Rick Steves Says To Skip One Of Spain's Most Popular Coastal Escapes Due To 'Ridiculous Prices' And Crowds

Spain has some unbelievably beautiful places to visit, from the gorgeous Retiro Park in Madrid, to the soaring towers of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, to the astonishing volcanic landscape of the island of Tenerife. However, there is one place in Spain that travel pro Rick Steves says to skip, and he's got good reasons for it. Costa del Sol, along the southern edge of the country in Andalucia, runs from La Línea de la Concepción to Nerja, and it's a popular destination for European tourists. In fact, in 2024, it welcomed 13.6 million visitors, which was up a whopping 12% from the year before. Even American tourism has spiked recently. However, Steves says to skip this one, writing on his website that, "To northern Europeans, the sun is a drug, and this is their needle. Anything resembling a quaint fishing village has been bikini-strangled and Nivea-creamed."

Steves says visitors to the region face, "concrete, pollution, ridiculous prices, and traffic jams," and that it's not going to give you any sense of the real culture of southern Spain. In fact, in another post, he says, "Much of Spain's south coast is so bad, it's interesting." Yikes! One place that has been pegged as a big tourist trap in the area is Torremolinos, which is full of souvenir shops and outdated resorts from the area's tourist heyday in the 1970s. If you can't stand crowds, you may also want to skip Fuengirola, which may be less expensive than other parts of Costa del Sol, but feels very much like a warmer version of England. 

On Reddit's r/geography, one person who grew up in the area called it, "touristy as hell," and a "long continuous strip of urbanization," mentioning that you may want to concentrate on the older towns in the area in the casco antiguo for anything authentic. On Reddit's r/malaga, people complained about Costa del Sol being a series of souvenir shops and ATMs that charge you over $5 per transaction. They also spoke about not-so-great food and high prices at many of the chiringuitos, or restaurants by the water, though others said it depends on which area you're in. That said, ask the locals where they like to eat — this one simple question will help you find authentic, affordable dining options.

However, if you're in the country, and all you want is to find pure beach bliss along Spain's Mediterranean coast, Costa del Sol isn't a bad destination. Steves mentions Nerja as a good spot for beaches. You can also visit the Nerja Caves (Cueva Nerja) in Málaga, which was used by people for shelter from 35,000 years ago to 3,600 years ago. Cave painting and engravings were discovered there, as well as stone and bone tools. If you like daring hikes, you can take the near 5-mile Caminito del Ray trail that goes along a path that's built onto the side of a cliff. Costa del Sol is also a good place to stop on the way to a fascinating city that Steves says may make the cantina scene from "Star Wars" look bland, which is Tangier, Morocco in North Africa.