Royal Palms Mijas IV-4

La Cala de Mijas is one of the few places on this coast where a genuinely international resort community sits on top of a working Andalusian town. A supermarket is 65 metres from the gate. The nearest pharmacy is 77 metres. Three restaurants, including a long-standing local kitchen and an olive-shaded terrace, are within 200 metres and the first cafés open early enough for anyone walking down for a swim.

The promenade is a five-minute stroll, lined with chiringuitos where sardines go on the spit at lunchtime. Playa de La Cala runs east and west from there, with El Torreón and El Bombo beyond it. Golfers have El Chaparral five minutes away by car and Cerrado del Águila at seven. Puerto Cabopino, the prettiest of the small marinas, is ten minutes west; Fuengirola port and its railway station are about fifteen minutes east, putting central Málaga within reach without driving.

For the practical questions: Hospital Universitario Costa del Sol is around 25 minutes, Málaga airport roughly half an hour by motorway. With some 320 days of sunshine a year, average highs of 21.2°C and mild winter nights, the swimming season here is long and the terrace furniture rarely gets put away.