Retiring on the Costa del Sol from Australia: Málaga costs, visas and health care

Who the Costa del Sol suits, and what to weigh up

The Costa del Sol has mild winters, a real city and a train to get about. Málaga is the coast’s city, and where its big public hospitals are. A commuter train runs from the airport into the city in under 15 minutes, Spain’s tourism board says, and the other way along the coast to Torremolinos, Benalmádena and Fuengirola.

Our summer is the coast’s winter: about 17°C by day in January at Málaga airport, on AEMET’s figures, with about six days of rain in the month. Spain has a social security agreement with Australia, and Smartraveller says the standard of medical facilities is similar to Australia’s.

Málaga’s rents push the total up. On our estimate a month there costs a couple about A$5,700, well above the Age Pension’s base rate, and the long-stay visa asks for more income than the pension pays. July and August are hot, and Smartraveller says heatwaves in southern Spain are becoming more common.

What a month costs

A month in Málaga costs about A$5,700 for a couple and A$4,440 for one person, rent included. That’s our estimate from Numbeo’s own Málaga figures, last updated on 24 October 2026. Numbeo was closed to us on 26 October 2026, so we used the figures in our research file, read from an archived copy of Numbeo’s page; we’ll check the live page again after 1 November 2026.

We took Numbeo’s living costs for one person (without rent), added a one-bedroom city-centre rent, then added 30% for eating out, local trips and extras. For a couple we multiplied the living costs by 1.8. Everything is converted at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s average exchange rate for the 12 months to September 2026 (A$1 = 0.5957 euros). Health insurance is not included.

A month in Málaga	Couple	One person
Rent, one-bedroom flat in the centre	about A$2,210	about A$2,210
Living costs (food, transport, bills)	about A$2,170	about A$1,210
Eating out, local trips and extras (30%)	about A$1,310	about A$1,020
Total	about A$5,700	about A$4,440

How a month in the Costa del Sol compares

For a couple

the Costa del Sol, our estimate

A$5,700

Comfortable in Australia

A$6,580

Age Pension, the most paid in Australia

A$4,040

About A$880 a month less than a comfortable month in Australia.

For one person

the Costa del Sol, our estimate

A$4,440

Comfortable in Australia

A$4,680

Age Pension, the most paid in Australia

A$2,680

About A$240 a month less than a comfortable month in Australia.

Not built the same way: Australia's figure (ASFA Retirement Standard, comfortable, June quarter 2026) assumes you own your home and includes health insurance; our estimate for the Costa del Sol includes rent and leaves health insurance out. Age Pension: the most paid in Australia from 20 September 2026; living overseas for good, the base rate is about A$3,710 a month for a couple and A$2,460 for one person.

Each row and the total are worked out in euros and rounded to A$10 separately, so the couple’s rows add up to A$10 less than the total.

Numbeo puts living costs for one person in Málaga at about 719 euros a month (about A$1,210), and a central one-bedroom flat at about 1,316 euros (about A$2,210). Rent is why the coast costs more than Alicante, the base of our Spain page, where a month for a couple comes to about A$4,860. Our research file found no Numbeo monthly figure for Fuengirola, Torremolinos or Nerja. Short furnished lets usually cost more than long-term rent.

Against the Age Pension. After 12 weeks away, the most the Age Pension pays is the base rate. That’s about A$2,460 a month for one person and A$3,710 for a couple, before tax (from 20 September 2026). On our estimate the base rate falls short of a month in Málaga by about A$1,990 for a couple and about A$1,980 for one person, before health insurance.

What costs more than you’d expect. Health cover, which our estimate leaves out and the long-stay visa requires. Then flights home, with at least one stop each way. Our guide to what retiring overseas really costs sets other places side by side.

Renting long term. Spain’s tenancy law, deposits and the rules on furnished lets are on our Spain page under renting or buying a home. A lawyer in Spain who acts for you can read a lease before you sign.

Visas for Australians

Visiting. The Costa del Sol is in Spain, which is part of the Schengen area. Smartraveller says Australians can stay up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the whole area, so days in France or Portugal on the same trip count too. The Entry/Exit System (EES) takes your fingerprints and photo when you arrive, at no cost. Smartraveller adds that you can’t enter Spain on an emergency passport if you’re coming from outside Schengen.

Staying longer. The non-lucrative residence visa is for people who will live in Spain without working, and it has no minimum age. Spain’s consulates in Australia ask for means of 28,800 euros a year for one person in 2026 (about A$48,350), plus 7,200 euros (about A$12,090) for each family member, and private health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain. Under Spain’s 2024 immigration regulation, the first permit lasts 1 year and renewals 2 years, and to renew you must have spent more than 183 days of the calendar year in Spain.

