Nerja: a balcony over the sea, a cave beneath it, a river to wade
Stand on the Balcón de Europa first thing and the town lays itself out for you. The promenade runs onto a headland in the old town, cafés at your back, the sea ahead. Look down and there are coves tucked under the rock: Calahonda beside it, La Caletilla, about 50 m long and narrower when the sea is up, and the three small coves of El Chorrillo, all reached through an opening in the wall. Turn round and the old town is narrow lanes, whitewashed houses and iron balconies with geraniums. Nerja was a fishing village before it was a resort, and the lanes have not forgotten it.
The town has about 22,000 residents and sits 50 km east of Málaga. Tourism has paid the bills since 1960, when the cave opened to the public, yet the centre still works on foot, as long as you accept the hills. Think of Nerja in three layers: the town and its coves; Maro, a village about 4 km away that holds the cave and lies inside a natural park; and behind everything the Sierras of Tejeda and Almijara, topped by La Maroma at about 2,080 m.
Give the mornings to the things that need cool air or still water. The Cueva de Nerja is three known galleries, of which you see one: a ten-minute film, then about 45 minutes with an audio guide past stalactites, columns and spirals. Its 589 rock paintings stay closed to protect them. The Río Chillar is the other morning job. You walk up the riverbed itself into Los Cahorros, where the gorge narrows to three cracks just over a metre wide between walls more than 20 m high. The water is usually at your ankles, at your knees in some years. And if you snorkel, go early, before the westerly wind lifts the waves.
Midday belongs to the beach. Burriana is the busy one, with the most services and water sports, and its beach bars feed you: wood-fired paella with refills at Ayo, sardines and squid off the grill at La Barca. El Playazo runs about 2 km, has parking and draws families, and its western end is the quieter stretch. Evenings are for tapas. At El Pulguilla and Taberna Pepe Moles a small plate comes with the drink, and in summer ajoblanco, the chilled almond and garlic soup, arrives here with grapes.
Nerja suits people who want to swim and walk from the same base. Our mapped data counts 45 beaches within 15 km and 37 walking routes within 25 km, 11 of them easy. Snorkellers get the Maro coves, inside a protected area of about 1,913 ha, mostly sea. Think twice if you want to arrive by rail: there is no airport, no train and no boat. Málaga airport is about 45 minutes by car on the A-7, or you take a bus via Málaga. Think twice, too, if you hate crowds in high summer, when hotels are about 77 to 82 percent full (est.) and the afternoons reach 30 to 31°.
The good months are March to June and October to November. May gives 24° days and a sea of about 18.5° (est.); October 25° days and a sea near 20° (est.), with about 61 mm of rain. Swimmers should know the sea is about 16° in March and April (est.) and only reaches 23 to 25° in July and August (est.). The town's calendar runs from San Juan in late June, with bonfires on the beach, to the Virgen del Carmen procession and sea outing in mid-July and the fair in October. Dates shift a little from year to year, so check before you plan around them.
