Costa del Sol

The Costa del Sol is a coastal region of the province of  Malaga in Andalusia . It is the main economic engine of the province and one of the most important tourist areas of Spain. The Costa del Sol enjoys a pleasant climate, withan average temperature of 19 C over each year and with over 300 days of sunshine.

The Costa del Sol has a huge range of hotels and leisure facilities, both  beach and rural with numerous golf courses, zoos and attractions, conference centres, marinas,etc.1950 saw the beginning the boom in international tourism, and since then this has always been a popular destination for foreigners, mainly British, German, Scandinavian and French.

Clear implication of this is the dramatic economic and population growth throughout the region. It all started back in the 1920s when a new hotel was built in Almeria,Rodolfo Lussnigg, owner of the Hotel Simon, coined the term Costa del Sol (sun coast) to promote the Costa del SolCosta de Almería, which originally referred exclusively to the hotel.

You may say that some of the towns in this guide are not located in the Costa del Sol area, actually the area does not exist, it has no legal standing it is simply a tourist promoting name to an undefined region.

The campaign began February 16, 1928 in thenewspaper La Cronica in order to attract visitors on their way to Sevilleand BarcelonaExpositions 1929. Other references can be found in the Ibero-AmericanExposition inSeville.

In any case, from the year 1947 the name startsto become popular the term “Costa del Sol”is found in the media, especially in the South Journal. Since that time, duringthe sixties and the Costa del Sol term would refer to the coasts of Almería, Granada and Malaga.Currently it applies only to the coast of Malaga,as the Granada area is now referred to with thename Costa Tropical and Costa de Almeria for Almeria.

The Costasoleno coastline stretches from the boundary with the province of Granada in the east and the border with the province of Cadiz in the west, along 161 km ofMediterranean coastline, ranging from the town of Nerja to Manilva, although sometimes also includes the towns of the Mediterraneancoast of Cadiz and Granada to Motril.

The mountain rangeruns parallel to Penibetica coastline, forming the northern boundary of  the Costa del Sol, composed of a series of coastal mountainranges that often exceed 1,000 m. elevation. From east to west and the Sierrasde Tejeda Almijara are the mountains of the easternCosta del Sol, where they are inserted in the Montes de Malaga.

Sierrade Mijas, Sierra Blanca and Sierra Alpujata up the start of the coastalmountains of the western Costa del Sol, whileSierra Bermeja small extension and Sierra mountain ranges Crestellina close it.In the narrow strip between the mountains and the sea there is a greatdiversity of landscapes: beaches, cliffs, mouths, bays and dunes.

The riversare short and seasonal, which causes some estuaries little bit lengthy andvalleys prone to agriculture. The effect caused by the leeward Betic Systemsmakes their contributions are small.

The coastline shows alow-cut profile. Has the highest number of  beaches in the whole autonomouscommunity of Andalusia, namely 124 out of 321.

The sandy areas occupy most of the Costa del Sol, saving some rocky stretchesin Manilva, Mijas, Torremolinos, Benalmadena, Rincon de la Victoria and thecliffs of Maro, in the town of Nerja.Stress relief in the coastal bays of Malaga and Estepona, separated by Punta Calaburras. Emerging land extends under thesea by a narrow continental shelf and reaches a little deeper than averagewidth of about 5 km and a maximum depth of 150-200 m.

The golden age of  the Costa del Sol The emerging as a tourist destination of  Torremolinos, a domino effect, and thelate’60s and early’70s, nearby municipalities, such as Benalmadena, Fuengirolaand Mijas, also launched a tourism growth.

The 1960s was a radical change in the appearanceof small fishing villages. It opened the areas of  Nerja and Malaga, and promoted by Ricardo Soriano Hermensdorff vonScholtz, Marquis of Ivanrey, and his cousin Alfonso de Hohenlohe, Marbella had quickly become ratherfashionable among aristocrats and wealthy.

In this decade, the Costa del Solwas the site of a great party atmosphere dominated by a license to go wild that did not existelsewhere in Europe for the “in crowd”

In 1976 they established the Tourist Board of the Costa del Sol.  This body was the first entity of this type of promotion in Spain and was a model for other similar organizations across Spain. The Costa del Golf The Costa del Sol is also known as the Gulf Coast and has the largest concentration of golf courses in Andalucía and the Europeancontinent. Urban development The Costa del Sol is occupied by an almost continuous conurbation of some 140km. In fact, the first mile from the sea towards the interior is built on a50.8%.

The tourist boomcaused an excessive and uncontrolled urban growth. In the first majordevelopments have emerged in the 60s on the Costa del Sol has many otherdevelopments both on the coast and in the interior began to turn the provinceof  Malaga in a large downtown residential area to cater for tourism.

The territorial model defined by the Spatial Plan of  the Costa del Sol isintended to form a supra-urban structure that articulates the territory as aunit of area, which is called La Ciudad del Sol Despite the high occupation of  the coastal town, there are still pocketsmodified slightly and natural areas, some protected, as the mouth of theGuadalhorce Natural, the Natural Cliffs of Maro-Cerro Gordo and natural features of the Dunas de Artola and Raven’s Rock.

Communications and infrastructure The A-7 on its way through Benalmadena The N-340 in Calahonda, Mijas Costa

As a result of rapid population growth,seasonal and permanent, on the Costa del Sol and the virtually non-existentinfrastructure in the Incio tourism in the 60s, one can speak of threedifferent stages; 1. 60 years until 1992 It began designing road schemes in the 80’s born and will run far below theneeds. The vast majority of these projects were on the road and privatetransport as the main backbone. 2nd.

From 1992 to 2005 This second phase is characterized mainly by the construction or expansion ofinfrastructure for mass transportation vehicles.

The main infrastructure of theCosta del Sol is Andalucia Highway A-92 or connecting the Costa del Sol withthe rest of high capacity roads of Andalusia ,and the split of the National 340 to dual lane each way. Other actions were the East and West Round access to Malaga and the split of the road Antequera-Malaga. 3rd.

Since 2005 In this final stage in which we are mainly trying to improve railinfrastructure. It is a bet on the quality of public transport walking hand inhand with the qualitative leap that involves the arrival of high-speed train(AVE) to Malaga in December 2007 and the inauguration of the Metro de Malaga in 2009.

It is currently under study and work in the Rail Corridor project on the Costadel Sol who originally went by rail to unite around the coast of the province of Malaga , but that apparently has finallybeen designed with two different models for rail Costa del Sol East and West.

Costa del Sol tourism, Costa del Sol history, Costa del Sol geography, Costa del Sol towns, Costa del Sol information, Mijas, Torremolinos, Benalmadena, Marbella, Fuengirola, Malaga history, Malaga tourism, Costa del Sol national parks