Living in Elviria: pine woods, beach, and a car for everything
Elviria is on the eastern side of Marbella, ten to fifteen minutes by car from the centre. Residential developments among pine woods, with the beach below. It is quiet all year, and that is exactly why people move here.
Who lives in Elviria
A lot of families, and a lot of long-term international residents, mostly British and Scandinavian. People who chose the east side because they wanted beach and quiet at the same time, not one or the other.
What daily life is like
Residential developments among the pines. Very quiet all year, with the obvious summer uptick. You walk little and drive a fair amount: the area is built around the car.
Shops
There is a local shopping centre with a supermarket and the basics. For more choice you go down to the coast road, and for a big shop, the car.
Schools
The east side has several international schools. It is one of the reasons many foreign families pick Elviria, and probably the one that weighs most in the decision.
The pine wood and the beach
The pine wood is the best thing it has. You can walk it, run it, and it gives real shade in summer, which is not common around here. And the beaches on this side are among the most open in the Marbella area.
Getting around, and parking
Ten to fifteen minutes by car from central Marbella, with the motorway alongside. A car is compulsory: public transport exists but it will not carry your day.
Parking is no problem most of the year. At the beach access points in the middle of August, another story.
Where you eat, and where you do not
Beach restaurants and chiringuitos, some of them well known, and not much else. The nightlife is in Marbella and in Banús, a drive away.
The best and the worst of it
The best: a wide beach and pine woods at your door, with a calm you no longer find in central Marbella.
The worst: you depend on the car for absolutely everything. And in winter part of the eating-out options close and the area empties right out. If you are coming from a city, you notice that in January.
