La Carihuela runs for about two kilometres of fine dark sand along the seafront of Torremolinos, and it is still one of the best known beaches on the Costa del Sol.

The neighbourhood behind it was a fishing village before it was anything else, and it has kept that shape. Low white houses, narrow streets running down to the water, and a promenade lined end to end with chiringuitos, beach clubs and shops.

In the fifties and sixties this was where the Costa del Sol was invented. Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, Orson Welles and Frank Sinatra all came through here when the Pez Espada and the Tropicana opened, and the beach has been busy ever since.

La Carihuela is known above all for its fried fish, cooked the way it has been cooked here for generations. There are sunbeds along the sand, showers, lifeguards through the season, and the beach holds a Blue Flag.