The Costa del Sol came into being as an international tourism resort in the second half of the last century. That was a time when a few wealthy people in search of something different came to these shores, while at the same time, mass tourism began to change the coast from a fishing and farming-based rural community to what it is today.

Nobody knows with certainty where the Costa del Sol got its name, although there are various theories, none of them entirely credible. We do know, nevertheless, that the name appeared as such in the advertising for the Spanish-American Fair in Seville in 1929. It is said that a certain Austrian consul in Cádiz, who used to travel along the coast to Almería frequently, dreamed up the name, due to the single aspect of the region that everybody is aware of, especially in the summertime: the sun shines a lot here. We can thus suppose that, if this is true, the Costa del Sol once described the entire coastline from Cádiz to Almería, and not only the Malaga coastal strip that we know today as the world-famous Costa del Sol.

In any case, the real beginnings of tourism on the Costa del Sol bring us back to an Englishman named George Langworthy, known locally, and logically, as ‘El ingles,’ who settled in Torremolinos with his wife at the end of the 19th century. The couple lived in the Santa Clara Castle, and in the beginning of the 20th century, converted it into a residence for foreigners, charging them one peseta per night.

Years later, Carlota Alessadri Tettamanzy converted one of her properties into what became the Parador de Montemar, and shortly afterwards, opened the La Roca Hotel. From these three establishments grew the hotel industry of the Costa del Sol, a big step forward being the opening of the Pez Espada Hotel in 1959. Within a few years, Torremolinos was a bustling tourist resort known all over Europe.

The spectacular growth of Torremolinos had a domino effect in reverse, and by the end of the sixties and beginning of the seventies, the surrounding towns of Benalmádena, Mijas and Fuengirola had also grown into important tourist towns. The reasons had to do with climate, relatively inexpensive cost of living, cheap flights from Northern Europe and many more factors, not least the fact that many films were also made on the Costa del Sol – up to the end of 2003, a total of 230.

But just a few kilometres down the coast from Torremolinos, another boom in a different type of tourism was happening. This was at the hands of Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe, Noberto Goizueta and José Luque, the men responsible for placing Marbella on the international quality tourism map. Prince Alfonso had founded the Marbella Club in 1954, and with his worldwide contacts, managed to attract the cream of the international jet-set, from aristocrats and barons of industry to film stars and society hostesses. Then José Banús began the great marina and property project that was to link his name forever to international tourism in the shape of Puerto Banús. This attracted the people with the big yachts, and Puerto Banús began to acquire the fame that it enjoys today. He was also responsible for turning the land behind into a huge playground of top golf courses and stylish residential developments now known as Nueva Andalucía.

The building of golf courses was only one response to a growing demand for leisure facilities on the Costa del Sol. No longer were high-spending tourists satisfied with having a place to stay: they demanded something to do as well. Sophisticated discotheques opened up, casinos were built and quality shopping malls sprang up to cater to the everyday needs of both tourists and foreign residents. Theme parks were built, congress and convention halls, cultural centres and museums. Tourism began to edge into the interior of the province, with an ever-increasing demand for something different. The tourism-based real estate companies began to look towards the Serranía de Ronda in the west of the province - the Ronda mountain region - and the Axarquía in the east, and this interest extended into the Antequera and Guadalhorce Valley areas. 

The Axarquía, the name of which bears the authentic stamp of a Moorish past, had actually begun its tourism industry decades earlier, stimulated by the discovery of the famous caves of Nerja in 1959, but its growth was not quite as spectacular as on the other side of Malaga City. This is now the very charm of the region, whose beautiful mountain villages and towns have escaped the negative impact of international tourism. 

The Nerja Cave is, naturally, a magnificent and unique attraction in its own right, but it has also given birth to an international music and dance festival that is second to none. This, the International Nerja Cave Festival, takes place in the month of July every year, and has been doing so for the past 40 years, attracting top performers from all over the world to participate in it. Musical and dance styles range from classic to flamenco, and the festival is now one of the key dates on the Spanish cultural calendar. 

With the building of the new highway from Malaga City some years ago, the Eastern Costa del Sol was given a new lease of life as far as tourism is concerned, and is now one of the most important tourism resources of the province of Malaga.

One of the reasons for the huge success of the tourism industry on the Costa del Sol, from those distant beginnings in Torremolinos to the cosmopolitan tourist region of today, has been its ability to adapt to changing taste and demand. We are now the premier tourist destination in Spain in visitor numbers (8.6 million in 2003), and have a hotel capacity for more than 70,000, with some 300 hotels in the region. The history of the Costa del Sol goes back many centuries, and the history of tourism on the Costa del Sol is still being written.

