Gay nudist beaches, gay bars, gay clubs and gay saunas!
There are many gay naturist beaches (Playas Naturistas) in the Costa del Sol area. Here are details of just a few of them:
The Malaga nudist beach at Guadalmar is a sandy beach with a bar at each end and a few showers. It is just 30 minutes from Los Curriches. Although this is quite a popular beach, it doesn't seem to get too overcrowded. The car parking area behind the eastern end of the nude beach is quite cruisy in the evenings.
The nude beach at Torre del Mar (called Almanat or Almayate) is a beautiful 40 minute drive southeast of Los Curriches. It is quieter and more secluded than the Malaga or Cantarrijan beaches, and therefore the beach itself is slightly more cruisy. There is a bar at the far end of the long beach at which nudity is mandatory.
Cabopino beach is the biggest beach for gay naturists/naturism west of Malaga and it takes about 60 minutes to drive there from Los Curriches. Because of the extensive sand dunes (Las Dunas) and forested areas behind the beach, this is (apparently!) the place to go to cruise.
East of Los Curriches, Cantarrijan is a pebble beach in a lovely rocky cove with a bar at the clothed end of the beach. Very limited cruising goes on at the very far end of the beach. At busy times of the year, there is a mandatory park-and-ride scheme in operation to this beach, so in our opinion the best way to reach this remote beach is to kayak or hike to it, stopping at some lovely deserted beaches along the way!
Plaza de la Merced is the place to go for a drink in Malaga - there are 6 gay bars in this lovely square in a beautiful part of old town Malaga. It is generally quite a relaxed place for a drink and tapas, except for late evenings at the weekend when it will be busy.
5 minutes west of Malaga, Torremolinos is the place to go if you want gay nightlife, with more than 30 gay bars and clubs. It has the 3rd largest selection of gay bars, clubs and discos in mainland Spain (the much larger cities of Madrid and Barcelona having the most). However, in our opinion, much of the gay area, called La Nogalera, is very run down and has rather unwelcoming dark, narrow sidestreets. And you have to stay up very late in order to enjoy it, as most bars and clubs are completely dead before 1am! Many of the bars and clubs have darkrooms but beware of pickpockets.
Here are a couple of the nicer bars/clubs in Torremolinos:
El Gato Lounge - a place to chill out and enjoy good food and drink at reasonable prices.
D'Lirio - music and videos, with a darkroom and occasional drag shows.
The Parthenon - recently refitted and modern club, with a young crowd. Darkroom downstairs.
Passion Club - the most recently refitted club and the biggest. Very crowded at weekends.
Torremolinos also has the region's only gay sauna, Sauna Miguel. Modern and clean but expect a lot of attention from the other guys in the sauna and the 25 man jacuzzi! Private rooms available.
Slightly further west along the coast in Fuengirola is Bar Kudos, which seems to attract a nice cross-section of gay guys, of all types and ages. It also has regular underwear parties.