Beaches, Torremolinos

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The centre of Torremolinos has two good beaches - La Carihuela and Bajondillo. The only visible difference is... location, side by side. The first time we stayed in Bajondillo, and, by commodity or by the first good impression, it was my natural preference in the second visit. It is wide, safe, and the restaurants in the sand a good place to eat.

A long stripe of sand, with less people then expected, calm warm water, and the hotel just across the street. What else do I need for a relaxing week?

Carihuela, Bajondillo, Playamar are just names for the different areas of the long sequence of beaches, almost until Malaga.

It's good to forget the car! Even lunch can be in the beach, in one of the many stalls that line it.

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This next section was my favourite stretch of beach, we had left Playa La Carihuela and drifted onto Playa de Montemar.

With its palmiere and colourful wooden boats, I was enticed off of the promenade to walk on the beach. One of lifes pleasures- strolling on a near deserted beach!

In summertime, water-bikes, pedaloes and canoes can be hired here. The sea here is usually quite calm.

Were we to have continued walking along the beach/Paseo Maritimo, we'd have come to Playa Del Saltillo, then Benalmadena, but instead we turned off at Calle Chile (At the mini golf) as we wanted to reccy Vinoteca El Elefante for tomorrows VT Meet lunch (Please see my Restaurant tips for more info)

Fed and watered, we returned to the beach, to take more photos of the boats etc. in the late afternoon sun. Sonya took my photo here with the boat, that is now my profile pic.
We then wandered back along the Paseo Maritimo, passing by the many cats at La Roca and back to the Bajondillo Apartments for afternoon tea, before meeting up with other VTers (including Hansi and Lori who had flown in a few hours previously) and spending the evening enjoying a nice meal at Tiki (More info in my Restaurant tips) -

Yes, eating does seem to feature quite a lot at this meet!

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Now, strolling on the beach in the dark with warm waves licking your feet - in the moon-light is my all time favourite things to do in Torremolinos. Experiencing 6 months of this was fantastic (the ocean was especially warm in July, August and September). The rise of the moon was awesome there, I had never seen anything like it. The photos don't even begin to do it justice, no matter how much I tried to catch the moon with my camera it always turned out to be just a dot on my screen. At times the moon was big and orange, people were flocking to the beach to see it.

Don´t miss this while visiting Torremolinos, but beware that the lamps are turned off at ca 00:30 and then it gets too dark really to be on the beach.

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"Pescaito frito" or spit-roasted sardines are quite a characteristic for Torremolinos and other towns by the beach in Costa del Sol. In the evenings you can see a boat with sardines roasting on a spit at almost every chiringuito (beach restaurant) on the Paseo Marítimo. Quite lovely and the smell is heavenly.

There is even a day in the honour of "pecaito frito" called "Día del Pescaito" and is held in La Carihuela on the 11th of June where spit-roasted sardines are given to people for free.

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There are 5 beaches in Torremolinos, Playa de Los Álamos, Playa de Playamar, Playa del Bajondillo, Playa de la Carihuela and Playa de Montemar. I have added tips on all the beaches apart from the first one which is closest to Malaga.

Playa de la Playamar is a lovely beach with golden sands, a palm grove, restaurants and cafés. The ocean is lovely to swim in at Playamar, you can reach the bottom easily just outside the shore and swim just a little bit further for a deeper sea. I stick to the reachable bottom, being a bit afraid of the ocean. There are some beautiful shells to be found in the waves in this area by the palm grove. In the afternoon the anglers put up their fishing gear there, so take care to move a bit further up the beach as they will almost fish on top of you (honestly).

By the Paseo Maritimo there is Hotel Sol Principe and Principito (see my tip on that), Isabel, Don Marco and a couple of other hotels. A lovely area. Last year I watched an outside movie-theater on the beach of Playamar. There are a lot of stores, shops and restaurants in this area, and Avda. de Benyamina with all its big blocks-of-flats which look like pillars.

By Plaza Comunidades Autonómas is "Informacion Turistica", or The Tourist information center, where you can get leaflets and some information on Torremolinos. On the Plaza itself there is the breathtaking homage to Picasso "Mujeres corriendo por la playa" which is the centerpiece of the Paseo Marítimo (see my tip on the statue).

I have added more pictures in a travelogue here as the tips only allow for 5 pictures.

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Waves here are fairly small and yet this is a very popular beach. In the past during the 1970’s, a number of movies were filmed on this beach. The beach is not as big as such but it still has its fair share of sunbeds and umbrellas. There are also showers and toilets as well as mats to keep the feet cool enroute to your sun lounger. The facilities here are suitable for the disabled.

You have to really admire the sand artists, they really create some superb sculptures. When I was there Homer and Marge Simpson were the feature. Unfortunately the artist was nowhere to be seen when I walked past but they are certainly worth a donation.

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Bajondillo Beach is right in the centre of Torremolinos’ beaches and just next to Bajondillo. The sand isn’t exactly golden, more of a greyish colour but its clean and inviting with the standard beach loungers and umbrellas. The beach also has showers close by. A safe beach which is suitable for not only swimming but other water activities as well.

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The beaches stretch for as far as the eye can see. They actually take up around 9 kilometres of pristine coastline. The sand isn’t exactly golden but there is lots of it and it clean and the swimming is safe.