Apartment in Historic Ronda

A delightful 2 bedroom apartment that sleeps 4 comfortably, and could sleep 5 if needed, is available for weekly rent in a historic part of central Ronda, and is only a short walk to all of the most popular tapas bars and monuments.

The apartment is a much loved family residence, and decorated tastefully for comfort, with ceramic tiled floors, polished wooden doors and windows, and good ventilation. The apartment overlooks a quaint square, the “Plaza de la Oscuridad” with a small fountain, and is considered to be in a good location.

Facilities include 2 bedrooms, which include a large double bed, a single bed, and a fold out sofa bed. An extra single bed can be arranged if required. There are 2 bathrooms, each with a shower, as well as a large living room, and good sized kitchen. Towels and bed linen are provided.

The owner of the apartment is friendly and hospitable, and has offered to help guests familiarise themselves with Ronda, and would be willing take you on a short guided walk of the city. From the apartment, Ronda’s main shopping street, Calle La Bola, is just 3 minutes walk, whilst the main bar and restaurant district is only a minute further.

Prices are quoted in Euros under Spanish law, though it is possible to pay in British pounds as well.
Rental Prices per Week

To book this apartment, please contact Claire Conway on +34 669 86 15 35 or by email, info@andaluciamadeeasy.com and mention you saw this property on Ronda Today.

Ronda Hotel for Sale

Ronda’s old town, the Casgo Antiguo, is the centre of tourism for the city, so is a convenient location for a hotel. Almost every visitor to the city will also pass by the historic Casa del Rey Moro, and in a small pedestrianised alley here you’ll find a cozy B&B, which could be yours to own and manage.

The property consists of an old Moorish style home, lovingly renovated several years ago, and converted into a two room bed and breakfast. The owner’s suite can also be offered to guests, although the business is described as profitable without giving up the suite.

Offered as a going concern, the property is well known around Ronda, and has excellent reviews in major international travel guides such as TripAdvisor. Occupancy of rooms is high and increasing year on year. The B&B is also fully legal under Spanish and Andalucían law, and registered with local tourism registers.

The layout of the house is unusual owing to the central courtyard with no roof that is a feature of most Moorish houses. There are three bedrooms, a kitchen, dining area, utility room, and a small office area, as well. Each room has an ensuite, and the owner’s suite includes a separate salon. The terrace looks across mountains and rooftops.

If the courtyard is included in the living area, the house is 150sqm, though there is also a rooftop terrace of 15sqm, giving a total usable area of 165sqm. Properties of this nature rarely enter the market in Ronda since the Casgo Antiguo has some prestige with families holding onto properties through the generations.

Buyers looking for a small, profitable, yet easy to maintain hotel should inspect this property. The hotel would suit an individual or couple, or could be purchased by investors planning to develop tourism related businesses in Ronda. All paperwork for this hotel is in order including business registration, an often a difficult and challenging undertaking in Spain.

Pricing has been set at 390,000€ based on market value of the property and ongoing revenue from the hotel, and represents an excellent opportunity to purchase a home and business in the heart of Ronda that would be operational and generating income immediately.

For further details, and to view the property, please contact Anahid Blannin by email, nazeli99@yahoo.com

More Pictures of the Hotel/B&B

Ronda Property

The Serranía de Ronda is located in the North-West of Málaga province, about an hours drive from Málaga city and the international airport, or about an hour from Marbella and Puerto Banus, the Costa del Sol’s major lifestyle hotspot.

Generally, owning a home in the Serranía is considered more peaceful and secluded than life on the Costa del Sol, and this is the main attraction for home-owners, yet Ronda, the main city in the Serranía caters to most resident needs, whilst still being small enough to be considered a market town.

Essential services such as medical treatment and hospitals, banks, grocery stores and butchers, transport, property management and security, and property maintenance are all available within the Serranía with service standards similar to anywhere in Western Europe, and at prices comparable with other cities in Andalucía.

Healthcare services in Ronda are fully developed, the hospital is equipped with a full range of diagnostic equipment, and the surgical team are quite capable of performing most routine operations.

A full team of specialists, including general surgical, neurosurgical, cardiothoracic, opthalmology, orthopaedic, otorhinolaryngology, paediatric, radiology, urology, and anaesthetics are all available in Ronda. In addition, Ronda is well served by dentists, opticians, and psychologists.

