Choice of town and hotel in the Costa de Sol
 

Two active ladies in our early 70's who will have toured from Madrid and will be ending our trip with a week in the Costa de Sol area in mid October, We will have spent time in Cordoba, Seville and Grenada and need some help as to where we should stay when reaching this area. Ideally we would like to be on the beach, but also have easy access by public transport to travel to other towns. We are looking for a medium priced hotels, and suggestions on where to base ourselves and any suggestions on restaurants or must see attractions

We are going five nights to Malaga next september, and have found a good price at hotel Barcelo, connected to the AVE station.
Being a good size city Malaga seems to be a good base for day trips and seeing some attractions in the city.

Dont write off Torremolinos its very near to Malaga. It has a wonderful promenade and beach, and excellent seafood restaurants. We stay at the Bajondillo frequently - a number of Americans are regulars there and this is close to La Carhuela where the old fish restaurants are. The weather in mid October should be very pleasant indeed.

http://www.bajondillo.com/en/

Malaga city is your transport hub and has beaches which touch the city.

How do you want your beach resort? Busy and brash or a bit more sophisticated and genteel?

Malaga is a busy city and not really a resort town, whilst Nerja to the East (and a few other places on the coast) are quieter and less manic especially in mid October.

To the west of Malaga there are a number of resorts:

Torremolinos--lots of Brits, Germans and N. Europeans--loud in parts and a busy beach area even late in the season. Nice older part too. Cheaper hotels here.

Fuengirola--Not that much to recommend it, but good beach area, lots of hotels and restaurants. Loud in places. Again inexpensive hotels.

Mijas and Mijas Costa--Quieter and the Costa area has a nice beach scene and a small village feel.

There are residential type developments with beaches down to Marbella. Good beaches and more expensive hotels. Poseur scene at Puerto Banus.

Then a few resorts like Estepona down the coast until you get to Gibraltar.

Take a look at relatively small Nerja by the coast (pop 20 000+), at the foot of the quite spectacular Almijara mountain range. Has got all the amenities that makes it popular with tourists, but has still retained much of it's Andalucian charm, especially in the old town. http://www.nerjatoday.com/

Dozens of great tapas bars and restaurants, many of them as genuine as it gets, and you'll find very solid Italian, Thai, French, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Brazilian etc restaurants as well. Free and delicious tapas to choose with every glass of wine/beer in most tapas bars and restaurants in Nerja, normally 1,50-2€.

I could give you info about several of my favourite restaurants and tapas bars after frequent visits the past decade if you decide to stay here.

The spectacular Nerja caves:
http://www.cuevadenerja.es/index.php?lenguaje=en

Very well connected by bus, and buses all the time to close by and fabulous Málaga city (pop 500 000): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalis...pleasures.html

Photo of Nerja: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2622/...de6a8146_o.jpg

Perhaps stay at central Hotel Plaza Cavana:
http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/plaza-cavana.en.html
http://www.hotelplazacavana.com/


Or seaside Balcón de Europa:
http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/balc...europa.en.html
http://www.hotelbalconeuropa.com/

thanks for the help. When I looked on s map Torremolinas seemed to be very central to beach and towns. Our trip actually ends with us staying there and touring Gibraltar, though I see the situation for travel to Gibraltar is not good at this moment. So maybe it might be better to just stay in Torremolinas - or maybe go to Malaga for the last couple of days as it might be closer to the airport. Good point about type of beach resort, I guess we prefer one that is not too rowdy, maybe a more sophisticated but not a stuffy type of feeling. On more question is it easy to, take public transportation to visit other towns - maybe one or two day trips - and more ideas on choices of hotels that we can check out.

'On more question is it easy to, take public transportation to visit other towns - maybe one or two day trips' - to where and from where? I did advise earlier where every form of transport emanates from.

Torremolinos did once have a reputation for rowdiness and I am afraid that label still sticks despite my experience which is completely the reverse - especially in October. There are some lovely tapas bars and restaurants there alongside a few British fish or pie and chip cafes which makes it interesting. All this said, friends regularly visit Estepona and love there, and Marbella is a lovely place. I loathe Gibraltar, but appreciate this is personal but I cant think of any redeeming features - others hopefully will give you a much more positive side to the place.

Torremolinos has apparantly undergone many positive changes in recent years, but like most of the Costa del Sol west of Málaga city (which is a genuine Spanish city) it's a tourist machine. http://worldtravelbuzz.com/travel-torremolinos-spain/

and some 35 miles east of Málaga city you find Nerja with nine small and large beaches among the cliffs... http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2622/...de6a8146_o.jpg

The beach in Maro just east of Nerja is currently in a clear lead to be voted best beach in Andalucía on the national tv channel Antena 3 competition, and it will probably be in the final to be voted best beach in Spain 2013.
http://www.101tv.es/la-playa-de-maro...ejor-de-espana
http://www.diariosur.es/20130707/loc...307070119.html
Info: http://www.nerjatoday.com/nerjabeachguide/maro/