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I saw You are looking information of Marbella, as I replied some questions about this and the area of Costa del Sol I just paste questions and answers I did of Marbella and Torremolinos (Torremolinos is also in the Costa del Sol you arrive to the same airport - Málaga-and temperature and excursions are very similar) --------- Dear John First at all , I feel more than happy to give you my opinions specially because for my personal holiday travel I have used the Fodor forum several times , as you do now , to get advise from people with knowledge in the place, and I found was extremely useful for me always , I live in Marbella and work in the Hotel industry but in the back office , as financial director, so I do not have special commercial interest to sell our Hotels , I think in a Forum like Fodors the non- profit advise must prevail. Having said that, your questions: 1) Weather: End of January is winter here , but our winter is quite mild, you can expect temperatures from a minimum of 10ºC to a maximum of 25ºC. Weather you must think to have a 25% daily chance of rain. 2) Tours: For Tours in General There is one company call Julia Tours that has excursions to all the places you want to go, they have always quite modern buses and experienced guides . You can contact them through Andalucia Travel Phone: 00 34 952 38 38 99. I asked our concierge a brochure and here you have the prices to some places you mentioned for one day tours: Tangier:10,500 ptas, Granada: 8,300ptas with lunch, without lunch: 7,000ptas. 3)Ronda: The road , it is a mountain Road, but in very good condition. You can go for an excursion one day. You can visit there the main church, and the oldest bullring of Spain. Ronda is the birth plave of the bullfights in Spain. The road to Ronda is a very scenic one. You will need to rent a car. Another tip about this, you will get much n¡better prices with the small rent a cars close to the airport, to my friends I always advise "Auto pro" 00 34 952 176030 , because they give very competitive rates and quite good service , the problem is that they do not have many cars. There is one of my favorites restaurants in Andalucia in Ronda "Tragabuche" be ready for 4,000-6,000 ptas Pax. But it is worthwhile (they have one star Michelin). Another thing Ronda is in the Mountain and it is normally 6ºc less than the coast. 4) Torremolinos & Melia Costa del Sol: I am sorry to say this, but Torremolinos it is not my favorite place in the Costa del Sol, even I try to avoid it because I consider it to crowd ,cheap, and to much touristic, I consider there is a very big gap between ie. Marbella and Torremolinos. Eventohugh Melia I am sure it is a hotel with quite good standard. I can not give you many advises about Torremolinos, the only thing is to go to "La carihuela" area to eat fried fish, this is the best thing in Torremolinos for me. This is my opinion as a local, but perhaps under your point of view, or some other tourist, Torremolinos is a fine place , I saw sometimes this positive opinion in the Fodors forum from tourist have stayed there, Hope all this help you. Regards Javier -----Mensaje original----- De: John Weishan Para: javier.luque Fecha: martes 18 de enero de 2000 11:36 Asunto: A Question Please >javier, >Six of us Seniors are arriving in Torremolinos on January 27. >You indicated on "Fodors" that you live not far from there and could you >please answer these questions. What is the weather like? We want to go >to Tangiers and who do you reccomend for a tour? Also the same for >Granada.We re staying at the Melia Costa del sol. Paseo Maritimo and is >that a nice place. >Where should we eat and what should we see? >Is there a scenic decent road to Ronda. >This is a lot to ask of a stranger but we have heard that the Spanish >people are very friendly and we hope we're not imposing. >Any help would be appreciated. >Gratias. >Little Cricket >HEARME>> Sophia The dates you are thinking about to come are actually very good, here it gets really crowded in Agoust and July. Malaga it is the capital of the region of Costa del Sol , that season (Spring) it is the perfect season to do excursions to Sevilla, Granada , Cordoba etc. It is not too hot and the temperature it is pleasent 18ºc- 25ºc . Hope you enjoy it!! Javi -----Mensaje original----- De: Sophia_ Para: javier.luque> Fecha: martes 11 de enero de 2000 20:39 Asunto: Hola Javier! >HI. I hope you dont mind that I'm writing to you. >I am writing because I am interested in studying spanish at a school in >Malaga. I understand it's in the Costa Del Sol region. >Can you recommend when would be a good time to go and be able to visit all >the cities and enjoy the beaches before it gets too hot or crowded? >I was thinking about coming to Malaga at the end of April until the 2nd >week of May. >Thanks! >Sophia Author: jewel ( [email protected]) Date: 1/10/2000, 12:06 pm ET Message: I am planning a trip to Costa Del Sol? I have read about it in travel books but would appreciate some first hand accounts. I hear its lovely and it's less expensive that my other tour option to Barcelona and Madrid for six days. Author: Javier ( Date: 1/11/2000, 11:21 am ET Message: I Live in Marbella (Costa del Sol), it is a great place to visit, and even more for living . But it depends on the target of your trip, if it is exclusively cultural, I do not know if it is the best place although you have dayly trips from here to Sevilla, Cordoba, Tanger (Morocco),Granada all of them are incredibly interesting. You can think about Marbella as a good place for relax, food, and as a good point to make very intesting excursions to all these places. Tips: Acommodations: Budget accomodation: bancotel.es Medium: www.hotel-elfuerte.es Expensive: Marbella Club Hotel. Food: Bar California: Typical fish (very popular, full of locals)Budget. El Tangito: Spanish, meat, medium price Pasta Di Bruno: Best Local Italian Restaurant. Medium price. La Taberna del Alabardero: Puerto Banus, Spanish, expensive. Places to visit around and distances from Marbella - beside previous excursions- : (P