Estepona Old Town

Estepona kept its old town when much of the coast surrendered to concrete, and the reward is one of the prettiest casco antiguos in Andalucía — narrow lanes deliberately planted with thousands of flowerpots, each street themed around a colour. Twenty minutes west of Marbella, it still feels like a working Spanish town, with a fishing port that supplies the kitchens and a square life that runs on Spanish hours. The dining is honest and increasingly assured: Italian rooms, contemporary Andalusian cooking like Alma de Miguel, and tapas bars where the catch barely travels from boat to plate. It rewards wandering with no reservation in mind, then sitting down wherever the geraniums and the smell of cooking pull you in.