The 24 hr sq is not many peoples cup of tea in my opinion though .I have been there on several occasions having a son of 23 and a nephew of 18.I stay until it gets to unruley by drunken young people.
You are harrassed by many bars, having young people offering two for one offers.If they were so cheap,they wouldn`t need to be doing this surely.High season is worst,def not for the older person,unless you want to see some not nice sights of what happens to people when so drunk.....but i have seen older men oggling young girls ,who were to drunk to notice.This doesn`t happen as much,in the normal British or any other bar..it is mainly disco areas...I do enjoy myself ,up to a point of knowing when it is time to go...i`m no prude.

Hi Rebel, no i totally agree, it is definately not everyone's cup of tea , but it still doesnt put off the hoards of people that visit every weekend and sometimes during the week. I didn't say it was cheap in the square as you mention, completely the opposite.. which is the point i was making, even though it is more expensive in most bars in the square, we are still much busier than the usual bar you find everywhere else.
Unfortunately the sight of older men ogling younger girls happens all over the world, it is not limited to just the square lol, and of course having such a high concentration of clubs and discos in such a small area (like a typical high street) you will invariably get the drunken bums, but you get them everywhere, they come away not realising how strong the measures are, the heat the extended drinking hours etc, and it all gets too much for them. I have to say though, the police are excellent at dealing with any antisocial behaviour, and also having worked there for 2 years now on most nights of the week i can count on two hands the amount of trouble there has been, but if you compare that to a typical town in the uk on a weekend, you would probably get that many incidents in just the weekend alone, so it all has to put into perspective.
Of course it is not paradise, nowhere is, the marina although alot classier in appearance and definately more expensive has more trouble by the locals than the square, so figure that one out!! It is unfair to always blame the tourists for the problems, when invariably it is the locals. Just look at what terrible things have hit the news in the last two years, both major incidents were not caused by tourists from the UK.
I also undertand that you dont usually get this type of behaviour of the usual brit bars, and usually because they just dont have the people there to create the "mad" atmosphere that is usually associated with the trouble, usually more often the places are for quieter drinks etc and a more civilised time, which is great for some people.. but as i said in my previous post they don't offer anything special to joe blogs just down the road, whereas most places in the square or marina have an edge to them for whatever reason, music, entertainment, bar staff, table service, terraces, light shows, dancers etc etc..

Anyway, my fingers are hurting now so will leave it there.. btw, i am 45 and i dont feel old there at all, the average age is probably about 35, alot older than people realise, it is usually July and August that is frequented by the "younger" peeps, i.e. 18 - 21 year olds, the rest of the time you get the golfers and stag and hen parties.. fun all the way

CC

We often walk passed 24hr in early hours, and with the police presence, i think most youngsters are aware any trouble & the police act fast, not like here in Uk, so i never feel scared, threatened, walking passed and most times just see the younger version of me having a great time...

You will always have the ar**holes, who think that can drink 10 ciders, and still walk straight, but you get that in all major cities...only diff in Spain... the police expect respect and 99% of the time they get it..

the marina although alot classier in appearance and definately more expensive has more trouble by the locals than the square, so figure that one out!!

Maybe because the locals are not wanted in the "british clubs" even charged ridiculous admission fees compared to the "brits", so maybe there are more "locals" and anybody else who looks/speaks Spanish in the Marina.
And the square is exactly that...IMO: a Brit ghetto in a Spanish town in Spain.

Just my opinion like.......

When I started this thread I never thought it would get such a cracking response. Some great posts on here.

I, personally think that the CDS is pricing itself out of the market at the present time. When I went to book a holiday in Benalmadena this year the typical price was £2500 half board £1900 self catering. This was for end of July, beginning of August.

Most expensive time to go I hear you cry but I have to go then as my wife works in a school. I have now booked Gran Canaria for £1374 self catering. A major saving in anybodies book.

Over the last few years I have noticed the prices creeping up and then the last two years they seemed to have shot up. I'm not talking about the prices in Benalmadena but the cost of getting there and back. I sincerely hope that there is a break in these prices and we can go back to Benalmadena but at the minute we wont be back.

CC, hope I have not talked down too much. I will be spending my euros this year but it will be in Gran Canaria and not Benalmadena.

Hope everyone has a great holiday.

You're right, Cheekiechops. We really are making things worse than they are. We got back from Lanzarote a few weeks ago (OK,I know it's not CDS), and had a fantastic time! We just had to budget a little more. We ate most lunches in, so were able to eat out in the evening.

Bmibaby have next winter flights out already. We usually go 16th Dec till 16th Jan. last year £103 this winter £198. I`ll wait for Easyjet to come out.

EasyJet's Liverpool winter timetable was released 2 days ago.

Thanks for the tip Mike, my flts are £109 from Bristol. Big difference eh?

Nice one !

It's interesting that easyJet are laying on more weekday flights Liverpool - Malaga during
the coming winter than they did last winter. Perhaps they're expecting more passengers ?

A.M.

I hope things pick up soon too...i have been a property owner there for five years,and the costs have soared,with the euro being so low .

there were plenty people there last week but as the bar owners said

"there's plenty people but no one is spending especially the spanish"

< Maybe because the locals are not wanted in the "british clubs" even charged ridiculous admission fees compared to the "brits", so maybe there are more "locals" and anybody else who looks/speaks Spanish in the Marina.>

The reason why the spanish are not wanted in the english bars and clubs is that they don't spend any money lol.. they get trashed on the streets living out of the boot of their cars with their supermarket carrier bags etc then go to the clubs and drink water!! This is why the spanish places charge the local spanish an entrance fee and the guiris get in for free!!

<And the square is exactly that...IMO: a Brit ghetto in a Spanish town in Spain>

I would hardly call it a ghetto lol.. it is a fun place for people of all ages, especially the thousands of spanish that visit the biggest venue in the square... .DISCO KIU!! only sayin like

But on a positive note, with the exception of Easter (which we all know is a dead time due to the rip off flights etc) we are 38% up on numbers and spend against the same period last year.. which is fantastic news. Let's hope it continues and the season kicks in either this weekend or next

CC.

cheekiechops,
what is the weather like at the moment?
we fly on monday,is it as bad,as we are hearing.my grandaughter will be gutted,if she can't get a couple of swims in.
please give us some good news
tracy

Webcams show that it's pouring with rain at the moment but the forecast
is good from Sunday onwards.

thank you,
my heart sank,at the first part of your reply,but you gave me hope,when i carried on reading.
fingers crossed
tracy

It's been overcast with some rain most of the week, but the forecast is good for next week with temps up to 23/24 degrees. It'll still be a bit cold at night, though, so you'll need a light jacket.

Have a good time

thank you!
we run & live above a pub,so just to get out,of these 4 walls,is very appealing.
we have rented a little villa,so even if the weather is not so good,it will be better than being in a hotel room.
we are going to enjoy ourselves,no matter what,we just love to spend time with,our grandaughter,so the weather will be a bonus!
thanks again
getting excited now!
tracy

We were there 8th - 16th Apr, most days was really warm, early 20's - rained on 16th for about an hour(and really heavy) but apart from that was a good week. Not warm enough though to venture into the villa pool as it wasn't heated.