Only one of the three parts of Benalmadena has a railway station, and it is not the pretty one on the hill.
What is there to see in Benalmádena? Benalmádena splits into 3 parts across close to 27 square kilometres: Benalmádena Pueblo on the hill, Benalmádena Costa at the water and Arroyo de la Miel between them. Only Arroyo de la Miel has a Cercanías station, on the C-1 line between the airport and Fuengirola, so the stop decides the day.
Of the 3 centres, the one the council describes as “well connected by commuter train” is Arroyo de la Miel, on the C-1. The old town sits at 300 metres of altitude and the coast strings out over 9 km of beach, so the three do not join up on foot in a day: there are about 7 km of road between the old town and the water. The cable car climbs Monte Calamorro from the coast, and Puerto Marina sits at the far end of the beach strip, past the Castillo El Bil Bil.
The train stops in only one of the three
Of the 3 centres, the one the council describes as “well connected by commuter train” is Arroyo de la Miel.
That is the Benalmádena-Arroyo de la Miel stop on the C-1 line, the one set out in the Malaga Cercanías trains. Neither the old town nor Puerto Marina has a station of its own.
That single station makes Arroyo the default gateway, and explains why the Benalmádena cable car up to Monte Calamorro starts there too.
For deciding which part to book before arriving, there is where to stay in Malaga, and for moving around, getting around Malaga.
| Centre | What it is | What sets it apart |
|---|---|---|
| Arroyo de la Miel | Shops, squares and services | The only one with a train station |
| Benalmádena Pueblo | Old town at around 300 metres up | The original settlement, whitewashed |
| Benalmádena Costa | More than 9 kilometres of coast | Puerto Marina and the beaches |
One Benalmadena, three stories
The council’s tourism portal states it plainly: these are “three zones under a single identity — Benalmádena Pueblo, Benalmádena Costa and Arroyo de la Miel”.
The municipality has room for all of it: “close to 27 square kilometres, from the mountain peaks down to the beach”, which shared between the three comes to about 9 square kilometres each.
That vertical range is what changes a trip most. The old town sits “at around 300 metres above sea level”, while the shoreline adds up to more than 9 kilometres of beach.
Book without checking a map and you can end up half an hour from the thing you came for.
Nine kilometres of beach and a neo-Moorish folly
Benalmádena Costa is “more than nine kilometres of coastline” which, in the portal’s own words, alternates “wide urban stretches with quieter spots”.
The building to see here is Castillo El Bil Bil, “a neo-Moorish folly beside the sea turned into a space for culture all year round”. It is not a defensive castle, which is worth knowing before climbing the wrong hill for it.
Also along the shore are the Exhibition Centre and the Centro de la Historia de Benalmádena, plus Puerto Marina, presented as “one of the most important marinas on the Costa del Sol”.
To compare these beaches with the rest of the province there is the beaches of Malaga and the count in blue flag beaches.
The white town uphill and its three monuments
The old quarter is “the original urban centre of the town”, and the council names 3 specific things to see in it:
- The church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán.
- The Jardines del Muro, a green space that “follows the line of the medieval wall that once stood in the town”.
- La Niña de Benalmádena, a sculpture “designed and made in bronze” by the sculptor Jaime Pimentel, now a local emblem.
In the same upper reaches sit 2 bigger draws with articles of their own: Colomares Castle, covered in Colomares Castle, and the Stupa of Enlightenment. Its marina is where the dolphin boats sail from, with the law that limits them, in dolphin watching near Málaga.
This is the Benalmadena that looks least like a Costa del Sol postcard, and the one that belongs with the white villages route.
An eighteenth-century paper works in the middle
Arroyo de la Miel is the service centre, with shopping streets, terraces and the Plaza de la Mezquita, which the site calls “one of the nerve centres for going out” in the municipality.
It also holds the most interesting and least visited building of the 3: La Tribuna, “built in the 18th century”, which the council calls “the most important remnant of the industrialisation process that shaped this area”, once “a complex for paper production”.
Add the municipal library, the Casa de la Cultura, an open-air municipal auditorium and the nearby Parque de la Paloma.
With children, the combination of park, cable car and train makes this the easiest of the three bases, in the spirit of Malaga with kids.
Festivals, and what the site leaves out
The festival calendar is shared out among the three centres too. The council names the Veladilla del Carmen, which it calls “the seafaring pride of the municipality”, and the fair in honour of the Virgen de la Cruz.
It adds 3 more, the Feria de San Juan, Carnival and the Corpus Christi feast, and singles out El Paso de Semana Santa, “a spectacular theatrical representation of the passion and death of Jesus Christ”, staged at the parque Rústico El Retamar.
No exact dates for any of them appear on the pages read, so none are given here. Nor are opening hours or prices for the municipal spaces, the population of the municipality, or the distance between the three centres.
One more figure is left unattributed on purpose: the site mentions a green space of more than 200,000 square metres without saying which one, so no name is put to it here. The council’s own promotional line about the hours of light it gets is quoted as theirs, never as a measurement made here. For the day out from the city, day trips from Malaga.
Frequently asked questions about visiting Benalmadena
Where does the train stop in Benalmadena?
At Arroyo de la Miel, the only one of the three parts with a Cercanías station, on the C-1 line between the airport and Fuengirola. Neither the old town on the hill nor the marina has a stop of its own.
How many parts does Benalmadena have?
Three, and the council presents them that way: Benalmádena Pueblo, Benalmádena Costa and Arroyo de la Miel. The municipality covers close to 27 square kilometres, running from the mountain tops down to the beach.
What is there to see in Benalmadena Pueblo?
The old town at around 300 metres above sea level, the church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, the Jardines del Muro that follow the line of the medieval wall, and the bronze sculpture La Niña de Benalmádena by Jaime Pimentel.
Three hundred metres up at one end, nine kilometres of sand at the other, and a single platform serving both.