That means test is well above the Age Pension, so the visa tends to suit self-funded retirees. The documents, the TIE card and the padrón are on our Spain page under visas for Australians. Spain’s embassy or a consulate, or a lawyer in Spain, can confirm the rules for your case.

The Costa del Sol follows Spain’s visitor rules. Our table of visitor stays for Australians sets them beside 26 other countries.

Your Age Pension and Medicare on the Costa del Sol

Services Australia says your Age Pension can keep paying while you are overseas. After 6 weeks away the Energy Supplement stops and your Pensioner Concession Card is cancelled. At 12 weeks the Pension Supplement stops completely (since 20 September 2026). After 26 weeks, the rate can be reduced for people who lived in Australia less than 35 years between age 16 and pension age. A full 90-day Schengen stay runs just past 12 weeks.

Spain is a social security agreement country, which generally means you can claim the Age Pension from Spain instead of having to be in Australia on the day. Medicare never pays for treatment in Spain, which isn’t one of the 11 countries with a reciprocal health care agreement. An Australian citizen who moves overseas can still use Medicare back in Australia for up to 5 years after leaving. See Medicare when you live overseas.

How long can you stay on the Costa del Sol? What changes at home

Australians can stay up to 90 days in any 180 without a visa, counted across the whole Schengen area, and a longer stay means the non-lucrative visa, applied for at the Spanish consulate for your state before you go. At home, the Age Pension rules change at 6, 12 and 26 weeks away wherever you are.

Ninety days fits an Australian summer, December to February, when Málaga’s days average 17 to 18°C. Once you hold the visa, Spain wants you there for more than 183 days of the calendar year, which is longer than 26 weeks and also makes you tax resident there. Our guide to how long pensioners can travel overseas explains each row.

Health care and insurance

Smartraveller says the standard of medical facilities in Spain is similar to Australia’s. It also says “Most doctors don’t speak English”, and points to the Australian Embassy’s list of English-speaking doctors and facilities. In an emergency, call 112, where English-speaking staff are available. Medicare pays for none of it, so a visitor pays for everything, including a hospital stay.

What is where, by type. Andalusia’s public health service (SAS) lists two hospitals in Málaga city and one serving the Axarquía, the coast east of the city, including Nerja. GOV.UK’s list of medical facilities, last updated in June 2025, names private ones:

Type	Where	Source
Public hospitals (two)	Málaga city	Andalusian Health Service (SAS)
Public hospital for the eastern coast (Hospital Axarquía)	The Axarquía district, which includes Nerja	SAS
Public hospital for the western coast	Marbella, serving Marbella and the western Costa del Sol	El Español, March 2026
Private hospitals, all specialisations (two)	Málaga city	GOV.UK list
Private hospital, all specialisations	Torremolinos	GOV.UK list
Private clinics	Benalmádena (Arroyo de la Miel), Marbella and San Pedro Alcántara	GOV.UK list

SAS also groups public health care on the coast into districts, with health zones for Fuengirola, Marbella and Torremolinos-Benalmádena. The hospital near Marbella opened a large extension in March 2026, El Español reported. GOV.UK says its list isn’t complete and that it doesn’t endorse anyone on it.

Public cover as a resident. Spain’s convenio especial lets residents with no other public cover pay in for the public system after a year on a town’s padrón. A 2013 royal decree sets it at 60 euros a month under 65 (about A$100) and 157 euros at 65 and over (about A$260). The non-lucrative visa still asks for private insurance.

Heat and fire. Smartraveller says heatwaves are becoming more common in southern Spain in summer, and that forest fires can occur from May to September, with the risk higher in rural areas.

Your medicines. Smartraveller says some medicines legal in Australia are illegal elsewhere, so check yours, take enough for the whole trip, and carry a copy of the prescription and a letter from your doctor. Our Spain page explains the rules for strong painkillers and other controlled medicines, and our guide to taking medicines overseas covers the Australian side.

Which cover. A season away usually means travel insurance; see travel insurance for long stays. Living there means private health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain, priced on your age and health. If you’re not sure which fits how you’d go, book a free planning session on Zoom.

Where Australians live

There are no official figures on where Australians live on the Costa del Sol. These are the places along the coast that Wikivoyage and Spain’s tourism board describe, from east to west.

