Scott and Melissa (00:00)
When most Americans start thinking about a beach vacation, we probably start with Florida, Mexico, the Caribbean, maybe Hawaii or even the Amalfi coast. And Spain probably isn't very high on that list. But after spending some time along Spain's Costa del Sol, Melissa and I both came away wondering why. Because we think Costa del Sol is one of the more underrated beach destinations we've visited. And the funny thing is
We didn't go there because we had searched all the beach destinations in Europe and decided that this was where we wanted to spend some time. Our daughter and her family were living in Estepona for a little over a month, so that's what brought us there. We stayed in Estepona, rented a van, and used it as our home base, and from there we took day trips to Malaga, Mijas, Marbella, and Ronda, with a few other stops along the way.
We had the grandkids with us, so most of these were relatively short day trips. We get up, pick somewhere to go, spend a few hours exploring, find somewhere to eat, and then back to Estepona. And what surprised us was how much variety there was within an easy drive of where we were staying.
Before this trip, we had never really considered southern Spain as a beach holiday destination. It is right there on the Mediterranean with long stretches of sandy beaches. And what's funny though is that we had actually wanted to explore more of this part of Spain, but we had really just said southern Spain, Andalusia. In the past, we had been to Barcelona a couple of times, we had been to Madrid, and we had been to Sevilla as a day trip from a cruise when it ported one time in Malaga.
But we had honestly been eager to explore more of this part of Spain, some of the other little towns and places like that. So we were actually really thrilled that we could meet up with them while they were here and do something that was on our bucket list. And so one of the things about this is yes, you can have this as a beach destination, but you don't have to spend seven days just sitting on the beach either. Now, I will say it is a very common just beach destination for Europeans.
for people from Germany, from the UK, because it does offer the beaches and great weather, great food and stuff like that. But for us, it was early in the season. It was Easter weekend, first couple of weeks in April. And there's also so much to explore in this area. So one day you can be in a city like Malaga, and then another day you're walking through one of the whitewashed villages like Mijas.
you can also drive into the mountains and spend the day in Ronda or do some shopping or just have some really good food in Marbella or go visit Gibraltar. That's another place that you may not think of because it's technically not Spain, but it's an easy day trip from this area. And you can still come home to the beach or, have days at the beach in between.
Well, let's start with Estepona because that's where we stayed. Again, the decision was pretty easy. Our daughter and her family were living there, and the whole reason we had come to Costa del Sol in the first place was to spend time with them. So that kind of took care of the where are we gonna stay question for us.
But we got to see so many sides of Estepona during our stay. We had arrived on Thursday prior to Easter, so it was the middle of Holy Week. And every night they would have these processions that march through the streets of Estepona observing Samana Santa. And each night was a different feel, with the days before the crucifixion being very somber, and then after the resurrection, very joyful and bright. And each day the processions would march with different
pesos which were carried by the Brotherhoods. So what is a peso? I had seen pictures of these like on Instagram before. I don't know that I knew before we at least before our daughter got there that this was what we were going to experience. And so these pesos are these very elaborate heavy wooden structures that have
life size statues of like Jesus, the Virgin Mary, different saints or biblical scenes from the Passion. And they have these guys mostly who are underneath there and
And they're called Costelleros. They're the ones that carry the immense weight directly on their necks and shoulders. And you really don't see them as much because usually they're hidden by some type of cloth or something like that that drapes down the sides. but then there's a guy up front who guides them and he signals to them when they need to stop and rest, when they need to sit it down, and he uses this like knocker thing where he goes up to it and
And then they'll set it down, or they'll do that again, and then they all rise in unison. And it's really neat to see, but they don't go very far because these things are well, they don't go very far at a time, I should say, because these things are really heavy. But they will walk through almost the entire city in an evening's time. And these processions go on for hours.
And there's lots of other people involved as well. So there's people playing instruments, there's children. there's lots of other people taking part. And you said most of them are men. We did there are a couple, I I guess on a couple of different nights that are all female as well, which is so interesting. So this in and of itself was just a really unique time to be in this area of Spain.
