Torremolinos is one of the most visited municipalities on the Costa del Sol. Although people come here for holidays all the year round, the figure rises to more than 250,000 during the high season. The development of the town over the past eighty years has been spectacular. In the 1920s, Torremolinos was a small town of 3,000 inhabitants, whose source of livelihood was farming, fishing and making flour. By the end of the 1950s, the town had already established itself as one of the principal tourist towns of the new tourist boom, and since then it has become one of the most important tourist centres on both a national and international level. It is made up of a series of barrios that include the central calle San Miguel, the barrio of El Calvario, el Bajondillo and La Carihuela, and it still has nooks and crannies that have changed little with the times. Calle San Miguel is the heart and soul of Torremolinos, known locally as calle Europa for the huge number of European visitors that walk this traffic-free zone. Everybody knows about La Carihuela too, with its wonderful beach and chiringuitos (beach bars and restaurants). El Calvario is one of the more traditional parts of the town.
The area’s geographical position, between Malaga Bay and the Mijas Mountains, allows for a temperate climate all the year around, averaging out at 19 degrees centigrade. And with seven kilometres of beaches in excellent condition, the residents of the area and visitors can enjoy the beaches for most of the year. But there is more to Torremolinos than the sun and sand that made it famous. The municipality offers a wide selection of services that include congress, cultural and sporting facilities. The Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de la Costa del Sol (Congress Hall) is a modern building that hosts events of every type right through the year, and especially over the winter months. There is also a magnificent sports and recreation complex in El Pozuelo, whose Municipal Auditorium, the "Príncipe de Asturias," has seating capacity for 1,790 people. One of the finest sports complexes in the country is right beside this building, which attracts top sportspeople from all over the world, complete with athletics track and indoor swimming pool.

Casa de los Navaja

GASTRONOMY
The sea is the great protagonist of Torremolinos cooking. The fish come in all shapes and sizes, and are normally fried or barbecued on the spit, often taken with a glass of refreshing gazpacho soup. Some claim that the best fried fish is available at the chiringuitos along La Carihuela beach, while the many excellent restaurants in the town might dispute this claim. Paella is also a popular dish here, perhaps due to the many foreign tourists that ask for it, but there are many other dishes traditional to Torremolinos that are not fried fish. These include roasted pepper salad, a long-time favourite of the area, made with roasted pepper, onion, tomato, oil, vinegar, salt and ali-oli. Pastry making is an important part of the gastronomic offer of this town too, the traditionally-made Tortas de Aceite de Torremolinos among the most delicious pastries to be had in Spain. But not all the Torremolinos cuisine is traditional. The huge influx of foreigners to the town has left its culinary mark, and in the 250 or so restaurants in the municipality, one finds something good to eat from every continent.