Area	What it’s like	Getting around
Nerja	A hillside town east of Málaga with a historic centre that still feels like a village, Wikivoyage says	No train; buses from Málaga
Pedregalejo and El Palo, Málaga	Two old fishing villages on the city’s east side, with quieter beaches	City bus to the centre
Central Málaga and La Malagueta	The old centre, best seen on foot, and the nearest beach to it	On foot; metro, buses and the commuter train
Torremolinos and Benalmádena	Resort towns between the airport and Fuengirola	Commuter train stations
Fuengirola and Los Boliches	A resort town with more than 8 km of beaches, about 35 km from Málaga	The end of the commuter line; local buses

Málaga is the place to start if you want hospitals, trains and city life close by. Wikivoyage says the castle on Gibralfaro hill above the centre takes a hefty hike or a bus ride, so check the climb from any flat you look at.

Fuengirola is the last stop on the train from the airport, about 35 minutes away, and Wikivoyage’s Fuengirola page puts the trains about every 20 minutes. Its shops and restaurants cater to British, Finnish, Irish and other visitors.

Nerja is quieter, and the town is built on a hillside, with steep stairways down to some beaches. There’s no train; buses run from Málaga. The Axarquía district’s public hospital serves it, SAS’s list shows, so ask how far that is from the street you’d rent.

Renting or buying a home

Foreigners can buy property in Spain, but since 3 April 2025 buying a home no longer leads to a residence visa: the Government of Spain ended the golden visa that day. You still need the non-lucrative visa or another permit to live there. Our Spain page covers the purchase checks, the land registry and the proposed tax on non-EU buyers under renting or buying a home. The person to ask is a property lawyer in Spain who acts for you, not the seller.

Tax: there and at home

Spain’s tax agency treats you as tax resident in a calendar year if you spend more than 183 days in Spain, or if your main economic interests are there. Australia and Spain have had a tax treaty since 1992.

At home, a foreign resident for Australian tax loses the tax-free threshold, and Australian income such as rent is taxed at 30% from the first dollar (2025-26). Our Spain page explains tax there and at home. Talk to a registered tax agent in Australia and a tax adviser in Spain before your first 183 days there.

Money and banking

Your pension is paid in Australian dollars and your rent is in euros. On Numbeo’s central rent of about 1,316 euros a month (about A$2,210), a 10% fall in the Australian dollar would make it about A$2,450. Services Australia can pay into a Spanish account in euros; bank accounts and moving money are on our Spain page under money and banking.

Day to day

Language. Spanish is the language of landlords, the health centre and the market, and even a little helps.

Getting around without driving. The C1 commuter train runs from the airport into Málaga and along the coast to Fuengirola. Wikivoyage says it costs 1.80 euros (about A$3) from the airport, runs every 20 to 40 minutes and takes 8 minutes to Málaga’s main railway station. Málaga also has a small two-line metro and city buses, at 1.40 euros a ride (about A$2). Smartraveller says to watch for bag snatching, pickpocketing and theft from cars in large cities, at beaches and on transport.

Driving. To drive on a visit, Smartraveller says you need your Australian licence and an International Driving Permit, or you may be fined and the car impounded. Once you live in Spain, the DGT, its traffic authority, says a licence from outside the EU is valid for only 6 months, and Australia isn’t on its list of licences that can be exchanged. After that you’d need a Spanish licence.

Safety. Smartraveller’s advice for Spain is to exercise normal safety precautions (updated 23 October 2026).

The weather, month by month. Winters are mild; summers are hot and dry:

Month at Málaga airport	Average high	Average low	Rain	Rain days
January	16.8°C	7.4°C	69 mm	6
February	17.7°C	8.2°C	60 mm	5
March	19.6°C	9.8°C	52 mm	4
April	21.4°C	11.1°C	44 mm	5
May	24.3°C	14.2°C	20 mm	3
June	28.1°C	18.0°C	6 mm	1
July	30.5°C	20.5°C	0 mm	0
August	30.8°C	21.1°C	6 mm	1
September	28.2°C	18.8°C	20 mm	2
October	24.1°C	15.0°C	57 mm	4
November	20.1°C	11.3°C	100 mm	6
December	17.5°C	8.9°C	100 mm	7

Figures: AEMET, Spain’s weather agency, for its Málaga airport station, 1981 to 2010; rain days are days with 1 mm or more, rounded to whole days. The station gets about 2,900 hours of sunshine a year.

Making friends. Go to a Spanish class or a weekly walking group for a few months and you start to know people by name. If you’re going alone, see retiring overseas single.

