What you can see on the Benalmádena webcam
The camera is high on a seafront hotel and takes in a very wide panorama. The hotel's pools and sunbeds fill the lower half; behind them come the palms of the promenade, the beach and the Mediterranean, stretching to the horizon. It is not the place to count people on the sand, but it shows at a glance whether the sky is clear, whether the sea is flat or choppy and how lively the pools are.
Benalmádena Costa from a seafront hotel
This is the webcam of the Sunset Beach Club, a four-star hotel-apartment complex on the seafront of Benalmádena Costa, at Torrequebrada. Mounted high on the building, it shows a panorama much wider than it is tall, made of two pictures side by side. Two of the hotel's pools, with rows of blue sunbeds under thatched parasols, fill the bottom of the picture; behind them run the palms of the seafront promenade, then the beach, with a line of stones at the water's edge, and the Mediterranean out to the horizon. The orange tower of the hotel closes the view on the right.
The camera looks out to sea and towards the sun, so glare can wash out part of the picture: the left half in the morning, the right in the late afternoon. Use it to see whether the sky is clear, whether the sea is calm enough for a swim and how busy the pools are.
Three towns in one
Benalmádena is really three places. Benalmádena Pueblo, the old white village, sits on the hillside below the Sierra de Mijas; Arroyo de la Miel lies between the two; and Benalmádena Costa is the resort strip along the sea. Watchtowers built to warn of pirate raids still stand along the shore, and one of them, the "broken tower", gave Torrequebrada its name. Higher up, a Buddhist stupa looks out over the coast, and a cable car climbs to the top of Monte Calamorro.
When to watch Benalmádena
Mainland Spain is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland, so midday on the camera is 11am at home. The coast faces south-east, so mornings are bright over the sea, and in the late afternoon the sun comes in from the right of the picture. Winter afternoons are mild, often around 17 °C, and the sea is warmest at the end of summer.
Around Benalmádena
Puerto Marina, with its restaurants and boats, is about a mile and a half (2.5 km) east along the promenade, and Selwo Marina and the Sea Life aquarium are nearby. Torremolinos and Fuengirola are each a few miles away by the coastal train.
Visiting Benalmádena
Málaga airport is about 7 miles (11 km) away. The beaches here are mostly coarse, greyish sand, with sunbeds and beach bars in season; the promenade is flat and easy to walk for miles in either direction.
