Leisure
 Far from what one might think, the leisure offer of the Costa del Sol is not exclusively directed at the tourist who chooses this area purely for a vacation. Its diverse and varied character has made it an essential complement to every kind of trip, and traveller that has Malaga as the final destination. From this perspective, it is logical, if not obvious, to think that this province’s many resources and attractions designed for relaxation and enjoyment have become one of its solidest assets, especially for the ability to diversify this place’s tourism product, which is characterised precisely by the broad range of options that it offers the visitor who is ready to invest his free time in activities whose primary purpose is to entertain and divert.
The leisure businesses and facilities of the Costa del Sol, which are distributed throughout the province of Malaga, play an important part in this respect. The dean of all these facilities is a well-known amusement park in the locality of Benalmádena. For more than twenty years, it has been helping to enlarge this offer, which has become especially highly developed in the locality where the park is located. This coastal municipality now has other nationally and internationally famous “fun industry” facilities, such as a cable car that allows visitors to go to the top of the Calamorro peak in the Sierra de Mijas mountain range, from which they have a stunning view of the whole coast. Furthermore, there is an interactive underwater park -the first of its type in Andalusia- with almost three thousand species from different regions of the world, and a park devoted to marine life that has, among other attractions, a dolphinarium.
Recreating natural habitats and including exotic animals in these settings is also the theme of other leisure facilities on the Costa del Sol. Such is the case of the zoo in Fuengirola, considered one of the best in world, and the crocodile park in Torremolinos, which exhibits reptiles from Africa, Asia and the Americas. For its part, Estepona has some unusual installations that recreate different scenes in an area of more than one hundred hectares that allow the visitor to enter into ecosystems of the five continents.
One of these parks is in Torremolinos. Among its attractions is a toboggan slide more than twenty-two metres high. Mijas, on the western coast, and Vélez Malaga, on the opposite side, are the sites of the other two parks of this type in the province.
As far as theme facilities are concerned, the province of Malaga’s leisure offer is completed by an adventure park in the El Torcal mountains of Antequera that offers numerous activities in contact with the natural environment, such as quad circuits, trekking, paintball, horseback riding, archery and wildlife watching; a nature park in San Pedro de Alcántara, in the municipality of Marbella, and a leisure centre on the outskirts of Malaga that is built around a large plaza and recreates a traditional Andalusian village.
Malaga also offers lovers of the world of horses numerous recreational options. A publicly owned hippodrome in Mijas, a school of equestrian arts in Estepona, and various riding facilities are the points of reference in this respect. Horse shows, races, western riding, carriage team exhibitions and trail rides are some of the choices offered to the visitor, who can also enjoy the bullfights that are held in the province’s various bullrings.
The leisure offer does not end here, however. The Costa del Sol also has two casinos, one in Benalmádena and the other in Marbella, where the visitor can try his luck at roulette or blackjack tables, or at slot machines. There are also countless discothèques, cabarets, bars and nightclubs, with schedules that allow activity to continue until the crack of dawn. In addition, there are numerous shopping centres, both conventional and open, with establishments representing the most varied brands and commercial firms. A whole array of choices that leaves no time or place for boredom.
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