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The nature reserve of the Laguna (lake) de Fuente de Piedra, in the north of the province close to Antequera, is one of the most important humid areas of Europe, where thousands of flamingos nest every year before beginning their long flight to more distant lands. Seen in season, the flamingos make for a spectacular sight: a sea of rose-coloured plumage greets the eyes.

Just five kilometres from Antequera lies the extraordinary El Torcal, a fantastic rock formation of some 20 square kilometres, that rose out of the sea about 100 million years ago. The action of rain and wind over the centuries has sculptured the colossal rock into shapes that can be seen in the mind’s eye as cathedrals, palaces and monumental abstract sculptures.

Between the Guadalhorce region and Antequera is the breadth-taking Desfiladero de los Gaitanes (the Gorge of the Bagpipers), one of the most unusual sights of the province of Malaga. This is a deep cleft in the mountains where the Guadalhorce River flows, with high rocky walls on either side, and a few kilometres further on are the beautiful reservoir lakes that provide water for Malaga City. 

The Biosphere Reserve of the Sierra de las Nieves comprises ten municipalities and part of the municipality of Ronda, in the north west of the province, covering 93,930 hectares and making up the biggest protected space in Malaga province. This botanically rich area has many pinsapo woods, the tree unique in Europe to this place and the Grazalema Nature Park. The highest peaks in the province are also here, with the Torrecilla peak reaching 1,919 metres above seas level. The third deepest known pothole in the world, the GESM, is also here.

In writing about natural spaces, we can also include historic gardens open to the public. These include the Finca de la Concepción, outside Malaga City on the road northwards (autovía de Las Pedrizas), which dates from the 19th century and which is considered to be one of the best tropical gardens in Europe, and the El Retiro on the Coín road, which is a courtesan garden dating from the 18th century. This garden, apart from its wealth of botanical species, has a fine collection of fountains and sculptures from different periods, some of them of great artistic value. 

Cultural tourism

The strategic location of the Costa del Sol, at the gateway to Africa and occupying a sizeable part of the extreme western Mediterranean coastline, has meant many different civilisations living here, and this in turn has made the region rich in archaeological remains. We can see this in the paintings and objects discovered in the Nerja Cave, dating back 20,000 years, and in the Tesoro Cave in Rincón de la Victoria, and in the interior of the province as well, where megalithic remains in Antequera and other places tell us that we too are passing through. 

But it was not until the arrival of the Phoenicians, who founded Malaka, as it was called, in the 8th century B.C., that we can speak of an urban community with any type of social structure. From then on, the Costa del Sol was conquered and colonised many times, each civilization leaving behind evidence of its stay. This has left us with an extraordinarily rich and diverse archaeological and architectural legacy.