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Benalmadenabeerbelly |
| Age: | 62 | | Lives in: | Welwyn Garden City United Kingdom | | Registered: | 06 October 2001 | | Last visit: | 13 October 2005 |
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| Benalmadena Review: Benalmadena-An Overview | | Written by Benalmadenabeerbelly on 26 Nov 2004 about a trip in Nov 2004.
| Benalmadena is made up of three different villages - in the hills is Benalmadena Pueblo, a beautiful Andalucian village of whitewashed houses and flowers covering the balconies in the narrow streets; closer to the coast is Arroyo de la Miel (stream of honey in English) a small but modern and fashionable town of shops and businesses, popular with tourists and along the coast Benalmadena Costa with a 9km long beach and a 2km long promenade. One of the highlights of Benalmadena Costa is the beautiful marina (puerto) with 1000 moorings and what many authorities have claimed to be the best marina in the world. It has a new shopping centre plus 200 shops, bars and restaurants and also a shipyard, sailing school, diving school, nautical school and a Sea Life Centre aquarium. There is something for everyone at Benalmadena Costa; the Paloma park being only part of the ambience of the town. This was created quite recently and features a large lake with a fountain and ducks, swans and pelicans and landscaped gardens with enclosures for a variety of animals and birds. The main road through the town is the CN340 once notorious as Spain's most dangerous road but which is now a little quieter with the heavy traffic using the motorway at the back of the town. The road runs parallel to the coast and the Paseo Maritimo (promenade) which features shops, bars and restaurants. To the western end of the resort is the 5* Torrequebrada Hotel which houses the resort's only casino and a spectacular cabaret show. If it's culture you are after the Castle Bil Bil is an Arabic building which houses exhibitions and concerts hosted by the Town Hall. The Municipal Precolumbian Museum was created in 1970 and is the only one like it in Spain. It houses archeological remains from the area and also from Mexico and central America. The grounds are covered with marble tiles which come from a ship sunk in the 18th century. In this coastal resort are many modern hotels and self-catering appartment complexes and in the back streets north of the main road many small bars, shops and restaurants. Here on the Avenida Telefonica (known to some tourists as cardiac hill because of its steepness) is Mr. Pickwick's a friendly bar run by a couple from Preston where viewers of this site are most welcome and invited to sign the visitor's book (open from 8pm during the winter). There is truly something for everyone in Benalmadena Costa and if you feel homesick there is an abundance of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish bars! This is most certainly a family resort.
About 1km inland is Arroyo de la Miel which has a railway station linking to the rest of the costa including Malaga, Torremolinos and Fuengirola. Tivoli World is also here, an amusement park (open only at weekends in the winter) which hosts a small but interesting table top market on Sunday mornings where British ex-pats run many of the stalls. On Fridays there is a huge open market in the Tivoli car park. Adjacent is the new Telecabina (cable car) which takes passengers 750m above sea level to Monte Calamorro where, on a clear day, you can see the Atlas mountains in north Africa. Also in Arroyo many interesting shops, bars and cafes and some first-class supermarkets.
In Benalmadena Pueblo is a lovely square where you can sit under orange trees and have a meal, a snack or a drink at one of three cafes. A few metres away is the Escuela de Hosteleria (hotel management school) situated in the Hotel La Fonda where you can have a superb lunch (booking recommended). Again a few metres along is a small church where Bet & Alec got married in Coronation Street and which is surrounded by a small garden and a view of the coast which is hard to beat.
Mike
We own a studio apartment in the Jupiter which we bought in 2000 and we spend about ten weeks a year there. Just love Benal and Arroyo and one day would like to move there permanently.
I run a website and forum (Benalmadena and Arroyo de la Miel Holiday Guide), giving help and information on the resort. If you need any help or advice visit the forum and post your request, or e-mail me. |
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