offices and premises, and Grupo Vasari's head offices are located there. Establish whether a specific property sits near that commercial element.

Is there a holiday resort within the urbanisation?

Yes. The Vasari Vacation Resort, fifty-seven apartments across seven buildings, operates within the gated urbanisation. That supports rental values and demonstrates the location works commercially, but it also means visible summer turnover. Whether that is a benefit or a drawback depends on why you are buying.

Is it a good rental investment?

The long-term market is active, helped by a year-round resident population, and the short-term market is strong given the position. Confirm the VFT licence and the community's position for the specific property before counting on income, since a new tourist let now needs the community's approval.

Are there schools in La Alzambra?

Yes. The Swedish School, Svenska Skolan Marbella, is located within La Alzambra-Vasari and teaches from preschool through year 6 on site, with supervised distance learning and an English-language international programme for older pupils. Aloha College and Laude San Pedro International College are both within around ten minutes by car.

What we like about this address is that it solves a problem a lot of buyers have and cannot articulate. They want Puerto Banús, but not in August, and not at beachfront prices. La Alzambra and Vasari give you the marina at walking distance, a garden or a pool, gated security if you want it, the Golf Valley five minutes away, and change left over compared with anything on the sand.

The Vasari part in particular is better built than its price suggests. A developer who puts their own headquarters in their first project and is still building there twenty years later has an interest in how it ages, and it shows in the gardens and the maintenance.

Our caution is the one this whole article is built around. Do not buy the name. Establish which community, which phase, whether it is gated, what the fees are and what the walk to Banús actually is. Across everything advertised under this name the spread is roughly sixfold, and within La Alzambra itself it is still more than threefold, and the name on the listing will not tell you where in that range you are standing.

If you are considering this address seriously, the useful conversation is about which community suits you and which specific properties within it are worth seeing.

We know the difference between La Alzambra and the neighbouring complexes that borrow its name, between the gated Vasari phases, which villas are from which generation, which properties hold rental licences, and what the walk to Banús really is from each part of the district.

Browse the current properties for sale in Nueva Andalucía and the Puerto Banús selection, read our Marbella buying process guide, and when you are ready, get in touch and tell us what you are actually looking for.