Weather in the Serranía tends to be milder than the coast, or the inland cities of Sevilla, Córdoba, or Granada. Summer temperatures rarely exceed 35ºc, whilst winter temperatures are much warmer than Northern Europe, with snow usually only expected for a few days at most.

There are of course many other reasons why Ronda property is a desirable investment, so be sure to keep reading about Ronda. You’ll soon love this important part of Spain as much as we do.

Shangri Lá – Seductively Charming Villa Close to Ronda – Exquisite 5 Bedroom Villa and Landscaped Gardens with Separate Guesthouse, €990,000

Shangri La

Wonderfully and classicly designed villa reminiscent of Roman or Grecian times, on a landscaped two and a half acre plot with gorgeous gardens, irrigated lawn, fountains, statuettes, a large swimming pool, and prepared tennis court.

This property is located about 5 minutes north of Ronda, and offers views of the countryside and mountains to the west. Lifestyle buyers looking for a second home close to Ronda yet far enough away to enjoy the tranquility of the countryside should find Shangrí Lá quite agreeable. Central heating, open fireplaces, and double glazed windows make this a comfortable home in the winter months.

Shangri Lá features 5 bedrooms, each with its own en-suite and built-in wardrobes, two large living areas with open fire places, two dining areas, a home office, cloakroom in the main entrance, and a fully equipped kitchen. The ground floor bedrooms each have a private terrace facing the rear, whilst the upstairs master bedroom and salon offer large terraces overlooking the pool and gardens.

The garage is spacious and has a roof top terrace overlooking the orchard, gardens, pool, and driveway. 3 phase power is supplied throughout the property. A small guesthouse with private patio is located on the other side of the garage, offering discretion in both directions. The guesthouse is ideally located for security, nanny, or housekeeping staff, and would be quite suitable for a couple who undertake a property management role.

A large spacious lawn dominates the garden, containing two attractive fountains with separate power and water pumps, several stone statuettes, a large swimming pool surrounded by stone paving and balustrades with ample room for several sun loungers.

Privacy around the pool is assured with many mature shrubs facing the perimeter of the property. Garden parties are easily accommodated, Shangri-Lá has a large bandstand adjacent the pool, whilst the patio surrounding the pool is large enough for dining tables if this is desired.

The garden is filled with mature trees, oaks, palms and yukas, as well as over 100 rose bushes. 1,000 Cypress trees have been planted around the perimeter and offer privacy and shade to driveway areas. The orchard contains fruit bearing apples, pears, cherries, nisperos, kakis (persimmon), oranges, plums, almonds, and pomegranates, whilst to the rear of the property there are 70 mature olive trees.

For Sale in Ronda, Shangri Lá Villa

Shangri Lá has been mentioned in a novel by Francisco Casas Delgado, a prominent writer of traditional Andalucían recipes. In his novel “El oscuro mundo de Epifanio Blanco”, he writes;

“Seen through the eyes of a child, walking in the old olive trees at Shangri Lá, along the paths kept by his father’s patient hands, among the rose bushes pruned and full of masses of white flowers that scent the air in the autumn afternoon. He approaches the two strong oaks where the hammock hangs, here where his father would lie down before dinner, sipping Martinis with ice and a lemon twist, that he served, along with a plate of olives stuffed with anchovies.”

This villa for sale in Ronda is priced at €1,200,000 and has the following features; Land 10,000sqm (2.5 Acres), House 300sqm, 5 Bedroom, 5 Bathroom, Guesthouse, Large Garage, Swimming Pool, Tennis Court, 2 Fresh Water Wells, 12 Zone Sprinkler System, Fully Fenced, Security Gate with CCTV.

Shangri Lá is listed by Serranía Services, a licensed real estate agent located in Ronda. Would you like to speak directly with the agent? Please call Thorwald Bodensiek on +34 608 765 990 and mention you saw the property first on Ronda Today, or send an email directly to Serranía Services – ronda@laserraniaservices.com.

TVs, DVDs, Computers

Welcome to Spain, and the joys of using British electrical appliances in Spain. We all know the move to Spain isn’t cheap, but the great news is that most of the appliances you bought in the UK will work here in your new Spanish property, and you don’t need to be concerned about the different voltage in most cases.