I think it was really neat to see it in Estepona because Estepona is a much smaller place. If you go to somewhere like Malaga, Sevilla, they're much larger. but it was neat because there was even times when it passed right very near our apartment. So if you ever have the opportunity to be in this area of Spain right before Easter, it it really was a very unique thing to get to witness and something I'd that we will.
not ever forget. the other thing I loved about Estepona is that it almost has two different personalities. you do have the the beachfront that's a very traditional it's got a wide sandy beach beach front it's got a promenade
So they have restaurants where they cook right on the beach that are right in the sand. A lot of times you do need reservations for those. Those are very popular. so then you have a pedestrian zone with local shops and lots of other restaurants and bars. And then you have just a few blocks away, you have the old town, which is actually where our apartment was, where we stayed. And you've got whitewashed buildings, really narrow streets, little plazas, of course, more restaurants and local shops.
but then flowers absolutely everywhere. And our daughter, they had been there a couple of weeks at least before we came and she said they were just constantly planting flowers. And in this area, you're still only 10 minutes from the beach, but it honestly feels like you're somewhere completely different. And also it feels like you've really stepped back in time because it is in that old town. Of course, the place that we had stayed, I think it had been recently refurbished and just come on the market as a rental to
to have like a rental apartment. so very nice and new accommodations as well. What I like too is there are very few cars in these narrow passageways. I think mostly locals just kind of coming and and dropping stuff off And so you really can choose what like where you want to stay. Do you want to be right on the beachfront, right on the promenade, or do you want to be something that's more in an apartment in like the old town area?
And I mentioned the flowers. So Estepona is also known as the garden of the Costa del Sol. And once you've walked through that old town, you'll understand why. they've got the flowers that like the the city does all over town. But then every house also had some type of flower or flower pots. And some of them had like tons of colorful flower pots hanging on the side or hanging on some structures that they had a around their doors and
things like that. So it's just absolutely beautiful this time of year because flowers were everywhere. And so it was just a really great great place where you could spend time with the family. Their apartment was just actually a couple of blocks over. so we could easily walk between them. We could go to the beach, you could walk around town, walk to the the market to get food andor go out to eat because there's lots of different places down by the beach or like I mentioned in the old town.
And so then we also used it as our jumping off point to go visit some of these other places. And it made a very convenient location for doing that as well. So some of the times we would do that one day and then we might just stay in Estepona another day. So it wasn't like you had to go somewhere every single day, but it gave us the option in order to do that.
Sunshine Travelers (09:45)
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Scott and Melissa (11:09)
I think for us having a van was a big part of that ability to just kind of jump and go wherever we wanted to. We had, on most days like six people that we needed to get around. So having a smaller car didn't didn't really work. Of course having a larger car does bring its challenges like where can you park it and things like that. Sometimes the streets are really narrow. So getting around town is a challenge. But I think it's very easy to drive.
in Spain. So I would definitely recommend renting a car so that you can go off and see as much as possible. One thing I do want to mention about that is I think there were a few places where this might be the case. but if you're staying like where we were or right by the beach, you won't be parking anything right by that. So you would have to park in like a parking deck or they had like under the under the street parking near the beach. and then you would have to walk.
to your apartment. so just just know that. When we would did had our luggage, we would get as close as we could, and then go park it. So just know that that would be the case, just like it was in Sevilla that we talked about in the last episode. Yeah, it was about a 10 minute walk to our apartment from where we would park. So it wasn't it wasn't very bad. matter of fact, we just kind of got used to it and then you'd be like, we're already here.
So having our own vehicle really gave us a tremendous amount of flexibility. we weren't having to work around train schedules or trying to organize everybody for a tour. we could just decide where we wanted to go that morning and get up, get ready and go. And with the grandkids, that flexibility was key to us. Once everybody was done, when we were
out visiting places. Then we just said, okay, we're done. And then we would head back to Estepona.
So let's talk about a few of the places that we went. There's lots of little towns. and so we kind of hit some things that were either on our or their bucket list to go do. So I think the big one was Malaga. So this was the place that we had flown in and then flew out of, but we didn't explore it right, when we got there. And what's funny about this is that our ship actually docked.
