Day Trips

For Trekkers…

If you are the rambling type, Refugio de Juanar just past the white-washed village of Ojén, near Marbella, is the starting point for numerous hiking trails of varying lengths and difficulty. This is also where people begin their journey to the top of the famous La Concha peak that overlooks Marbella. From here, the views of the coast and across to Africa are unrivalled. Other treks include one that takes you all the way down to the centre of Marbella and another (for the more serious striders) to the village of Istán (eight hours there and back).

Summer is not exactly the ideal time to be tramping around the sides of mountains but, if you do venture up when temperatures are at their highest, make sure you take plenty of water.

...and Surfers

While Marbella and Puerto Banús are popularly known as glamorous, cosmopolitan havens for champagne-spraying beach club revellers, in many ways the small seaside town of Tarifa is the polar opposite. Just over an hour’s drive from the glitzy boutiques and chic restaurants of the Costa del Sol, Tarifa is a kind of untouched bohemian paradise, popular with artists, writers, hippies and surfers. This is where you are more likely to see handmade trinkets rather than designer jewellery.

The Old Town quarter of Tarifa is small but a wonder to explore – full of cool little shops, cafés and restaurants – but venture a little out of town towards the west and you reach Tarifa’s famous white-sand paradises for sunbathers and surfers. Further afield, on the way to Cádiz city, are other popular coastal villages including Bolonia, Zahara de los Atunes, Caños de Meca, El Palmar, Conil and Sancti Petri.

Of course, if you don’t particularly like wind, Tarifa may not be for you: as it is world-renowned for windsurfing and kitesurfing, it is pretty much always extremely windy.