Estepona Holidays

Estepona is tucked between Marbella and Manilva on Spain’s Costa del Sol. This Andalusian town comes with whitewashed houses lining the narrow cobbled streets and a mountain backdrop. It’s got a great mix – it’s the kind of place where you get Spanish tapas and flamenco dancing alongside sophisticated shops, cocktail bars and a pretty marina. And the Blue Flag beach stacks up pretty well, too.

The Estepona coastline is over 20 kilometres long and has 17 beaches – some golden, some volcanic, some sandy. Just to the west of Estepona town in a sheltered cove is El Cristo Beach. This Blue Flag number comes with fine sand that shelves gently into the shallows of the Med, and a couple of chiringuitos – beach shacks – for drinks and tapas. Snorkelling, beach cricket and boating are popular pastimes here.

Less than an hour’s drive from Estepona is the historic Rock of Gibraltar. It’s home to Europe’s only native monkey, the barbary ape. They roam the streets freely but there’s normally a big group near the Siege Tunnels – the 18th-century gun emplacements carved out of the ground by hand. A cable car from the waterside goes right to the top of the towering Rock itself – there are more apes here, plus views that stretch to the northern tip of Africa.