The ranking holds 11 schools with an international accreditation or an authorised programme. International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 3 of them. The British Cambridge route, IGCSE and A-Level, at 5. A year of school costs from €8 500 to €13 200. A swimming pool on site is confirmed at 3.
We do not take reviews from maps and directories: their terms forbid it, and nobody checks the quality there. Everything below comes from the official registers of the accrediting organisations and from the schools' own sites, and every fact carries its source and the date of the check.
| Cheapest | $9 603 a year | Svenska Skolan Marbella |
| Median | $12 088 a year | top of the fee range at 2 schools with a published fee |
| Most expensive | $14 912 a year | The American College in Spain |
Figures are converted to dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish their fees in their own currency. One-off charges, meals, transport and uniform are not included unless the school says otherwise. Fees for schools in Marbella are taken from published price lists, not from what third parties say.
All 11 schools in the ranking are private. We have not yet found a state school in Marbella with an international accreditation. The type of school does not affect the score: private and state schools sit in one list and are scored by the same formula, and only verifiable data moves the number.
Schools in Marbella with an IB programme (3): Aloha College Marbella, Swans International School, Colegio Las Chapas. 1 of them runs the full three-stage cycle: PYP, MYP and DP. Authorisation is confirmed against the International Baccalaureate register.
The British Cambridge programme - IGCSE and A-Level - is taught at 5 schools in Marbella: Laude San Pedro International College, Aloha College Marbella, The English International College, The British International School of Marbella, Swans International School.
A facility counts only when the school names it outright on its own site: a modern campus is not a swimming pool. Swimming pool: 3 schools · School transport: 2 schools.
Comparing schools on a single feature is useless: the most expensive is not the best, and a famous name says nothing about what is backed by documents. The score is therefore built from nine criteria with different weights - from academic programmes and accreditation to facilities, clubs and fees relative to other schools in the country.
A criterion counts towards the score only when there is verifiable data behind it. That is why every score says how many of the nine criteria were counted: at schools in Marbella that is 7.2 out of 9 on average. A school with a detailed site and a school with no site cannot earn an equally reliable score, and that is shown rather than hidden.
Ratings and reviews from Google Maps, Yandex Maps and 2GIS are not used: their terms forbid aggregation. Only verified reviews left here count. Full methodology →
Published fees run from $9 603 to $14 912 for a school year. The cheapest is Svenska Skolan Marbella, the most expensive The American College in Spain. The median for the senior stage is $12 088 a year. Fees are converted into dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish them in their own currency.
Laude San Pedro International College comes first with 79.2 points out of 100, counted from 7 of the 9 criteria. Next come Aloha College Marbella (76.5) and The English International College (75.4). The score is built from data anyone can check: accreditations found in official registers, programmes, facilities and published fees. A place in the ranking is not for sale.
The ranking holds 11 schools: 11 private. We found no state school in Marbella with an international accreditation. Private and state schools go into the ranking on equal terms.
International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 3 schools: Aloha College Marbella, Swans International School, Colegio Las Chapas. 1 of them runs the full three-stage cycle: PYP, MYP and DP.
IGCSE and A-Level are offered by 5 schools: Laude San Pedro International College, Aloha College Marbella, The English International College, The British International School of Marbella, Swans International School.
The earliest intake starts at 6 months old. 6 schools have a preschool section.
The score of every school adds up from nine criteria with different weights: academic programmes, accreditation, facilities, clubs, the fee against other schools in the country, reviews, university destinations, safety and teachers. A criterion counts only when there is data behind it that can be checked, so every score says how many of the nine were counted. Right now that is 7.2 out of 9 on average. We do not use reviews from maps or directories.