Been having a little nose at maybe getting a place at Banus but a little put off at the cost of living so may prefer Marbella

Would people mind sharing their thoughts on either place please? cost of living, quality of living etc etc

They are almost one and the same place but Marbella is more of a Spanish town. It depends what you want out of life and who you want to spend your time with. Much easier to check both out and see for yourself as most opinions will be personal. I personally steer well clear of Banus but much prefer the back streets of old town Marbella.

Neither are my cup of tea, although I used to live just down the road in Estepona. As Chris has said - they are joined at the hip and a few days visit would help you sort out your thoughts.

Aside from the cost of buying a house/flat and possibly eating/drinking out both of which might be more expensive, the cost of living would probably not be too much different from anywhere else on the coast.

Agree. Different kind of people in Marbella. Banus attracts the riff raff from everywhere.

thanks, will pop over in May and have a look, the more I have been reading the more Banus puts me off

I personally much prefer Marbella. Here, there is activity all the year round, whereas Puerto Banus tends to turn into a ghost town in the winter months. Anyway they're so close, it's probably best to buy in Marbella and you can always make it easily to Banus for the day if you want to.

It's interesting that most of the Spanish I know hate PB and think it's full of European trash. I wouldn't say Marbella was anything like it or it's people. If you're going to live in Spain why not live amongst the Spanish, it's much cheaper and more fun. I live in a Spanish community and I prefer it much better than when I lived in an expat community. Go just a few kms inland and you'll find cost of living and eating out much cheaper.

To say it's full of European trash is a bit strong and some Expats, which we all are to some degree, are fun and interesting to be with. It is definitely cheaper to live inland but living amongst the Spanish is just the same as living in any group of people. There's good and bad, fun and boring, honest and dishonest amongst us all.