Places on the Costa del Sol

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Beautiful and historic ‘White Towns’, modern bustling cities, fun beachfront tourist towns, the Costa del Sol has something to offer every visitor.  Here we show you some of the more popular places to visit, but also some of the more ‘off the beaten track’ places to find something a little different.

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Costa del Sol Today. Spain’s sunny holiday wonderland!
Costa del Sol Today. Spain’s sunny holiday wonderland!

Places – Cities & Towns on the Costa del Sol

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Places to visit, places to stay, places to enjoy!  The Costa del Sol, Andalusia and Spain in general has so much to offer any visitor.  Young or old, there are a million places to see and things to do in this sunny paradise!  Use the search box to find your destination, or browse our pages below.  Welcome to sunny Spain!

  • Benalmádena
    Benalmádena is one of the more popular towns on the Costa with tourists from all over Europe.  The town also has a huge expat and holiday-maker population. A stunning old town, coast and marina, Benalmádena (emphasise the 'MAD', as 'Benal-MAD-ena') is a fun place for a holiday, with lots of choice of hotels and holiday apartments!  Great for the kids too!
  • Cabopino
    Cabopino, is a small development and marina just within the boundaries of Marbella province.  It's a nice little place with a variety of places to eat and drink.  Some super cheap, like La Longa, some mighty expensive, like Alberts (very good though).  The excellent Boardwalk is, as of this post, almost at Cabopino!
  • Estepona
    Estepona, once a quiet fishing village, has been a tourist attraction since the 1980s. It is located towards the western end of the Costa del Sol, and has become a tourist destination, a sleepy little fishing village that was once home to a small fishing community of about 1,000 inhabitants in the 1960s.
  • Fuengirola
    Fuengirola is a small beach town, on Spain's beauitful Costa del Sol.  The beach stretches about 5 miles, from Sohail Castle in the west to Torreblanca in the east and is a perfect summer beach - flat, long, gentle waters, great for the kids!  The promenade is a great place to walk, jog or just wander from chiringuito to chiringuito!
  • La Cala de Mijas
    La Cala de Mijas is a small town between Fuengirola and Sitio de Calahonda.  Popular with many, many tourists each year, La Cala (for short) has a fantastic beach and a genuine friendly feel.  A pretty town with flowers and many parades and events throughout the year.
  • Málaga
    Málaga has so much to offer even the most discerning tourist, and there is plenty to do to hike and cycle through the dazzling sections of the Costa del Sol.
  • Marbella
    Marbella.  There are many things to do in Marbella, from strolling through the old town to walking to take some time out to do some shopping. I strongly recommend discovering and enjoying the old streets and squares square by square. There is nothing better than enjoying a coffee in the shade of a blooming orange tree and enjoying life.
  • Mijas Pueblo. A Beautiful ‘White Town’ in Andalusia.
    Mijas Pueblo, a beautiful 'white town' nestled in the foothills of the Sierra de Mijas mountain range behind the Costa del Sol in southern Spain.  Stunning views over the Costa, LOTS of tourist-type stuff to do, but maybe not really for the younger generations' needs.  It's gentle and quiet, a nice place. Easy to get to from La Cala and Fuengirola.
  • Puerto Banús
    Puerto Banús is a holiday destination to visit if you want to experience luxury accommodation, hotel, nightlife, bars and restaurants, located just a few steps from the beach and the city centre.
  • Ronda. A Stunning Bridge & Beautiful Andalusian Town.
    Ronda, Málaga. A Stunning Bridge & Beautiful Andalusian Town.  The view of Puente Nuevo and into El Tajo Gorge is one that will last a lifetime!  A tiny town but deeply historic piece of Andalucía. Great restaurants overlooking the gorge. Stay for a night, maybe two if you're not in a hurry.
  • San Pedro de Alcántara
    San Pedro de Alcántara.  A friend once said, "If you want money, go to where the money is".  That's San Pedro.  There's a famous sign as you enter Marbella, that used to say, "Marbella".  Now, it says, "Marbella San Pedro de Alcántara".  That should say it all.
  • Sitio de Calahonda
    Sitio de Calahonda, almost exactly between Marbella and Fuengirola, is a triangular town, or urbanisation, reaching from the sea up in to the foothills of the Sierra Blanca mountains, in the Mijas Costa region, Malaga Province, on the Costa del Sol.
  • Torremolinos
    Torremolinos - torre:tower, molinar: to grind (wheat) - is a cheap Spanish holiday paradise!  An excellent town to visit, it's absolutely set up for tourism and knows how to deliver a cracking holiday break in Spain!  Gay friendly, too!

