Estepona has a very large area beside Marbella and there has been a lot of development along its coastline. The problem is that if you go there, you do need a car to go anywhere because public transportation is scarse, and it is a very large area.

Perhaps a town on the eastern side of Malaga may be more to your liking, such as Nerja or Torre del Mar, which are quiet during winter and are not isolated.

I forgot to mention Rincon de la Victoria, the first big town beside Malaga, which also is quiet during winter, yet has frequent bus connections to Malaga.

We are just back from a trip to that area and only really went in to Estepona a couple of times so can't really advise you too much on the town itself but just a word of warning..wherever you choose, if you do not want to be in a 'resort' in between the main towns, make sure you are 100% sure of where your accommodation is before you book. Our accommodation was listed as Estepona even although it was about halfway between Marbella and Estepona - a good 20 minute drive to Estepona. The 'border' between Estepona and Marbella was just along the road so some hotels etc. had signs up saying 'such and such hotel, Marbella' when they were about a 20 minute drive outside Marbella.

What we did see of Estepona made us think it was definitely much less touristy than Marbella and we didn't see too much building work in the town itself.

BennyMalaga

Thanks for your helpful repiles Benny - Muy amable.

What we liked about the sound of Estepona was that the articles we read gave the impression that the old town was still very much in evidence; that the town had not lost it's original charm (or have we just been taken in?). We can have a car for the duaration of our stay, so would not be reliant on public transport. I think we need to find out a bit more about the town.

We will also look more closely at the area to the east of Malaga, as you suggest. Our cursory research has suggested that Rincon de la Victoria might have too many high rise developments for us, though we have not discounted it at this stage, and Torre del Mar does not sound like the type of place we would like (several articles listed as plus points the presence of night clubs that stay open 'til 6am in the summer and at weekends in the winter; we generally avoid such places for our holidays as we find that what comes with such amenities, is also not for us). Sorry if that sounds a bit off - but it's best to tell you what we like/don't like.

Nerja sounds a lot more what we are looking for and we will be doing a lot more work on that town.

If you know of any other gems like Nerja, a pointer in the right direction would be very much appreciated.

Ferg12

Thanks for your info.

I've noticed that a lot of apartments/villas are in the area of the location they list rather than the town. We will be extra careful on that point, thanks.

I think we need to do more research on Estepona before we knock it off our list.

Thanks again to both of you for taking the time to reply to my post.

Muchas gracias

Why not try to rent in Estepona town itself. Once within town everything very central. Very old Spanish, traditional flat/houses. Know area well and would recommend town rather than development which canbe isolated. Other option Mijas, on mountain behind Fuengirola.

Your impression of Torre del Mar could not be more wrong - there are actually more nightclubs in the Plaza Tutti Fruti area of Nerja than the whole of TDM! You will find nightclubs everywhere - including Estepona - and as these do not open until midnight all keep going until 6 a.m.

Nerja has in our opinion far more character than Estepona but accommodation costs tend to be higher.

My partner and I also like relative quiet, but not isolation. We stayed in Estepona in July 2005 and loved it. Admittedly, my information might be a bit out of date, but while we saw plenty of construction, it wasn't obtrusive or annoying. We stayed at the Hotel Elba, which at that time was almost brand new. We were very happy with the place (very large, well-appointed room, great pool and landscaping, easy access to highways for day trips) and would go again, which is more than I can say about many hotels.

the town centre is lovely, winding streets, hidden courtyards, the prom snd beach are great. marina is a bit run down, but some nice folks there. I would recommend estepona, there is a reasonable bus service to plenty of other towns for a day out. there are definately worse places to live for 6 months!

Peg,

If you're staying for the winter don't write off those high-rise developments - it's the places with those that tend to have all the restaurants etc. open all year!

Although Marbella is not me, it's not half as bad as you might think (certainly not noisy) and easy to go to other places from. Nerja is scenic and 'traditional' but a bit Costa del Surrey/Dublin during the winter, and miles away from anywhere (except Casaianda...!).

There's a place inbetween Torremolinos and Benalmádena with no nightclubs, a fantastic beach, and wonderful restaurants called La Carihuela...but then I'm biased because I live there most of the time...

Wherever you choose, use the maps on the internet ruthlessly - what seems like 'just down the road' for a week's holiday is very different when you're spending a couple of months.