Climb the Cuesta del Tajo out of the beach resort and you reach a street with a 700-year-old watchtower on it, a free palace, and a tourist office that shuts at weekends. The tower is the Torre Pimentel, at number 8, and the municipal tourism page settles the question before you set off: «por el momento, no puede visitarse su interior», the interior cannot currently be visited. The palace, the Casa de los Navajas, carries a temporarily closed label on the same site.
What is there to see in the old town of Torremolinos? The Torre Pimentel from the outside, dating from around 1300 and 12 metres tall, and the free Casa de los Navajas, currently marked as temporarily closed. What opens reliably is the Batería park and the Molino de Inca botanical garden.
The old town of Torremolinos is a single steep street above the Bajondillo beach, with a Nasrid watchtower at the top and a 1925 palace below it. That second closure is worth a phone call, because the same municipal site contradicts itself: while the palace’s own page says it is shut, the timetable sheet still publishes Wednesday to Sunday opening for it. Neither page is dated in a way that settles which is current.
What you can enter, and what you only photograph
The tower is settled in advance and needs no planning: the notice gives no reopening date, so it is a photograph from the street and a walk on. It is the palace that decides whether the climb is worth it.
That page carries a temporarily closed label and, on the same screen, a price of free. The municipal timetable sheet, meanwhile, lists 10.30am to 2pm and 3pm to 6.30pm from 15 September to 14 June, and 10am to 2pm and 6.30pm to 10pm from 15 June to 14 September, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. With both versions live, confirm before you go up.
| Place | Can you go in | Published hours |
|---|---|---|
| Torre Pimentel | n/a, outside only | n/a, no hours given |
| Casa de los Navajas | Free, but marked temporarily closed | Wednesday to Sunday on the timetable sheet |
| Parque de la Batería | Yes | 7.30am to 9pm in winter, to 11pm in summer |
| Molino de Inca botanical garden | Yes | Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays |
| Centro Cultural Pablo Ruiz Picasso | Yes | 9am to 10pm, Monday to Friday |
A tower older than the man it is named after
The Torre Pimentel, previously the Torre de los Molinos, went up around the year 1300 as part of the Nasrid network of watchtowers that, in the guide’s words, «vigilaban la llegada de posibles intrusos por mar», watched for intruders arriving by sea. It has a solid base, two floors and 12 metres of height.
The current name honours a military figure who helped the Catholic Monarchs take Málaga in the late fifteenth century, which makes the tower some two hundred years older than the man on the sign. Between the tower and the mills that once stood here comes the name of the town itself.
The 1925 palace, and why it might be shut anyway
The Casa de los Navajas was built in 1925, according to Torremolinos tourism, for the Luque-Navajas family, who were in the sugar cane business. The style is neo-Mudéjar «con retoques mozárabes», with Mozarabic touches, and it stands on calle Antonio Navajas Ruiz, in the Bajondillo.
Today it hosts weddings and other ceremonies, as well as exhibitions, concerts and theatre, and entry is free. That events use is the likeliest explanation for a closed door on a day the timetable says open, which is another reason to call rather than climb.
Where the old town starts, and who to ask
The reference is the Cuesta del Tajo, which is both the tower’s street and the address of the old town’s tourist office, the C.I.T. It opens Monday to Friday, 9am to 2pm from 15 September to 14 June and 10am to 2pm in summer, and closes at weekends all year — precisely when most visitors come up from the beach.
The other offices are all coastal: Bajondillo-Playamar and Carihuela, which in summer also open 6pm to 8pm and at weekends, plus the one on Plaza de las Comunidades Autónomas, reachable on WhatsApp at 608 208 871 and at turismo@torremolinos.es. Getting here from Málaga is easiest on the commuter train, set out in the Málaga Cercanías, with the wider options in getting around Málaga.
What does keep reliable hours
The Parque de la Batería opens 7.30am to 9pm from 15 September to 14 June, with Fridays and Saturdays to 10pm, and 7.30am to 11pm every day from 15 June to 14 September. Its carousel runs only Friday 6pm to 9pm and weekends 10am to 1pm and 6pm to 9pm, and boat hire is listed as closed every day of the week.
The Molino de Inca botanical garden closes Mondays and opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm in winter and 10am to 9pm from 15 June to 14 September. The Centro Cultural Pablo Ruiz Picasso runs 9am to 10pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 2pm on Saturdays, closed Sundays, with parking from 7.30am to 2am daily. The province’s larger botanical garden, with its own history and fares, is in La Concepción.
Fitting the old town into a beach day
Half a morning is the honest size of it, and midweek is the moment: that is when the Cuesta del Tajo tourist office is open and someone can tell you whether the palace door is working. At weekends the old town loses that support even though the park and the garden stay open.
Two notes for a first visit. Lunch runs on Spanish hours, later than most visitors plan for, as set out in Málaga meal times, and tap water is drinkable, which matters on a climb with little shade.
What is outside the old town and already covered
The rest of Torremolinos is beach and parks, and both have their own place. Its four beaches, with widths, lengths and the adapted bathing phone number, are in Torremolinos beaches, and how the Blue Flag works is in Blue Flag beaches in Málaga.
The two paid parks are written up with their fares: Aqualand Torremolinos and Crocodile Park. And if the old town is done by midday, the rest of the day trips from the city are in day trips from Málaga.
Frequently asked questions about the old town of Torremolinos
Can you go inside the Torre Pimentel in Torremolinos?
No. The municipal tourism page states that «por el momento, no puede visitarse su interior», the interior cannot currently be visited, so the tower is seen from the street. It stands at Cuesta del Tajo 8 and is 12 metres tall.
Is the Casa de los Navajas open to visitors?
Its own tourism page marks it temporarily closed while the municipal timetable sheet still lists Wednesday to Sunday opening. Two pages from the same source disagree, so the door is worth confirming by phone before walking up.
How much does the Casa de los Navajas cost?
Nothing. The municipal page lists the price as free and describes the palace as neo-Mudéjar with Mozarabic touches, built in 1925 for the Luque-Navajas family, who were in the sugar cane business. It now hosts weddings, exhibitions and concerts.
Is Torremolinos worth visiting beyond the beach?
For half a morning. The old town is one steep street with a 700-year-old tower you cannot enter, and the two places with reliable opening hours are the Batería park and the Molino de Inca botanical garden, both outside the historic core.
Where is the tourist office in the old town of Torremolinos?
On the Cuesta del Tajo itself, the C.I.T., open Monday to Friday from 9am to 2pm between mid-September and mid-June and from 10am to 2pm in summer. It closes at weekends all year, which is when most visitors walk up.
In this old town you look more than you enter, and the timetable will not tell you which.