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50 Miles of History, Fun and Sunshine

From white beaches to ancient culture, from fun pubs to 5-star gastronomic experiences, the wonderful Costa del Sol has it all… in bucket-loads!

Perhaps for many, the Costa’s appeal lies mainly in its pristine beaches, but to stop there would be travesty.  The Costa del Sol (or ‘Costa del Sol Occidental’ – occidental meaning ‘western’, in case you weren’t sure) area stretches 150 kilometers, or about fifty-something miles, from the Guadiaro River in Sotogrande, close to the provincial border of Cádiz in the west, right over to Torrmolinos in the east, just short of Málaga city, running along the southern coast of Spain in Andalucía.

As the name suggest, this is a coastal area, hugging the Mediterranean Sea to the south.  The area covers up to 20km northwards around the Natural Park Los Reales de Sierra Bermeja area.  The Cordillera Penibética mountain range is generally considered the northern edge of the Costa del Sol.  The area incudes a wide and diverse range of landscapes, including beaches (duh), cliffs, estuaries, bays and dunes.



Most visitors will see the more built up areas, some of which can be a little ugly – concrete boxes built by aggressive developers – but the region is absolutely covered with magnificent and varied plant life, palm trees, fir forests, large open shrublands with one of the most florally diverse regions in the world.  Yes, the world!

If nature’s your thing, it can often be little more than a short drive (even a walk in some areas, the back of La Cala, for example) away from the coast to find lavender, myrtle, and laurel, in the beautiful ‘campo’ areas of the Montes de Málaga foothills.

As a holiday destination, the Costa dates back to the early 1960s, but has a significantly richer – and older, history, dating back millennia.

Many of the coastal towns of today were originally small fishing villages and the history can often still be seen beneath the trappings of commercial tourism.  The place we now call Fuengirola, for example, dates back 2,000 or more years and one of the more prominent tourist attractions is the excellent Sohail Castle, a 1,000 year old, coastal fortress, built by someone with the very grand name of “Abd-ar-Rahman III”.  The third!

La Cala de Mijas, also, was originally a defensive outpost, with (as many other towns along the coast) an ancient ‘castlesque’ lookout post.  The Watchtower of Cala de Mijas, or Torreón de La Cala de Mijas is tiny, but great fun!  You can still get in and, if you have the nerve for very cramped spaces, climb the incredibly narrow staircase up to the open roof.

The Costa del Sol has, historically, been a place of defense, with about 100 ‘Torre Vigia’ (watchtowers) along the Mediterranean coast of Andalusia and further southern coast of Spain.  It’s all been about those pesky Barbers attacking, with their scissors and trimmers.  Damn them.

Oh, wait… ‘Berbers’, not Barbers.  Yes, ‘Berbers’, from the north African Coast, along Morocco, Algeria, etc.  Berbers.

Get Ready for the Holiday Season!

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Places on the Costa del Sol Beautiful and historic ‘White Towns’, modern bustling cities, fun beachfront tourist towns, the Costa del Sol has something to offer every visitor. Here we show you some of the more popular places to visit, but also some of the more ‘off the beaten track’ places to find something a little different. Our main aim is that this list will give our guests somewhere they could go back to again easily!

Beyond the Costa del Sol

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