Holiday with kids in Spain

Sisters – waves,
Sea – bro,
I love you all
With heart and soul!

I wrote this rhyme as a child, and since then I recited it to every sea I’ve visited.

This summer we had a 10-days family vacation on Alboran sea, the westernmost part of the Mediterranean, where the sea meets the ocean. The sea water is quite cool, but the sandy coast is so sunny and warm, turning this place into a wonderful beach vacation. The name of the coast suits it well, we had a marvellous rest in Costa del Sol or the Sunny Coast in Spain.

We arrived at Malaga Airport late at night, with Ryanair’s direct flight. We chose to stay a night at Holiday Inn Malaga airport hotel where on the next day, directly in front of the hotel we rent a car from Delpaso ad we started our tour of southern Spain.

Our first stop was the cable car in Benalmadena. We recommend this ride as for 15 minutes we climbed the Calamoro mountain, with amazing views. Only 780 meters high, you have spectacular panoramic views of the coastline.  

Up there at exactly one o’clock started the show with eagles and other raptors. The children were amazed by their agility and speed, and I from the photos taken with them afterwards.

We stayed at Holiday World Village Hotel in Benalmadena with a huge aqua park. We liked it so much that we want to come back. Our room was spacious with a wonderful sea view. The food also impressed us with a variety and themed evenings. We ate Mexican, Chinese, Italian and English cuisine, and all day long we had a tasty free ice cream.  

The huge aqua park in the hotel has slides, a pirate ship and artificial waves, but we played mostly at a 30 cm pool with elephants and sprinklers. The fun continued until late in the evening, watching the Flamengo Show and other concerts and performances in the hotel.

5 days passed so fast, with lots of fun time at the beach. It was good that it got cloudy the last day, so we had a chance to visit the other sights in Benalmadena. We visited Mariposario – the Butterfly park, where we saw a great variety of big and colorful butterflies. There were also parrots, turtles and something like a little kangaroo. The children received a list of butterfly pictures that they had to look after in the park and check on the list. We liked the butterfly safari, as well as the Thai temple nearby, with a big terrace with a wonderful panorama towards the sea and our hotel.

On our way back we stopped at Colomares Castle, which firstly impressed us with the fact that they had a brochure in Bulgarian. It turned out that this is not a castle but a monument – dedicated to the life of the great navigator Christopher Columbus, and his three ships with which he reached America. It started to drizzle and we went back to the hotel for lunch. There were new games in the pool and in the children’s fun zone, and then on the playground outside.

With a Spanish tan and well fed from the all-inclusive hotel the next day we continued our journey. We headed to Gibraltar, a small country but with a big reputation for controlling the seas. On our way we stopped at ALDI – a supermarket and very decent prices and we took some food for dinner.

Throughout our stay in Spain, we shopped at LIDL, ALDI, Mercadona and Carefour – places that helped us save money without depriving ourselves of anything.

Gibraltar is the third smallest country in Europe, after Vatican and Monaco. We stayed in the cosiest house in the world, directly situated on the beach. Catalan Bay’s Unique Waterfront Duplex had two stores – with a living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom on the ground floor and a lovely bedroom overlooking the sea on the second floor. The sandy beach in front of the house had biggest mussels we have ever seen. After many sea games, we returned to our house and had a restful sleep hearing only the whisper of sea waves.

The next day we headed to the center of Gibraltar, and more precisely to its huge rock, that occupies most of the territory of this small country. We took the cable car that lifted us to 426 meters high. There we were greeted by many monkeys, who pretended to be indifferent at first, but then one monkey jumped on me, checking my backpack content. Monkeys only attack tourists whose backpacks are on the back, so if you don’t want hairy hugs, carry your bags in your hand or in front. Do not carry plush toys in your hands too, as monkeys will try to steal them if you are not careful.

After our close contact with the local inhabitants of the high rock the apes, we had a Skywalk over a fully glazed balcony. From here we saw our little house in Catalan bay, as well as the Mediterranean Sea, and even the Atlantic Ocean. On the other side of the cliff we saw the African coast, and learned that it was here that Hercules separated Europe from Africa. The rock of Gibraltar is known as the Pillars of Hercules, and I find it interesting how Greek myths spread at such a great distance.  

We continued our walk through Gibraltar National Park, entering this time underground in the beautifully lit cave of St. Michael. It is believed that its long tunnels extend all the way to Africa, and that’s how monkeys came to Gibraltar. Another Greek legend says that it is here under the Herculean Pillars that is the bottomless cave leading to the underworld of the god Hades. Learning this, we gladly came out of the beautiful cave, enjoying again the monkeys and sunlight.

Right next to the top station of the cable car there is a wonderful panoramic restaurant – very suitable for lunch. We left the warm lands of Gibraltar and headed to the sunny Spanish coast. We stopped in Estepona – the best resort for families with children, and our walk started from the zoo SELWO AVENTURA. This zoo is not like the others we had visited so far, everything here was made as if we were in Africa. We went safari, on an open truck that drove us to the animals, which seemed to be free. We fed zebras, hippos and antelopes, then walked near the elephants, giraffes and many birds..

The best here were the African villages where we spent the night sleeping in the zoo. Under the thatched roof, on bunk beds, the children fell asleep under the magic of the zoo.  The cries of the lemurs initially troubled us, but then they got quite, and our dreams too. In the morning, we had a good breakfast and again had a walk around the zoo, saying goodbye to all animals.

We headed to Torremolinos – another wonderful sea resort on the sunny Spanish coast. Our Magical Sea View Apartment was a real dream, cozy, comfortable and with the most magnificent view in the world. We strongly recommend this place as it is very close to the beach the seaside promenade and the resort center. We stayed for four night, and every day we went to the sea, and then on the pool in the complex, in the afternoon we walked along the coast, full of restaurants and ice cream shops. The center of Torremolinos also impressed us with its many diverse and inexpensive shops.

The last day of our holiday came so quickly, and we decided instead of having another day at the beach to go to the aquarium SELWO MARINA. Here again, there was a variety of different animals. We saw a show with parrots, dolphins and seals, and the day finish with wonderful photos with them.

In the evening we left our car at the airport and loaded with many good memories and photos flew back home. We are already home, but my mind as a wave heads back and again  on the Spanish coast wondering when we will go there again.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT COSTA DEL SOL:

Location: Costa del Sol (meaning Sun Coast in Spanish) is a long stretch of Mediterranean coastline in the Andalucia region, from Malaga to Cadiz, in southern Spain. One of the most visited towns here are: