The Magic of Mijas

Mijas is one the most sparkling jewels in the Costa del Sol crown. A beautiful place many nationalities love to call home. The 12-kilometre beach strip – Mijas Costa stretches between the borders of Fuengirola and Marbella and is a real magnet for visitors and holiday home owners. It is the whitewashed village in the hills though where most visitors begin their discovery of Mijas, a village steeped in culture. It is a great destination just 30 minutes from Malaga.

Andalucian guitars accompany flamenco dancers in their impassioned dance in the grand plaza. This lovely fiesta has been a free attraction in Mijas Pueblo every Wednesday at noon for as long as we can remember. Village life in the flowerpot-adorned streets creates snapshots of typical Spanish life.

Just downhill, the village’s coastal resorts of La Cala, Riviera del Sol and Calahonda have a different feel with their trendy beach bars, great restaurants and vibrant nightlife, adding up to a diverse destination with multiple layers of appeal with the year-round micro-climate provided by the towering Sierra de Mijas mountains making this a wonderful place to buy property or have a holiday home.

You will fall in love spending just half an hour meandering the maze of Moorish streets, where terraced restaurants with tiny doorways lead onto expansive sun-filled terraces with mountain views. The picture postcard streets were inspired by the north African settlers to keep the heat of the Mediterranean sun at bay and it’s all too easy to lose hours discovering their delightful charms.

The pretty white Immaculate Conception church is the starting point for the popular Semana Santa religious parades while the open-air auditorium opposite hosts delightful alfresco concerts throughout the summer.

But you haven’t ‘done’ cultural Mijas until you’ve visited its ethnographic museum and the Contemporary Art Centre for those Picassos and Gaudis. There are also numerous walking routes from town that zigzag up to the mountains and down to the coast if you are feeling energetic.

Mijas Costa’s stylish seaside urbanisations and hotels all offer sandy beaches and a great range of restaurants and water sports including jet skis, waterskiing, wakeboarding, windsurfing and parapenting.

Shopaholics will love Las Lagunas on the fringes of Fuengirola whilst the small, whitewashed fishing village of La Cala has morphed into a popular resort town with trendy eateries to rival Marbella. Mijas is just magical – visit once and you won’t want to leave.