Costa Blanca South vs North: Property Comparison

Defining South and North

The Costa Blanca stretches 200 kilometres along the Alicante province coastline, from Dénia in the north to Pilar de la Horadada in the south. For property purposes, the dividing line is Alicante city itself. The Costa Blanca North runs from Alicante up to Dénia and includes Jávea, Moraira, Altea, Calpe, Benidorm and Villajoyosa. The Costa Blanca South covers everything below Alicante: Santa Pola, Guardamar, Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa, and the towns down to Pilar de la Horadada on the Murcia border.

These two halves feel like different worlds. The North is mountainous, green (by Spanish standards), and dotted with hilltop villages and upscale marina towns. The South is flatter, drier, more sprawling and built around urbanisaciones: purpose-built residential communities with communal pools and commercial centres. Both have spectacular beaches, but the character and pricing are distinctly different.

Property Prices: The Key Difference

Price is the single biggest differentiator between south and north. Here is a snapshot of typical 2026 prices for a standard 2-bedroom apartment with communal pool:

The price gap is substantial. A budget of €200,000 buys a renovated 2-bedroom apartment with communal pool in Torrevieja or Orihuela Costa. The same budget in Jávea or Moraira might get you a studio or a 1-bedroom apartment in need of renovation. For a detailed breakdown of each area, see our best areas to buy guide.

What Our Own Book Says

The ranges above are the market as a whole. Below is something narrower and harder: the actual median asking price of every property we currently hold, town by town, with the number of listings behind each figure so you can see how much weight to put on it. Southern towns where we hold twenty or more, northern towns where we hold seven or more.

Two readings of that table are worth spelling out. First, the cheapest northern town on our books – El Verger, at a median of €373,000 – sits above six of the nine southern towns listed. The gap is not marginal; it is structural. Second, the north is not uniformly expensive. Villajoyosa, La Nucía, Polop and Finestrat all sit between €445,000 and €635,000, which is the same territory as Rojales and Algorfa in the south. It is the coastal strip from Calpe up to Benissa that carries the eye-watering medians, with five towns above €2m.

Where the Cheap Stock Actually Is

Across our whole catalogue – both costas, roughly 2,100 live listings – 218 properties are priced under €250,000. Torrevieja alone accounts for 110 of them. That is the single most important fact in this comparison. If your ceiling is a quarter of a million euros, the practical search is not “Costa Blanca South” in general; it is Torrevieja, with Orihuela Costa as the second option at 22 listings under €250,000.

Among the towns those price bands name, the only northern Costa Blanca entries at all are one listing in Finestrat and two in Relleu. There is effectively nothing under €250,000 in the north on our books.

The mirror image is instructive too. We hold 421 properties above €1m. Only two Costa Blanca towns appear among the eight that supply most of them: Benitachell with 22 and Calpe with 17. The rest are Costa del Sol – Marbella, Estepona, Mijas, Benahavís, Fuengirola and Málaga. So the honest summary is that the Costa Blanca North is dear relative to the south, but the genuinely top-heavy Spanish market is the Costa del Sol. If a seven-figure budget is the starting point, the comparison you actually want is our Costa Blanca versus Costa del Sol guide.

New Build vs Resale: The Other Big Difference

Price is the difference everyone talks about. Supply type is the one that catches buyers out. On our books, the south still has a real resale market and the north barely has one at all.

In Torrevieja, 125 of 250 listings are resale – an even split. In Orihuela Costa, 29 of 48. Now the north: Calpe 0 of 58, Jávea 0 of 11, Polop 0 of 25, Villajoyosa 0 of 23, Altea 0 of 10, Benissa 0 of 14, Benitachell 1 of 26, Finestrat 2 of 82.

If you want an established property in a settled community – mature gardens, a working pool, four years of community accounts to read and furniture already in place – the south is where you will find it browsing. In the north it is a sourcing exercise. That also flips the tax: a resale in the Valencia region carries 10% ITP transfer tax, while a new build carries 10% IVA plus 1.5% AJD stamp duty. Both halves of the Costa Blanca sit in the same region, so the rates are identical north and south – but the cash amount is not, because the base is not. Twelve per cent of the Torrevieja median is a very different sum from twelve per cent of the Calpe one. See our new build versus resale guide for the full trade-off.

Lifestyle and Community

Costa Blanca South has the larger and more established international community. Torrevieja alone has 80,000+ residents from over 100 nationalities. The Vega Baja region (Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa, Rojales, Ciudad Quesada) is home to one of Europe’s largest concentrations of British, Scandinavian and Northern European expats. This means: English and Nordic languages widely spoken, international supermarkets stocking products from home, social clubs for every nationality, and a year-round community that does not shut down in winter.

Costa Blanca North has a more Spanish character, complemented by significant British, German and Dutch communities in towns like Jávea, Moraira and Calpe. The lifestyle is more upscale and quieter. Towns like Altea and Dénia have strong cultural scenes with galleries, festivals and gourmet restaurants. Jávea is consistently voted one of the best places to live in Spain by international surveys. The trade-off is that the North is more seasonal: many businesses, restaurants and services reduce hours or close entirely from November to March.

Infrastructure and Access

The South benefits from proximity to two airports: Alicante–Elche (ALC, 35–50 minutes) and Murcia–Corvera (RMU, 20–40 minutes). Between them, they offer year-round flights to virtually every major European city. The North is served by Alicante airport (45–75 minutes depending on location) and Valencia airport for the Dénia area (roughly 100 km).

Both areas are connected by the AP-7 motorway, which runs toll-free along the entire coast. Healthcare infrastructure is strong in both areas, with hospitals in Torrevieja, Orihuela, Alicante, Benidorm, Dénia and Alcoy. The South’s Hospital Universitario de Torrevieja is consistently rated among the best-managed in the Valencia Community.

For shopping, the South has La Zenia Boulevard (250+ shops), Habaneras in Torrevieja, and easy access to Alicante’s city-centre retail. The North has Benidorm’s shopping streets, the old towns of Altea and Dénia, and the Portal de la Marina mall in Ondara.

Properties from Both Coasts

Here are three listings illustrating the different price points and styles between south and north:

Browse properties by location: Torrevieja | Calpe | Jávea | Guardamar