From a Costa Blanca bungalow
to a penthouse above the sea.

These homes suit buyers who want light, views and a door they can simply lock behind them. This guide explains what each word means here and where to begin looking.

The bungalow, Costa Blanca style

On the Costa Blanca, a bungalow is rarely the detached, ground-level house the word suggests in Britain or America. It usually describes a low-rise home within a small community, either at garden level with a private plot or on the upper floor with a roof terrace of its own.

At the upper end, the idea becomes a garden residence in a quiet enclave near Jávea, Moraira or Altea, with mature planting and sea views. Calpe, beneath the rock of the Peñón de Ifach, adds apartments with the Mediterranean close at hand.

Luxury penthouses for sale in Spain

A penthouse brings together what apartment buyers value most: the top floor, open terraces and a sense of privacy in the middle of the city. Barcelona is the classic address, with rooftops that look over the Eixample towards the sea.

Madrid offers penthouses in the Salamanca district and other elegant quarters. Málaga pairs city-centre apartments with its port and museums, Marbella adds penthouses facing the Mediterranean, and in Mallorca luxury apartments look over Palma's harbour. Our guides to Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, the Valencia region and the Balearic Islands go further, and the search lets you start from any of them.

• Who maintains the roof terrace, and what the community rules allow.
• Lift access, parking and storage, which matter more than they seem.
• The orientation of each terrace, for winter sun and summer shade.
• Permission for any glazing or pergola, confirmed by a lawyer.