A Villa with a Secret Basement for €550,000 in El Faro

What’s Under the Pool

Start with the detail no one expects: beneath the swimming pool sits a 200-square-metre basement. That’s not a typo. An entire floor’s worth of space — wine cellar, workshop, games room, storage empire — hidden underneath the water you’ll be swimming in. It’s the kind of feature that makes you re-read the listing twice, and it’s the reason this villa in El Faro isn’t just another detached house on the coast.

El Faro sits on the Mijas Costa coastline between Fuengirola and Marbella, a residential pocket that most property searches skip over entirely. It’s quiet. It’s walkable. The lighthouse that gives it its name stands at the edge of the neighbourhood, and the beach is a short stroll south. This isn’t a resort area. It’s where people actually live.

Two Houses in One

The villa is split across two floors with separate entrances — a detail that changes everything about how you can use it. The upper floor is the main home: 82 square metres with a bright corner living room that opens onto a pergola-covered terrace, a separate kitchen, two double bedrooms with built-in wardrobes, and a full bathroom. One bedroom overlooks the pool with partial sea views. The living room has the kind of natural light that only corner positions deliver.

The lower floor — 64 square metres with its own entrance from the patio — is currently an open-plan space with a bathroom. It’s been partitioned before as a bedroom, but the real value is in its flexibility: independent apartment for family, rental income, home office, gym, or guest suite. The separate entrance means whoever uses it comes and goes without crossing through the main house.

The Outdoor Life

The 295-square-metre plot punches above its weight. A private swimming pool sits at the centre, surrounded by tiled terraces and a pergola-shaded dining area that’s clearly where most of life happens. There’s a solarium for the committed sun-seeker, a small front garden, and a detached garage with space for two cars. For a villa at this price point, the outdoor space is unusually generous — private, enclosed, and designed for living rather than looking at.

The Numbers

At €550,000 for a detached villa with private pool, double garage, 200 m² basement, and a self-contained lower floor — on the coast, in a residential neighbourhood — the value is hard to argue with. Total usable space including the basement approaches 410 square metres. That puts the effective price per square metre at roughly €1,340. On the Costa del Sol. For a villa with a pool.

The listing says offers are welcome. That’s worth noting.

Who This Is For

A family that wants space, privacy, and the option to host extended family on their own terms. Someone who works from home and needs a separate entrance to their office. An investor who sees the rental potential of two independent living spaces plus a 200 m² basement that could become almost anything. Or simply someone who’s tired of apartment living and wants a pool, a garage, and a front door that’s theirs alone.