I recently got back from a short break to Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol – a fairly renowned holiday destination loved by Brits since the 1960s (ish?). I’ve never been before (my holiday experience in mainland Spain is a little more on the limited side, believe it or not) but based on this fact I had a a decent assumption of what to expect from my trip there. At least, I thought I did!
Admittedly, as this holiday was more of a ‘fly and flop’ I didn’t do a great deal of research into things to do etc before I booked. I did do a bit of digging a week or so before we travelled on places to eat and drink (I will share our favourite ones at the end of this post), so most of my points below were still quite a surprise when we arrived.
Location
Torremolinos is decent-sized coastal town that’s split into 3 key ‘areas’. They’re not hugely close together so research and pick the vibe that suits you best.
I had no idea how pretty it was! So many of the streets are filled with traditional Spanish style tiles and architecture. Make sure you leave time to have a wander.
Also, it takes about an hour to walk over to Benalmadena, I thought they were linked and it was maybe half an hour max?
Beach clubs
If you’re used to O Beach or Greek beach clubs, you may be disappointed…there’s quite a few along both main strips of beach. The sun loungers are all pretty old/worn and plastic (even though the bars are mostly quite aesthetic) and cost around 10-15€ each – even in low season. The price isn’t redeemable against food/drinks.
Food
I’m allergic to some seafood and there was a LOT of it on many restaurant menus. I’m also anti-inflammatory where possible and non-diary milk products were hard to find outside of our hotel. Make sure to mention your allergies upfront as it’s not a question servers ask as standard.
Language
There’s a lot of locals as well as tourists, so English speaking hospitality staff aren’t a given. If you can communicate using any Spanish that’s super helpful (also, making efforts to speak the local language, even a little bit, is always a nice thing to do)
Wildlife
Ok so this one wouldn’t have affected my decision to stay on the Costa del Sol, it was just an unexpected and nice surprise…there’s wild Parakeets living in the palm trees! They’re adorable, keep their distance from humans but are very noisy (at times it felt like they may be the cicadas of Spanish trees)
Restaurant recommendations
- El Dorado – close-ish to the beach down one of the main streets heading up to the ‘top’ of Torremolinos, has a sizeable menu of tapas and paella and appeared very popular with tourists and locals.
- Coenvi.II – a traditional Taberna tucked away on a slightly quieter side street (the best kind of restaurant find) serving tapas and delicious, no fuss Spanish-style steak (which included my FAVE Roquefort sauce). Another one popular with the locals and absolutely would’ve returned if we’d been here for a longer trip.
- Cafe las Rias: An ideal location in Old Town that opens through to the beach and beautiful back streets so you can choose your preferred dining vibe (we tried both and the street side felt more relaxed and authentic). Serving a pretty wide variety of tapas at really reasonable prices (our order is in one of the pictures voice, these dishes were €4,50 each).
- Big Bull: A straightforward ‘proper’ steak house, not particularly Spanish but very delicious. I was also surprised that the meat platter we ordered came with a sparkler and a musical fanfare!
Bar recommendations
- Clock Tower: A large bar at the top of the town and often features in a lot of tourist photos. We went right to the very top where the vibe was a little cooler and more cocktail bar. Good selection of drinks that were fairly priced (saying this based on UK standards).
- Rose & Crown: A traditional British pub that we visited purely to check out their drag show. The staff were friendly, service and drinks prices were good, the drag show was varied and fun.
- Playa Miguel: Right on the beach (is a beach club during the day, one that has probably the nicest looking loungers I would add) and was still very busy and vibrant after dark, even in the depths of October. Drinks were good and the tunes were a little more on the cheesy / old skool side (likely because most of the clientele were our age or older), staff were friendly but service was a bit patchy due to it being busy.
I hope this is helpful to anyone planning a trip to this area in the future. And, to those reading this that have been here before – yes, I do feel a bit daft for not knowing some of these things beforehand!
Thanks for reading,
J
