Costa del Sol - 8th January to 6th February 2026
Getting There
The trip began with a late departure from Poole. Our Ryanair flight to Málaga wasn’t scheduled to leave until 20:40, and only after booking did we fully appreciate what that meant: we wouldn’t land until 00:30. That awkward arrival time made planning our transfer to Calahonda very tricky. It was too late for the train, so we tried to book a hire car online with Thrifty. The booking was rejected—presumably because their desk would be closed by the time we arrived.
To our relief, the office was still open when we reached Málaga. We managed to get a car, though at a much higher price than if we’d booked ahead. Walk‑ups are obliged to take the eye‑wateringly expensive insurance, so we limited the hire to four days and skipped the second driver.
TW took the wheel and we set off towards Calahonda. The road is excellent, but there’s a toll when you exit. We chose a booth that accepted credit cards, only to discover the bay was extremely narrow and had no barrier—just a red or green light. We paid the €3.50 toll three times, and still the light refused to change. Thankfully, we avoided scraping the car on its maiden voyage. After that, we stuck to toll gates with proper barriers.
The challenges continued at Playa de Lucera. Entry required a keypad code, but the keypad only opened a pedestrian door, not the main gate. That meant we had to locate the apartment first and find the key box containing the all‑important gate key. It was now around 2:30 a.m., pitch black, and we wandered around for far too long before finally spotting the box—nowhere near the gate, of course. Once inside, we reached our very cold apartment and collapsed. Note to self: never book a late departure again.
All was forgiven the next morning when we woke to a beautiful Mediterranean sunrise glowing through the bedroom window.
Once the Airbnb finally warmed up, it became a comfortable base. The owner managed to source an oil‑filled radiator for us, which made all the difference. The air‑conditioning units could blow hot air, but that’s never our preferred way to heat a room.
After four days we headed back to the airport to swap our car for a more economical option, this time with Wiber. The price gap was astonishing: the next 28 days cost only slightly more than the previous four, and it even included a second‑driver supplement. A bit of hassle, but absolutely worth it.
Driving in the area isn’t difficult, but it does demand attention. The biggest challenge is joining the A‑7 from our accommodation. The slip road is short, and patience is essential—most of the traffic charging towards us seemed to treat the 80 kph limit as optional.
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| Here come the sun -Sunrise |
Our apartment was on the front row with effortless access to the boardwalk. Turn left and you’re on your way to La Cala de Mijas; turn right and you’re heading towards Cabopino. Hitting our 10,000 steps was no challenge at all—La Cala is roughly 5,000 steps each way, a perfect first walk.
We quickly found a favourite coffee stop in town, Bsweet Coffee and Bakery, and ended up returning several times during our stay. Coffee in Spain is wonderfully inexpensive at around €1.80. We also discovered Cafetería Cañon, a traditional Spanish spot where TBIL tried one of the local treats: churros, long twists of choux pastry meant for dipping into molten chocolate.
Another late favourite was Hogar del Jubilado, a simple café right on the boardwalk at La Cala. The food was very reasonably priced, and the service was warm and friendly.
Our boardwalk strolls became one of the highlights of the trip. Just past Cabopino Harbour we came across Andy’s Bar, a rustic little place that must be buzzing in the summer with beachgoers. Beyond Andy’s, the boardwalk continues through a stretch of wild, natural landscape that was surprisingly peaceful. At Cabopino, our top pick was Albert’s, perfectly positioned beside the harbour.
Closer to home, in the direction of La Cala, The Garden Café became a lovely spot for a relaxed morning coffee outdoors.
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Alberts at Cabopino
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TW on the boardwalk
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Churro dipping in Cafeteria Canon
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Lunching at Hogar del Jubilado La Cala in Cala de Mijas
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Puerto Banus is just down the coast from Marbella. It is a bit posh for us. Lots of designer shops and smart cafes. Some some cars were in evidence, our little Audi was dwarfed by a lovely
Bentley in the car park. Always interesting to view the smart motor yachts in the harbour though. There were quite a few available for hire on an hourly basis, that would be a nice treat. Our morning coffee and cake was rather pricey!
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| Puerto Banus Harbour |
Estapona sits about forty minutes down the coast, and we chose to take the AP‑7 toll road to get there. It’s roughly seven euros, but the drive is far more comfortable than the neighbouring A‑7—no potholes, no sudden joiners, just an easy run along the coast.
The centre of Estapona is surprisingly smart, and we really enjoyed our time wandering around. We even parked in an underground car park beneath the sea, which was a first for us. The narrow streets are spotless and well maintained.