It is often said that the province of Malaga is a small continent. Exaggerated and somewhat pretentious as this might sound, there is an element of truth in it. The province of Malaga, although the smallest in Andalusia, measuring 7.272 square kilometres, is indeed a land of contrast. Mountains, sea, rural villages and sophisticated tourist resorts. It is all here, and with the most extensive network of hotels anywhere in Spain, enjoying the contrast is one of life’s rare pleasures. 

To help the visitor make the most of his or her stay on the Costa del Sol, we present what must necessarily be no more than a résumé of the multiple attractions and services of the region. A great part of the enjoyment of a holiday is the anticipation, and knowing what you can do in the province of Malaga makes the pleasure all the greater.


Sun and beach
It takes a battering from some elite quarters, it may not be to the taste of everybody that comes to the Costa del Sol, but sun and beach tourism is the motor that first drove the southern Spanish tourism industry into the fast lane, and this aspect of tourism is still alive and well and living on the Costa del Sol. The 161 kilometres of Malaga province coastline is mostly beach, and with most of the hotels in the province built close to the beaches, most of the finest restaurants within shouting distance of the beaches and the best climate in Europe, it is little wonder that the beach means so much to local residents and tourists alike in Malaga.

And these are excellent beaches, cleaned every day and with all the services that only a great Spanish beach can offer: bars, restaurants, showers, beach umbrellas, beach beds, palm trees, children’s parks, special access for the disabled, lifeguard services, policing, water sports and much more. And if you want none of this, but to lie on an empty beach with nobody around, or even with no clothes on, you can have that too, because there are also small coves and beaches set aside for naturists. Newcomers must be warned, however, that the coves around Maro, in the Nerja area, form part of a nature park and thus do not have beach services of any kind. One the other hand, they are among the most beautiful beaches on the entire Costa del Sol.

Water sports
There are eleven marinas on the Costa del Sol, putting the region ahead of the rest of Andalusia in sailing and water sports facilities. All these ports, from the smallest to the biggest, offer all the basic services needed by any sailor, and in some of them, there are sailing schools authorised to grant official skippers’ licences to those that qualify, to learn to sail and navigate, or to simply learn underwater diving.

It must also be remembered that these ports on the Costa del Sol generally have a magnificent nightlife and top restaurants, with many stylish boutiques and shops of all kinds.

Sounds like the usual cliché, but in the case of the Costa del Sol – the Costa del Golf, as some call it – the cliché is reality. Golf is the sport on the Costa del Sol. It has more than 40 clubs, most of them beside residential developments and most in the western Costa del Sol area, making this the area with the highest concentration of golf courses in all of continental Europe. This has a lot to do with the climate, where the sun shines for about 300 days of the year, and it has a lot to do also with the natural evolution of quality tourism in the region. 

These are, in the main, quality golf courses, as we can see by the number of international championships that take place on them: the Ryder Cup, the World Championship, the Spanish Open, the Volvo masters and others. A new feature of golf in the region is the large number of new courses built in the interior of the province over recent years as well, and many more in the process of being built.

Active tourism
Not to everybody’s liking, of course, but social habits change, and one of these changes is the increasingly large number of tourists that like to do something more than laze about all day in the sun. The fact is, older people are staying younger longer these days, and that is due in large part to physical exercise. And if it can be fun as well, so much the better. For this reason, active tourism has really taken off on the Costa del Sol, with something for everyone, whatever their ages. 

There are few places in the world with such a wide range of fun activities. Leaving aside golf, which at basic amateur level makes no harsh demands on the body, we have tennis, paddle tennis, badminton and squash as the most common ball games played in the area. All four and five-star hotels on the Costa del Sol have their own facilities for practicing some of these sports, and many three-star hotel have the same facilities.
For those that do not know this, the Costa del Sol could be described as the home of paddle tennis, in that it was first introduced to Europe by Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe - a claim that may be disputed by the French – and the first paddle tennis courts on the continent were built on the Costa del Sol. It is like mini-tennis, using a wooden bat instead of a racquet, and bouncing a rubber ball off the end wall of a smallish court that looks something like a miniature handball alley. Its great advantage is that it occupies less space than a traditional tennis court. 
Many mid-category hotels have gymnasiums, complete with physiotherapy personnel and services on hand, and facilities for the practice of group exercise, whether on the nearby beaches or in the hotel gardens.

