- Currency: Euro (€)
- Capital City: Málaga
- Language: Spanish (though English is widely spoken)
- Key phrase to learn: ¿Dónde está…? Where is… [insert place/landmark]?
- Time difference: The Costa del Sol is one hour ahead of the UK
- Average flight time: Three hours
- International phone code: +34
- Emergency services number: 112
- Public holidays: New Year’s Day (January 1), Epiphany (January 6), Day of Andalusia (February 28), Maundy Thursday (Thursday before Easter Sunday), Good Friday (Friday before Easter Sunday), Labour Day (May 1), Assumption Day (August 15), National Day (October 12), All Saints’ Day (November 1), Constitution Day (December 6), Immaculate Conception Day (December 8), Christmas Day (December 25).
- Link to FCO travel advice: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain
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Why go to the Costa del Sol?
During the 1960s and ‘70s, the Costa del Sol (‘Sun Coast’) was the destination du jour, with bargain package deals providing cheap holidays to sun-starved foreigners.
Since its heyday as a mass tourism magnet, the Costa del Sol has broadened its scope, adding string after string to its melodious Mediterranean bow. Yes, sun and sand are still the stars of the show, but culture, history and golf are playing increasingly key supporting roles.
Since its heyday as a mass tourism magnet, the Costa del Sol has broadened its scope, adding string after string to its melodious Mediterranean bow. Yes, sun and sand are still the stars of the show, but culture, history and golf are playing increasingly key supporting roles.
Travel Information
Language: Spanish | Currency: Euro (€) | Local time: (UTC+1:00) | Average flight time: 2.5 hrs
Something for everyone
During its lightning-speed development, the Costa del Sol’s tiny coastal fishing villages were swallowed by an explosion of beachfront apartment blocks and hotel complexes, offering cheap Costa del Sol holidays and all-inclusive deals to sun-thirsty Northern Europeans.
Hot on their heels was a wave of older British expats who migrated here to live out their retirement years in the sun.
Cheap holidays to Costa del Sol resorts are still widely available (look for Costa del Sol package deals in resorts such as Benalmádena, Nerja and Torremolinos) but they are no longer the only course of action.
Plan a trip here today and you can choose from all kinds of lodgings, from luxury boutique hotels and rustic-chic fincas to world-class golf resorts. If you are looking for a swankier-than-average luxury Costa del Sol holiday, head for Puerto Banús, where deluxe superyachts moor in the marina and supercars prowl the streets.
For a family holiday in the Costa del Sol, the convenience of a resort stay is undeniable: kids’ clubs, swimming pools, plays areas and nightly entertainment can make all the difference for harried parents.
Authentic Andalusian villages
Even within the most tourist-oriented, all-inclusive Costa del Sol resorts, guests are never far from the traditional Spain of old.
Just a short drive inland are a smattering of unspoiled pueblos blancos (white villages), whose lack of direct coastal access saw them escape the eye of the developers.
Many of the Costa del Sol’s main towns and villages, including Fuengirola, Marbella and Málaga, have retained their photogenic, well-preserved old towns.
When to go
With more than 300 days of sunshine every year, the Costa del Sol is a true year-round destination.
High season is summer, and the beaches and pools fill with oiled-up, scantily clad holidaymakers who roast their shoulders and backs to a worrying shade of scarlet as the mercury inches up as high as 40C.
If you go on holidays to the Costa del Sol during winter, don’t expect to return with a tan. Temperatures can and often do drop to single digits.
If you’re on the hunt for a good deal, you may want to consider late spring for your 2017 Costa del Sol package holidays. Prices are a little lower, yet the long hours of sunshine, pleasant daytime temperatures and mild evenings are a world away from the dreary spring days of the UK.
Autumn is also a good time for potential bargain hunters on the lookout for cheap holidays to the Costa del Sol, though you’ll have to put up with the odd rain shower.
Events for your diary
Fiestas and ferias (fairs) take place throughout the year, with the highest concentration of parties and processions happening during the summer months.
Among the biggest shindigs are Málaga’s Feria in August and the Night of San Juan in June, when people light beach bonfires and bravely leap over them, before plunging into the Mediterranean Sea.