One of the town’s quirks is its obsession with plant pots. Each street seems to have agreed on a single colour, which actually makes navigation wonderfully simple: left at the yellow pots, right at the blue ones.
Coffee and cake are essential on any outing, and we found an excellent spot at Granier on Calle Terraza—a good brew and perfect for people‑watching. Calle Terraza appears to be the main shopping street, with pretty whitewashed side streets branching off, each lined with those colour‑coded pots.
For lunch, we chose fish at La Palma, a traditional Spanish restaurant also on Calle Terraza. Afterwards, we strolled along the seafront promenade, which is smart and well kept, and the beach looked inviting. We even spotted a bike shop, Costa Bikes, due to open the next day. We’d hoped to hire bikes and pedal towards Marbella, but that will have to wait for next time.
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| Calle Terraza |
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| Blue Street |
The attraction of the Costa del Sol is, as the name suggests, of course the coast and the sunshine. There are, however, some nice traditional hillside towns just inland that are well worth visiting. Benalmadena Pueblo is one those. It has some very pleasant residential lanes and squares. It features one particularly narrow road that is one-way and controlled by traffic lights. It is extremely easy to miss the red light and drive down said street. If one is daft enough to do this it means stopping and waiting for oncoming traffic to squeeze past whilst trying to avoid eye contact and praying nobody scrapes the hire car. Not something we would wish to do, erhmm!😓
Must say the Tourist Office was very helpful and set us a very arduous agenda, most of which we completed. We only missed out on a Butterfly Park. One of the recommended must-sees is the
Castle Colomares just below the town. This monument aims to describe the discovery of the New World by
Christopher Columbus. The three ships of the fleet are created in stone, the Pinto, the Nino and the Santa Maria. It’s difficult for these casual visitors to make sense of it all but the craftsmanship is impressive. Not sure making boats from stone is going to float somehow.
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| Castle Colomares |
Back in town we had a lovely lunch in a friendly restaurant,
La Cepa, on Calle Real (Royal Street).
We also managed to top off our tour with a very decent Coffee and Apple Cake at Churros & You on the impressively named Avenue Juan Luis Peralta.
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| Trafalgar Cemetary |
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| Joining the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot |
The drive from Calahonda down to the Rock is an easy 75 minutes, most of it along our favourite road, the AP‑7 toll motorway. The final stretch through La Línea isn’t exactly scenic, but before long we were parked at Aparcamiento Santa Bárbara on the Spanish side of the border. From there it was only a short walk through Border Control and into UK territory. Driving in Gibraltar isn’t recommended—and often not permitted in a hire car—so we hopped on a red bus with a cheerful driver who whisked us straight into the city centre.
For a rainy day at the end of January, Gibraltar was surprisingly lively. Traffic squeezed through the narrow streets, and the pavements were busy with shoppers and cruise‑ship passengers. We found a spot at Costa Coffee in Casemates Square and settled in for some people‑watching. It was oddly satisfying to use pounds again; euros feel so dull by comparison. Crossing borders used to mean new currencies—pesetas, francs, schillings. Economists have a lot to answer for.
Two cruise ships were in port, and the square was full of lanyards and excursion stickers. Unfortunately, the cable car up the Rock was closed for refurbishment, so there was no chance of seeing the famous apes. Taxis and tours were available, but the cost was steep: around £30 just to enter the Nature Reserve, plus roughly £50 for the taxi. If the weather had been better and the cable car running, we’d have gone up without hesitation.
Instead, we wandered down Main Street, which felt comfortingly familiar with its Marks & Spencer and other British staples. Lunch was a very British affair too—fish and chips at Roy’s back in Casemates Square. Afterwards, we headed to Ocean Village, a modern waterfront development with bars, restaurants, and a marina.
We almost went on a cruise, but our ship wasn’t going anywhere. The Sunborn Hotel, a permanently moored super‑yacht, looked impressively glitzy. We enjoyed a coffee on deck and ordered a chocolate dessert that took so long to arrive we’d be eating it somewhere in the mid‑Atlantic if the vessel ever set sail.
Eventually we disembarked, caught the red bus back to the Eurozone border, and reunited with our little Audi. Despite the weather, it was an enjoyable outing.
