A European holiday home to make the most of autumn
The Alpine and Mediterranean resorts with true year-round appeal
“Autumn,” said the romantic poet William Cullen Bryant, “is the year’s last loveliest smile.” He was born in the US state of Massachusetts, world-famous for its autumnal beauty, but his sentiment holds true right across Europe too where autumn is a season that shows prime resort towns at their very best. Peak summer temperatures have cooled, crowds have dispersed, and the country scenery is at its most green and gorgeous.
From the coastal delights of Marbella on Spain’s Costa del Sol and the Cote d’Azur and Monaco on the Riviera to Chamonix and Verbier in the Alps, Europe serves up top resorts that offer a wonderful autumnal lifestyle.
“The microclimate of southern Spain around Marbella is superb,” says Nicola Christinger from Knight Frank’s International Sales Team. “It provides an annual 328 days of sunshine and average winter temperatures of 18.5°C, which means that year-round, life is lived outdoors. Meanwhile, excellent facilities provide plenty of outdoor possibilities, with tennis and padel courts and 70 golf courses within easy reach.”
Marbella’s warm weather and top-grade facilities are matched by 15 international schools and easy connections throughout Europe and now to the USA too, through Malaga airport. The range of restaurants and clubs provide a truly international lifestyle, from the prestigious Marbella Club, celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, to La Cabane Beach Club and the more recently opened farm-to-table Roostiq restaurant on the Golden Mile. This is an area that can offer the rare thrill of sandy beaches, historic hill towns and skiing within three hours.
“Around 30% of residents around Marbella are international and the British are still the main buyers. They focus on the golden triangle anchored by Marbella, the hilltop town of Benahavis and Estepona,” says Christinger. “But Belgians and Scandinavians love this area too and for them all, it is it is about the lifestyle on offer. It’s also notable that buyers are becoming younger, encouraged in part by Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa. Under this, those who qualify, pay income tax at the reduced rate of 15%.”
Diana Morales Properties | Knight Frank are preparing to celebrate their 10-year anniversary of working together in partnership, as one of the most respected real estate agencies in Marbella. Since it was founded in 1989, Diana Morales Properties have handled prime property in the most sought after locations, including La Zagaleta, Puerto Banus and exclusive houses and penthouses along the Golden Mile.
In those locations, buyers are increasingly seeking modern, high-quality property with excellent amenities, including branded residences says Christinger. Examples include a ground floor apartment in the Marina de Puente Banus area of the Golden Mile for €3,500,000 and a four-bedroom detached villa in the heart of Golf Valley for €3,995,000.
Appealing tax rates have long been a feature of Monaco’s appeal to the wealthiest property buyers, but the lifestyle there has moved up several gears in recent years, encouraging a younger generation of new arrivals says James Davies, a partner in Knight Frank’s Residential Team.
“Monaco has undoubtedly become more family friendly,” he says. “Where historically it was older, often retired people moving here, the average age of newcomers today is around 40-45 today. A brand new state-of-the-art campus opened this year at Monaco’s International School, with 820 students aged 3-18, and there are more larger apartments, three or four bedroom homes, available. The mix of people is truly international too, led by the British, Italians and Scandinavians. Monaco is a true melting pot of nationalities, all in an area that’s roughly half the size of New York’s Central Park.”
They come for the Mediterranean, waterfront lifestyle Davies says, where even in late autumn, people are eating outside at Le Note Bleue on Larvotto Beach, enjoying padel and tennis sessions at Monte Carlo’s Country Club and enrolling their children in the Yacht Club’s Junior Academy.
“Nice airport is 30 minutes from Monaco by direct train link, less by car and only 7 minutes by helicopter, and the southern French Alps are within two hours, providing a beach-and-Alps lifestyle that’s hugely alluring and elegant. From a day on the beach to evening cocktails at the classic American Bar at Hôtel de Paris, the lifestyle on offer is sophisticated,” says Davies. “Most of our buyers in Monaco are looking to buy a home priced between €15 and €25 million but the range is wide. I’ve just completed a sale of a studio at €1 million and with an average price of €60,000 a square metre, the sky really is the limit.”
Two examples of properties currently for sale in Monaco show this range. A two-bedroom penthouse at the eastern end of the principality close to the Monte Carlo Country Club, with a roof terrace, 24-hour concierge and communal pool is €7,500,000. In Tour Odeon, Monaco’s tallest modern apartment building, a four-bedroom home on the 22nd floor with wide Mediterranean views, is €26,000,000.
The lifestyle merits of Monaco largely extend to the South of France, the prime resort in the European country with, overall, the most diverse mix of nationalities among its property owners. The wide global connections that link into Nice airport, the climate and the variety of locations to choose from – the glamour of Cap d’Antibes and Cap Ferrat, ever chic St Tropez, the artistic heritage of St Paul de Vence and of course the Alps – are all plus points for a region that has attracted the wealthy and famous for well over a century.
The Alpine resorts of Verbier in Switzerland and Chamonix in France cannot offer a beachfront location on the Mediterranean, but their year-round appeal, outdoor living and increasingly impressive range of restaurants and clubs are a hit with buyers of all ages. These two resorts both have skiing well above 3,000 metres and a well-funded infrastructure that gives snow-sure pistes right down to the village throughout winter.
Chamonix attracts as many visitors in summer as in winter, its reputation for healthy, active living helping the resort earn 40% of its lift fees between May and October. As the air fills with autumn chill and the promise of the winter season ahead, the ski lifts are still running, delivering residents up the mountain to climb, hike or mountain bike along well-defined trails.
From the Marbella coast to the Alpine pastures of Chamonix, resort living in autumn delivers a healthy lifestyle, natural scenery and plenty to keep residents of all ages busy.
