Benalmadena Information

The jewel in Benalmadena’s crown is its leisure harbour. With over 1000 berths and more being built, it is rated as one of the best harbours in the world.

Arroyo de la Miel, part of Benalmadena, has become a residential and commercial centre. It is here that most of the new residential building is taking place which consists of a mixture of new villas, townhouses and apartment blocks.

In the thriving shopping area, almost anything can be bought and an industrial area is tucked away out of sight of the town centre. Arroyo has become a popular place for British ex-pats to live and at times it almost resembles an English market town. Walking along the street, one is as likely to hear as much English being spoken as Spanish.

Arroyo boasts the train station, linking it to Malaga and Fuengirola, the cable car and Tivoli World. Because of these attractions, many people visit Benalmadena but do not realise that further up the hill there is the secret of Benalmadena Pueblo.

Benalmadena Pueblo is a delightful little town and is full of narrow, winding streets, flower bedecked balconies and whitewashed houses, making it a beautiful example of real Spain.

Benalmadena Marina is rightly known as the Puerto Deportivo de Benalmadena (Sports Harbour of Benalmadena). The port has won awards as the best port on the Mediterranean. Today’s port started life some 35 years ago as a simple basin used primarily by fishing boats. Much of the building making up the port is situated on reclaimed land and the first island was constructed about 15 years ago. There are 3 separate islands of apartments. Some of the current owners include Antonio Banderas, Ryan Giggs and Teddy Sheringham. The centre island, where Antonio Banderas has his apartment, is named after his wife, Melanie Griffiths.

Over the last few years the area around the port has been developed into a leisure complex bursting with bars, restaurants and shops. There is also a separate area to the left of the main port that is famous for its music bars and discos.

There are over 1,000 boats moored in the harbour and some of the famous owners include Rod Stewart, Michael Schumacher and King Farouk.