Here back in 2019 when we did our Mediterranean cruise. But that time we actually didn't really know anything about Malaga. And so we actually did a day trip to Sevilla instead of spending the day here. I won't say I'm sad that we did that because we had really enjoyed our day in Sevilla and it gave us kind of what we wanted to go back and do again. but
If you if your ship ever docks in Malaga and you're like, okay, what do you do? Listen up because I mean there's so many things within walking distance from the port. So here's kind of what we did. we actually got up early that morning. I think it was about 45 minutes to Malaga from our apartment.
one of the things was to have breakfast in the historic district at a little small cafe called La Vrakova. And what's it so interesting is the breakfast here is just so simple. so you're basically just getting toast and it's basically large slices of sourdough bread, but they bring it out with different toppings and spreads that are homemade. and they put them in like cut up.
cardboard egg cartons. So everybody gets their bread and the spreads in the little section of the little egg carton. And really your only choice was if you wanted milk or no milk in your coffee, I think. And the kids may have had juice or something like that with theirs. and so then you just try it with the different toppings. And so this was just a this was a really neat place. full of antiques as well to like look around. So very just traditional
things that you would find in people's homes and I love places like this when you travel. They also had like later in the evening, it would have been like a tapas bar and wine and and things like that. But it definitely was not a tourist place. most of the people in there look like they were locals just coming here to start their day. But it was super fast and efficient because it's just like this is what we have and do you want milk or no milk? So that was a neat place. Highly recommend that. And it's
in the historic area where you'd kind of want to be walking around anyway. And I'd say that Malaga itself was a lot bigger and had a lot more going on than I think we had expected. There's a tremendous amount of history here. We went to the Alcazaba, the old Moor Moorish fortress overlooking the city. And then after that we hiked on up towards the
Castillo de Gibralfaro. And I'm sure I just butchered that, but you you can look it up. we'll put the we'll put it in the show notes. You can get the spelling for it. But that was a castle that sat up on top of the hill.
And it's definitely a hike to get up there. But once you get higher up on the side of the hill, you start getting these incredible views over Malaga and out towards the Mediterranean. And the history of this part of Spain is fascinating because you have all these different civilizations that are layered on top of one another. Go back to Roman history, then you've got centuries of Islamic rule.
And then you've got the Christian period that followed after that. And in Malaga, you can see these layers within a really relatively small area. and even down at the bottom of the Al Cazaba, there's a Roman theater sitting right there. And so you could just see all these layers of history over time. And one of the best parts is that they had a cafe up on top.
So after you hike up, we've rewarded ourselves with some of the most refreshing ciders I think I've ever had. and just an amazing view. And what was funny is they even served it with a glass of ice. And I think if you'd ordered a soda or a Coke, no ice.
And another thing is that if you aren't physically able to walk up to the top of that castle, there was a road where like taxis and vans and were dropping people off. So you could get a taxi and take it up. or if you want a group trip, we definitely saw some buses that were letting people out of the top.
So we started at the one at the bottom and actually bought a ticket for both. And so then when we got to the top, we didn't have to like wait in line to get the ticket. and I think at the bottom there was just a kiosk, an electronic kiosk that we used. And but we didn't have to wait in line. We could just scan that on in. and so I would say we probably spent a couple of hours seeing both of them and just kind of wandering around them and hiking up and and hiking down as well. And the views from the top.
again, are just absolutely amazing. It's just basically a castle ruin today, but you can walk along that old castle wall And then just take in the panoramic views of the city below.
I had actually taken a screenshot of our steps that day and we were already at five miles before it was even lunchtime. but both of these things are a super easy walk from the port.
we actually walked down to that port area and kind of walked along the promenade and there were some cruise ships in port, but it's a super close walk from the port to both of those.
after we had walked back down and walked around that promenade where the cruise ships come in, we were ready for some lunch And we had planned to go to the market before they closed up, which is called the Mercado Centrale de Aterazanas.
so if you are a food person or like local markets, this is somewhere that you definitely want to put on your list, but also watch your time because they didn't it was open I don't know, till maybe two thirty or three. I'm not sure. You'll need to check on that, but don't wait too late because it does it does close up. So this was just a really great market in the center of Malaga. So we kind of made our way back to where we had started.
