This is a name that frequently attracts contempt; a name that is a byword for the low class, mass tourism that is always associated with lager louts and 'fish and chips'! Well I hate to say it, but as a confirmed campesina I like Torremolinos! It’s easily the Costa del Sol resort I like best and one that I think is undeservedly sneered at, usually by people who have never been there.
As just about the nearest beach to Malaga airport that isn’t directly under the flight path, Torremolinos was, in its day, one of the swishest resorts in Europe; a place to rival Nice! In fact when Hemingway, the great American writer, wanted to celebrate his 60th birthday he did so at a friends house in nearby Churriana and the guests, the great and the good of literary and high society were booked into hotels in Torremolinos. That probably wouldn’t happen today!
Today Torremolinos has some of the cheapest property on the costa in its heart with many old apartment blocks becoming home to immigrants and transient workers. They, together with the large gay community, give the centre of town a rather racy, cosmopolitan aspect which, I think, is reminiscent of Brighton in the UK.
The beaches are quite simply superb whilst the paseo on the Carihuela probably the best on the coast. No, it’s not the 'real Spain' of the guide books but it is the Spain the Spaniards themselves enjoy; it’s lively, fun, well maintained, clean with a huge variety of restaurants (though not a chippy in sight) and a perfect alternative to country living.
Towards Malaga city the visitors tend to be Spanish, particularly on Summer weekends when families come to promenade on the front and enjoy the superb chiringuitos (traditional beach bars) offering the very best of 'raciones'. Sitting there watching the planes arriving in the distance, beach life and the promenade whilst enjoying the very best in Andalusian seafood in the sunshine is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. The experience is typically Spanish and one that Torremolinos’ many detractors should try before being so disparaging of the town.
So keep an open mind, pay the town a visit and enjoy it for what it is.
