International visitors are discovering a different side of the Costa del Sol, travelling inland from Nerja and Torrox to explore the white villages, mountain scenery and traditions of Axarquia. And for investors in tourism-based business, this could be a game-changer.

Known as “slow tourism”, this approach focuses on experiencing a destination at a relaxed pace, meeting local people and learning about their customs rather than concentrating on beaches and the usual tourist attractions.

According to Oletrips, a company organising small-group excursions around the Axarquia and other parts of Andalucia, most of its customers come from abroad. British, Swedish, Irish, Canadian, German, Swiss and American visitors feature among its most frequent nationalities. The company says its typical customer is over 50 and has a particular interest in local culture, gastronomy, history and traditional ways of life.

Four white villages away from the coast

One of the excursions takes visitors to Archez, Canillas de Albaida, Salares and Sayalonga, four small municipalities where mountain landscapes and historic buildings offer a different perspective on Malaga province. The routes also explore the area’s Moorish heritage, helping visitors discover a history that can be overlooked during a conventional coastal holiday.

Activities go deeper than just sightseeing. Visitors can spend time with a goat herder, learn how beekeepers work or try making traditional village bread and roscos de vino, a sweet wine biscuit popular in Andalucia. These experiences give travellers an opportunity to learn about rural life directly from the people who continue to practise these traditions.

Autumn and winter bring visitors inland

Although the Malaga Province is strongly associated with summer holidays, Oletrips says autumn and winter are its busiest seasons for “slow tourism” excursions.

Many customers are foreigners who spend longer periods on the Costa del Sol, enjoying the milder climate outside the main summer season. Others stay in Nerja, Torrox and neighbouring resorts before taking trips into the countryside.

Some North American visitors travelling around Spain for several weeks also seek quieter destinations after visiting larger cities such as Madrid, Seville and Malaga. For the Axarquia’s smaller communities, this type of tourism offers another way to introduce visitors to the region beyond the coast, while bringing attention

Instead of spending Friday morning in the classroom, local teenagers took to the sand at Benajarafe beach, pulling nearly double last year’s rubbish haul off the coastline.

Students from secondary schools in Velez-Malaga and Cordoba took part in the clean-up on Friday, October 9 from 11am to 2pm, as part of the European Union’s #EUBeachCleanUp campaign.

A bigger haul than last year

Volunteers collected rubbish from the sand, then weighed and sorted it by type and likely origin. This year’s total of 65kg compares with 35kg gathered during the previous edition at La Cala del Moral, where finds included cigarette ends, fishing material and small pieces of plastic.

Benajarafe hosted the initiative for the first time in its fourth year, with earlier clean-ups taking place in Torrox, Algarrobo and Rincon de la Victoria, bringing the programme to different parts of the eastern Costa del Sol.

Why the beach clean-up matters

After the fieldwork, students attended an environmental awareness workshop on the value of the marine environment and the impact of waste on coastal ecosystems. Organisers wanted the day to go beyond filling bags, helping young people see how litter on land can affect the sea.

Jesus Maria Claros, Malaga provincial council’s deputy for European resources, said: “Marine pollution starts on land, which is why environmental education is the first tool for protecting our coastline.”

Council cleaning services

Velez-Malaga town hall says its beach-cleaning service operates throughout the year across 22km of coast, using staff and equipment provided by local company EMVIPSA. During the busiest months, from June to September, additional resources are deployed to maintain the beaches.

Council rules prohibit people from leaving rubbish on the sand and require waste to be placed in the bins provided. The student clean-up complements the council’s routine beach-maintenance work.

Part of a global campaign

#EUBeachCleanUp has run since 2017 and is led by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, together with the European External Action Service and the United Nations. It brings together clean-up activities around the world to draw attention to waste reaching the oceans and its effect on marine biodiversity.

What it means for the coast

Benajarafe’s beach depends not only on council services but on the habits of everyone who uses it. Taking rubbish home, cutting down on single-use plastics and joining local clean-ups can all reduce what ends up in the sea.

With 65kg removed in just three hours, this year’s student-led effort offers a hopeful example of how young people, local authorities and European programmes can work together to protect one of the Axarquia’s most stunning landscapes.

Residents in Ensanche Oeste, Torre del Mar, say they have been left taken aback after learning a key pedestrian route into the town centre will be fully opened for the Ironman 70.3 Malaga event on 18 October, only for the council to suggest it could be closed again afterwards.

Christian Vega, president of the AVEOtorre neighbourhood association, explained that urbanisation works on the UE-1 subsection of the Sup.T-12 sector began two years ago. The first step was to demolish the single existing carriageway that linked the neighbourhood to the main body of Torre del Mar. Ever since, people have been forced to pick their way along stretches of loose stone and dirt.

“Our neighbourhood was built without architectural barriers, so we have a lot of residents with reduced mobility who are really badly affected by this situation,” Vega said.

Precarious progress in May

In May the association managed to get 150 metres of pavement opened on a temporary basis. Vega described that as “a good step forward for accessibility and mobility”. Wheelchair users and others with limited mobility finally had a safer option, even if it was only a short stretch.

This week, however, the town hall informed residents that the full access will be opened, but only while the Ironman competition is taking place. Council officials have been putting heavy pressure on the Junta de Compensación so that the avenue is ready for the thousands of athletes expected on the bike course through the area.

Stunned by talk of re-closure

Vega said the association was left “stupefied” when the council indicated the route would probably be closed again once the event finishes. “If they close it again we would still be left with an unsafe and inaccessible route, where at least four people have already had to call for help after getting stuck in the loose sand with their wheelchairs,” he said. “Worse still, in the rainy season people are trying to cross a muddy zone.”

He added that the association hopes the council will take into account not only the importance of major sporting competitions but also the day-to-day lives of its own residents. They want to keep the temporary opening so that people have a safe way through, while the works retain all the necessary guarantees and insurance until technical inspections and formal reception of the urbanisation are complete, expected, according to the council, at the beginning of next year.

Long-running row over basic access

The latest development comes after more than a year of complaints about the hazardous temporary track. Earlier reports on Euro Weekly News detailed how the original asphalt link was removed in late 2024 and how Spanish locals and British expats have repeatedly protested about the lack of a proper pedestrian connection to the promenade, shops and beach. The area now contains roughly 1,300 homes.

Traffic restrictions linked to the Ironman will already affect the N-340, the Sup.T-12 sector and the promenade between 8.30am and 3pm on 18 October. Residents argue that opening the access properly for the race only to shut it again would simply return them to the same dangerous conditions.

The mayor for the Tenencia de Alcaldia of Torre del Mar has just changed. If he wants to win the next local elections, he will need to get busy answering to the residents of Ensanche Oeste Torre del Mar SupT12.