Benalmadena, a town located on the Costa del Sol, only 12 km from Malaga. Benalmadena has the beautiful mediterranean weather. It has mild winters and quite hot summers. Known for different attractions that we will talk about later on.
HOW TO GET THERE?
When we visit cities near Malaga we like to switch up ways of getting there. This time we decided to take the train. It was our first time taking the train from Malaga and highly recommend it. We took the train from the Malaga Centre Mall train stop, in the downtown area.
Train C1 takes you from Malaga all the way to Fuengirola. If you are heading to Benalmadena you can either get off at the Benalmádena-Arroyo de la Miel stop or the Estación De Torremuelle one. Either one will drop you off in Benalmadena it all depends where you are starting your day.
The train was very affordable it cost 11€ round trip for both of us.
THINGS TO DO?
We didn’t want to pack our day with activities, we wanted to take our time while in Benalmadena. We started our day at the Colomares Monument and then made our way to the cable car.
Castillo de Colomares (Colomares Castle)
The Colomares Castle is more of a monument. A monument dedicated to the life of Christopher Columbus. It it one of the attractions that brings many tourists to Benalmadena. It was built between 1987 and 1994 by Dr. Esteban Martín Martín. He built it because he thought there wasn’t many monuments celebrating Christopher Columbus.
I personally think is a stunning monument. More on the smaller side when you consider other monuments in Spain but still absolutely beautiful. If you come from Malaga and want to go there first get off at Estacion de Torremuelle stop. I suggest taking a cab from the station to the monument. Is about a 30 min walk, all uphill. We actually started walking there and then decided to get a cab.
The train station is right across a hotel, we ask the front desk lady to call a cab. You can always walk up but wouldn’t recommend it especially at summer time.
Entry fee was 2,50 euros each.
It opens at 10am and we arrived around 10:10 am. We were the first one there and got time by ourselves for about 25 min. Two big tour groups arrived right after. If you want to take some pictures and don’t want lots of people in them, get there early.
Keep in mind they do close the monuments for some hours in the afternoon and don’t open everyday. They are actually closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Benalmadena Cable Car:
Another great attraction if visiting Benalmadena is the cable car. A great 15 min cable car ride to beautiful and breathtaking views. We bought our tickets at the location, you can also buy them online here. I do think the tickets were a bit overpriced.
Once you arrive at the top there are several walking trails to go on. You will also find a restaurant, restrooms and an owls and falcons exhibition. I don’t have an opinion on the restaurant and the food, we only had a coffee.
We didn’t expect much and hadn’t looked much into this part of our day. It was awesome and we are glad we decided to go on the cable car. The view was amazing, it wasn’t crowded so it was nice and peaceful. If you decide to hike the trails bring comfortable shoes and appropriate clothing. We went mid February it was was quite windy and cold at the top, glad we both had a jacket.
This is a great activity to do, the views at the top are spectacular and worth the hike.
WHERE TO EAT?
By the time we finished our visit at the Colomares Castle we were ready to eat. We decided to make our way to the cable car and from there pick a restaurant nearby. We decided to have lunch at a restaurant called Nigella Bistro.
- Nigella Bistro, a vegan restaurant located less than a 5 minute walk from the entrance to the cable car. It was cozy and had a nice atmosphere. Service was quick, and the waiter was friendly. We both decided to order hamburgers and started with the guac, salsa and chips. Food was really good, we were both content with our choices. Everything tasted fresh and homemade. Also, affordable prices.
We will definitely be back.
Our trip to Benalmadena was great, a fun day trip from Malaga. This itinerary was very relaxed and we were back in Malaga around 4pm. I know there are lots of other attraction and things to do in Benalmadena. We will keep exploring this town next time we visit.
Have you ever visited Benalmadena?
