Nerja

This is a few years old, but it’s what we did and where we stayed in that area for four nights.

(4 nights)/Frigiliana (1 day): Initally, we were planning to stay 4 nights in the charming white village, Frigiliana, in a small apartment with a pool as a relaxing location to just enjoy being there…and a chance for me to take lots of photos while my husband enjoyed his siestas. 4 months before our trip, I learned that Nerja was having their Nerja Feria festival beginning our last two days in this area, so I switched to a hotel on the Balcony of Europe in Nerja. We took the handy 1 Euro bus up to Frigiliana for one full day of exploring every small lane of that beautifully, quaint town and having a wonderful meal at El Casino (odd name) on their terrace overlooking the town.

The Nerja Cave was well worth the time. We purchased the combo ticket to ride a little tourist train out to the caves – easy transportation. That afternoon we walked over to the Burriana Beach – beautiful beach with accessible shops, famous paella stop mentioned by RS, etc. to spend the rest of our day. This beach was much nicer than those bordering the Balcony of Europe. We both liked the ambiance of some time at the Mediterranean towards the end of our trip.

Wow, their Feria was amazing! I’d describe it for us as a combination of 4th of July fireworks, State Fair concerts, full arcade plus traditional local town entertainment & participation. The first night was kicked off with an exciting fireworks/light show with Miss Espana and huge crowd in attendance – lots of fun to be there and have our hotel steps from the kick-off location. If we weren’t there during the Nerja Feria, we thought 2 days would be enough to be in this area, and I would stay up in Frigiliana, spending one day at the caves/beach in Nerja.

A few comments about Hostal Marissal. This hotel has a prime location, and I would select it as a Nerja hotel again based on that factor. On the other hand, the gentleman at the reception desk was not friendly. Our last day, we had to just leave the keys on the desk because no one was available at 8am checkout. All rooms including those facing inward have a window door balcony, so “balcony” doesn’t guarantee an exterior view. Our balcony faced another room’s balcony and the hall walkway balcony.

Are you looking for things to do in town or the area, will you have a vehicle or using public transportation, and what time of year do you anticipate going?

Nerja maybe lacks that smallish Spanish town quaintness, it is primarily tourist beach town with some remnants of an older town. That said, we found it very relaxing for several nights at the end of a trip a year ago or so. There are some good tapas bars, lots and lots of restaurants, from seafood, to Spanish, very good Italian, Indian, a variety. Very good beaches, and some things to do around there, including the Cave and the town of Frigiliana. It was nice enough that on a trip, that in April, we will be doing a week there. However, our purpose is to just kick back and relax, not really there for history, art, or architecture.

We found lodging on Booking.com. Being a holiday spot, there are lots of apartments and rooms available, especially in the soft season. Both in September, and now in April, we found a place for about $100/night, and that is even with opting for a nicer place.

Fairly easy bus connections to Malaga and Granada, the bus is easy, but maybe not as frequent as desired.

In September, we spent two nights in Nerja to relax before heading home after 17 days in Andalucia. We had a car and stayed near Burriana Beach which we liked for walking along and stopping to sip. There we had a good meal at Restaurante Bruxelles by David Leon. We also enjoyed visiting the other nearby beaches and Frigiliana. In the bustling area around the Balcony of Europe we had a great meal at D’Vinos Gastrobar. For us, the most interesting thing about Nerja is that it is essentially a Swedish expat enclave and therefore has a generic vibe unlike anywhere else we have been in Spain.

Nerja is very pretty but also very touristy. We visited Frigiliana and Cuevas de Nerja (both easy by bus) and enjoyed them.
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2019/12/nerja-in-november-trip-report.html