Not a Golfer? What to Do While They Play

The Costa del Sol has around 70 golf courses and calls itself the Costa del Golf without much exaggeration. Which means that several thousand times a week, somebody drops their partner at a clubhouse at 9am and has five hours to fill in a resort that, out of season, is fairly quiet.

This is a list for that person. Everything here fits inside a round of golf, and everything assumes you have the car or can get a taxi.

First: how long do you actually have?

A round of 18 holes takes about 4 to 4.5 hours, plus warm-up before and a drink after. Realistically you have five hours from drop-off, and closer to six if there's a nineteenth-hole tradition. That's enough for anything within about an hour's drive.

By where you're staying

Marbella, Puerto Banús, San Pedro, Estepona

• Benahavís — 15 minutes inland, a village that's essentially a collection of good restaurants in a gorge. Walk the river path, have an early lunch.
• Casares — 40 minutes, a genuinely spectacular white village piled under a castle, far less visited than Mijas.
• Estepona old town — flowerpot streets, painted murals, the Orchidarium. Two easy hours.
• Marbella old town — the Orange Square and the back streets, which have nothing to do with the Puerto Banús version of Marbella.
• A hammam in Marbella — 90 minutes, book ahead.

Mijas, Fuengirola, Benalmádena, Torremolinos

• Mijas Pueblo — 20 minutes up the hill, the whole coast below you.
• Málaga by train — the C-1 line runs from Fuengirola to Málaga centre in about 35 minutes, every 20 minutes, for a few euros. Museums, the market, the cathedral, lunch, and back. The best-value half day on the coast.
• Benalmádena cable car — 15 minutes to the top of Monte Calamorro.
• Bioparc Fuengirola — small, well done, two hours.

Málaga city and eastwards

• The Alcazaba and Gibralfaro — three hours including the walk up and the view.
• Frigiliana and the Nerja Caves — a comfortable half day if you're based east.
• Málaga's museum run — Picasso, Pompidou, Carmen Thyssen, all within a few streets.

The one that makes the golf story a footnote

We'll be direct: if you want the afternoon conversation to be about your morning rather than their birdie on the 14th, go flying.

The timings work better than people expect. From the western Costa del Sol, Ronda is about 1h15 up the A-397. A 15-minute paramotor flight over the Puente Nuevo is €100, a 30-minute tandem paragliding flight is €100, and the time on site — briefing, kit, flight, photos — is around 90 minutes. Door to door from Marbella that's roughly four hours, which lands you back at the clubhouse in time for their post-round beer.

From Fuengirola or Mijas, our Teba site is around an hour, which is tighter but workable. Tell us you're on a golf schedule when you book and we'll give you the first slot of the day.

If you'd rather not drive

• The C-1 train (Fuengirola–Málaga) is cheap, frequent and stops at Benalmádena and Torremolinos.
• Most golf resorts have a spa and will sell a day pass to non-residents. Ask at reception rather than assuming.
• Cookery and tapas classes run in Málaga and Marbella, usually three hours including eating what you made.
• Wine tasting — Ronda's bodegas take appointments, and there are tasting rooms in Málaga city.
• A long breakfast. Tostada with tomato and olive oil, coffee, a newspaper, two hours. This is a legitimate plan and half the people reading this needed permission to choose it.

Two things worth doing together instead

At some point in the week the golfer usually takes a day off. The two we'd suggest:

A note on the golf seasons

The Costa del Sol's golf high seasons are September to November and February to May — which is also when everything else here is at its best: comfortable temperatures, clear air, green countryside and low-season prices in the towns. If you're travelling as a couple with one golfer, those months are the right compromise. December and January are the cheapest for green fees and still perfectly pleasant, just with shorter days at both ends.