If you go for a villa, do a lot of research as to its actual location. Most are out of town and will need a car to get anywhere. If you want a quiet, chilled out holiday it's worth thinking of a villa, but don't forget to take into account the extra expense of hiring a car.

If you go for an hotel, look at the reviews on here before deciding, do you want child friendly, or more adult, and also what area do you fancy. if you'd like to give more info on area - the Costa del Sol is a pretty big coast, but I'm sure people on here will try to help.

HI

I would personally recommend Benelmadena and I would also advise you to look at 2 & 3 bedroom apartments in Owners direct. www.ownersdirect.co.uk

We are a family of 5 and are returning to Benelmadena for the 4th time in two years and we are staying in a two bedroom apartment, on a secure complex with a pool, via the same owner, which we found on owners direct. (he even picks us up and drops us off at the airport for a small fee).

There are loads of good bars and places to eat in the area. The beach is great. Paloma Park is a lovely place to visist (also hosts a great Car Boot sale and a market). There is a fantastic theme park called Tivoli World which the kids will love, plus many other places to visit.

Benalmadena also gives easy access to Feungirola & Torremolinos via Bus, Rail & Taxi so there is no real need to worry about hiring a car.

HTH

Cheers


BillW

Jupiter/Minerva apts in Benalmadena are pretty well situated for a lively hol... if you want more of an oasis, Torreblanca or Los Boliches, a wee bit further down the coast, just before Fuengirola, and well served by the train from the airport. Have you checked the private rentals section on the site?

We have booked 2 apartments in a townhouse for our holiday on the Costa Tropical this year through 'Owners Direct', which the other poster has already mentioned, we have previously always gone in hotel/apartment complexes but after two years when the accommodation was not up to standard we decided to book our own independent accommodation. The benefits of this are that we have been given the owners contact details, someone who lives here in the UK, and so have been able to email and call him for any further info and special arrangements we need, and he has sent us loads of useful details regarding the area we are going to, which restaurants are the most reasonable, and how to use the local buses etc. However, if you go for this type of accommodation you will need to book your own flights and transfers, though in our case the owner of the property arranged a transfer from Malaga for us.
'HolidayRentals' and 'Homelidays' are two other sites you might also want to look at.
And you can easily research the exact locality of the accommodation given by looking it up on google maps, though most give the exact distance from the beach, shops, airport, town centre etc.

Sorry, meant 'HomeAway' not HolidayRentals, also there is 'Holidaylettings'.
Hope all this helps.
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