About the Costa Tropical

The Costa Tropical.

Costa Tropical is the name for the Mediterranean coastline of the province of Granada, Spain, in the heart of historical Andalucia. It is also but less frequently called the “Costa Granada”. It’s “back bone” is the N-340 highway that runs southwest-northeast along Spain’s Mediterranean coast, to the border with France. Driving east from Málaga, the Costa Tropical begins soon after passing the last towns of Nerja and Maro, and begins with the small fishing village of La Herradura on the border of the Granada province, and continues until the town of Castillo de Baños as you enter the provence of Almería. The Costa Tropical is made up mostly of agricultural zones and small towns and villages. What makes Costa Tropical unique in comparison to the rest of the Spanish coast is the mountain ranges, the Sierra Nevada range among them, that fall to meet the Mediterranean. The effect is dramatic, and the coastline rugged. It is perhaps the most stunning of the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It is unpopulated in comparison to the rest of the Spanish coast, mostly because of the ruggedness of the terrain. There are few flat areas for large urban sprawl, unlike the Costa del Sol in the provence of Málaga. A drive along the N-340 through the Costa Tropical looks much like the Pacific Coast highway that runs through the southern coast of California, USA, an area often used in cinema for dramatic effect.

As one approaches the Costa Tropical from either Almería to the east or Málaga to the west, one will notice that the area is less dry and more lush than the surrounding areas. This is because the Sierra Nevada mountain range that serves as a backdrop to the Costa Tropical shelters it from the winds and this leads to more rainfall. This same mountain range creates a very pleasing “micro-climate” of very mild winters and mild summers relative to the interior of Spain, with temperature differences of 10 degrees Celsius relative to the area on the other side of the mountains – so it could be 39 degrees Celsius on a summer day in the city of Granada and only 29 degrees Celsius on the Costa Tropical. In the winter, it can be snowing in Granada and 10 degrees Celsius on the Costa Tropical.

The principal towns of the Costa Tropical are Almuñécar, with a population of just over 23,000, and Motril, year-round population just over 55,000. Almuñécar is primarily a resort town and agricultural center, with the summer-time holiday makers more than doubling the town’s population. It is a popular destination for Spanish summer holiday makers, and a popular year-round destination for northern European visitors, retirees, and full or part-time residents. Just like other towns on the Spanish coast, it recently underwent an unprecedented housing and construction boom with some environmental degradation. Motril, on the other hand, is much less of a tourist destination and is principally an agricultural and manufacturing center, with a seaport.

Smaller towns and less development lead to a frequent characterization of the Costa Tropical as “the real Spain”, it is more traditional, than its larger and more popular neighbor to the west, the Costa del Sol. It is also more affordable. On weekends throughout the year, the Costa Tropical is a very popular destination for residents of the city of Granada. In the summer, it is a very popular destination for Spaniards throughout the country.

The Costa Tropical has many historical treasures, including pre-historic cave paintings in nearby Nerja; many Roman ruins including roads, bridges, buildings, fish salting factories, and irrigation systems used to this day; and abundant remains of the many-centuries domination of the region by the Arab conquerors. In fact, Almuñécar served as the entry point to Iberia and establishment of a power base for Abd ar-Rahman I (also called Abd al-Rahman I and Abderraman I) in 755, who came from Damascus and was the founder of an independent Muslim dynasty that ruled the greater part of Iberia for nearly three centuries thereafter.

The Costa Tropical is 60 mins by car from the city of Granada and a little further from its airport, and is just under one hour by car from the city of Malaga and its airport. The Costa Tropical is also close to other popular tourist destinations, including Marbella, Ronda, Seville, Córdoba, and the historical treasures of Ubeda and Baeza in the nearby Jaen province. Costa Tropical is easily accessible by car and bus, via an excellent motorway system. Bus service is frequent, timely, comfortable, and low cost. Overall infrastructure is quite developed with the large neighboring cities of Málaga and Granada offering what is not available in the Costa Tropical. Málaga and Granada have very good air and rail service.