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| View from the Ermita del Cavario |
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| View from the Ermita del Cavario |
The old town of Mijas Pueblo is up in the hills about 20 minutes from Calahonda. We visited a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It is a bit touristy but has some nice streets with white washed houses to wander around. Next to the Church of the Immaculate Conception we spotted a Bull Ring. Looks an interesting building but not our cup of tea. On the hills above the village there is a shrine, Ermita del Cavario, that is easy to walk up although via a very rocky path. Where's our Donkey? You really can do donkey rides here which seems a bit odd, that is definitely not for us. Stabling our own steed in Pueblo was a little challenging but at least it was cheap. There is a multi-storey park but it is more of a horror story! Pillars, tight turns and narrow spaces made it a nightmare in our hire car. I am sure that thrill seekers and adventurous types would find it tremendous fun in an old banger. Much more exciting then a Theme Park ride! Fortunately we, and the motor, survived unscathed. There plenty of Cafes and Restaurantsto choose from.
We had
Tapas for lunch at
Tomillo Limon. Sampling Tapas is a must-do in Spain. It's a bit of game of chance for us, rather like a Dim Sum or a box of chocolates, you never know quite what you are going to get!
After our walk we found a great traditional bakery, Panaderia de Maria Quero on Calle Malaga. Very reasonable prices and good cakes!
Marbella
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| Walking on the Prom |
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| On the Marbella Prom with TBIL |
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| Winter on the Prom in Marbella |
The town of Marbella is a short hop down the coast. For us it is infamous as the home of International crime syndicates. However, today our aims are very simple. We are just in Marbella to have another Tapas meal and have a wander around the old town, honestly.
Flag Day - its good to share:
Our Tapas meal was at
Lekune. Typically, Tapas meals are sharing plates eaten with drinks. At Lekune they had a variation on this format. The servers brought around a series of small items, rather like canapes, each with a little flag on a cocktail stick. You took and ate your chosen item and then put the flag into a pot. Some simple items like a sausage had only a stick. At the end of the meal they added up all the sticks and created a bill. Sounds simple but it does mean that every few moments a server appeared at my left should with yet another dish. So it was not very relaxing and it's difficult to track how much you've eaten. We enjoyed the experience
It was a wet day but a walk on the prom beckoned. It was very smart and we tried to imagine what it would be like on a sunny day in high season. Today it was very quiet and the staff at the various Promside Restaurants looked very bored as we passed by.
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Nearest we got to a bike ride on the Prom
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Marbella has smart modern streets but also a very picturesque old town. We had a very pleasant wander along its typical narrow white painted streets. A decent coffee and apple cake was discovered at Cafe Bar Central in a very attractive Oranges Square (
Plaza de los Naranjos). It is lovely to see the Orange Trees laden with fruit. Orange tree very pretty but Oranges impossible to eat. They are very bitter
Seville Oranges. We could make some marmalade but its not legal to pick them. Perhaps the reason why the crime syndicates thrive in Marbella is the Police are fully occupied chasing Orange scrumpers?
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| In the old town of Marbella |
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| Orange Tree Square |
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| Smart square in the old town Marbella |
Marbella is not the easiest place to navigate in a car and parking is a bit stressful but was well worth visiting.
Casares is a small community perched high up in the hills above Estapona. We used the satnav. to get up there but it took us along fly-tippers alley, bit of a scruffy road with pot-holes. For our return we took a more indirect route that led us back via the seaside and Casares Costa. This was a much better road and there looked to be a couple of popular restaurants to stop at en-route probably with great views. Anyway, we had a splendid visit to the old town of Casares. We found a free multi-storey car park on the edge of town and walked into town. Casares Town is at 1,400ft and with a strong wind we found it a good deal colder than down by the coast. It's an interesting place, not too spoiled by tourism. Many white painted buildings on either side as we wandered up to the castle at the top. Great views from up there and it is pretty old dating from Moorish times. Can see why they chose this location to build a fort. Quite a number of birds of prey were circled above us. We think they were
Griffon Vultures. Apparently they sometimes eat cats, bit of a role reversal. Our lunch was taken in a very traditional cafe in the centre of town. The waitress was nice but our dish not so great. It was like a Spanish scampi and chips but the fish element was not well cooked. All told it was a pleasant excursion although we were relieved to return to sea level and warmer temperatures.
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| Casares Pots |
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| Nice Juliet Balcony |
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| Castle View |
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| Bit of a draught - There is a hole in my castle! |
Calahonda
Just a few doors down from Playa de Lucera is another resort,
Dona Lola. It was a short walk away along the boardwalk. TBIL and TSIL stay here regularly and we were able to join them on activities like Wine tasting,
Flamenco dancing and Music nights. We were also able to eat in the restaurant which was convenient as we had some wicked storms while we were there. A section of the boardwalk was washed away just prior to our arrival and, at times, the boardwalk was closed by the council for safety reasons.
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| A taste of Spain |
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| Dona Lola Sunset |
