A typical display of fresh peas and beans at the market.
Some towns wear their history like a badge. Casares doesn’t need to. It’s there in the streets, in the cracked white walls of houses that have stood for centuries, in the way the air still smells of olive groves and earth warmed by the sun. It’s there on Fridays, when the market comes alive—not with spectacle, not with forced nostalgia, but with something far simpler: people selling what they’ve grown, what they’ve made, what they know.
For those considering buying a home in Casares, the appeal is often framed in real estate terms: private hillside villas, seafront apartments, traditional townhouses with terracotta-tiled courtyards. But those who stay long enough know that what truly makes a place livable isn’t the square footage—it’s what happens beyond your front door. And in Casares, that means market day.
Friday Mornings on Calle de la Carrera
📍 Location: Calle de la Carrera, Casares
🕒 Hours: Fridays, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM
At first glance, it’s just another Andalusian street market. The kind you’ll find in towns all over Spain. Stalls under faded awnings, produce stacked in wooden crates, vendors calling out prices in a way that somehow manages to sound both urgent and unbothered at the same time. But if you know what to look for, you’ll see the difference.
The cheese, for instance. Not supermarket cheese. This is Payoyo, a local goat’s cheese still made the way it always has been—aged in mountain caves, thick and creamy, sold in rounds dusted with flour. Or the honey, collected from bees that have fed on Andalusian wildflowers, bottled by beekeepers whose families have been here for generations.
And then, of course, the olives. You haven’t really lived here until you’ve had someone—a farmer with hands permanently stained dark from the soil—hand you an olive from a jar, saying only, “Try it.” And you do. And you never buy supermarket olives again.
More Than Food: The Craft Stalls
Past the produce and the food vendors, the market spills into the side streets, where artisans sell goods that aren’t trying to be anything but what they are: well-made and built to last.
- Hand-glazed ceramics, deep blue and burnt orange, stacked in precarious towers.
- Leather goods, rough but elegant, stitched in workshops in Casares and Ronda.
- Loom-woven blankets, thick and scratchy, the kind you buy thinking it’s for decoration and then end up using every winter.
It’s not a curated experience. No one’s here to make it Instagrammable. It just is.
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Don’t forget to bring home some artisanal cheese!
Why Market Days Matter for Homebuyers
There are a lot of ways to measure the value of a place. Some people look at price per square metre. Some check how far it is from the airport. Some care about which restaurants have Michelin stars, and which ones don’t.
But a good market is a better indicator of a town’s livability than any of those things. Because a good market means:
- People still cook at home.
- Small farms still exist.
- There’s still an interest in things made by hand.
- The community still gathers somewhere that isn’t a shopping mall.
And for anyone thinking about buying a home in Casares, that matters.
Where to Live in Casares
Casares isn’t Marbella, and it’s not trying to be. The properties here are for people who want space, views, and a pace of life that doesn’t require checking a watch every five minutes.
✔️ Seafront Apartments in Casares Costa – Modern, light-filled spaces with direct beach access.
✔️ Hillside Villas – Private estates with infinity pools and panoramic views of the Mediterranean.
✔️ Townhouses in Casares Pueblo – Traditional homes within walking distance of plazas, markets, and small local cafés.
Life Beyond the Market
Market day is just one part of what makes Casares worth considering. The rest of the week, it’s a place where:
- You play golf at Finca Cortesin, one of Spain’s top five courses, where the fairways are as smooth as a well-poured Rioja.
- You hike through Sierra Crestellina, where the land hasn’t been bulldozed for resort development, and you can still hear nothing but wind and birdsong.
- You eat at restaurants that don’t have to tell you they use fresh ingredients—because you just saw those ingredients at the market on Friday.
And the best part? You can do all this without giving up modern convenience. Casares is 1 hour and 30 minutes from Málaga Airport, 50 minutes from Gibraltar, and close enough to Marbella when you need it—but far enough when you don’t.
Investing in Casares Real Estate
At Ultimate-Lifestyles.com, we focus on properties that don’t just offer high-end living, but a reason to stay. If you’re looking for a home in Casares, you’re not just investing in real estate—you’re investing in a different way of life.
✔️ Seafront penthouses with Mediterranean views
✔️ Private villas with gated security
✔️ Traditional homes in Casares Pueblo, built to last
Click here to explore our exclusive listings or speak with our team.
📩 Email: [email protected]
📞 Telephone: +34 951 12 07 12
Some people buy homes in Spain for the beach. Others for the golf. Some for the sunshine alone.And then there are the ones who know that a town’s worth is measured on market days. They’re the ones buying in Casares.