Horse riding is another very popular sport on the Costa del Sol, where many hotels have special arrangements with local riding stables and wonderful riding routes through mountain and forest regions. There are also two exceptional complexes on the Costa del Sol for lovers of all things equine: the Equestrian School of the Costa del Sol, in Estepona, and the Costa del Sol Hippodrome in Mijas. The result is that Malaga is now as important an equestrian province as Cádiz, with its famous Jeréz de la Frontera equestrian centre.

The province of Malaga also leads in the practice of adventure sports, with an abundance of high mountain peaks suitable for mountain climbing, rock climbing and hang-gliding. The most important area in the region for these sports has become the Abdalajís Valley.

Potholing is another sport that has found a home in this part of the world, with many deep holes all over the province. The Cueva del Gato, for example, runs in the Guadiaro River area for four kilometres underground, and it is not generally known that the third largest chasm in the world and the largest in Spain is in the Sierra de las Nieves Nature Reserve. This is the GESM, 1,090 metres deep and still not yet fully explored. And in the Nerja Cave, there are galleries that are reserved for experienced speleologists, given the difficulty of exploring them.

The geography of Malaga province makes it ideal for the practice of rambling, cycling and horseback trekking, and each of the 101 municipalities in the province has its own routes. Information on these routes can be obtained from local tourism offices or Town Halls, with times and dates of organised trips and specific information on each route. 
Almost all towns and villages on the coast have sporting and athletics facilities, as have many urban centres in the interior of the province. These are municipal facilities and therefore free or with a nominal charge. In fact, many well-known international football teams use these facilities, especially during the winter, where the weather allows them to practice and train in the open air.

Health tourism
One of the reasons for the Costa del Sol’s continuing existence as a major international tourism destination is because it has been capable of adapting to changing tourism patterns. One of these is health tourism, which goes back a long way in the province of Malaga due to the number of spa resorts of the early 20th century. This type of early health tourism failed to keep up with the changing demands of mass tourism, and more or less disappeared, leaving a number of abandoned spas around the province. In recent years, however, it has been making a comeback, and traditional spa resorts are opening once more. These days, most of the top hotels in the region offer their own thalassotherapy facilities to their clients
Some health centres in the region have been there for many decades, as is the case of the famous Incosol Hotel and the Buchinger Clinic in Marbella. Other luxury health centres opened later, including the Meliá Costa del Sol Hotel in Torremolinos, the Byblos Hotel in Mijas and the Las Dunas Hotel in Estepona.

Interior tourism
Many of the villages and small towns in the more remote parts of Malaga province were built in places that were difficult to get to, an essential defensive element in days gone by. Being built on the sides of mountains, the streets are generally narrow, winding and steep, and this led to an architectural style that is exclusive to Andalusia. Now, their remote situation and layout makes them ideal for rural tourism.

The classic white village of Andalusia is small, isolated, built on a mountainside with a river or stream running through it or close to it, white-washed houses close together with red tiled roofs, a church on the higher ground that was often build over a mosque, narrow winding streets and a central plaza which is the social heart of the village or town. Almost all these towns and villages have rural lodgings available, whether as single houses in the surrounding countryside –often restored farmhouses - or specially built cottages for tourist use. They are usually available right through the year. 

There is also a budding hotel industry growing up in or around these towns in the interior. The hotels are normally small or medium-sized, and have been designed in the traditional Andalusian style. Tourism in Andalusia is controlled very carefully by the environment authorities these days, especially in so far as interior tourism is concerned, and architectural projects that do not conform to traditional criteria, or are not environmental friendly, will not be granted the necessary licences to build. Many of these hotels are described in brochures as ‘hoteles con encanto,’ translating literally as ‘hotels with charm.’

Natural spaces
We began this section speaking of Malaga as a small continent, and this is easily understood by a visit to the interior of the province. One could be on another continent, and not within a relatively short driving distance of the Costa del Sol. The landscape changes dramatically from place to place, and with 23 protected spaces in the province of Malaga, there is plenty for nature lovers to choose from.  

Maro-Cerro Gordo, in the municipality of Nerja. This area is made up of rock formations rising high out of the water, being part of the same geological formation of the nearby Tejeda and Almijara mountain range. The result is small, deep coves, excellent for underwater diving in the crystal-clear waters. The area is, perhaps, the most rugged stretch of coastline on the southern coastline, and it will remain virgin coastline due to its designation as a protected space.

