Nerja
The attractive town of Nerja is an ideal resort for beach holidays, cultural excursions, walks through the mountains and wintering. It also serves as a great base from which to explore the rest of Andalucia, with the cities of Granada, Sevilla and Córdoba all within easy reach. With great skiing just one and a half hours away in the Sierra Nevada, Nerja has got something for everyone.
Backed by the dramatic mountain ranges of the Sierras de Almijara and Tejeda, Nerja sits mainly on a series of honey coloured cliffs. Nerja´s Burrianacentrepiece is the famous Balcón de Europa, a beautiful palm-lined promontory jutting out into the cobalt-blue hues of the Mediterranean. Built on the foundations of an old fort, the Balcón is the site of perpetual paseos during languid summer evenings.The main concentration of bars and restaurants is in the streets that branch off from the Balcón. During the season a young and lively crowd gathers in Tutti Frutti square at the western end of town.
Nerja is blessed with a number of fine, sandy beaches. The largest and most popular of these is Playa Burriana. A blue flag beach with a string of decent chiringuitos (beach-front restaurants), Burriana is a perennial favourite with kids and families.
A visit to Nerja would be incomplete without a tour of the cuevas de Nerja. This fascinating network of caves (about 4 kilometres long) is in Maro, a small village just a few minutes’ drive east.
There are a number of attractive villages perched up in the hills behind Nerja that are also worth visiting. Frigiliana maintains a picture-perfect old town with some attractive Morisco style houses and the views from here to the neighbouring parque natural and down to the sea are breathtaking.
Further inland, Cómpeta and the surrounding villages are still typical Spanish mountain pueblos, despite their increasingly cosmopolitan nature.