Andalucia, located in southern Spain, offers everything for a memorable Mediterranean journey, including plenty of sun, beaches, history, architecture, good food, and scenery.
Ever since my first time traveling Europe many years ago during college, I have loved the Mediterranean – its food, people, weather, beautiful and colorful landscape, and relaxed way of life. When I was 20, I spent a few months in Greece as part of a semester abroad, followed by traveling throughout Europe including Italy and France. As I’ve approached retirement, I’ve often thought of spending more time in this part of the world, whether it be for a few months at a time, or longer term. The idea of spending the day at the beach drinking sangria, followed by a late dinner, then strolling the seaside promenade surrounded by people enjoying a warm breezy night, just appeals to me. Southern Spain, and in particular Andalucia, is one of those places I’ve contemplated, but had not yet been to. In June 2022, my partner and I spent ten fantastic, sun drenched days exploring Southern Spain, basing ourselves in the beach side resort town of Torremolinos, just outside of Málaga, and part of the infamous Costa del Sol. I had heard about this specific part of Spain from other friends who had spent time there, as well as in numerous articles in the magazine International Living, touting increasing popularity amongst expats and retirees.
From Torremolinos, we were able to explore throughout Andalucia, with day trips to the coastal cities of Malaga, Marbella, and Nerja, and inland cities of Seville, Cordoba, Ronda and Granada. I’ve included separate articles on the Costa del Sol, and the Interior towns and cities of Andalucia.
Sun and Sand along the Costa del Sol
Exploring the Interior Towns and Cities of Andalucia
The following provides an overview and basic information of Andalucia that may be helpful in preparing for a trip to Andalucia.
The People
The local Spanish population is very friendly, and in the more populated areas we found that most of the people speak limited to fluent English. Along the coast (Costa del Sol), there are as many expats and tourists as there are locals, comprised mostly of other Europeans, especially British, Irish, Scandinavians and Germans. Therefore, many of the restaurants focus on serving these customers, and you will see pubs airing rugby matches, and restaurants serving English and Irish breakfasts. As Americans, we were definitely the minority, and I only heard an American accent a few times during our entire trip.
The Weather
The weather is what draws people to Andalucia, with hot and dry summers, mild winters and 300 days of sun. The weather can vary greatly between the coastal areas and inland. On days that the temperature exceeded 100 degrees in Seville and Cordova, it was a much more tolerable 85 degrees in Málaga. Temperatures are hottest in July and August. The rainiest months are during winter. In general, the best time to go to Andalucia is from March to June, and September to November, when temperatures are warm but not excessive.
Getting Around
There are multiple options for getting around Andalucia, including rail, bus, car and air. We flew into the Málaga Airport (connecting thru Paris), a large modern facility conveniently located between Málaga and Torremolinos. Flights into and out of Málaga are primarily to other cities throughout Spain and the European Union, as well as the United Kingdom, and Morocco.
While there is a good network of train service throughout Spain, to really see some of the smaller cities and villages, you will need to rent a car. We used the local light rail train to get from Torremolinos to Málaga, which runs frequently, and takes approximately 30 minutes. There is a stop at the airport as well. From Málaga’s main train station (Málaga María Zambrano station), you can connect to high speed trains that take you to Cordova, Toledo and Madrid, and from Cordova, you can also connect on trails to take you to Seville, Cadiz, Granada and other areas of Andalucia.
We rented a car from the Málaga airport, because it provided us more opportunity to go to some of the places that are not accessible by rail, such as the hill towns, and some of the coastal towns including Marbella and Nerja. Most rental cars are compact and standard. Renting an automatic will cost significantly more. A couple of things to note about driving in Spain:
Traffic Circles – most intersections are controlled by small roundabouts or circles rather than traffic signals. While this helps to keep traffic moving, they can be very confusing and complicated if you are not used to them. This is compounded by the fact that circles are often spaced very close to each other, and the circle themselves are rather small, compared to roundabouts in the U.S., requiring quick thinking for finding your exit. Using a GPS navigation system, such as Google maps or Waze, is extremely helpful. As you approach the circle, you yield to traffic that is coming from your left, and already in the circle.
Parking – In most of the larger cities, the historic areas are dedicated to pedestrians and car free. This means you will need to park your car in one of the peripheral lots designated by a “P”. Parking is relatively inexpensive, and often is free if along a street where there is dedicated parking. We found that the most frustrating aspect of parking is the tight parking spaces, especially in parking garages. In some of the garages we used, maneuvering through them required stopping and backing frequently to make the tight turns.