From this part of the Costa del Sol one can look north and see the Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama nature area, its 40,600 hectares of land making it the third biggest nature area in the province of Malaga. The mountain peaks here reach 2,000 metres above sea level, and are generally covered in snow throughout the winter. This is the Axarquía, and one of its most notable features is the contrast between the snowy mountaintops and the sub-tropical landscape closer to the sea.

The nature reserve of the Laguna (lake) de Fuente de Piedra, in the north of the province close to Antequera, is one of the most important humid areas of Europe, where thousands of flamingos nest every year before beginning their long flight to more distant lands. Seen in season, the flamingos make for a spectacular sight: a sea of rose-coloured plumage greets the eyes.

Just five kilometres from Antequera lies the extraordinary El Torcal, a fantastic rock formation of some 20 square kilometres, that rose out of the sea about 100 million years ago. The action of rain and wind over the centuries has sculptured the colossal rock into shapes that can be seen in the mind’s eye as cathedrals, palaces and monumental abstract sculptures.

Between the Guadalhorce region and Antequera is the breadth-taking Desfiladero de los Gaitanes (the Gorge of the Bagpipers), one of the most unusual sights of the province of Malaga. This is a deep cleft in the mountains where the Guadalhorce River flows, with high rocky walls on either side, and a few kilometres further on are the beautiful reservoir lakes that provide water for Malaga City. 

The Biosphere Reserve of the Sierra de las Nieves comprises ten municipalities and part of the municipality of Ronda, in the north west of the province, covering 93,930 hectares and making up the biggest protected space in Malaga province. This botanically rich area has many pinsapo woods, the tree unique in Europe to this place and the Grazalema Nature Park. The highest peaks in the province are also here, with the Torrecilla peak reaching 1,919 metres above seas level. The third deepest known pothole in the world, the GESM, is also here.

In writing about natural spaces, we can also include historic gardens open to the public. These include the Finca de la Concepción, outside Malaga City on the road northwards (autovía de Las Pedrizas), which dates from the 19th century and which is considered to be one of the best tropical gardens in Europe, and the El Retiro on the Coín road, which is a courtesan garden dating from the 18th century. This garden, apart from its wealth of botanical species, has a fine collection of fountains and sculptures from different periods, some of them of great artistic value. 
Cultural tourism

The strategic location of the Costa del Sol, at the gateway to Africa and occupying a sizeable part of the extreme western Mediterranean coastline, has meant many different civilisations living here, and this in turn has made the region rich in archaeological remains. We can see this in the paintings and objects discovered in the Nerja Cave, dating back 20,000 years, and in the Tesoro Cave in Rincón de la Victoria, and in the interior of the province as well, where megalithic remains in Antequera and other places tell us that we too are passing through. 

But it was not until the arrival of the Phoenicians, who founded Malaka, as it was called, in the 8th century B.C., that we can speak of an urban community with any type of social structure. From then on, the Costa del Sol was conquered and colonised many times, each civilization leaving behind evidence of its stay. This has left us with an extraordinarily rich and diverse archaeological and architectural legacy.

Unfortunately, the most effective means of establishing a new civilisation has always been to destroy the previous, and for this reason, some of the people that visited these shores and stayed left little to show for themselves. Even so, the Phoenicians left remains of their ancient Malaka underneath the foundations of what is now the epitome of cultural modernity in the present city of Malaga, this being the Picasso Museum.

We have more solid evidence of the Roman occupation of this land, in the 1st century Roman Theatre in Malaga, in the Roman Villa in Río Verde, Marbella, in the 1st century city of Acinipo, 25 kilometres to the northwest of Ronda, where there is a very well preserved theatre, and in numerous villa remains scattered around the province. Many of these are in Antequera, where one can still see the excellent Roman Baths of Santa María.

Of the Moorish civilisation in Malaga province, we have many remains in excellent condition. These include the Alcazaba in Malaga City, the Gibralfaro Castle, which was an exceptional watchtower from which to view the entire bay; the gateway to the Atarazanas market, dating from the 12th to 13th centuries, and the remains of the ancient city wall that once surrounded the medieval city. In Ronda we have the well-conserved Moorish Baths and the Puerta de Almocábar, both structures dating from the 13th to14th centuries, and the Puente Árabe, the Moorish Bridge. Antequera has its magnificent Alcazaba, built between the 11th and 14th centuries and dominating the town, while the strategically built Sohail Castle, beside the sea and at the mouth of a river, is Fuengirola’s great Moorish structure. 