And the vendors there are selling fresh produce, fresh fish, fresh seafood, meat, cheeses, and then all kinds of local products. So if you are staying a place with a kitchen and are able to take some stuff back, make sure you take a market tote or a cooler bag and grab some ingredients for dinner later on. but what's really great about it is that it's not just a place for just to shop and take things back.
There are a number of places around the market where you can sit down and eat. And they're working from the ingredients from inside the market. And so that's what we did for lunch. they actually have some seating that's like right on the sidewalk too, where they actually come out and take your order, which is really, really great. and made it easy with the kids.
So Scott, Carey and I actually ordered amazing fire-roasted octopus tentacles. So this is something that we love to have in this area of the Mediterranean. And the kids enjoyed some fish and chips. And so that was what we had for lunch. And so it was great just to sit down.
and have kind of the hustle and the bustle of the market right there. but they come and take your order and and bring out your food. And I mean, it was just really great food. And then we had a chance to walk around the market a little bit and see everything else that they had.
So you've still got the Mediterranean right there. You've still got some beaches, but you've also got this really great historic district. there's museums, there's the restaurants, markets, and lots of the shopping as well. So And then just the energy that comes with being in a city. And if you have kids, there are also several playgrounds. So there was a playground down by the promenade down by the port where the kids could play for a little bit as well.
And if you didn't know it, Malaga is also where Picasso was born. So there's a Picasso Museum. you've also got the Malagas Cathedral, Calle Leros, the The waterfront that I mentioned, where they were also having like an outdoor market, I think because cruise ships were in port. and a lot of those were local though.
And then a lot of other things that we simply didn't get to. So it's actually a place where you could spend several days as well.
So let's talk about one of the other places that we went to, and that was Mijas. So Mijas gives you completely different experience. This is what a lot of people probably picture when they imagine a little village in southern Spain. They have these whitewashed buildings, filled with narrow streets, the flowers, and all the views looking down towards the Mediterranean. Mijas
sits up on the hills above the coast, and that's part of what makes it so interesting. You're not driving very far from these beach communities, but the setting up here in Mijas completely changes. And Mijas is also known for its donkey taxis, which have been a part of the town's tourism identity for decades. I don't know that I'm a big fan of that because I liked saw
the stables where they keep these donkeys and I just feel bad that they're always on in the city. but a lot of people do take these donkey taxis around. I think it's very much a at this point a tourist thing to do. they also have a lot of old walls, gardens, churches, and viewpoints. but
Mijas is one of those places where I don't think you're gonna need a huge checklist of things to do there. you're just gonna want to kind of get lost in the town, wander around, see it, grab something to eat, and take some pictures. And I think that's about it for Mijas. So for us, it was about experiencing the village and having lunch out on a patio that kind of overlooked that downtown area.
I will say the one thing about Mijas is that it was on very winding roads to get there. And this is one of the days where we kept reminding the kids, look out at the horizon because there was lots of twists and turns and corners to go around.
So we combined our day in Mijas with a quick stop at the Castillo Montiamento Calamares. so this is actually a really unusual place. when you first see it, it looks like a really elaborate historic Spanish castle that may have been there like for hundreds of years. But what's funny about it is it's actually very, very new.
it was built between 1987 and 1994 as a monument to Christopher Columbus and the voyage to the Americas. It was actually built by a doctor and he built it. He hired some people and I think he built it alongside them. and so it's just a neat, neat little place to visit. the architecture combines all different styles.
And there are references throughout the monument to Columbus and the ships associated with the voyage. They've also got like a little museum where they've got some documents and and things like that. So it's actually a place that's very visually fascinating to visit, even before the story. Lots of people were obviously taking pictures and and things like that. So we stopped for a little while. Would you say we probably spent 45 minutes to an hour there, I think. It was really a neat place.
for the kids to enjoy and it was, it's kind of on the way. so we saw the castle and just kind of continued on as well. So they do charge an entrance fee, but it's very reasonable. I think it was like three fifty Euros for adults and two fifty Euros for kids But that's a really neat if you're in that particular area.
that's a a neat place just to stop and and visit. they didn't have a ton of parking, so we had to kind of park, go down to another street and park and walk, maybe less than 10 minutes to it. So you may have to kind of drive that little area, but it's up on the side of the hill and then you see the ocean from there.
