Malaga 2, the Costa del Sol

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Malaga serves as a hub to reach other communities throughout the Costa del Sol, stretching from Nerja to Gibraltar. This vibrant part of Andalucía is  popular for its sandy beaches, bustling resorts, historical towns and beautiful Mediterranean climate. We had previously visited this area, and were happy to stay again for longer and to visit even more communities. See also Spain and Portugal: Andalucia   and Spain and Portugal: Gibraltar.

             

Torremolinos, now a popular tourist resort area only 7 kilometers from Malaga airport, was a poor fishing village until the 1960s.

            

 The Torremolinos beachfront extends to the old fishing village of La Carihuela, an area of picturesque simple houses and bougainvillea-clad patios.

A long seafront promenade, Paseo Maritimo, extends east to Playamar and west to La Carihuela, continuing as far as Benalmádena Marina, where the Castillo Bil-Bil serves as a cultural centre.

Benalmadena has a delightful butterfly garden, and a nearby Buddhist stupa. It also has an impressive museum of precolombian artifacts.

Fuengirola is typical of the coastal resort towns, where long promenades line the beachfront, featuring shops, cafes, gardens and public artworks.

Beachfront barbeques specialize in "espeto", sardine skewers grilled over an open fire.

Marbella is known for its La Fontanilla Beach, and for its historic quarter of white-washed buildings, remains of Roman and Moorish settlements and orange groves.

West of Marbella town, the Golden Mile of prestigious nightclubs and coastal estates leads to Puerto Banús marina, filled with luxury yachts and surrounded by upmarket boutiques and bars.

            

Nerja's seafront promenade, Balcon de Europa, tops a promontory with views of the Mediterranean and surrounding mountains. Below it lie sandy beaches and cliffside coves.

The Nerja Caverns are a series of caves, extending for 5 kilometers, which feature unusual stalactites and stalagmites, grottoes and paleolithic petroglyphs.

 

Marbella

  

Frijiliana

Estepona

The white-washed villages of Andalucia along the coast and in the surrounding Sierra Blanca mountains are easily reached by car, train or bus. They are a delight to wander and people-watch.

Ronda is a mountaintop town 100 kilometers west of Malaga. It is known for its dramatic setting and its Cuenca Gardens, Modragon Palace, Arab baths, Bullfighting Ring and Plaza Duquesa de Parcent.

Puente Nuevo is a stone bridge that spans the El Tajo gorge which separates Ronda's old Moorish town from its newer (15th century) El Mercadillo town.

Gibraltar is a headland on Spain's southern coast which was settled by the Moors in the Middle Ages, later ruled by Spain, and ceded to the British in 1713.

A cable-car takes passengers above the botanical garden to the peak of the famous Rock of Gibraltar.

A colony of barbary apes makes itself at home at the visitors' center at the peak, from where vast views of Spain and Morocco are seen.

The streets of Gibraltar bring a taste of Britain to the south of Spain.

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This site was last updated 06/30/23