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The temperature in Andalusia this week soared to alarming heights, causing many towns to issue orange and yellow alerts. The mercury is expected to rise up to 42ºC this weekend, with night-time highs of as much as 25ºC over Friday and Saturday.

Andalusia is home to the hottest and driest summers in Spain, but in the west, weather systems sweeping in from the Atlantic ensure that the region is kept relatively wet in the winter, with some areas receiving abundant rainfall. Contrary to popular belief, Andalucia enjoys above average yearly rainfall in Spain.

The majority of holidaymakers to Spain will want to visit during the height of the summer. While the weather is reasonably nice all year, although coldest in January – things don’t really start hotting up until June. After that you’ll be lucky to even get a brief shower until around October. Read more »

The current heatwave in the south and the centre of the country is expected to last longer. Maximum temperatures will hit at least 42ºC in the shade and will cool down to night temperatures reaching around 24ºC. The state meteorological agency, AEMET, says that the weekend could even be hotter than ever. The hottest parts of the country will be Andalucía, Murcia, Extremadura and the south of Castilla-La Mancha with temperatures reaching 40-42ºC. By next Monday the summer temperatures are expected to cool down a bit, at least in the north of Spain. Summer is still not over.

Marbella takes the visit of the US First Lady Michelle Obama and her youngest daughter Sasha to Marbella seriously. The visit which will start 4th August has already caused huge excitement amongst the Marbella population and their surroundings. The town hall of Marbella has installed together with the two advertising agencies Imagen Consulting and Copremusa Sur a huge billboard at one of the busiest points of the N-340 road through San Pedro de Alcantara which reads “Welcome Obama Family” and in smaller print “Thank You For Choosing Marbella”. The Obama family will pass by this billboard on their way to the Hotel Villa Padierna they are staying in. The five-star luxury resort ranked among the top 30 best hotels in the world by Expedia on rank 28 with a score of 99,9 of 100 points and ranked the best hotel in Spain.

After a few month of crisis hotel occupancy of the Costa del Sol has increased about 5 % in July in comparison with 2009, as tourism reemerges in the region. The city of Malaga itself sees an even bigger increase with an estimated 8 %. Several leaders in the tourism sector say they are very happy with these figures, as August looks to see an even larger increase than July. Owners of restaurants and bars also indicate that 2010 will be a better year than 2009 even if many tourists stay in their rented apartments and have dinner there. The increase of tourists to the Costa del Sol is by German, French, Italian and Spanish visitors, the Irish and British tourists are still on the decline.

Just one day left until the night of San Juan. As every year the small town of Sabinillas in occidental Malaga prepared a nice castle on the beach which they will burn down in the night from June 23rd to 24th, this Wednesday. This years castle features some old heroes like Hulk, Superman, Captain America, Batman and Robin with Joker, Spiderman and a few more. As well there will be some nice fireworks around midnight. In the center of Sabinillas there will be some bars and music the whole night.