Following the conquest of Malaga by Christian troops, many Renaissance buildings went up, such as the Antequera Collegiate and the first phase of the Cathedral in Malaga, among the best examples. Nevertheless, it was the baroque style that coincided with a period of economic bonanza, which is now reflected throughout the length and breadth of Malaga province. Palaces, churches, administrative centres, convents and other magnificent works of Baroque architecture abound on the Costa del Sol. A period of decadence followed, which extended right up to the industrial revolution of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when tourism heralded in a new era of wealth in the region.

This historical/artistic section would be incomplete without reference to some of the more interesting museums in the region, such as the Print Museum in Marbella, the Pre-Columbine Museum in Benalmádena, the Joaquín Peinado (of the so-called School of Paris) and Bullfighting museums in Ronda, the Municipal Museum in Antequera (which houses an exceptional sculpture from the Roman period, the Efebo), the Berrocal Museum in Villanueva and the new Picasso Museum in Malaga City, which houses more than 200 works of the artist. We also have the Museum of Popular Arts, the Cathedral and the Contemporary Art Centre museums in Malaga City, without forgetting about the numerous small museums in towns and villages all over the province. 

Language tourism
Language tourism is as much a necessity as a tourism sector these days, although its origins go back a lot further than most of us realise. It was not unusual for wealthy families in the 18th century to send their sons and daughters abroad to learn foreign languages, and they still do it, the difference being that we can all afford it these days. It has become quite normal in our time for young people to travel abroad to learn a new language, usually to take summer courses in universities, and this has given rise to a new type of tourism that we call language tourism..

Malaga province has been to the fore of language tourism for many decades past, with students all anxious to learn or perfect their Spanish. And as the Spanish language has become the most important second language in many countries in Europe and the United States, the number of students coming here has been increasing over the years. Malaga is now the province with the highest number of language students in all of Andalusia, and one of the most popular language-learning destinations in the country.

It is clear that the climate has a lot to do with this popularity, but the fame of this region in the area of language learning has a great deal to do with the quality and prestige of the learning centres here as well. Other factors also come into play, such as the friendliness of the people, the leisure and cultural infrastructure and the possibility of visiting the fascinating towns and villages in the province. Recent statistics show that some 40,000 foreign students come to learn Spanish in Malaga province every year.

Meetings tourism
Always a prime international tourism destination in general terms, the Costa del Sol was quick to realise the immense possibilities of a type of tourism we know today as congress, convention and meetings tourism. In fact, this sector is not new on the Costa del Sol, given that the Congress and Exhibition Centre in Torremolinos was opened 30 years ago. Now, the Costa del Sol is a worthy rival to any large European city in this sector of the tourism industry. 

It did not take very long for other towns on the Costa del Sol to follow the example of Torremolinos, and we now have international Congress Halls in Marbella and Estepona, and of course, the Trade Fairs and Congress Centre in Malaga City. All these centres have multiple rooms for different types of functions, and all are fully equipped with the most modern audio-visual and interpreting facilities, to handle a congress or convention of any size. 

One of the reasons for the prestige of the congress and convention sector on the Costa del Sol has been the organisation of big events within the tourism industry itself in the Congress Halls in the region. Among these, the Costa del Sol hosted the general congress of the Association of Travel Agents of Great Britain (ABTA) and its German counterpart, the DRV. The success of these, and many more events, has led to the Costa del Sol being considered one of Europe’s prime destinations for the sector.

The expansion of the sector can also be seen in the large number of top hotels – about 20 four and five-star establishments – that offer congress and convention facilities. The result is that this is a tourism sector of vital importance to the local economy, and one that is not dependent on seasonal tourism.

Taking a cruise
Malaga has been a port of call for Mediterranean cruise ships for many years, although it was not until the beginning of the last decade that cruise ship traffic increased dramatically in Malaga port. These days, Malaga port is one of the most important on the entire Mediterranean coastline for the cruise ship business.

The actual figures show us that Malaga occupies third position in Spain in the number of cruise ships that dock in its port, after Barcelona and Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands. A total of 270 ships made port in Malaga last year, carrying almost 200,000 passengers, while 60 per cent of all transatlantic cruise ships called into Malaga to allow passengers to visit the city or make excursions into the interior. Just a few years ago, the only excursions made by cruise ship passengers were to Granada, Seville and Cordoba, but these days they visit the entire province.