So you have Malaga, but then there's Marbella. And Marbella was probably the most international feeling of the places that we visited. There's a really large British presence in this part of the Costa del Sol, including people who live here full time and others who have second homes there. And Marbella has developed this reputation as kind of the more glamorous side of the coast. You've got luxury hotels, a lot of very expensive homes, beach clubs, shopping.
yachts in Porto Benos, which is considered to be the playground for the wealthy and famous. So I think if you hang around that port, you might see some famous people there.
But you've also got inside of Marbello the old town with the whitewashed buildings, the narrow streets and Plaza de Naranijos. so there are really different sides to Marbella. Which is kind of what we noticed in every town that we went, right? Kind of like a modern and like an old part. There's also a lot of golf courses around this area, and we noticed a lot of sports cars as well.
but what was also interesting and we noticed this from our drive in from Malaga the first time is that there were a lot of Indian restaurants in this area as well. one day we decided to go to Marbella specifically for lunch.
because our daughter found an Indian restaurant that was very, very highly rated. so she actually I think she called and made reservations and so for lunch. We weren't really sure what the situation is. But what was funny is we drove over there and went in and we were the only people eating in the restaurant for lunch. so I think it's really known. I think maybe people are out and about during the day at the beach, different things, and then they come for dinner.
because it's one of those where I think the reviews was like reservations highly recommended, but we the whole time, like we were the only people in the restaurant. which is also it's like one of those moments where you're like, is this place not any good? but it had rave reviews and people were talking about how good it was. So I really just think it was it's it's more of a a a more of a dinner spot. But we did see people coming in to pick up food to go that look like they had been
Several times or as well. So
The food was amazing. and it was just very, very cutely decorated as well. And the service was was fantastic. So we really enjoyed we really enjoyed our lunch there. I think we singled out the Indian restaurants. And there were there were a lot of Indian, but I think that there were other like Asian restaurants as well. So when you think of Marbella, it's got that
British and Asian flair to it. I don't think either of us really expected Indian food to be one of the things that we'd remember about visiting Marbella either. But that's kind of how travel works. Sometimes the things you remember isn't the thing that was on the original list. And it also reinforced how international that Marbella felt compared to some of the other places that we had visited. Mijas felt like
This little small Andalusian village. Estepona had its local beach town feel. And Marbella felt much more cosmopolitan. So if your version of a beach vacation involves upscale restaurants, resorts, shopping, and nightlife, Marbella may be the place along Costa del Sol that will appeal to you the most. So when you're looking at places to stay, you might want to look at Marbella.
So one of the places that we also wanted to go is a town in the mountains called Ronda. so you may be familiar with this. You probably have seen pictures or videos on Instagram. It is an an old town, but it has a massive arch stone bridge.
And so we had actually visited here before we went to Mijas, which is kind of how we knew to tell the kids like look at the horizon, keep looking out, that kind of thing, because this was another one where we had lots of windy roads to get Ronda. So this also feels like you're on a completely different trip at this point because you're not having the views of the Mediterranean, you're not seeing the ocean anymore.
The town is divided by an enormous gorge called El Tahoe. And spanning it is that bridge I was talking about called Puente Nuevo.
But seeing the pictures of that and actually standing there looking down into that gorge, looking at the some of the building, like the old stone buildings and things like that that seem to be perched like precariously on both sides. it's really, really dramatic.
