Best place to stay in Costa del Sol
 

Hi,
As part of a 3 months trip around Spain and France we want to spend a few nights (4 or 5 nights) in Costa del Sol in early June somewhere in between Marbella to Nerja. What would be the best town for nice beach, great restaurants but authentic at the same time (i.e. Not overly touristically developed).
We have 2 young kids (2 and 4 years old).
Many thanks, appreciate any tips

Nerja, and isn't even a contest. The rest of Costa del Sol is nothing but high rise developments. Nerja is still a decent town. But if you want place that isn't "touristically developed" forget Costa del Sol. Also Paris, Rome, London, etc.

Couldn't argue with that.

The Costa Del Sol is dire.

Malaga is a lovely city but has a developed poor beach.

Nerja is a nice enough place.

Agree that Nerja is an excellent option, has retained much of its Andalusian small town charm, several excellent and genuine restaurants and nine small and large beaches among the cliffs etc.

But the town is also the only one along the Costa del Sol without a working sewage plant, and even though people swim here all the time, it might be a problem, especially with kids at 2 and 4 playing in the water all the time. I'll go to Nerja in June and swim as always, but you might consider elsewhere if you don't stay in a hotel with a pool (plenty of such places in all categories, though). http://www.nerjatoday.com/

But you might also consider Torre del Mar (Roman "Maenoba") a little closer to Málaga city, and miles away in all respects from the tourist machines west of Málaga city. Popular with Spanish tourists (they come later in the summer) and not very well known by foreign tourists.

Fabulous, miles long beach and many excellent traditional seafood restaurants - as good as they get in all of Andalucía. Torre del Mar is also the seaside part of absolutely non-touristy medium sized Vélez-Málaga 10-15 minutes inland with bus.

Torre del Mar: http://www.absoluteaxarquia.com/areas/torredelmar.html
http://www.torredelmartoday.com/

Restaurante La Cueva (1948) in Torre del Mar is one of the best and most well known, no fuss, typical seafood freidurías in all of the Costa del Sol. Several similar places around in Torre del Mar. http://www.freidurialacueva.es/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...Andalucia.html

Great, local atmosphere cafés and tapas bars close to La Cueva. Café Bar Centro and vis a vis Cafetería Andalucía are so typical and local feel as they come: https://plus.google.com/109909288224...ut?gl=no&hl=en

Vélez-Málaga with the 13th century Moorish castle and fabulous views over the region and the sea is 3 miles and 10-15 minutes inland from Torre del Mar. Buses all the time: http://www.andalucia.com/province/malaga/velez/home.htm

Inland Costa del Sol in nice, but outside of spending a few nights in Málaga, and maybe a day or two in Nerja, I would head for the Costa de la Luz.

As Robert says, Costa de la Luz is of course the best idea for nice beaches, authentic restaurants and not overly touristically developed. http://www.andalucia.com/costa-de-la-luz/home.htm