I love the romance of nostalgia. There is a particular charm in looking back at the past, perhaps because it softens the harder parts of reality and turns them into something a little easier for the mind to take in. That is probably why I enjoy being in cities where traces of history have survived in old buildings, architectural landmarks and sculptures, sometimes playfully hidden in different corners of the city. In places like this, you find history right there on the surface, waiting for anyone curious enough to notice it.

Torremolinos is one of those places where nostalgia comes easily and quite happily and deliciously, considering the number of restaurants and tapas bars offering such a wonderful variety of Spanish food. Although the golden age of Torremolinos is generally considered to have been from the 1950s to the 1970s, the town is still one of the most popular holiday destinations on the Costa del Sol today.

Its neighbours, Málaga, one of the oldest cities in Europe, and Marbella, famous for its wealthy and luxurious atmosphere, attract more tourists statistically. When you walk through the streets of Torremolinos in summer, the feeling can be quite different. There is a certain energy here that is difficult to measure in statistics: people walking towards the beach, restaurants filling up in the evening, the sound of conversations coming from terraces and tapas bars, and the feeling that the town has been welcoming visitors for generations. And perhaps that is part of what makes Torremolinos so interesting to me. Its past is not locked away in a museum but mixed into everyday life.

When planning a solo trip, honeymoon or family holiday in Torremolinos, Malaga province, Spain, or really any other city, choosing a hotel is usually the second most important decision after booking your flights. Finding the right hotel can take quite a bit of time. An all-inclusive hotel or a small boutique hotel or a hostel whatever you are looking for, you can easily spend hours comparing places, looking through photos, checking prices and finding the right option for your dates in Spain.

In Torremolinos (Malaga province in Spain), as in many other towns along the Costa del Sol, there is a large selection of hotels for almost every budget. You can stay right on the coast with views of the Mediterranean Sea, in the centre surrounded by bars and restaurants, or a little further inland in the hills, where the atmosphere is quieter and more private. So, whatever kind of holiday you are planning, you should be able to find a hotel that suits you.

Of course, the price of your room will usually affect the quality and number of amenities available, as well as the design and overall atmosphere of the hotel. I don’t think we should underestimate the importance of price. We all understand that, in many cases, the cost of a room reflects what the hotel can offer. A room with a sea view, for example, will almost always cost more, and sometimes simply waking up and looking at the Mediterranean is already part of the experience.

Before we move on to the list of the best hotels in Torremolinos Málaga Spain, let’s first take a look at the different areas of the town. Where you stay can make quite a difference to your holiday, especially if you want to be close to the beach, restaurants and nightlife, or prefer somewhere quieter.

Often, when I start writing about Spain, I nostalgically try to draw parallels with my first solo travel experience in Spain in 2013, which I wrote about in my article “How traveling solo with a one-way ticket changed my life?” Now it is 2026, and it feels like solo travel for women has become both easier and more complicated. Easier because technology has developed so much, giving us more options for getting around. But at the same time, having so many options can make choosing more complicated or at least take much more time. On my first trip to Madrid, I used public transport, including metro. When I traveled solo to Barcelona, Seville and Valencia, I chose the same way of getting around. It was easy and straightforward. The first time, of course, I spent a little longer standing in front of the ticket machine, trying to figure out how to buy a metro card. Learning to do something for the first time and becoming more confident as you go is also part of the experience of solo female travel.

When my husband and I moved to Spain in 2025, (details I shared in this article “Moving to Spain from the United States. Our NLV Visa Journey to Costa del Sol”) new options were added to ways of getting around each city in Spain, including Uber and Bolt. Both apps entered the Spanish market after my solo travels around Spain. And I am pretty sure that if I were traveling around Spain alone again today, I would use these apps quite a lot. They are convenient and available in many Spanish cities, although not everywhere. For example, in Ronda, an unusually beautiful town about an hour from Marbella and around two hours from Málaga, these apps do not operate. In that case, your options are limited to public transport or taxis, which are usually found at designated taxi ranks marked with the appropriate signs.