So this is another place where a lot of the streets are pedestrian-only streets. This is a very, I would say this is a very tourist heavy place as well, because people want to come and see this huge bridge, this huge gorgeous. And so we did have to park in a parking deck and then walk. So, but it was an interesting walk. There's lots of restaurants and
in different shops. It was a wide pedestrian only street. So it was nice to just kind of stroll. we ended up stopping for lunch and and then proceeding to where the bridge was. There's almost like a little park with some like all kinds of different steps that you could get like various viewpoints of it. There's also old churches and I mean you you could actually do a lot of walking up and down
where that bridge was just kind of depending on how much you wanted to quit. I'm not like a hike hike, but it was kind of like a hike. There was a little building that you could go to and you had to pay to do this, but it was one of those things kind of like you're walking along the edge of the gorge. And I so I think you had to be strapped in to a harness. I know for sure that you had to wear a helmet. I remember seeing that.
But you could walk across or along the edge of that gorge and have that really tremendous view. That wasn't something that I was interested in doing. So didn't really go down to check that out. Yeah, that's true. It was almost like you were underneath it at that point. But on both sides of it, you had great views and great vantage points as well.
But again, we were there on a day trip, so we didn't experience everything Ronda has to offer. And my opinion on that is it just leaves new places for us to come back and explore again on some other visit. What we can tell you though is that if you're spending a week along the Costa del Sol, Ronda gives you the opportunity to take one day and experience something completely different from the coast. And I would definitely go back there and do that again.
Speaking of being completely different, another day trip that you can do from the area, and for us it was just a little over an hour from Estepona, is that you can go to Gibraltar. And here you're gonna get a little taste of the UK. crazy enough, this is actually our second trip to Gibraltar. we had gone once before on that Mediterranean cruise. It had
ported there in Gibraltar and then we went up to the top of the rock. this time we drove there and funny enough if you rent a car in Spain you cannot drive it across the border into Gibraltar. They've got a paid parking lot Then you go in through an immigration center and that's where you cross the border. So
Don't forget your passport. We learned that until sometime in 2027, the cable car that actually gets you up to the top of the rock is going to be closed for refurbishment. And so you either have to walk up or take a taxi tour. And conveniently, right as you come out of the immigration, you can purchase that taxi tour. and they basically get a group of people together.
to fill up that taxi van and then they shoot you up to the top of the rock. it gives you time for just kind of quick stops, quick pictures. They'll put a monkey on your on your shoulder or a monkey on your back, as my dad says, and take your picture with it. but one of the things that they did was there are these cave systems that go through the rock that were used during the war.
So you can choose to end your tour there and you walk through the caves and at the end when you're finished, you just walk down the rest of the way of the mountain. there's several little paths with lots of stairs, I should mention. So a lot of stairs going down. Or you can stay on the taxi and it'll take you back down to where they picked you up. But you wouldn't have time to explore those war tunnels.
So I think it just depends on, what you're able to do. I will say the last time we did do the cable car up and that gave us more time to explore like the cave that has like the stalactites and stalagmites and they have it all lit up and So for us this time it was just a quick stop. so if you are able to walk it, you would have a lot more time.
But honestly, I'm not sure. It seemed like it was kind of far from there to those other tunnels. so I think you kinda have to pick and choose. but we did walk back down. one of the neat parts of walking back was that we actually got to walk across an active runway. So there is an airport there at Gibraltar. I think the only places that you can fly to from there is to the UK.
You walk across the runway and when they have a plane that's either gonna be landing or or taking off, they close that walking path and you have to wait to the plane goes by to walk across. And that's so interesting because it's it's different. When you come in, you go through like
Gibraltar immigration and you don't do that. And then that's what you walk across when you leave. And that was especially fun for our grandson because he had a book about airports and that was one of the ones. It was like unique airports of the world. And that was one of the ones that was in the book. So that was just kind of neat for him to then be able to connect something that he had seen in a book and then actually walk across that runway. but before we did that, that's kind of the last thing that you do like leaving.
Gibraltar. They do have like a high street. and then they have a whole like plaza with lots of different restaurants and ice cream. And we did find a pub and had some fish and chips. So I think Gibraltar is a really great day trip from this area as well. And that just kind of gives you something unique. I do think we got in this particular case, I do think we got a stamp in our passport and maybe leaving too well for in this particular track. That's when the
EES, they're trying to put that together or they're trying to, implement all of that. And like we had to go through this registration process there, but like it didn't work and or it did work, but then you still had to go to this guy, like then immigration official, and he took your passport and he stamped it. Yeah. The other thing I will say, we already had the
the electronic entry that we needed for the UK because we'd actually been to London right before this. But I did read because like our daughter and the kids did not have that on their passport. I did read that you do not need the one for the UK in order to enter Gibraltar. So just know that you don't have to have that.
