Benalmadena Travel Guide

Sandwiched between the resorts of Fuengirola and Torremolinos, Benalmadena is another of the Costa’s home-grown tourist resorts.

The municipality is actually divided into three separate smaller towns. The first is Benalmadena Pueblo (village), which is located on the mountain side. It is a typical Andalusian village with heavy Moorish influences characterised by winding narrow streets and white-washed homes.

It has a wide variety of amenities including museums, a castle, sports centre, shops, bars and restaurants. One of the most popular attractions in Benalmadena Pueblo is the unique Castillo de Colomares, the town’s lookout castle. It represents architecture from five centuries and despite the haphazard result, it is well worth a visit. Arroyo de la Miel is the second town and lies between Benalmadena Pueblo and Benalmadena Costa. This is where most of the population in the area live and where the majority of businesses are located. It too, has a wide variety of amenities including a sports complex, bilingual library as well as a selection of bars and restaurants.

The world famous theme park, Tivoli World is also located here. The area has an array of differing attractions such as its own casino, nightclubs and golf course.

Benalmadena Costa has 9kms of coastline with beautiful beaches and coves. It also boasts a fully equipped marina with more than 1,000 berths. The Paseo Maritimo in Benalmadena Costa is lined with small shops and bars.

At night the port in Benalmadena is illuminated with such great effect that it has been awarded the Blue Flag accolade.

Locality:

Situated on the S coast of Spain, in the centre of the Costa del Sol, Benalmadena is 14½ mls SW of Malaga town and 12 mls SW of Malaga airport. It is postioned on the coast, backed by hills of the Sierra Mijas.

Benalmadena offers a wide range for the holiday maker, from the upmarket casino-going, yachting crowd to more budget-minded self-catering sun, sea and sand lovers.

It consists mainly of families in the summer and mature holidaymakers in the winter. The beaches are not as good as in neighbouring resorts with short stretches of sand, some of which is imported, are interspersed with rocky outcrops. At the W end, the sandy sections are very narrow and close to the busy main road.

Attractions consist of:

An archaeology museum with exhibits of Neolithic finds from the local area, plus artefacts from pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America.

The mid-size amusement park “Tivoli World” in Arroyo de la Miel has themed Wild West and flamenco shows and a cable-car ride.

The large Paloma Park which has a children’s play area.

Selwo Marina dolphinarium. At the marina, there’s the Sealife Centre (boasting the biggest shark collection in Europe) and the yacht club, which has water-sports facilities. Local golf course.

Benalmadena Pueblo has a museum, walled gardens around the church, a monument to Columbus (Castillo de Comares) and the Jardin de las Aguilas, a sanctuary for birds of prey.

Walking, mountain-biking and horse-riding in the mountains behind the resort is also pupular.