Don't be misled by the tourist brochure descriptions of Nerja as a fishing village. Tourism is this town's main industry and the few fishermen with their boats still to be seen along the beach provide a picturesque scene for visitors and a slim livelihood for local families. Until the last decade the town retained a strong Spanish identity, but during recent years the influx of both northern European visitors and residents has eroded significantly the genuine charm of a truly Spanish working town.
That said, compared to many other Costa Del Sol destinations, especially to the west of Malaga, Nerja is still very much worth a visit. It is a quiet town with a central historical area that still feels like a village, and the tourist mix is not exclusively northern European as many Spanish people use this resort for holidays, together with French and Italians. Unsurprisingly, the relative peacefulness of the town along with the absence of high rise developments along the coast or noisy nightclubs means many British people have retired here.
The town is built on a hillside with a not too steep gradient and the sprawling centre itself consists of an older part with white streets partly pedestrianized mainly to the east of the Balcon de Europa, the natural focus of the town and the venue for fiestas, but beyond the 17th century church and the Plaza Cavana more modern development takes over and it is in these areas that the town seems like any other recently developed Spanish Costa resort.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Nerja
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Nerja - updated May 2024
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Nerja Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
