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A group of entrepreneurs from Malaga are set to launch an alternative way to travel between Malaga and the rest of the Costa del Sol. They have set up a company in Fuengirola called “Aqua Taxi“, the first of it’s kind in Spain and hope to have the service up and running by Easter of this year.

They have brought one of the twelve-seater boats over from Southampton in the UK, and are in negotiations with national shipyards to manufacture the rest of the boats needed to provide the service. Their ultimate goal is to extend the services offered by their company all the way along the coast to Gibraltar. In the medium to long term, there are plans to run up to Nerja and Almuñecar linking the east and the west.

The Water Taxi service, which will be based in Malaga Port aims to revolutionize the taxi business and connect Malaga and Marbella within 45 minutes. The company has currently received authorization to operate from Marbella, Benalmadena and Fuengirola and hopes be accepted also by Puerto Banus in the near future. Read more »

According to the Malaga Councillor for Tourism and Sport, Elias Bendodo, Malaga City is the favourite destination for cultural tourism and city breaks in the whole of Andalucia. Nationally, the city is streets ahead of Madrid, Cordoba, Sevilla and San Sebastian, coming second only to Barcelona.

Malaga should be very pleased with last year’s results which showed that 853,481 tourists booked into hotels in the city in 2010, which was 14.35 per cent more than in 2009, and 8.9 per cent more than 2008, which was historically, the best year for tourism until these figures were released.

12.75 per cent more people stayed in the city, equalling a total of 1,591,552 visitors, with an average stay of 1.85 days.

Just over 54 per cent of the tourists who stayed in Malaga city hotels in 2010 were Spanish, some five per cent more than the previous year, and most of them came from the rest of Andalucia, followed closely by Madrid and Cataluña. Read more »

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought I’d share with you all some Valentine’s Spanish vocabulary. For those singles out there, maybe you can try out a few of the lines…! For those who already have a partner, I hope you just enjoy the day and whatever your sweetheart may bring you.

For those of you who are well-versed in Spanish already, these are a few words and phrases you might not already know, which will pepper your vocabulary with some extra spice. For those of you who don’t speak Spanish at all or speak very little, I have added in the phonetics pronounciation, which will help you get the words out more or less perfectly.

Enjoy!

NB: I have written the feminine ending first (because, yes I am a woman) and the masculine after: e.g estoy enamorada instead of enamorado. Just remember: “a” for women, “o” for men.

Dia de San Valentin /Dia de los enamorados – (Dee-yah de San Ba-len-teen) (Dee-yah deh los enamo-ra-dohs) – Valentine’s Day Read more »

Despite the various problems that have plagued Malaga airport, including the volcanic ash cloud and the controllers’ conflict, the airport finished the year with a bang, concluding that in excess of 12 million passengers used the airport in 2010, which represents a considerable 3.8% increase over the previous year.

The launch of the new terminal at Malaga Airport, the T3, (as mentioned in my previous article) has raised the transit of passengers and flight traffic over the past year. Specifically, the airport in the capital of the Costa del Sol operated a total of 105,631 flights from January to December, a 2% increase over the previous year.

This is also the first time since the onset of the economic crisis in 2007 that passengers and flight movements have increased at all. Read more »

The Costa del Sol is mainly known for Golf, but as well it is famous for their marinas. The Alcaidesa Marina will be another exclusive marina on the coast. Situated on the golden shores of the Costa del Sol, set against the stunning backdrop of Gibraltar, the new Alcaidesa Marina is preparing to welcome luxury yachts and high-net-worth-individuals.

The Alcaidesa Group began planning and construction back in 2003, where the idea of bringing more high-end attention and travel dimension to the Spanish Coast brought forward plans for a new superyacht marina – offering spaces from 8 – 50m. Read more »