Airbnb Occupancy Rate in Nerja, Spain, Data & Trends 2026

Over the analysis period August 2025 to July 2026, Nerja ran 67% average occupancy against a Spanish average of about 62% across the 34 Spanish cities we track, which places it comfortably in the upper half without making it an outlier. That converts to roughly 242 booked nights a year.

Its ADR of 134 sits exactly on the Spanish average, and average monthly revenue of 2,363 is marginally above the 2,341 national figure. The pattern is worth understanding: Nerja does not earn through premium pricing, it earns through length of season. A market with average rates and above-average occupancy is one where the return comes from filling shoulder months rather than from pushing August higher. Revenue was down 1% year on year, essentially flat, which in a period when several Spanish coastal markets softened reads as stability rather than stall.

Nerja sits at the eastern end of Malaga province where the Costa del Sol meets the Axarquia, and its short-term-rental demand rests on a compact beach town that never industrialised the way the resorts west of Malaga did. The Balcon de Europa promenade, the coves at Burriana and Maro, and the Cuevas de Nerja draw a steady leisure crowd, while the Sierra de Almijara behind the town adds walking and gorge traffic in the shoulder months.

The guest mix leans heavily British and Northern European, with a large repeat-visitor base and a meaningful winter-resident segment that books longer stays. For managers this produces a market that behaves less like a pure July and August resort and more like a long-season one: demand builds in spring, holds through autumn, and only genuinely thins in late November and December. Supply is dominated by apartments and townhouses within walking distance of the beaches rather than by large complexes.

The centre around the Balcon de Europa commands the strongest rates and the steadiest occupancy, because guests come to walk to the promenade, the old town and the restaurants without needing a car. Properties within a few streets of the Balcon, and those on the slope down to Calahonda and Carabeillo beaches, sell on that walkability.

Burriana is the other premium pocket: the town's main beach, with the chiringuito trade and the longest usable stretch of sand, and it supports higher summer rates for apartments with sea views. West of the centre, Torrecilla offers a slightly gentler entry price with the same beach access. Further out, Maro is a quieter village setting near the caves and the Acantilados natural park, better suited to guests who want calm and will drive, while the hillside urbanisations trade sea views against a walk back into town.