During our vacation planning, we struggled, trying to decide where to stay after Granada, knowing that Granada might be the highlight of our trip (which it was). Any place after Granada could be a let down. In the end we chose Nerja, as a number of friends had suggested it was a pretty city to visit. It turns out we were not disappointed.

The weather continued to be nice (warm, but not too hot) as we visited Nerja. It turns out Nerja has a reputation for possibly having the best climate in Costa del Sol, due to the large mountains that partly surround, and purportedly protect the city.

Nerja doesn't have the same romantic history of Ronda, Seville, Cordoba nor Granada. However it is purportedly older than many of the other coastal towns, as its history goes a long way back to the early stone age. In the Maro caves (which we did not visit), objects have been found that date from Early Stone Age to Bronze Age, and human remains have been dated back to the Cro-Magnon. The caves are believed to have been inhabitted for nearly 25,000 years!

During the Moorish Era, Nerja was called Narixa ('rich with water'). It was mainly known then for its fabulous hand painting silks, that were much in demand in Damascus, Rome and Venice. When the Christian conquests evicted most of the Muslims, the Moor's left Nerja, leaving a bit of a "vacuum". While the city was settled by Spaniards from the north, raids by Berber pirates caused many to leave Nerja and move inland. There was purportedly an Arabic fortification here once (on top of what is now called Balcon de Europa), but there are no longer any remains of it today. Then in the 1660's another Spanish fortification was built, only to have it dismantled in 1810 by English allies, to stop it from falling into the hands of the French.

Today exotic fruits, such as chirimoya, kiwi and avocado are grown here. Recent tourism has clearly pushed Nerja's development, and it is now very much a tourist city, with lots of tourist shops, restaurants, and bars. While there are some beaches, the beaches are relatively small.

Morning view into the sun by Paseo Balcon de Europa


Day and Night view of a church by Plaza Cavana


Hotel Balcon de Europa


Paeso Balcon de Europa at night (image below):


Plaza Cavana area at night (next three images below):

The problem with taking a night image is the exposure is so slow, that people walking by are often a blur.


I was pleased with the panoramic image below, as without a wide angle lens, only with multiple images and "image stitcing software" was I able to capture and display the night image of this colourful building. Its very difficult to find the locations where the image is stitched.

Click on the above image for a higher resolution view.

As a tourist town, Nerja has a reasonable amount of nightlife. The nightlife is centered in the "Tutti-Frutti Plaza" and the adjoining "Calle Antonio Millon". The layout of Tutti-Frutti Plaza is in fact like many of the beer bars one see's in Thailand, with large stools and circular tables. Howevever each establishment (with many beer bars) would also have an indoor part, where there would be a disco or other type of night club. We didn't stay up late enough to see the area fill up, as it was only just starting to come alive at 11:00pm, which was just when we left.

In Nerja there are also many clubs that offer (for tourists to watch) flamenco dancing and music, and while we didn't plan to watch any, while wandering down a street at around 10:30pm, we did see some excellent dancing visible through the open door way of a large street corner restaurant.