Getting there and coming home

There are no non-stop flights between Australia and Spain; BITRE’s June 2026 figures show none. There are flights from Doha to Málaga, and the airport operator, Aena, announced in November 2024 that the route would run all year. Flightmapper lists the flights for this northern winter too. On its schedules, Sydney to Doha takes about 15 hours, and Doha to Málaga 7 hours 15 minutes to 8 hours 40 minutes. Otherwise you change in a European city: Madrid to Málaga takes about 1 hour 10 minutes.

Málaga airport is 8 km from the city, under 15 minutes by commuter train, Spain’s tourism board says. Mainland Spain is 10 hours behind Sydney and Melbourne in our summer, and 8 in our winter. Check routes from your city when you book.

The Costa del Sol for over 50s, 60s and 70s

Spain’s non-lucrative visa has no age limit. As the years go on, the questions are about health cover and how you’d cope with a Málaga summer.

In your 50s

The visa doesn’t allow work, so a move in your 50s runs on savings or passive income of at least 28,800 euros a year for one person (about A$48,350). The ATO says super generally opens at 60 once you retire, or at 65 if you’re still working. A licensed financial adviser can talk about yours.

In your 60s

Age Pension age is 67, and Spain’s social security agreement generally means you can claim it from Spain. At 65 the convenio especial, Spain’s pay-in public cover, rises from 60 euros a month (about A$100) to 157 euros (about A$260), under the 2013 royal decree. On our estimate the base rate falls about A$1,990 a month short of a month in Málaga for a couple.

In your 70s

Málaga has public and private hospitals in the city, and by your 70s that may decide which town you pick. Nerja is built on a hillside, Wikivoyage says, with steep stairways down to some beaches. July and August days average about 31°C at the airport. Fewer insurance policies reach 80: in CHOICE’s May 2026 table, 58 of 76 single-trip policies do, and 15 of 34 annual ones. Our guide to travel insurance for long stays has the age limits.

75 and over

Living there on the visa means holding private health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain, and insurers set their own age limits for new members. A December to February stay, with days of about 17°C, misses the summer heat.

Your first steps

One order that works, from a first visit to living there. A month or a winter away needs only some of these steps.

1. Ask for help first. Book a free planning session on Zoom, or contact our team. Once we understand your situation, we can point you in the right direction.
2. Spend an Australian summer on the coast, in a town you could rent in long term. See trying before you move.
3. Talk it over with your family early, including who would fly over if you got sick. See talking to your family.
4. Put your own numbers against the pension after 12 weeks away, with Málaga’s rent, health cover and flights. See living overseas on the Age Pension.
5. Find out what health cover you can get at your age from an insurer authorised in Spain. See international health insurance by age.
6. See your GP, check your medicines are legal in Spain, and get a doctor’s letter. See retiring overseas with a health condition.
7. Work out what happens to the house, and whether it counts for the pension while you’re away.
8. For a longer stay, gather the non-lucrative visa papers, police check and apostilles, and book with the Spanish consulate for your state.
9. Talk to a registered tax agent here and a tax adviser in Spain before your first 183 days there.
10. Tell Services Australia you’re going, and set up how your pension will be paid. See taking your Age Pension overseas.
11. Keep a plan for coming home: where you’d live, and how the pension and Medicare restart.

Questions people ask

Is the Costa del Sol a good place to retire?

Mild winters, a coast train and medical facilities that Smartraveller rates as similar to Australia’s are the draw. Against them, Málaga’s rent is high on our estimate, the long-stay visa’s means test is above the Age Pension, and summers are hot.

How much does it cost to live in Málaga?

Our estimate is about A$5,700 a month for a couple and A$4,440 for one person, rent included, before health insurance (October 2026). It comes from Numbeo’s Málaga figures, and rent is the biggest part.

Málaga, Fuengirola or Nerja?

Málaga has the public hospitals and the most transport. Fuengirola is a beach town at the end of the train line from the airport. Nerja is a quieter hillside town with no train.

Is the Costa del Sol good for over 70s?

Yes, as long as you live somewhere flat near the train and the hospitals. Smartraveller says medical facilities are similar to Australia’s, and also that “most doctors don’t speak English”. Heatwaves are becoming more common in summer, it says.

Can over 60s get a visa to live on the Costa del Sol?

Yes, Spain’s non-lucrative visa has no age limit. It asks for means of 28,800 euros a year for one person in 2026 (about A$48,350) and health insurance from an insurer authorised in Spain.

What is the weather on the Costa del Sol by month?

At Málaga airport, average highs run from 16.8°C in January to 30.8°C in August, on AEMET’s figures. November and December are the wettest months, with about 100 mm each, and July is almost dry.