Costa del Sol Towns

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, with an 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.

In any case, from the year 1947 the name starts to become popular the term "Costa del Sol" is found in the media, especially in the South Journal. Since that time, during the 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 the name 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 of Mediterranean coastline, ranging from the town of Nerja to Manilva, although sometimes also includes the towns of the Mediterranean coast of Cadiz and Granada to Motril.

The mountain range runs parallel to Penibetica coastline, forming the northern boundary of the Costa del Sol, composed of a series of coastal mountain ranges that often exceed 1,000 m. elevation. From east to west and the Sierras de Tejeda Almijara are the mountains of the easternCosta del Sol, where they are inserted in the Montes de Malaga. Sierra de Mijas, Sierra Blanca and Sierra Alpujata up the start of the coastal mountains of the western Costa del Sol, while Sierra Bermeja small extension and Sierra mountain ranges Crestellina close it.

In the narrow strip between the mountains and the sea there is a great diversity of landscapes: beaches, cliffs, mouths, bays and dunes. The rivers are short and seasonal, which causes some estuaries little bit lengthy and valleys prone to agriculture. The effect caused by the leeward Betic Systems makes their contributions are small.

The coastline shows a low-cut profile. Has the highest number of beaches in the whole autonomous community of Andalusia, namely 124 out of 321. The sandy areas occupy most of the Costa del Sol, saving some rocky stretches in Manilva, Mijas, Torremolinos, Benalmadena, Rincon de la Victoria and the cliffs 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 the sea by a narrow continental shelf and reaches a little deeper than average width 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 the late'60s and early'70s, nearby municipalities, such as Benalmadena, Fuengirola and Mijas, also launched a tourism growth.

The 1960s was a radical change in the appearance of small fishing villages. It opened the areas of Nerja and Malaga, and promoted by Ricardo Soriano Hermensdorff von Scholtz, Marquis of Ivanrey, and his cousin Alfonso de Hohenlohe, Marbella had quickly become rather fashionable among aristocrats and wealthy. In this decade, the Costa del Sol was the site of a great party atmosphere dominated by a license to go wild that did not exist elsewhere 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 European continent.

Urban development

The Costa del Sol is occupied by an almost continuous conurbation of some 140 km. In fact, the first mile from the sea towards the interior is built on a 50.8%.

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 Sol Costa 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 tourist boom caused an excessive and uncontrolled urban growth. In the first major developments have emerged in the 60s on the Costa del Sol has many other developments both on the coast and in the interior began to turn the province of Malaga in a large downtown residential area to cater for tourism.

The territorial model defined by the Spatial Plan of the Costa del Sol is intended to form a supra-urban structure that articulates the territory as a unit of area, which is called La Ciudad del Sol

Despite the high occupation of the coastal town, there are still pockets modified slightly and natural areas, some protected, as the mouth of the Guadalhorce 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-existent infrastructure in the Incio tourism in the 60s, one can speak of three different stages;

1. 60 years until 1992

It began designing road schemes in the 80's born and will run far below the needs. The vast majority of these projects were on the road and private transport as the main backbone.

2nd. From 1992 to 2005

This second phase is characterized mainly by the construction or expansion of infrastructure for mass transportation vehicles. The main infrastructure of the Costa del Sol is Andalucia Highway A-92 or connecting the Costa del Sol with the 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 rail infrastructure. It is a bet on the quality of public transport walking hand in hand 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 Costa del Sol who originally went by rail to unite around the coast of the province of Malaga , but that apparently has finally been designed with two different models for rail Costa del Sol East and West.
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