Estepona

In June 2022 we visited Estepona, Andalucía, Spain for a weeks holiday. We booked an all inclusive hotel which was shown as being in Estepona but, although it was in the Estepona region, it was located eight miles from the main town.

The hotel, Globales Playa Estepona was ok. It didn’t serve the best food we’ve had at an all inclusive, but it had the best gym we’ve come across and a lovely beachside area which served food outside of the main restaurant times. Our room was good and we never struggled to get a sunbed, even though the hotel was busy. In the hotels defence, it’s aimed very much at families and children and the restaurant reflected this.

The area around the hotel was very nice with some big expensive houses, nice holiday complexes and parks. We would walk out here most evenings and it was a really pleasant area to stroll around.

It wasn’t possible to walk in to the town of Estepona so we relied on the local bus service, which was pretty good. The only thing we struggled with was sometimes spotting the bus number, on the bus. It was a local service which was run with mainly mini bus size vehicles, with handwritten bus numbers. However, there were always local people on the bus stops and they would help us spot the bus we needed.

What we really enjoyed though was going in to Estepona town. I would say it’s probably my favourite town from all those I’ve visited – anywhere. That’s quite a statement but it just had everything for me. A smart part of town that was clean and modern. An old part of town that was well kept, colourful and full of flowers. A superb beach front promenade that ended at the old port and modern marina on the edge of town. All this without mentioning the lovely people, the superb beach and excellent ice cream.

Anywhere you wander in Estepona there’s something to see. The modern area of town has some lovely fountains and parks. There’s also a large mural trail you can follow after downloading an online guide. The Orchid House is worth a visit and the entrance fee is very reasonable.

The seafront promenade is really nice to stroll along. From the main town it makes its way down to the old port. We really enjoyed wandering around the old port area. We always arrived in the middle of the day when it was quiet. We did stumble across the odd fisherman mending their nets. I asked if I could take pictures of them working and they were fine with that. Opposite the old port is the modern marina. Again a nice place to explore. There’s a traditional Bull Ring at this end of town with a Bull Fighting museum.

The old town of Estepona is really charming with white washed houses and buildings covered in flowers. We spent a lot of time here looking around all the narrow streets and squares. The shopping area adjoining the old town has small, smart shops and lots of restaurants and cafes.

I hope we’ll re-visit Estepona one day. If we do go again I’d like to stay in the main town and experience it in the evening rather than just the daytime as we did on this visit.

Gibraltar

My in-laws were also staying in Andalucía, near Nerja, whilst we were in
Estepona and offered to collect us, in their hire car, for a day trip to Gibraltar. We took them up on the offer so we were picked up nice and early from our hotel and driven off to the Spain/Gibraltar border.

We parked on the Spanish side in a long stay car park near the border and then walked across to Gibraltar. We had to wait for a plane to land as the crossing lies across the airport runway!

Once across the border we decided to take a cable car up to the top of the rock and joined a queue of other tourists to get our cable car. We realised whilst we were queuing that it’s cheaper to buy advanced cable car tickets online so that’s what we did and saved a few pounds.

The cable car ride up to the top is good with great views back over Gibraltar and Spain. During the ride we were warned about the monkeys living on the rock. We were told not to feed them or leave any bags unattended and to secure bags we were carrying. All good advice as we saw them try to take a couple of unattended bags. They’re watching all the time, even if they don’t look like they are. We gave them a wide berth. There’s nothing good about those monkeys!

Some of the other rock attractions, i.e. the caves, were closed so we made our way back in to the main town area for a coffee and cake. It’s all very strange seeing reminders of home whilst you think you’re still in Spain. English police, English prices, Fish and Chip shops, English pubs – all very odd.

We ended the day walking out around the rock and back through some new roads bringing us back to the border, then crossing back into Spain and making our way back to Estepona. Gibraltar is interesting, and I’m glad I’ve been there, but I don’t feel the need to go there again. Before saying our goodbyes to David and Donna we stopped, during the drive back, to sample some modern Spanish cuisine. A very good Whopper Meal, with fries, at an excellent Burger King.

All images: ©Stephen Hyde 2007-2025 – All rights reserved.