Best Beaches

We could tell thousands of stories about the qualities of Andalusian beaches, although the best way to get to know them is to live the experience either with family, friends, couples, or even as a solo traveler. There is a wide range of beaches and coves for everyone’s taste. At Spainholiday we wanted to make a small compilation of the best known and best-valued beaches on the Costa del Sol.

La Malagueta (Málaga) It is the best-known beach because it is in the capital and a stone’s throw from the historic center of Malaga. La Malagueta is between the port of Malaga and La Caleta beach, and due to this enclave, it is an extremely popular beach.

From the beach, you can appreciate beautiful views of both the mountains and the Malaga pier. In addition, it has a wide variety of services available to visitors such as surveillance, cleaning, rental of sunbeds and umbrellas, among other things. La Malagueta has the Blue Flag certification from Foundation for Environmental Education thanks to the magnificent quality of its waters.

An added value of this beach is that visitors can enjoy a very pleasant promenade, surrounded by shops, markets, restaurants, and the Hard Rock Café in front of the Pompidou cultural center that has an attractive program of exhibitions and conferences.

Maro (Nerja) With a length of five hundred meters and only 5 kilometers from Nerja, Maro offers natural beauty, where the clarity of its waters and the feeling of peace and relaxation stand out for those who visit it, since it is one of the least frequented in the area.

This beach is ideal for nature lovers who want to get away from crowded areas. Likewise, Maro is ideal for sports activities such as canoeing and kayaking. This beautiful beach on the Costa del Sol has all kinds of services such as showers, toilets, cleaning services, and kiosks.

Puerto Banús (Marbella) One of the most famous beaches internationally and with a long history of glamour, as it was the meeting point for Arab sheiks, European royalty, and Hollywood artists such as Sean Connery who bought a house in Marbella.

But in addition to the glamor of yesteryear, Puerto Banús beach offers warm and calm waters, in a wonderful setting with mountain views. It is an ideal beach to spend with the family as it has a wide range of services with shops around and the possibility of taking part in different water activities. This beach also obtains the Blue Flag in 2021.

Puerto Banús is the most sophisticated enclave on the Costa del Sol with a large concentration of yachts, sports cars, luxury boutiques, and hotels of the highest level. There is the so-called “golden mile” that has luxury centers, the best restaurants, and the most exclusive shops.

Bil-Bil Beach (Benalmádena) This beach is in the heart of the city and owes its name to the Bil Bil Castle built-in 1927. It is four hundred meters long and about twenty meters wide, it is fine, dark sand with a moderate swell which makes it perfect for enjoying a pleasant swim. The beach has a very pleasant promenade with unusual views thanks to the Castle.

In addition to enjoying the beach, visitors can do a bit of tourism at Bil Bil Castle, where they will fall in love with its decoration with Arabic-style tiles and bas-reliefs. It is currently an exhibition center that is worth visiting for tourists who come to the Costa del Sol.

Another alternative to relax is to take a walk through the Parque de la Paloma, one of the most visited on the Costa del Sol and which has more than 200,000 square meters of green areas, where you can find walking areas, an artificial lake, two modern playgrounds, trails, animals, and restoration areas.

Just three kilometers from the Bil-Bil beach is the Puerto Deportivo de Benalmádena where there are innumerable services such as restaurants, shops, summer accommodation, or a tourist office.

Playa Mar (Torremolinos) It is a small beach because it is only one kilometer long, but it offers endless amenities and is, therefore, one of the favorites of tourists and locals. On the promenade, you must make a mandatory stop at one of the bars (also known as chiringuitos) to enjoy the traditional “Pescaíto frito” (fried fish). And for good digestion, what better way than to take a walk and visit the shops that are in the area.

If you are someone who likes team sports, in Playa Mar there are always people willing to play beach volleyball, but if you like more extreme or fast sports, windsurfing can be the choice.

Cabopino (Marbella) If what you are looking for is peace and tranquility in a privileged natural environment, Cabopino beach is the ideal place surrounded by sand dunes. This beach with very deep waters and grayish sand has a beautiful pine forest around it and the dunes of Artola, a natural area with great animal and plant biodiversity. Walking through the dunes is wonderfully comfortable because they have wooden walkways that make the visit quite easy, there are also roads that lead to the natural-nudist beach called Preciosa, which is in the same enclave.

This is another beach with a Blue Flag, an award granted by the European Foundation for Environmental Education following quality criteria in four areas: environmental education and information, water quality, environmental management, safety, and services. Cabopino beach is very well equipped and has quite easy access both by bus and by car.

Around Cabopino you can visit the Torre Ladrones, a defensive tower of Roman origin, which has an Asset of Cultural Interest.

Pedregalejo (Málaga) Located next to the oldest fishing district in Malaga, Pedregalejo has a special charm with an extension of more than a kilometer. It has one of the most beautiful promenades in Malaga and multiple bars and restaurants where you can taste the typical dishes of the area.

Pedregalejo beach offers to tourists a unique and special culinary and cultural experience since it has the peculiarity of having huts equipped with charcoal. So, visitors can cook sardine skewers (this is a 19^th-century tradition. Espeto comes from the verb “espetar” which consists of nailing the fish to a rod to roast it over charcoal in the sand).

A special mention has the magnificent sunsets offered by this beach that will leave visitors breathless, together with the beautiful views of the coast of Malaga.

Playa del Castillo (Fuengirola) This urban beach that has an extension of almost a kilometer, is ideal to enjoy with family or friends as it has a moderate swell and many services such as an area for barbecues, parking for one euro a day, showers, and foot washes, and the restaurants have the option of serving food in the hammock area, it also has an area with easy access for the disabled.

It is a pleasant beach that is not overcrowded, and where you can take long walks while viewing the Castle of Sohail on a hill overlooking the mouth of the Fuengirola river.

Playa del Castillo is in perfect synergy with Fuengirola River, which is the first navigable channel in the province of Malaga. The River Park has become a tourist destination, allowing both locals and tourists to enjoy the area. There are sports facilities such as ping-pong tables, basketball or soccer fields, an area set up for petanca, and a children’s playground. There is also a bike lane that connects to Fuengirola’s promenade.

Burriana (Nerja) Year after year this beach gets the Blue Flag awarded by the European Foundation for Environmental Education, which makes it a claim for national and foreign tourists who look to spend the summer in clear waters, clean beaches, and with good services. Thanks to its restaurants and beach bars, Burriana offers a wide gastronomic offer, where the “Ayo Restaurant” stands out, known throughout Spain for its delicious wood-fired paellas.

Considered one of the best beaches in the municipality of Malaga, Burriana beach stands out for its crystal-clear waters and fine, golden sand. The varied offer of services and the good facilities that it has, make this place a claim for both the inhabitants of the region and for tourists. Since 2018 it has had the Q for Tourist Quality and, in addition, year after year received the Blue Flag.

Burriana is famous among national and foreign tourists because it offers fun with water sports such as renting pedal boats, jet skis, kayaks, and even a diving and paragliding center with which you can enjoy a fun and complete summer day.