Whether you love or hate Calahonda, there is no denying that it offers holidaymakers some of the best amenities and facilities on the Costa del Sol.

The beauty of this coastline is its diversity. From rugged landscapes to ski resorts, sandy beaches and some of Europe´s top golf courses, the Costa del Sol has it all. Not forgetting 325 days of sunshine a year.
Although Calahonda is home to ex-pats from all over Europe, there is a distinctly British feel to the place, and this vast urbanisation is a home from home for many residents. British doctors, dentists, hairdressers, bars and restaurants, including an excellent fish and chip shop, jostle for position on the busy Avenida de España which loops round from one end of Calahonda to the other. Locally known as The Strip, this lively part of town is home to many of the late night bars, clubs and music venues.

Covering 148 kilometres, Mijas-Costa is made up of several urbanisations – the largest of which are Sitio de Calahonda and Riviera del Sol. You will have no trouble finding fish and chips, karaoke, Indian restaurants and a great choice of pubs in these two resorts, and also some excellent Spanish café-bars.

The area is marked some superb sandy beaches – Cabopino is just 2km West of Calahonda, and is said to be one of the best on the coast. Most of the complexes are carefully designed to incorporate Spanish tradition, and care has been taken not to build too close to the beach. Extensive building development means that it looks likely that many of the urbanisations will soon join to form a town of their own. Mijas-Costa also boasts some of the coast’s more famous golf courses, including Miraflores, La Cala Golf Resort and El Chaparral.

Calahonda also boasts a fabulous 9-hole Course – La Siesta. This is a great little 3-par course and particularly suits beginners and improvers. A round takes on average 90 minutes, and the bar/restaurant here is ideal for cool drinks and snacks after your round.

Since its foundation in 1963, Calahonda has continued to expand and improve, and now incorporates over 600,000 square metres of luxury villas, apartments and townhouses. The urban area now stretches back as far as 4km inland from the coast, and the higher properties boast superb views of the mountains and the Mediterranean.

Served by 28km of roads, several banks, three 24-hour medical centres, three shopping centres and a post office, this award winning urbanisation caters for visitors and residents alike. A language school, children´s nursery, gymnasium, tennis complex, chemists and even 24-hour security patrols are present on the streets here, and a tourist train picks up and drops off between all points of the urbanisation and the El Zoco shopping centre.

The population peaks during summer time to 45,000 people, and Calahonda´s advanced infrastructure, including 30 electricity transformers keep things running smoothly – which is a far cry from the early days when industrial engineer, José Orbaneja first submitted his plans for urbanising a vast plot of land on the Costa del Sol. He could never have imagined during those early days that Calahonda would evolve into Andalucia´s largest urbanisation.

During this time, Marbella was gaining a reputation among the rich and famous as being an elegant and classy holiday resort, and Orbaneja felt that building a state of the art holiday town just 10 km East of the town, would encourage even more holiday makers to flock to the Costa del Sol. How right he was. The farm land was bought from the Van Dulken family, and Orbaneja set about transforming it into a luxurious urbanisation.

Street names such as C/Don José Orbaneja and C/Van Dulken are reminders in 21st Century Calahonda of the urbanisation´s humble beginnings, when water and electricity supplies provided plenty of headaches for the developer and the new residents. Local wells could not provide enough water to keep up with the mass development, and water had to be bought in on lorries to supply the increasing number of properties during the summer months.

Cabopino Marina is also well worth a visit, and is just 5 minute´s drive or a 15 minute walk from the entrance of Sitio de Calahonda. Here you will find a wealth of bars, restaurants and water-sports facilities, plus 170 berths for small to medium sized boats. This is a great place to relax, watch the sun go down and enjoy the long summer evenings.

There is something for everyone in Calahonda, and it is the perfect holiday destination for couples or families with kids. Situated midway between Fuengirola and Marbella, with every facility imaginable, visitors return year after year to this popular resort.