Choosing how to move around is also an important part of planning the best solo destinations to visit in Spain. (BTW check out this article “Best Solo Travel Destinations in Spain for Women”) Some places are incredibly easy to explore by train or public transport, while others are much more convenient with a car or taxi. In the next section, I’ll look in more detail at the different options for getting around Spain and what I think works best for women traveling solo. 

Stories about people relocating to different cities and countries have always fascinated me. Part of that fascination comes from my genuine curiosity about such complex life transitions, which I see as adventures in themselves. Another reason is much more personal. Ever since I was a child, I dreamed of moving to another country in search of a different way of life. (I write more about that journey in my articles “How traveling solo with a one-way ticket changed my life?” and “Moving to Spain from the United States. Our NLV Visa Journey to Costa del Sol.”)

Relocation has become one of the recurring themes on my blog, where I write about everything from adapting to a new culture to building a life abroad. As more people search for information about moving to Spain and even buying property in Málaga, I wanted to expand this topic by interviewing people whose own relocation stories might inspire others considering a similar path.

One of the first people in this series is Hamilton Beau Bone. My husband and I met him at one of the “Americans Living in Malaga” meetups that he regularly organizes in Málaga, Torremolinos, Fuengirola, Marbella, and even Nerja.

Hamilton is a real estate agent in Málaga, Spain who helps both local and international buyers navigate the process of finding the right home. He also specializes in thoughtful property renovations and restorations rather than quick flips. After living in Spain for more than ten years, he has gained valuable insight into what people searching for Málaga houses for sale, Málaga apartments for sale, or planning to buy a house in Málaga should know before making the move.

Below is our conversation about relocation, life in Spain, and the Málaga real estate market. If you’d like to connect with Hamilton, you’ll find his contact information at the end of the article.

It was a late December evening during our third week after moving to Spain when my husband and I were discussing places we needed to visit soon. Considering our current home is in Marbella, a trip to Málaga was an almost obvious choice.

So I started researching how to get there from Marbella and what to see. Since it was winter and a cloudy day, visiting a museum seemed like the perfect plan, warm, cozy, and a delightful way to spend a few hours indoors. Our first stop was the Picasso Museum, which I shared impressions and photos of in a previous article “What They Don’t Tell You About the Pablo Picasso Museum in Malaga”

During my brief research that evening, I stumbled upon a surprising fact that made me say, “Wow, how did I miss this?” Málaga’s history spans around 2,800 years, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe and the world.

This realization made me reflect: What would it feel like living just an hour away from one of the world’s oldest cities? I didn’t know, but a quiet sense of admiration and curiosity washed over me. Imagine the stories, artifacts, and historical treasures scattered across the city, some on display, some still waiting to be discovered.

With so much history, it’s impossible to cover everything in a single blog post. However, here are some fascinating historical facts about Málaga that I found worth sharing.

“Learn the rules like a professional, so you can break them like an artist.” — Pablo Picasso

Since moving to the Costa del Sol, and more specifically to Marbella, our days have been filled with practical beginnings: paperwork, learning the rhythms of daily life, discovering local stores, and slowly mapping the places that give this region its cultural depth. Among those places, one visit felt inevitable from the start: the Pablo Picasso Museum in Málaga.

Booking tickets online with a reserved time slot turned out to be a smart choice. It helped us avoid queues and made the visit feel relaxed from the very beginning, something I’d highly recommend, especially during busy seasons. If you’re planning to visit in the summer (very high season in Spain), reserving tickets well in advance is especially important, as time slots can fill up quickly.

As a former art’s student, I came in with a general understanding of Picasso’s importance, his stylistic shifts, and his place in art history. Yet I had never felt particularly drawn to his work on a personal level. Visiting the museum gave me the space to finally engage with it directly, without preconceptions.