Torre del Mar is a beach resort on the Costa del Sol, about 30 kilometres east of Málaga, sitting at the mouth of the Vélez river where the river plain meets the Mediterranean. It is a functional, unpretentious resort — not glamorous in the way of Marbella, not as preserved as Nerja — but it has a genuine local character that distinguishes it from the more tourist-saturated towns further west. A permanent population of around 20,000 swells considerably in summer when Spanish families from the inland provinces fill the apartment blocks behind the seafront.
The town's main asset is its beach: a broad sweep of grey-gold sand running for two kilometres backed by the Paseo Marítimo, where chiringuitos grill espetos (sardines on wood skewers) over beachside fires and terrace restaurants serve fried fish through long summer evenings. The fishing harbour at La Caleta de Vélez, just to the east, is still working and gives the area a note of authenticity — fish arrives daily at the port, and the restaurants here are a step up from the purely tourist strip.
Four kilometres inland lies Vélez-Málaga, the capital of the Axarquía comarca, which has been here far longer than its coastal satellite — a Moorish castle on the hill, a 16th-century church built on a mosque, and an agricultural market town personality utterly distinct from the beach. The Axarquía hills behind, planted with subtropical fruit (avocados, mangoes, custard apples), make good driving territory. Nerja, with its famous caves and cliffs, is 20 kilometres east along the coast.
Just west of town, the site of Los Toscanos marks where Phoenician traders established a settlement here in the 8th century BCE — one of the earliest Mediterranean colonies in Spain.