Costa tropical in November - Almuñécar Trip Report

We stayed in Almunecar for 6 nights in the first half of November 2019 after 4 nights in Nerja and before 11 in Malaga. It was our fourth visit to Andalucía. Previously we had stayed a week in Malaga in March 2018, a long week in Granada in March 2019 and had enjoyed an extended road trip in autumn 2018.

Almuñécar is well served by public transport as there are frequent Alsa buses to and from Malaga, Nerja on the way, Granada and Almería. In our experience the Alsa buses are clean, cheap, punctual and reliable. The only thing to be aware of is that if you want to buy your ticket just before traveling there can be a long and slow moving queue at the ticket office. Allow extra time. There are automatic ticket machines, however at a certain point they want a postcode, so find out a local one to type in! A better option is to download the App which gives you updated bus times and by means of which you can also buy tickets although we didn't do so because there seems to be a booking fee. There's also a local bus service around town and to La Herradura and Velilla-Tamaray run by Fajardo. It costs 1€ per ride independently of how far you go and you just buy the tickets on the bus.

Almuñécar is a very pleasant place to stay this time of year. 

The best thing about it is the very long sea front walk which continues for at least 4 kilometres along the beach and with easy access to the beach and the hypnotic sound of waves on shingle. It mostly faces south so the sun on the water meant that most days the temperatures varied from very pleasant to decidedly warm. We had a couple of half days of strong wind that were colder but never needed more than a light jacket or fleece during the day.

Other interesting things to visit are the Botanical garden, Penones del Santo, the castle, the small historical centre, the markets and the various beaches. We also did a day trip to Salobreña by bus.

We had big plans for hiking, in particular to and around the Parque Mediterráneo, from Playa Cotobro to Marina de Este and La Herradura and from La Herradura up to Cerro Gordo - Maro natural park, but these didn't come off because I  twisted my ankle quite badly on the first morning. So we did more resting and sea gazing than planned, which was equally nice. Apart from the historical centre the more modern part of Almuñécar has a good range of normal shops and supermarkets as well as a Mercado Municipal.

There were quite a few people around, although it definitely wasn't crowded, and we liked the fact that there were a lot of Spanish people and a mix of other nationalities and we preferred it to Nerja for this reason. The only negative thing is the amount of high rise buildings along the sea front, but that is true of many Spanish resorts.

We enjoyed our stay very much and I would definitely recommend Almuñécar as a place to spend a longer stay to relax and walk and enjoy the mild weather in the winter if you have already visited the 'big attractions' in Andalucía.
More information about our stay:
Arrival in Almunecar from Nerja
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2019/12/costa-tropical-in-november-almunecar-1.html
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2019/12/costa-tropical-in-november-almunecar-2.html