Malaga Centro

From and To the Malaga Airport - Malaga Centro

by Birgie

I posted this question but found out the answers when I got to Spain. From the Airport to Malaga Centro a taxi is now about 19 euros (including their "supplemento" for your baggage).

The train from the airport is only 1.50 euros for an adult but it's a big pain in the butt if you have heavy luggage or you are not as strong as an ox. I am a distance runner in good physical shape and it was a challenge for me to get up and down 2 steep flights of concrete stairs to the train platform strapped with a suitcase, carry on and a purse and a helping a child with her own luggage. Incredibly, there are no ramps for disabled or elderly people and it's a long complicated route from the terminal to the train platform! Not to mention dragging the weighty bulk on and off the train, which can get really packed at peak times.

There is a city bus (better option because it picks you up right outside the arrival terminal) for 1 euro if you don't mind the over 30 minute ride.

The bus and train will leave you at the main stations south of the city center (or along the route if you already know where you are going for the bus) and from there you can get a taxi to your hotel but that will probably cost you 6 - 10 euros.

The train also goes to Fuengirola, Torremolinos and Benalmadena for a good price, but again, it's a pain with a lot of luggage. Pack lightly or spring for an expensive taxi!

Fuengirola 2008

by Birgie

"The Dreaded Costa del Sol, Muhahaha!!"

What a trip, no, really...Ahhhh, freak out!! By chance the hotel I booked in Fuengirola to stay at was right next door to the hotel I stayed at in 1986! It was pure chance, I had no idea and I got this really weird feeling when I walked out on the balcony of my hotel and was staring down at the sign of Las Palmeras where my grandmother and I had spent Christmas week, 22 years ago. Well, back then, I was a university student studying in Granada and I had a really wild time in Fuengirola. During that visit ages ago, it was very different and there weren't very many tourists because it was winter. Drunk and frisky Spanish Legionaires were roaming around the beaches and town. I naively went out walking alone a few times when my grandmother played cards with British ladies at the hotel and I met some really strange people. But this time I didn't worry much, in Spain I feel pretty safe now. Fuengirola though it still obviously has a wild side is very family friendly in my opinion, except you have to like noise!

"What you should do and see"

You know, there are a lot of different kinds of people in Fuengirola and the Costa del Sol. I usually am very good at figuring out what language people are speaking but there were some people in our hotel that were speaking languages I just couldn't recognize. It's more than diverse, it's ultra diverse there and we stayed during the last games of the Europe Cup soccer tournaments so every night it seemed some group of tourists was going crazy in the pubs. We found alot of friendly people too. In particular, a couple shop keepers on road along the beach, gave me some very good tips on what do to and see and we took their advice and enjoyed their suggestions very much.

Of course from Fuengirola you can do alot of things. It's very close to Malaga City and there is a train from Fuengirola to Malaga centro. At the central train station we went shopping in a big mall that has several Spanish chain stores like Zara and Sfera plus a number of restaurants. Fuengirola or Mijas nearby also as a shopping mall and theatre but I found that one bland.

We also checked out "Plaza Mayor", a shopping and entertainment complex outside Malaga City which was another stop on the Malaga - Fuengirola train. Plaza Mayor had few shops. It would be nicer for an evening out with dinner and a movie because there were alot of sit down restaurants, and a large food court, special events there in a cosmopolitan atmosphere that's weirdly modern Spanish, but nice.

The couple who gave us tips on places to see recommended the Alcazar over Fuengirola, it was a 30 minute walk from our hotel and up, up a hill with some nice views over the beach. They call it "El Castillo".

The other suggestion they had that we followed was an evening in Benalmadena-Costa, Puerto Marina. It's a funky place, kind of Gaudi-esque, and it's a hey, it's a marina! I mean if you like to look at fancy boats. There are a lot of posh restaurants and boutique shops there and a good place to take photos, have a drink or an ice cream and just chill. We liked it very much.