Costa Del Sol as a base camp

The reason you've read nothing positive about the area is because......... Marbella is about the bottom of the heap of the whole area. You might save some bucks on rooms, but you're looking at a couple hours each way to Granada and Jerez. Driving back and forth to either wouldn't leave much time for looking around. Gibraltar and Algericas (most likely departure point for Tangier) are a bit more than an hour. A really rough number is that you'll burn fifteen bucks of gas per hour of freeway driving. It wouldn't work for me.

Yeah you're right. As I think about it, 2--4 hours per day driving for a week isn't worth the cost savings. Thanks.

Rick, there is one positive about the Costa del Sol, and it is Nerja. It's the only place there Rick Steves likes, and we agree. We spent 3 wonderful days there at the very reasonable Hotel Marissal (sp?), located right on the Balcony of Europe.

We did that same trip this past May and did use our Marriott condo on the beach for a week. It is a lot of driving, but we used a couple of days just to kick back and recharge. It doesn't get much better than in a condo right on the beach. We traveled for a week plus then did the condo week. Ronda is a great day trip from there. We found Granada to be a bit far and was a very long day. Tangier, because of the time differance, worked out fine. We did skip Gibraltar because of the driving. So I guess it depends if you want some down time mixed in or some relaxing time at the end of your trip. Marabella itself has a lot of traffic!
Hope this helped. Have a great trip your going to love it!

Here's what I did with two months. I rented a place in Carib Playa, just outside Marbella, on the way to Fuengirola. I then booked day tours to Granada, and Ronda. Gibraltar tours run every day of the week. Granada trip which came with lunch and no standing in line. When our bus got into Granada, we were allowed time to take in the sights of the town. Then we were transferred to Mini vans which took us into the Alhambra where we were met by a local guide. At lunch we had wonderful live music provided by a Tuna. There are day trips from Marbella to Sevilla and Cordoba too. These though may be once a week. The tour company will arrange a meeting stop near your condo. To me its the only way to go. Downside: you have to put up with picking up others along the coast. oh yes you can also do the day tours to Tangiers. Downside: pick up time in Fuengirola was 5 a.m.

I will be doing the same thing in Oct by car and will be using Marbella as a base for 4 days to day trip and see the coast, Gibraltar and hill towns. Then will stay in Granada and Seville when we visit them. I just want 4 days without packing and checking in somewhere else for one night at a time. A friend who has traveled there recommended Marbella as it is on the sea, has a lot of bars and restaurants for night time and is centrally located. Also great scenery while daytripping.

I second Ron's recommendation of Nerja. I spent a couple of days there in May and it was great.

We exchanged a timeshare in Benalmadena about ten years ago in October when we went. It worked pretty good for a base and the timeshare was great. We would definitely go that way again. One of the fun things we did was walk to a local park for an Irish music festival - in Spain! And there was a fair at Fuengirola that was fun to walk around. Nerja is, indeed, wonderful and a great place to hang. But we enjoyed Marbella, too, especially the stone pattern walkways and farmer's market. We did a loooong day trip to Granada so it is possible to take some of the special walks around the old town and also to see the Alhambra although our tickets were on the latter part of the day and we didn't get to see the gardens. We would rather have stayed overnight but a day trip is possible. The white hill towns are wonderful to drive and see. Do take a guide or printout of the road signs so you don't get caught going a wrong way. We started our trip with a couple nights in Madrid, then trained to Seville, picked up a car, drove to Benalmadena where we stayed a week in the timeshare. After that we drove and spent a couple nights in Sevilla, a couple nights in Lisboa, Portugal (a wonderful city). You might think about spreading some of your time around to other parts of Spain. The distances aren't that much and the driving is decent. Another option might be a timeshare in Portugal. Although the Costa Del Sol isn't terribly charming, it's still Spain - and something different. Don't let it stop you from enjoying every minute!