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COSTA DEL SOL IS HOT!
Friday 1st December 2006
It's nice to dream of a place where sunshine is virtually guaranteed. And you can more or less bet on having good weather on the Costa del Sol, where the sun shines around 326 days a year.
Once the hot spot for cheap package holidays, this part of Spain now has exclusive new developments, water parks, more than 40 golf courses, luxurious spa resorts, all sort of watersports and buzzing bars and restaurants.
Fly into Malaga, the capital city of the region and the crowd-pleaser resorts of Torremolinos and Fuengirola are only a short drive away. Further along the coast is the swish town of Marbella, which has an attractive old town with winding cobbled streets and a delightful square with restaurants and bars.
Ten minutes drive away, you'll find the glitzy marina of Puerto Banus. It's a place to take a drink, admire the floating gin palaces docked in the harbour and try a little star-spotting – it's a favourite spot of Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, and Bruce Willis.
Mariah Carey moors her yacht here, while Sean Connery and Jimmy Tarbuck are always dropping into one of the bars there after a hard afternoon on the golf course. Viva Espana!
What to eat and drink You can find a restaurant to suit whatever you fancy, from a curry in Puerto Banus to local Andalusian in a small traditional restaurant. Fish is a speciality and fritura mixta – mixed fried fish – is a classic local dish. Salads are excellent and don't miss out on tapas, paella and crema Catalana, the Spanish version of crème brulee. Local wines, mostly white, are very drinkable and you really can't go wrong by ordering a bottle of the non-local Rioja.
Climate July and August are the hottest months with an average temperature of 29ºC, sunshine every day and nil rainfall. Wettest months are March and November, each with an average of six days of rain and the coolest month is January, which has an average temperature of 16ºC – positively balmy by British standards.
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