Southern Spain -- where to stay for beaches?

Posted by heathermmaffeo on 03/02/16 10:08 PM

Hello,

We will be road tripping southern spain and I am looking into VRBO/airbnb in southern spain for 3 nights of beach/relaxing. There will be 6 of us and a toddler. I would like somewhere where we may have access to calm beaches and have the option to take smaller day trips to other towns if we so decide. We will be coming from Granada and then heading up to Seville after this part of the trip.

In a nutshell I am looking for:

-Town Ideas

-Day trip ideas

-Family Friendly Beaches

-Restaurants/shops

Posted by Cyn

Colorado Mountains, USA

03/02/16 11:30 PM

7937 posts

Years ago, we did a timeshare trade (we were limited to places that did reciprocal trades with our timeshare association) and stayed at the coast in Fuengirola, west of Malaga and Torremolinos. You'd have though we were in England, as lots of Brits were there with us, English was widely spoken, British specialties (like Weetabix and marmalade) were for sale at the supermarket, and English St.George's Cross white-and-red flags were flying everywhere, celebrating English football (soccer) matches.

It made for a fair amount of driving, but we weren't there for the beaches (or for the swimming pool, where most of the people seemed to be hanging out all day), and we took our rental car to places like Ronda, the Pileta Cave, Nerja, and Grazalema.

Posted by heathermmaffeo OP

03/02/16 11:43 PM

16 posts

Thank you for your response Cyn! Would you go back to that area? What did you think of the day trips you took?

Posted by Cyn

Colorado Mountains, USA

03/03/16 05:51 PM

7937 posts

Frankly, if we want to visit England, we go to England! :-)

The timeshare trade made the lodging really affordable, but you get what you pay for, and now that we no longer have the timeshare, I wouldn't go to that specific place again. That, and they had an on-site disco that boomed loud music 'til 2 AM, which made for some poor nights of sleeping. Of course, if you're on "Spanish Time," and eating dinner late and staying up anyway, that might night be an issue for you. It also made for longer commuting to the surrounding places we visited, which were the highlight of the trip (and, again, we weren't there for the beaches).

To do it now, Ronda or Grazalema would be the place to stay, more central to the more inland-places we visited. Rick Steves' Spain book was indispensable for sight suggestions, and we also relied on the Lonely Planet book for location tips.