Like all the towns in Andalucia Torremolinos celebrates numerous traditional festivals. Here are some of the more important
Torremolinos is gay-friendly city and gay pride is held every year in may/June, in 2018 and 2019 more than 40,000 people attended the Torremolinos parade, which is a new record. Torremolinos has several gay hotels, beaches and lots of bars in the area called Nogalera. It’s great to see how a city can mix people together whether you’re gay or straight!
Torremolinos has long outgrown its Monty Python spam and chips image and over recent years, has evolved as an attractive and appealing resort noted for its clean sandy beaches, wide choice of hotels and restaurants and an unparalleled variety of entertainment, activities and nightlife available.
Torremolinos is home to largest water park on the Costa del Sol. Called Aqualand, it is open from May to October. To Aqualand Website
A free English paper, Sur in English, is printed every Friday.
The Bull ring is no longer used for bullfighting and is instead used as an entertainment venue for events such as the Festival of Colors in which participants are covered in paint, specialised children’s parties with bouncy castles, etc. and assorted dance and live music acts.
The local radio station is Radio Planeta on FM 92.8 and only plays dance music in English but with Spanish advertising.
Twice a week next to the Bullring, a public market is held. On Thursday morning it is primarily for clothing. On Sunday morning the range of goods on offer is much wider and includes genuine antiques, electronics, tools, plants, jewellery, shoes, jeans, perfumes, books, records, CDs, DVDs, and used household appliances. Unlike UK boot sales, the sales spots are jealously guarded and rarely become available. Most sellers offer a warranty as they are normally there each week.
Torremolinos has several large municipal-owned venues including a conference, exhibition and convention centre, the Palacio de Congresos, the auditorium Prince of Asturias, and the Pablo Ruiz Picasso cultural centre.
The Parque de la Batería is a large public park which includes a crystal clear blue boating lake, a children’s playground, a cushioned running track, free exercise machines, an observation tower, several war time cannons and caverns as well as a wide variety of tropical plants. It is a few minutes on foot from the Montemar Alto train station and access is due to be made easier from Carihuela with the installation of a new lift in 2018.
Torremolinos has some very early shopping centres, most of which are sparsely populated. The main tourist shops are on Calle San Miguel and the stairs down to the beach.
British tourists and residents are able to buy English foods at Dealz which is known as Poundland in the UK.
A Carrefour hypermarket is located in a large shopping mall on the A340 towards Benalmadena. Aside from a wide range of International Foods, it also sells electronics, white goods and bicycles. In the area of Plaza Mayor there is an Ikea and several other home furnishing and electrical superstores. Most of these stores offer low cost delivery services and free parking.
Around town the principle supermarkets are Mercadona, Supersol, Aldi, Lidl and Dia. There are many Chinese stores selling almost everything that is made in China. The Coviran supermarket is open Sundays in Torremolinos, unlike most shops.
In 2016, approval was finally given for a massive shopping, hotel, casino and leisure complex to be built by the same company, Intu, that developed the Trafford Centre in Manchester on land next to Aqualand and the A7 motorway and primary ring roads. Costing in excess of 800 million euros, it will be the largest development of its type in the Mediterranean, incorporating an indoor skydiving attraction, a wave pool, indoor snow skiing, electric go-karting, concert hall and cinemas. All major Spanish retailers will be present such as El Corte Ingles, Zara and Mango. Construction work began in November 2017 and is expected to be completed within 5 years. Major road works are planned to handle the increased traffic as well as improved transport links to the old town.
One of the best sports facilities in Europe, the Stadium “Ciudad de Torremolinos” eight-lane Mondo Sportrack athletics track, forms part of the Sport Village of Torremolinos and is located on the edge of the town. This complex was built in 1997 and has since been refurbished within the last year. Facilities also include a sports hall and an adjacent gymnasium with weight training equipment: free weights and machines. The infield is used for football so no hammer throwing is permitted but discus, javelin are allowed in the afternoon.
There are several tennis, badminton and racket ball courts, as well as areas for skateboard and 5 a side football.
There are 2 long jump/triple jump runways and 2 pole vault runways.
The solar and gas heated outdoor Olympic pool and diving pool which are open all year around, were built in May 2011 and form part of the wet complex that hosts 2 indoor swimming pools, one with a wheelchair ramp and body lift to assist disabled swimmers. Swimmers can also use the steam room and a 30-man jacuzzi. There is a specialised water jet therapy pool. It is possible to use flippers and goggles in the full size pools.
Pool 1 Outdoor, 50 metres x 8 lanes, 21.5 metres (2 metres deep) Pool 2 Indoor, 50 metres x 8 lanes, 21.5 metres (2 metres deep) Pool 3 Outdoor, fully equipped diving pool 25 metres x 12.5 metres Pool 4 Indoor 21 metres x 6 lanes (1 metre deep )
Membership costs about 35 euros a month for unlimited access to the gym and pools. All these facilities are controlled by the Municipal Council.
Being a seaside town, there are the usual rentals available of bicycles, mopeds, electric scooters, surf boards, jets skis, parasailing, sailing, paddle, ski boats and snorkelling.
Kite surfing is restricted to the Eastern most areas of the main beach and usually occurs in low season as in high season all the beaches are very crowded with sunbathers. There are yellow buoys marking the limits to which powered craft may come near the beach.
Cycling is very popular and there are many mountain tracks for biking. Bikes can also go on the local trains.
In the winter months, the ski resort of Sierra Nevada is less than 2 hours away.
Golf in Torremolinos is also popular, or why not take the car to one of the many gold courses on the costa del sol.
The coastal towns from Malaga through to Fuengirola are served by Cercanías commuter trains and the fares are divided by zone. One way, all zones normally costs under 5 euro.
Málaga Airport is 10 minutes away by train, which runs every 20 minutes and costs less than 2 euro. It is the 4th busiest airport in Spain carrying over 16 million passengers annually. However, there is no public transport to and from the airport before 6 o’clock in the morning and past midnight. A taxi ride costs approximately 18 euros.
Torremolinos is served by 5 rail stations, all of them wheelchair-friendly except the main station in the town centre square of La Nogalera, which has two exits, one entrance and only one up escalator. This can make travelling with suitcases inconvenient as stairs are involved. There have been several demonstrations over many years for this failing as there are many regulations ensuring the disabled have access to most buildings. However, in 2019, the project to refurbish the train station was started following an investment of 7.5 million euros with works due to completed by 2021.
The ticket machines accept credit cards as well as cash and have multiple languages. The first screen asks you single or return, the second screen asks if you have a discount card, then you choose your destination. Where there are no automatic barriers, you should validate your ticket in a machine which sets a time limit in motion for their use. In 2019 the paper tickets were replaced by contactless rechargeable cards which cost an initial 50c.
The air conditioned and security patrolled trains have toilet facilities, have one wheelchair accessible carriage and take push bikes and prams.
There are several Taxi stops, the main one being next to the Nogalera. The normal fare during the day within city limits is under 5 euro and about 6 euro minimum at night. The taxis are metered and most accept credit cards. In 2018, UberX was allowed to operate as well as Cabify.
The main bus services cover the area along the coast but the local services operate on a circular route which can be very slow. Cost is under 1.50 euro.
There are no paid parking zones in the streets of Torremolinos. Instead a voluntary system is operated to provide work for those less able. The fee is 1 euro at during working hours without time limit. You will not get a fine for not purchasing or displaying it. There are many underground parking facilities. The beach area is normally free off peak season. If you park illegally, your car will be towed and it costs over 100 euro to recover it.
Source WIKIPEDIA