The pull of the Costa Del Sol

The Costa del Sol has been one of the most popular holiday destinations since the 60's when sun worshippers used to flock to the newly popular Torremolinos, which gave birth to the term "package holidays". Since then more and more resorts have been developed and are favourites with holiday makers looking for all year round sun, good value for money and a solid infrastructure.

We have seen the luxury resort of Marbella become one of the elite worldwide holiday destinations thanks to those visionary men such as Ricardo Soriano (hotelier and friend of the rich and famous), Jose Melia (builder of the Melia don Pepe and a chain of luxury Costa del Sol hotels), Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe (the original risk taker and founder of the world famous Marbella Club and Puente Romano Hotels) and of course Jose Banus (founder and builder of the luxury marina Puerto Banus).

These men, amongst others, were pretty much responsible for placing Marbella firmly on the map as one of the most luxurious holiday resorts and popular hangouts to the rich and famous. Now some forty years on the Costa del Sol remains one of the first choice holiday destinations to many people from all over the world every year.

Quite a lot has changed since the first holiday makers flocked to the Costa del Sol back in the 60's. The country is no longer a dictatorship since the passing of Franco in 1975, the currency is no longer the peseta since the introduction of the Euro in January 2002 and flights are much more affordable since the birth of low cost airlines like EasyJet.

The scenery has also changed quite dramatically over the years too as the Costa del Sol became a main area in which to own a holiday home or more recently a place to relocate. As the demand for properties increased so did the construction, which in turn slowly changed the Costa del Sol from a series of small fishing villages to busy towns and holiday resorts. However, that aside the Costa del Sol still remains a unique destination for holiday makers and home buyers.

As the tourism to the Costa del Sol increases each year the government are implementing a number of infrastructure amendments to help keep people moving freely from resort to resort. The largest of these includes the building of a new airport terminal at Malaga International Airport and then the construction of a new runway. This will allow more flights to and from the Costa del Sol and mid next year there are plans to restart an old Delta Airlines route to and from New York. In addition British Airways have just announced that from March 2008 they plan to increase the number of flights to Malaga Airport from their London hub airports.

In December 2007 the brand new AVE high speed rail link starts to operate between Malaga and Madrid shaving off over 2 hours on the current journey time to two hours forty five minutes. In addition to this the existing RENFE rail link which currently stops at Fuengirola in the west will be extended to eventually run down to Algeciras linking up Marbella and Estepona on the way.

Plans have also been approved, subject to an environmental impact study for a new motorway linking San Pedro de Alcantara to Ronda cutting down the journey time from fifty minutes to just twenty two.

All of this is helping keep the Costa del Sol a firm favourite to holiday makers and home buyers and the recent "cleansing" of the Marbella town hall and disassociation from the former corrupt mayors is slowly bringing back the property investor.

There really is nowhere like the Costa del Sol with its mountainous terrain on one side and the Mediterranean on the other. From the western parts of the Costa del Sol views of Gibraltar and North Africa are clearly visible.

The Costa del Sol is just 2 hours from many of the Northern European countries by air and boasts one of the best all year round climates of any Mediterranean area. From Nerja in the east right down to the busy port of Algeciras in the west the Costa del Sol remains one of the key holiday destinations of Europe.

For more information on the Costa del Sol, please visit the Get Spain Costa del Sol Guide

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