Electrical Supply in Spain

Spain is part of Europe, and whilst Andalucians may pride themselves on being autonomous, we shouldn’t forget that in Europe we have a generally common set of standards. As such, Spain (and Ronda) uses 220-230v at 50Hz, fairly similar to the UK, where 230-240v at 50Hz is used. Most appliances you buy in the UK or in Spain are rated between 220-240v so should work equally well in either country.

Older appliances that are rated at a fixed 240v should still be OK in Spain allowing for the normal 10% variance inherent in electrical items. In fact, any appliance rated at 220v, 230v, or 240v should work quite well in any country that uses one of these voltages but be aware that fixed 220v rated equipment in a socket or nation rated at upto 240v may operate at the top end of tolerance at times.

Whilst this is generally considered safe, you may want to place a surge protector between the power outlet and the appliance especially if it is not easy to replace, for example older audio equipment with vacuum tubes or valves instead of transistors.

Electric plugs in Spain use the same format as other European nations, namely the two round prong design. All plugs and wall sockets include a third position for earthing which is built into the socket, whilst some plugs on appliances might include a hole for a prong from the socket to slide into. In cases like these the plug can only be inserted one way, just like the UK.

People planning to settle in Spain from North America or Japan will need to install a voltage converter between any imported appliances and the wall socket. Your electrical appliances are rated at 110v, or between 100v-127v, and plugging these directly into a Spanish outlet will damage the appliance and has been known to cause fires. Laptop computer and shaving equipment power supplies are often designed to work at all ratings but please confirm this with the manufacturer before taking the risk.

Electrical gotchas when buying Spanish property

Many vendors of pisos, fincas, cortijos, and other Spanish property will have done repairs to property wiring themselves, and it would be prudent to insist on a wiring, plumbing and general building inspection before settling a home purchase.

A qualified electrician should always be consulted, and in particular, make sure they check the number and capacity of circuits within the property wiring. Often an amateur will add too many sockets or light switches to a circuit, or worse, add stoves, hot water systems, or air conditioning to a general circuit.

Most real estate agents (typical when looking at Ronda property) prefer to keep quiet about anything to do with power or plumbing, you may need to ask them directly, and if you don’t get a satisfactory reply, then insist they ask the vendor. Simply testing the various light switches yourself is not a good enough examination of the wiring in a house.

Older buildings in Spain may have a different style of socket that looks more like an American socket and in this case you can count on the wiring being old, this should be your cue to arrange an electrical inspection and potentially budget to replace all the wiring.

Adaptors, Transformers, and Surge Protectors in Spain

Power in Spain is generally reliable, but during storms or if you live in the campo, you should expect regular brown outs, and the occasional black out. For this reason it is wise to take precautions with sensitive equipment, and if buying a property here make sure you get a licensed electrician to check the wiring in your new home, and get them to double check for shorting and test the earth leakage system.

As mentioned above, don’t replace plugs on electrical items, bring plenty of adaptors with you. These are only a couple of pounds from any decent high street electrical store, and will ensure the warranty on your appliances won’t be void. Discount stores in Ronda sell universal adaptors for under one Euro. Appliances with a surge fuse built-in to the plug are especially vulnerable to Spanish power surges, and that fuse may be all that stands between continued use of your appliance or needing to replace it.

Spanish sockets don’t include an on/off switch, which can be a bit disconcerting the first few times you use them. In kitchens and bathrooms where water can be present it would be prudent to make sure surfaces and floors are dry before using any electrical appliance. A further difference you’ll notice with Spanish appliances is the lack of a surge fuse built into the plug. When relocating to Spain do NOT change plugs for their Spanish variant, instead bring plenty of travel adaptors with you and perhaps a spare set of fuses.

Surge protectors in Spain should be considered a necessary expense, particularly with items such as computers, DVD players, televisions, etc. If possible, a surge protector with it’s own backup battery for your computer should be considered. A momentary brown out could literally shut down your computer thus losing any work you hadn’t saved. We regularly here of people whose entire computer becomes unusable after a power surge, and then requiring the services of a specialist to recover their data including photos, documents, and business accounts.

It is common in Spanish property to have an outdoor socket, often several, and whilst many are under cover, some are not. Generally most outdoor sockets in Spain will have a flap that lifts up allowing access for the plug, but be warned these are NOT rain proof, so only use your outdoor socket when it is dry, and check for water residue in the lip of the socket before using it.