I lived in Estepona near the port paying 540 euros for 2 bed apartment with air con. I would live in Estepona over Manilva area any day. Its a proper town with a proper character unlike the faceless characterless (but cheap) new builds up the hills in manilva. I looked at beach side apartments in Manilva and found them old and tatty. Sabinillas is OK, Duquesa port is a dump. Whereas Estepona is awesome.

The commute to Gibraltar from Estepona is just the only issue. What they need to do. Is rip Gibraltar off the bottom of La Linea and drag it over and stick it on the bottom of Estepona. Then life would be perfecto!

The problem with teh commute is the amount of miles and its a tough one on the car because of all the roundabouts. I think i counted about 50 once between my flat in Estepona and the office in Gibraltar. Plus theres speed bumps in La Linea. The mileage on my car just racked up. Fuel prices are high now and i've had to settle for living in La Linea and using bicycle to work. I tried living in Manilva area and just found it so boring. Estepona was great, had better weather and is a proper resort on the costa del sol that you can be proud to live on.

If I had a job and friends in Estepona i'd be very happy, and infact if i ever had kids. I'd be tempted to move back to Estepona and deal with the commute as i'd rathe rmy kids grow up in a great town like that than somewhere shoddy like La Linea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE68m3HU7ow is a wee vid i put together of Estepona

We are also moving to Estepona this year and are visiting this week to scout around and I came on here to ask questions but everyone has had such lovely helpful things to say on this thread that it's answered a lot of mine too! The little video here was fantastic, as was all the positivity from you all. Can't wait to get into the BE forum and hopefully feel a little more secure on our new life decisions! xxx