Málaga - Sabinillas

The present day fishing village is a new settlement having been developed in the last hundred years. It was very typical of a Spanish fishing community which did not pay much importance to the aesthetics of architecture or anything else for that matter. Like most places on the Costa del Sol it has seen rapid growth over the last decade. Anybody visiting now who had been away would hardly recognize the village.

Since the construction of an estate called Punta Almina in the 1980s Sabinillas has also become a popular place for expats working locally and in Gibraltar. The recent main developments are the improvements to Avenida Manilva, the construction of the seafront promenade and the underpass for the traffic on the coast road A7.

Pavement cafes and bars have flourished along with the opening of new banks and Real Estate offices. The village has a working atmosphere for those who want a touch of what is probably the only real Spain left on the western Costa del Sol.

BARS CAFES RESTAURANTS

One thing has not changed and that is the reputation of the seafood bars and restaurants on the seafront and one of the quieter most expansive beaches in the area.

BEACH

Playa La Colonia and Playa Sabinillas are the fine beaches more>  

MARKET

In 1990 there was a little car boot sale in the car park of the Moorhouse Pub in Sabinillas. For several years it was only supported by a few expats. Then it caught the attention of a wider group of people looking for a bargain. The Sunday morning Sabinillas rastro is one of the biggest on the coast and when the bullfighter Javier Cond dropped in for a bargain it only strengthened its reputation. Since its humble beginnings it has needed to change locations three times to accommodate its popularity. It is now located in the Feria Ground on the 'Caretera las Baños' road that cuts inland from the A7 on the roundabout just west of the River Manilva. Map

There is also a local produce market on a Friday morning in the 'Zone de la Noria' at the west end of the seafront promenade.  

 

HOTEL

Hotel Doña Luisa is a three star hotel located in the centre of Sabinillas right on the sea front. 

EXCURSIONS

A short walk along the seafront promenade to the west of Sabinillas is Puerto de la Duquesa a charming marina complex and futher on is the litlle fishing hamlet of Castillo de la Duquesa.  

A slightly longer walk inland along the road that follows the Rio Manilva leads, shorthly after passing under the large Motorway viaduct to the Roman Baths 
 
Rising virtually from the beaches, in the mountains the famed white villages of Manilva, Casares, and Gaucin are all within an hours drive. 

Cosmopolitan life can be found only twenty minutes away in the "jet-set" city of Marbella with its shopping experiences ranging from the El Corte Inglés and to the sprawling La Cañada centre to the infinite variety of small shops and boutiques lining the cobble-stoned streets of Old Marbella. 

Getting there

Sabinillas is about one and a quarter hours from Málaga Airport, on the AP7, one and half hours from the Jerez Airport and 45 minutes from Gibraltar airport.  The A7 passes through Sabinillas by an underpass at its centre. Hiring a car is a useful to get arroud. There are no pay car parks, street parking it the norm. Sabinillas is on the Estepona to La Linea bus route.  

The next door places are Castillo de la Duquesa, Manilva, and Casares and Estepona.