The port itself has undergone considerable renovation in recent years as well, and even the biggest cruise ships can now dock there. An example of this was seen recently in the arrival of the Queen Mary II, which docked in the new Levante pier.

Gastronomy
The Costa del Sol has the highest number of restaurants in all of Andalusia. These range from the most prestigious establishments that have been awarded Michelin stars, such as the El Tragabuches in Ronda, the Café de París in Malaga City and the Las Dunas in Estepona, to a wide range of more ordinary, but generally excellent, restaurants. Special mention must be made of Malaga’s famous fried fish, a speciality that has gained worldwide fame and is best sampled in the la Carihuela beach and Pedregalejo areas of Torremolinos and Malaga, respectively. But this delicious dish is good anywhere on the Costa del Sol, and even in most fish restaurants in the interior of the province.

There is a lot more to eat besides fresh fish in Malaga province. In fact, each of the 101 municipalities of the province has its own local specialities, and they would make too long a list for this article, but suffice it to say that preparing and cooking food is one of the art forms that the people of Malaga are most proud of. The best-known dishes are gazpacho, the cold garlic and tomato soup, Malaga salads, fish soups, stews, pork and its many products and many more. The recipes of which are handed down from generation to generation and cooked with that dash of Andalusian flair that tourists come back year after year to eat.

Traditional Festivals
The festive calendar in the province of Malaga is as wide-ranging as it is surprising, with traditional festivals just about everywhere, from Malaga City itself to the smallest of mountain villages. Most of these festivals take place over the summer period, the most important usually being the so-called ‘feast of the patron saint’ of the locality, better known to us all as the annual ‘feria.’ Holy Week is an important festival everywhere in Spain, especially in Andalusia, and there are many other types of festivals too, among them the various gastronomic festivals that have become very popular over the past decade.

Entertainment
There is no shortage of entertainment in the province of Malaga, especially during the summer period. Every town and village in the province has something to offer, whether it be a music, dance or theatre festival, and some of these attract international performers of the first order. This does not mean, of course, that there is nothing to see or hear during the rest of the year; quite the contrary. Most large towns have auditoriums that host events all the year round.

Malaga City is still, nevertheless, the cultural and entertainment capital of the Costa del Sol, with its prestigious Cervantes Theatre and its Philharmonic Orchestra topping the bill. We have theatre festivals, film festivals, jazz festivals, light opera festivals, flamenco festivals and many more, as well as a full programme of concerts in which the top stars of the continent perform.

Outside Malaga City we have the Festival of Music and Dance in Nerja, and many other spectacles in places like Sohail Castle and the Palacio de la Paz in Fuengirola, the Parque de la Paloma auditorium in Benalmádena and the Príncipe de Asturias auditorium in Torremolinos.

Bullfighting
The world of bullfighting may be misunderstood by some and detested by others, but it remains one of the most fascinating spectacles that one can see in Spain. This spectacle – they prefer to call it an art form in Spain – is primarily a springtime and summer event on the Costa del Sol, and some of the country’s top bullfighters perform here. The oldest bullring in Spain is in Ronda, dating back to the 18th century, and it is also one of the most architecturally spectacular. 

The biggest bullrings, and the most important bullfights, are in Malaga City and Antequera, although there are also bullrings in Marbella, Fuengirola, Torremolinos, Benalmádena and Mijas, this last one not being of the traditional circular design. The bullring in Carratraca is also unusual in shape.

Theme parks
There is something for all the family on the Costa del Sol, and that includes the children and young people as well. They love theme parks, and one of the best wildlife parks on the European continent is Selwo Aventura, in Estepona. Here more than 200 species of animals from the five continents live in semi-liberty. Selwo marina is the maritime version of the same, situated in Benalmádena and having the only penguin aquarium in Spain. In Benalmádena too one can ride to the top of Mount Carramolo in a modern cable car, to enjoy wonderful views over the entire coastline or on clear days, over the North African coastline across the Mediterranean. At the foot of the cable car station is Tivoli Park, an authentic botanical gardens with restaurants, bars, theatres and attractions of all kinds for all the family.

But there are aspects of the province of Malaga that cannot be easily listed under tourist attraction categories. These are the friendliness of the people, the ambience of thousands of years of history and the beauty of the landscape. Many cultures have passed through this region over many centuries, and each left a little of something behind. And that is something we can all enjoy in this privileged corner of the world.

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