Let's go back and talk a little bit more about Costa del Sol.
And when we say that it is underrated as a beach destination, I don't think we're necessarily saying that these are the best beaches that we have ever seen. If your number one priority is powder white sand and then crystal clear turquoise, Caribbean water, there are places that are going to beat Costa del Sol. and that's not what makes this place special. For us, it's the complete vacation.
Imagine spending a week here. You can have days when you just hang out at the beach and you don't do much of anything. maybe you go and grab a bite of lunch by the ocean and just sit there by the Mediterranean and really enjoy it. You could walk into town that evening and find somewhere for dinner. That's a perfectly good day on Costa del Sol. But the next morning you can get up and you can go to Malaga or you and have breakfast at that La Ricova.
You can walk through the historic district, you can explore the Alcazaba, right? There are so many things that you can do in and around this area of the Costa del Sol.
And so it really actually worked perfectly well for us because we were visiting and traveling with the grandkids on the day trips. And so
So we didn't really approach visiting Costa del Sol the way we sometimes travel when it's just the two of us, where we would be moving around all the time, trying to visit, you all the places and trying to maximize every minute of every single day. It was really about, since our daughter and her family were here, it was about spending time together. if they wanted to go to the playground, if we wanted to
go to the market and then come back and have some meals at home. It was about being all together as family. Part of the time Scott's parents were with us. And so some of the days we did go exploring, but would be back in time for dinner, which was nice about that. And then some days we could just stay in Estepona, have good meals out, walk around and just enjoy,
being in the town and enjoying our apartment, which is I think is kind of rare for us as well. Yeah, it's funny you should say that because
I think on this trip we said this is the last time that we're gonna rush and see everything. We're gonna slow down and really spend time places and enjoy. So like this last trip here, that three month trip, I think for us that's where we drew the line and said, No longer are we gonna try to pack everything in to one trip. Instead, we're gonna pick one or two places.
And we're gonna stay there for extended periods of time and really start to learn to experience those places like locals. We didn't do that on this trip.
So and I think that's one thing that we actually learned on this trip, having this home base here. and then having the home base in the Normandy area when we were in France is having the same place to come back to every night just makes it a whole lot easier. You're not having to pack up and check out and check in and, get to where you're going by a certain time.
And I think that's really good advice that we need to take ourselves, but even if you're not traveling with kids, it just makes it a whole lot less hectic. no, you can't necessarily go as far, but you have a lot more downtime, I think, built in. Yeah, and I think that's what we really liked about what our kids were doing.
is they were spending a month in Estepona and just living there and then they s went and spent a month in Valencia after that.
So if you're listening to this and thinking, okay, you've convinced me to at least look at Costa del Sol, then the next question is probably where should I stay? And I don't think there's a single answer to that. if you want the city experience, look at Malaga. you can walk to restaurants, museums, historic sites, and then still have access to the coast. If you want the luxury nightlife and more international atmosphere, look at Marbella. And if you want something a little more relaxed when you've
where you've got the beach and a beautiful old town, but you can still use it a base to explore the region, then we would definitely recommend Estepona for you. And that's what worked for us. There are plenty of other communities along this coastline that we didn't explore enough to have an opinion about. And that's okay. It's a great reason for us to go back there. And we would definitely go back.
like I mentioned at the very beginning that this was a place that we had wanted to explore more of of Andalusia, of the the food culture here as well, of the history. and so I think that's what surprised me most about this part of the trip. It wasn't really about the destination.
So this isn't a choice between going to Spain or taking a beach vacation. Spain can be the beach vacation. So next time you're thinking about spending a week somewhere along the water, and your list automatically starts with Florida, Mexico, or the Caribbean. Maybe expand that map just a little bit and look at southern Spain. Look at the Costa del Sol. Because we went there to visit our family. We left thinking we had found one of Europe's most
underrated options for a beach vacation.
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