COSTA del SOL, SPAIN
 

Would like to correspond with people who have been to Torremolinos, Spain. Would like to
know how they liked it there, overall experience,
places of interest, recommendations. My husband
and I are traveling there in Sept. of 98. Also, has anyone gone on any Grand Circle Travel Tours?
We are going to Spain on our first trip and would like to know if people who have traveled on Grand
Circle were pleased.

I will be taking what sounds like the same trip with my mother this Feb., so will let you know what it was like. We took a previous Grand Circle Travel trip to Alaska and enjoyed it very much. All of our accomodations were 4 star and the service was wonderfull. I'm a little apprehensive about this Costa del Sol trip as everything I've heard or read about Torremolinos (where we will be headquartered for 14 days) is bad. Also , the Bajondillo where we will be staying is not rated very highly (2 stars) on the net. I suspect ours may be a case where you get what you pay for and the trip was surprisingly cheap...

We went to Marbella, near Torremelinos, for our Honeymoon in August, 1996, for ten days. We had a terrific time. I recommend Marbella over Torremelinos. We stayed at the Gran Malia Don Pepe and were very pleased. It was walking distance to the center of town. Downtown Marbella is a shopping district with many stores to brouse through. The Hotel was recommended by our travel agent. There was much to do in Costa Del Sol, and many good restaurants in the area. The best of the best was La Hacienda restaurant. It is in Marbella, on a hill. Santiagos, an outdoor/indoor seafood restaurant on the Marbella boardwalk, was also very good. The full day tour to Tangiers, Marocco, was interesting but very exhausting. I very highly recommend the full day tour of Ronda, an ancient city in the mountains, about one hour from Marbella. The road to Ronda winds up mountains, and the views along the route are spectacular. Ronda itself is very scenic and interesting. It sits on a gorge. We rented a car and took a forty minute drive to Mijas, slightly inland, and between Marbella and Torremilinos. Go there. It is built into a hill, and offers a great view of the coast. It has many interesting stores and restaurants. We spent about four hours just walking around the town, which has several levels built upon each other in the hill. I also recommend spending a few hours in Puerto Banus, in western Marbella. We drove several hours to Seville for the day. I recommend you see Seville if you are at Costa Del Sol long enough. We made a mistake by trying to do Seville in one day. I recommend you stay there one or two nights to really see it if you decide to go. You will have a great time in Costa Del Sol.

Liz S. - Spain is one the best kept secrets in Europe! It is absolutely charming, the culture is fascinating and the sightseeing is amazing. Torremolinos in particular is not at the top of the list; however, it is an excellent home base from where to take one-day excursions to a plenitude of places. Please do not miss GRANADA (The Alhambra; go into town and visit the cathedral where Isabella and Ferdinand are buried (impressive!)), RONDA (Steve described it perfectly), GIBRALTAR (amazing sight!), and please follow Steve's advice about SEVILLA (do not miss the Cathedral & La Giralda; night life is a lot of fun; Santa Cruz section has incredible buys in leather and ceramics). September is a great time to visit Southern Spain (Andalucia). The crowds usually leave the last week of August. If you go to Tangiers, be very careful on the streets, STAY WITH THE GROUP, do not go by yourselves.
English is not spoken by a lot of people in Spain, and Spaniards will love you if you try a few words in the language they are so proud of; Spanish.
Have the best time!!! Adios!!!

For Liz and Marcy - We are going on this trip Nov., 98 and we recently returned from a Saga Holiday's Costa Calida 15 day tour (October), which we enjoyed very much Equally affordable - don't think of it as cheap - has to do with empty rooms costing money for the hotel (off season) and these tours can fill up the hotels and the airplane seats. So tour operators get a good deal from both. Have not heard or read any negatives about Torremolinos or the Bajondillo. Heard the shows put on by Doreen Chown are very good and if the food here is as good as we enjoyed on the Costa Calida and ditto for the guided tours - then who can complain! Met many repeaters of both tour companies from the U.K. and the states, 12-14 time repeaters and some come from the U.K. 4 times per year on different packages from these 2 companies. Cheap air and only 2 hours away!!!

Torremolinos is good enough when you have to go to the airport the other day in the morning, Marbella is nicer.
Ronda, Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada is a must. But have you ever heard about Jerez, Cadiz, Conil, Arcos de Frontera, Medina Sidonia, Rocio, Tevelez or Nerja? Its worth while.
When you go to South Spain, remember the long siesta time from 1am to 5am

I'll be in Madrid for New Years Eve. Any suggestions where to be at midnight? Also, how's the weather at that time of year?

My husband and I just returned from a 12-day trip to the Andalusian area of Spain which includes the Costa del Sol. We had a car and did Seville (definitely a two-day trip and don't be there on Mondays as all the sites are closed), Cordoba, Granada and the small town of Nerja on the western side of the Costa. This town is lovely, situated right where the mountains meet the coast. There are no high rise buildings by the Mediterranean which made it much more charming. We stayed at a very nice two-star hotel called Paraiso del Mar and had a room that overlooked the sea with a balcony as well. We could watch the fishermen in the morning and listen to the waves at night. We had planned to sto p for only two days but stayed for four nights. Other notes--the food in Spain is really terrific, there has been extraordinary modernization since our last visit (30 years ago!) and travelling by car gave us the chance to make lovely side trips such as a visit to Frigiliano in the mountains. We often bought food in a supermercado and had picnic lunches. The weather was variable, and we had some rain but also sun. It was never hot enough to swim, though, but pleasant for sight-seeing.

Uli, at that time I am also sleeping, but I don't call it siesta! (Do you meant 1-5PM?)