The province of Malaga also leads in the practice of adventure sports, with an abundance of high mountain peaks suitable for mountain climbing, rock climbing and hang-gliding. The most important area in the region for these sports has become the Abdalajís Valley.

Potholing is another sport that has found a home in this part of the world, with many deep holes all over the province. The Cueva del Gato, for example, runs in the Guadiaro River area for four kilometres underground, and it is not generally known that the third largest chasm in the world and the largest in Spain is in the Sierra de las Nieves Nature Reserve. This is the GESM, 1,090 metres deep and still not yet fully explored. And in the Nerja Cave, there are galleries that are reserved for experienced speleologists, given the difficulty of exploring them.

The geography of Malaga province makes it ideal for the practice of rambling, cycling and horseback trekking, and each of the 100 municipalities in the province has its own routes. Information on these routes can be obtained from local tourism offices or Town Halls, with times and dates of organised trips and specific information on each route. 

Almost all towns and villages on the coast have sporting and athletics facilities, as have many urban centres in the interior of the province. These are municipal facilities and therefore free or with a nominal charge. In fact, many well-known international football teams use these facilities, especially during the winter, where the weather allows them to practice and train in the open air.

Health tourism

One of the reasons for the Costa del Sol’s continuing existence as a major international tourism destination is because it has been capable of adapting to changing tourism patterns. One of these is health tourism, which goes back a long way in the province of Malaga due to the number of spa resorts of the early 20th century. This type of early health tourism failed to keep up with the changing demands of mass tourism, and more or less disappeared, leaving a number of abandoned spas around the province. In recent years, however, it has been making a comeback, and traditional spa resorts are opening once more. These days, most of the top hotels in the region offer their own thalassotherapy facilities to their clients.  

Some health centres in the region have been there for many decades, as is the case of the famous Incosol Hotel and the Buchinger Clinic in Marbella. Other luxury health centres opened later, including the Meliá Costa del Sol Hotel in Torremolinos, the Byblos Hotel in Mijas and the Las Dunas Hotel in Estepona.