Highway / Tolls – The highways can be a great way to see the beautiful surrounding countryside, dotted with hills, fields, olive trees, sunflowers, old white walled villages and abandoned fortresses or castles. The highways are very clean and well maintained, with the exception of graffiti along most of the highways within urban areas. In the countryside, the medians are filled with colorful pink, red and white oleander flowers. Some of the highways around southern Spain are tollways that can be relatively expensive. The toll highways are designated as AP, meaning Auto Pista, such as AP-7. You can pay using a credit card or coins. Unattended booths allow you to easily tap your credit card on the reader.
Speed Cameras – There are two types of speed cameras along highways in Spain. These include a regular speed camera that will monitor your speed and a ticket will be sent to the rental car company if you exceed the speed limit. The second type of camera is an Average Speed Zone, where your average speed cannot exceed the speed limit within the zone. In some areas, there are mobile speed traps with a camera on an unmarked police car, where the speed limit decreases rapidly. We received a ticket that was 50 Euros (paying the police immediately with a credit card). The normal price was 100 Euros if we didn’t pay it immediately.
A more stress free and economical way of touring places is by using a tour company that uses buses. We used tour companies to go to both Seville (Civitatis) and Grenada (Bookyourtour). A variety of tours can also be reserved through Viator. If you were to travel by car to either of these places, you would need to pay for gas (which is much more expensive than in the U.S.), parking, navigating unfamiliar streets, as well as paying separate entry fees to sites. For each tour, the bus picked us up at our hotel, and tour guides took care of our entry to sites and gave us history and background information that we may not have otherwise found. We were given free time to do our own exploring and get food. During the bus ride, we stopped at a very nice service center called Abades. Abades is much nicer than any highway service center I’ve seen in the U.S. It is extremely clean, has large restrooms, souvenir shops, and a cafeteria with a wide range of food selections.
Food and Restaurants
In southern Spain, you will find a wide variety of types of restaurants, but probably less ethnic food options than you will find in any large U.S. city. In the heavy tourist areas such as Torremolinos, many of the restaurants seemed to have similar menus, focusing on Spanish tapas, seafood, steaks / burgers, pizza and pasta, and the food is often of a mediocre quality. There are also numerous snack shops such as Kabob stands, as well as fast food. There is a limited number of restaurants serving Asian, Middle Eastern or Mexican fare. While there are some very good restaurants, it took us some experimenting to find them. Many of the restaurants will provide you a small bowl of delicious Spanish olives as a free appetizer, and some provide a free after meal shot of caramel vodka. Bread is typically provided, but you will see the charge on the bill, usually one Euro. If you like gelato, small gelato stands serving many delicious flavors can be found everywhere. The bakeries, or panaderias, serve a wide variety of delicious breads, pastries and cakes, as well as coffee. A nice thing about restaurants in Spain (and Europe for that matter) is that you don’t feel like you are being rushed to leave or pay at the end of the meal. You often will need to let the waiter know you are ready to pay the bill, and you can simply say “La Cuenta, por favor”. Most restaurants use a card reader at the end of the meal, where you either tap or insert your card into the reader provided by the waiter. You can either add an amount for the tip, or leave the tip separately. We only went to one restaurant where a tip was automatically included. A typical tip for decent service is approximately 10 percent.
Shopping
In any Spanish town, you will find a myriad of different types of food stores and shops, ranging from mercados (small markets), souvenir to convenience stores and pharmacies. Shops are typically opened in the morning, then close for siesta (between 2pm and 5pm), and open back in the late afternoon and close later at night. In tourist areas such as Torremolinos, the shops are open until very late in the evening. We found that shops (and sometimes restaurants) are often closed on Mondays. Some of the local specialties include leather, olive oils, ceramics and tiles, candies made of nougat, flavored nuts, and orange blossom fragrance / perfumes.
Lodging
There are thousands of hotels, AirBnBs, hostels, and pensions located along the Costa del Sol, as well as in the inland towns and cities. Any travel search site can be used to research them. Trivago is a good website where discounted hotels can be found. Our hotel, booked through Hotels.com, the Apartments Bajondillo, is one of the older but larger hotels in Torremolinos. Most of the small efficiency style rooms (with a small kitchenette) have large balconies with sweeping Mediterranean views, at very affordable prices (approximately $82 per night). The resort includes a large outdoor swimming pool surrounded by a grass lounge area and bar. An on-site restaurant serves a changing daily dinner pre fixe (3 course) menu for approximately 13 Euros. We only ate at the restaurant once, but were pleasantly impressed with our meals.
