Learn more about the Costa del Sol and its town and municipalities
The Costa del Sol, which translates into english as Coast of the Sun, is a region of Southern Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. As the name implies, the region consists of the coastal towns and communities along the Mediterranean coastline found in the province of Malaga. The Costa del Sol is situated between two lesser known costas: Costa de la Luz to the west and Costa Tropical to the east.
The Costa del Sol includes the city of Malaga, which the province takes its name from, and the towns of Torremolinos, Benalmadena, Fuengirola, Mijas, Marbella, San Pedro de Alcántara, Estepona, Manilva, Velez Malaga, Rincon de la Victoria, Nerja, Torrox, the community of Sotogrande, San Roque and La Linea de la Concepcion.
The region also has a long history with settlement dating back to the Bronze Age, and it has been colonised and ruled by many cultures such as the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Visigoths and Moors, before the Reconquista by the kingdom of Spain.
Formerly made up of the city of Malaga plus a series of small, quiet fishing and mountain villages, the region has been completely transformed during the latter part of the 20th century into a world renowned tourist destination.
Discovered and developed to meet the demands of international tourism from the 1950s onwards, the Costa del Sol has since become a popular destination for foreign tourists not only for its beaches but also for its local culture, with the quintessential flamenco playing an important role. The area is particularly famous for its towns like Marbella, which provides the Costa del Sol with its reputation for being a playground for its super-rich and famous visitors.
This popularity, combined with funding from the central government and the EU has led to an expansion in the level and quality of hotels and tourist facilities to cater to the international tourists who have made the Costa del Sol their second home.
During the late 1970s and 1980s, the region became known as the "Costa del Crime", due to the trend for British gangsters to escape from legal trouble at home by moving there to live their lives in luxury. This was followed in the 1990s with the title of “Costa del Golf” due to the large amount of golf courses having been created.
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Located at the foot of the Sierra de Mijas, Alhaurin de la Torre opens up onto the lush Guadalhorce valley. Due to its location Alhaurin de la Torre is surrounded by farms and plantations growing all manners of fruits and vegetables. While...
The first view the approaching traveller has of this village is of a succession of market gardens, as fertile as they are well tended, that descend in terraced steps into the valley where they mingle with...
The municipality of Benahavis stretches across the foothills of the mountain range and is shaped by three rivers, each forming its own valley. It is one of the most mountainous areas of the Western Costa del Sol, with...
The most striking peculiarity about this municipality, which stretches from the southern foothills of the Sierra de Mijas range to the sea’s edge, is that it consists of three population centres, which are now...
The green of the Guadalhorce valley and, in the citrus blossoming season, the fragrance of orange blossoms impregnate a large part of the territory of this municipality, whose centre of population is...
Coin's municipal territory stretches from the considerable heights of the Alpujata range, one of the mountain masses that separate the interior of the province from the western coast, to the centre of...
All tourism slogans and campaigns, some more than others, are inspired by a reality that is more or less verifiable, and the traveller determines the veracity of the slogan during his visit to the area in question.
Almost the entire municipality of Estepona is dominated by the majestic Sierra Bermeja range. This massif is formed of volcanic rocks known as periodite, a mineral rich in iron oxide, that imparts a characteristic reddish tinge to the terrain.
The south slope of the Almijara mountain range takes up a large part of the municipality of Frigiliana and its topography is complex and rich in contrasts, with peaks that, without reaching the heights of that mountain mass...
It seems almost a paradox, when one considers its population and the role it plays in tourism and the fact that it has eight kilometres of beaches, that the municipal area of Fuengirola is only 10 square kilometres. Possibly the paradox is...
The territory of Istan is framed by the Sierra de las Nieves range and part of it is even included in the area that has been designated a Biosphere Reserve. Little more need be said to describe the ecological value of this area...
At the heart of the Costa del Sol on Mijas Costa, only a short distance from Marbella and Fuengirola, you will love the charm of this old fishing pueblo. Unspoiled by mass tourism with golden sandy beaches.
The extensive territory of the municipality of Malaga, the province’s third in area, after Antequera and Ronda, contains at least two very different kinds of landscape. In the north are the Malaga Mountains, a heavily wooded and, as...
This municipality contains five urban centres between the River Manilva and the border of the province of Cadiz that originated in different eras and among which the population is distributed: the actual village of Manilva, Sabinillas...
The unmistakable silhouette of the Sierra Blanca mountain range is visible from any point in this municipality and is the geographic feature that best defines this territory. It is especially mountainous in its northern part...
The municipality of Mijas takes in all that country between the mountain range that gives it its name and the sea. The terrain thus ascends in a short distance and at times rather abruptly from sea level on the coast to the highest peak in...
The territory of Monda spreads out among a collection of mountain ranges that not only lend diversity to the landscape that they form but also a certain unique and unmistakable air to the area. It may not differ radically from...
The eastern edge of the province of Malaga is connected to the province of Granada by the municipality of Nerja, which is not only the most important tourist centre of the Eastern Costa del Sol, but also the one that boasts the most attractive...
Despite being an interior village, as the municipality has no outlet to the sea, Ojen is included in the Western Costa del Sol. This is due not so much to its proximity to Marbella and Mijas, which it borders, as to the fact that it has almost the same...
Located just west of Marbella, Puerto Banus is synonymous with wealth, fashion, celebrities, & the highlife. It is doubtful that this would have been fully realised in the 1950's when Jose Banus gave the port its name; though even then...
The municipal territory of Rincon de la Victoria is bordered by the Totalan stream on the west and by that of San Millan on the east, and there are two other streams, the Granadillas and Benagalbon; all of these have only seasonal flow.
When a poet of the stature of Rainer Maria Rilke, with such a precise command of words, defined Ronda as the 'dreamed-of city', he had his reasons. Surely, after visiting it the traveller will confirm the poet’s judgment, and agree even more...
Among the foothills of the Mijas mountain range, in an area of gentle terrain that decreases in altitude as it approaches the seacoast, lies the territory of Torremolinos, formerly a district of Malaga and a separate municipality since 1988.
This municipality’s terrain is so rugged that it seems to positively abhor level land, being an endless succession of ravines and hills. Due to their proximity to the sea, the hills do not rise to great altitudes. Their highest points such as La Rabita...
The municipality of Velez-Malaga, the largest and most populous in the La Axarquia region, lies mainly within the watershed of the River Velez, which is formed by the Rivers Benamargosa and El Guaro and irrigates, a broad and rich lowland.
