I live in the area and love it.

Algarroba Costa is a small area, still very Spanish and popular with Spanish holidaymakers. While there are some English bars, also dutch, German etc, it's not "Britain in the sun". It's an ideal location for a holiday as everywhere is easy to get to.

Algarrobo costa is one of the few areas east of Malaga that has high rise buildings along the coast, however don't let that put you off, the paseo has just been refurbished and is looking lovely and the gardens along there are very well kept. The beach is small but if you want something larger, Torre del Mar and Torrox both have nice beaches with a lot of atmosphere. All along the coast there are areas with little playgrounds for young children and I think they are all fairly new. The area is very child friendly, (but if you do want a night out without the kids I have two teenage boys, both good with kids, who are always in need of some extra pocket money). Torrox beach has pedaloes and trampolines.

There is a small water park at Velez. It doesn't have very large rides, but it's a nice place to visit. If you want to save money, just go for a couple of hours at the end of the day when the entrance fee is much reduced. I think it's after 4.30.

If you visit Nerja (much more touristy and expensive, but still quite nice), there is a donkey sanctuary just off the N340 on the way in, where the children can pet and feed the animals.

My favourite restaurant at Algarrobo Costa has to be Jurgen's but don't go unless you are very hungry! Very good steaks but he just doesn't do small portions. It's not easy to find because he has a very small sign outside but it's near the leaning watch tower and there is a large pool outside it. (unfortunately you can't use the pool). Another good one is Pippo's on the sea front. La Viuda (along the road a little, at Mezquitilla) is very good and has a nice terrace at the back, so don't be put off by the grotty front. In the other direction at Caletta, the beach bar nearest the port is also very good. At the Caletta end of Torre, Mani's fish retaurant is also excellent. There are lots of good restaurants at Torre. If you like sardines, try the espetos, cooked over wood BBQs on the beach. Just look to see which restaurants are busy as this is a better indication than their appearance. Many of the Spanish one's don't look very pretty but have very good food. You can often get an excellent 3 course "menu del dia" for around 7.50 euros.Visit the Eclipse at Caletta and everyone in there will be having the "menu". I could go on for ever!

There's a very good market at Caletta on Saturday morning and a small on in Algarrobo C on a Wednesday. The fruit shop on the large roundabout is open everyday and is excellent. It also sells cooked meats and various groceries. Plenty large supermarkets around.

Torre del Mar, will be your nearest town is not the most attractive of places, but once you find your way around there are a lot of nice shops around. It can be difficult to park in Torre in the summer, but often there are spaces to be found along the seafront.

I hope this has given you some idea. If there's anything else you want to know, please ask.

Wow. Thanks for that reply. Loads of useful info there.

Looking at going out on several days as we have a car, anything you can think of about days out would be nice, such as I believe there is an amusement park somewhere just past Malaga, forget the name of it now!

A lot of the ones I have come across searching the web seem to be hundreds of miles away!

Thanks

There's Tivoli world at Benalmadena which is supposed to be good. Theres also a crocodile park somewhere over that way, possibly Torremolinos. It's not too far to go for a day out. You would be able to reach Benalmadena in less than an hour, traffic permitting.
I think there's also a parrot park at Almunecar as well as a water park.
The caves at Nerja are also worth a visit.
If you go to Burriana beach in Nerja, there's a place called adventura that do a variety of things such as canoeing. There's also a dive school at El Morche if you fancy scuba diving. They don't actually dive from El Morche but will drive you to a dive site.