Mama MálagaPostsSeasons & MonthsDecember in the Costa del Sol

December in the Costa del Sol

November 22, 2024

Last modified on: December 14, 2024

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December in the Costa del Sol revolves around Christmas. It is a very busy time of the year, as the towns pack this month with shows, parties, parades, markets and special illumination. On top of it all, in recent years, a new trend is becoming popular and adding to the magic of Christmas: it’s the video mapping, when a movie is projected on to the facade of a large building. It’s impressive and quite mesmerizing!

A bit of 2023’s Christmas video mapping in Benalmadena

The weather in December in the Costa del Sol

Daytime temperatures in December are pleasing, often around 20^oC during the early afternoon. The low averages are close to 10^oC, and the lowest can reach 5^oC, around 6 am. It usually doesn’t get lower than that in the Costa del Sol in December; we do not see snow – though it can happen in the interior of the province – unless it is fake snow. 🙂 There can be rain, mostly at night, and sometimes strong wind.

December in the Costa del Sol - temperatures — Accuweather graphic for the actual temperatures in Malaga in December 2023.

Weather-related data for December in Malaga (data from Weather2travel):
🏊 sea temperature: +16^oC
🌅 Sunrise times: 08:12 am (December 1) – 08:30 am (December 31)
🌙 Sunset times: 06:02 pm (December 1) – 06:12 pm (December 31)
🌼 Average number of daylight hours: 10
☀️ Average number of sunshine hours per day: 5

The weather information above is for Malaga (city), but as the towns are so close together, you can extend this information to the surrounding areas as well. Torremolinos, Benalmadena, Fuengirola, Mijas, Marbella and Estepona, as well as Rincón de la Victoria, Torrox and Nerja, should not differ much.

What to pack for December in the Costa del Sol?

Over the years I’ve been living in the Costa del Sol, I’ve taken a lot of pictures. In many of them – as you would expect – there are people around. Here are a few of those pictures, each and every one taken in December of previous years, where you can see what people are wearing. The goal is to give you a good idea of what to pack to feel cozy in December in the Costa del Sol! You can click on each image to enlarge it. 😉

December in the Costa del Sol - Benalmadena

Remarkable dates in December

We have two holidays in the beginning of December in the Costa del Sol: December 6th, Constitution Day, which is a national holiday, and December 8th, Day of the Immaculate Conception and a holiday in the province of Malaga. When one of these two falls on a weekend, they may be moved to the closest Friday or Monday, making a long weekend.

The other holiday in December is Christmas, of course. You can expect shops, supermarket and banks to be closed not only on December 25 but maybe also on the 24; as a matter of fact, the last week of the year is, like in many places around the world, a time when shops, markets and banks are working on somewhat limited capacity and/ or shorter hours. December 31, like the 24th, is also either a part-time workday or a full day off for many businesses in the Costa del Sol.

Related post:
Malaga holidays

Events in December in the Costa del Sol

Christmas everywhere

Everywhere in the Costa del Sol, Christmas is a big time of celebration. The cities really dress up to the occasion and become extra pretty. This is a lovely time to go out through the town centers to watch the special illumination and to enjoy a hot beverage by the many cafes along those streets. It is also fun to join one of the many zabomba parties, as well as visit the Christmas markets. During the daytime, there are very creative nativity scenes that are interesting, and many events created especially for the children. Christmas is full of surprises!

For reference of what to expect, we have the local traditions and what has been done in previous years. In December, Malaga has the tradition of setting extra-beautiful Christmas lights in Calle Larios, where they also have a light and music show at specific times.

Calle Larios’ Christmas light and music show

In previous years, Torremolinos transformed its Recinto Ferial in a Christmas park for kids and created a small Christmas village in the Plaza de Nogalera, where kids could send their letters to Santa; Benalmadena spread lights through the city, did the video mapping shown on the beginning of this post and exposed very unique nativity scenes; Fuengirola offered the best Christmas market in the Costa, with fake snow shows and a lovely Christmas vibe. A few pictures of previous Christmas events:

December in the Costa del Sol - Torremolinos

The towns start to publish their Christmas plans in the end of November; as soon as I translate them, I publish posts with the translations of the full program of each city. There’s plenty of useful and interesting information for those spending Christmas anywhere in the Costa del Sol in these programs. Links below, in the related posts. 😉

Culture and Entertainment guides

The best places to look for cultural events are the official monthly entertainment guides of the Town Halls websites and their Facebook counterparts. Some cities update them more frequently than others, and usually information is posted just a few days before the event itself; despite that, they are the most complete source of information about cultural (and sometimes not so cultural) events in each city. Below, a super useful list:

For Malaga city: Visita Málaga guide and Facebook
For Torremolinos: Torremolinos Cultura guide and Facebook
For Benalmadena: Benalmadena guide and Benalmadena Cultura
For Fuengirola: Fuengirola guide and Agenda Fuengirola
For Mijas: Mijas and Cultura Mijas
For Marbella: Marbella and Cultura Marbella
For Estepona: Cultura Estepona and Facebook

If you come in the middle of the month, there are still plenty of activities going on – the Costa del Sol never stops. Check the Culture and entertainment guides, as November is often filled with music events and arts exhibitions.

Conclusion

December in the Costa del Sol is a month-long Christmas season, full of activities and joy. It is a great time to go around with the kids, and just as good to go out with friends; there is plenty to do and to see everywhere – and no snow to shovel!