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3 Things To Do In Autumn On The Costa Del Sol

The Costa del Sol is for sure a year-round destination with each of the seasons offering, residents and visitors alike, a wonderful choice of activities.

For most residents on the coast, autumn is the absolute favorite season of the year.

We all love living on the coast. The climate is brilliant nearly the entire year, but autumn time is just a little bit special.

One of the nicest things about this time of year is it tells us summer is over. Don’t get us wrong, we love the summer: All those lazy hazy days sitting around the pool sipping nice cold cocktails and the exciting nights tripping the light fantastic or enjoying Spain’s food galore. We all love that.

But come September, the temperature settles on a perfect 25 degrees, the traffic eases up and the beaches become more accessible without all the craziness of the hot season.

But what’s so special about autumn?

Golf

Everyone keeps going on about the Costa del Golf and how we have over six million golf courses on the coast. You only need to sit in any hotel lobby on the coast and you will see and hear people waffling on about birdies, pars, bogeys and buggies, all year round. If you’re an avid golfer you definitely want to venture on to a golf course during the autumn time.

The summer crowds have gone, the weather is superb for donning shorts and a polo shirt and showing off the summer tan without the sweat inducing heat.

Yes, the golf in autumn tends to cost more than in summer, but the enjoyment level is so much higher. The courses are in good shape and the birds are in song.

All in all, it is the best time of year to see how far you can throw a 5 iron.

Walking and Hiking

If we surveyed all the tourists arriving during the heat of July and August, and asked them which are their favorite walks they enjoy on the coast, the answers will for sure put a smile on your face.

You can imagine responses like “Well I do enjoy a good walk down to pub. It takes me, ooh, at least 10 minutes and I certainly feel like I have earned a cold one when I get there” or “Walk? You mean like round El Corte Inglés right?” or “Walk…on the sand? No way. Too damn hot”.

Perhaps they are right! Who in their right mind would want to walk about the countryside in 35+ degrees.

If you enjoy a leisurely walk, taking in some superb scenery, some astonishing views and boldly going where no man has gone before, then autumn time on the Costa del Sol is, for want of a better word…perfect!

Whether it be the simple, flat and pleasant promenade (paseo) that essentially joins the entire coast (well nearly) then this time of year is the time to do it.

Dotted along the walks are a bountiful selection of beach bars and cafes where you relax, grab a bit of lunch and take the weight off your feet.

The beauty of this ‘paseo’ walk, is you can decide how far you go. Half an hour, one hour, an entire morning perhaps, before you turn around and retrace your steps back to the starting spot. It is an easy walk and plenty of people enjoy it.

As for the brave souls, there is, of course, some rather more challenging stuff.

El Hacho – Gaucin. A three hour round trip over some steep terrain with some half decent sign posts to keep you going (they mostly say ‘Up’ and ‘Down’  but every little helps). The views are top notch.

Acequica del Guadalmina – Benahavis. A bit easier and a little closer to the coast, this reasonable easy walk takes you through some lovely countryside and you end up back where you started. It’s about 4.4 kilometers long (a little under 3 miles is old money) and OK for kids.

Ruta Barranco Blanco – Coin. This one is not for the faint-hearted. Not really sign posted and not really an existing path in most places. Get the old Scout or Girl Guide map reading badge out as you might need it. The views are apparently fabulous and rumor has it there is a natural spring somewhere along the trail.

La Concha – Marbella. The 1,200 meter high mountain (?) that proudly stands overlooking Marbella is a must for anyone. The views are astonishing and the efforts made to climb to the summit are soon forgotten. If you were a mad triathlete kind of person, then you could probably get up and down in 3 or 4 hours. If you are a mere mortal who takes more breaks than an taster in a Kit Kat factory, then allow for an all day event. There are a few routes some easier than others.

To be fair, there are many more hiking routes dotted all over the Andalusian landscape and a Google search will direct you to places all over. Take plenty of water, make sure the phone is charged and go at your own speed.

All this in a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, good shoes and in a balmy 25 degrees. Beautiful.

City Breaks

Who doesn’t like a good explore. After all, Christopher Columbus decided Cadiz was the best place to sail away on numerous of his adventures, risking life and limb in case they fell off the edge of the world instead of discovering new places.

If you dump a pin on the town of Marbella and use that as a starting point, you will have a few choices to keep you entertained for the day or the whole weekend.

The places you can reach for the day (or the weekend) are enough to keep you going for a while. Of course, you could nip to Malaga airport and be in Venice, London, Rome, Paris or suchlike within a few hours also, but that kind of defeats the purpose.

The reason you should stick around the Costa del Sol and Andalusia in general is because there is no better time of year to go exploring than autumn.

It is the time of year when everything is more manageable. Pick the right days (research where you are going) and you will find everything open along with regional markets and fiestas.

So wherever you choose to go and explore, you know that it is the time of year when everyone and everything is open and the action is on.

A few of the places you can visit for a long day out or a weekend are Malaga, Cadiz, Seville, Nerja, Alhambra Palace in Granada, Ronda, Cordoba, to name a few. There are numerous protected parks and forests that can keep you entertained for the day too.

Gibraltar is a  day out as well, and for the more adventurous, a ferry across the straits of Gibraltar and you can spend as much time as you like in Tangier in Morocco for a completely different experience.

It goes without saying that being able to do all this in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt does make life easier, and, of course, there is nothing to stop you from deciding not to go anywhere, but choosing to strip off and have a swim in the pool or in the sea and work on the tan.

As we write this, at the end of October, the sky outside is blue and cloudless with a terrible temperature of about 25c (somewhere around the mid 70s) and a very gentle breeze that cools us all down. Perfect.

If you would like to know more about golf, walking trails or city breaks, just drop us a line and will put you in touch with golf pros, guides and tourist information for any city break you might consider.

Hit the button below, tell us what need and leave the rest to us.