Winter in Fuengirola, Spain

If you’re fed up with the winter in Europe, you might be thinking Costa del Sol is exactly what you need for a dose of sunshine and a few lazy days away from work.

While this year is certainly going to be nothing but ordinary, there are still things you can count on – good weather and empty beaches.

In a couple of months, I will be celebrating my first year anniversary of moving to Spain and also spending my first winter & Christmas here. I’m quite used to warm winters after living in Cyprus, but somehow Spain feels much less rainy and the weather is a little more stable.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to summarize the current situation in Costa del Sol, for all those who are wondering if its safe to travel here, when and where to stay and what to avoid.

In Fuengirola, it’s business as usual – and by that I mean the post-covid normal. They tightened up the closing hours of bars & restaurants (open till 6pm), the curfew is still in place from 10pm to 6am and of course masks are still compulsory (as they’ve been since March last year).

Apart from the empty shop windows left behind by closed down businesses and the lack of sky traffic, it really feels more or less just like one extremely quiet winter.

If you’re planning to come for a holiday, avoiding big cities is probably the best thing to do (Malaga, Seville etc). Some hotels in coastal resorts are still operating even in winter and they are more or less empty, and also safer to stay than hotels in big cities.

You will also need to count with a bit of flexibility as the rules change depending on how the new case numbers evolve.

The Spanish government is promising to have the country fully open for tourism by spring, and that will also probably mean a massive spike of new cases in autumn when the tourists leave. At the moment Andalusia is battling its third wave and it seems like things should start looking up soon.

With that in mind, here is a bit of sunshine to warm you up, wherever you are!