Costa del Sol in December
Around 14 °C by day, sea 16.4 °C. Too cold to swim. Quieter than the peak: 1 out of 5 against 5.
December on the Costa del Sol is 14 °C by day and 16.4 °C in the sea. Too cool to swim, and load is 1 out of 5: the coast has gone into winter.
December splits the coast in two. The towns — Málaga, Vélez-Málaga, Rincón — work as usual, scoring 5 out of 5 for winter, and Málaga adds the Christmas lights on Calle Larios that draw people from neighbouring provinces. The resort side is quieter: Torrox and Nerja score 4, and part of what is there is shut until spring. For anyone choosing between a town and a village by the sea, December is the deciding month.
Towns nearby in December
| Town | Air | Sea | Busy | Winter | €/m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torre del Mar | 14 | 16.4 | 1/5 | 4/5 | 1 581asking |
| Torrox | 14 | 16.4 | 1/5 | 4/5 | 2 000asking |
| Nerja | 14 | 16.4 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 2 450asking |
| Alhaurín de la Torre | 14 | 16.4 | 1/5 | 5/5 | 2 736appraised |
| Vélez-Málaga | 14 | 16.4 | 2/5 | 5/5 | 2 745appraised |
| Málaga | 14 | 16.4 | 3/5 | 5/5 | 3 283appraised |
| Mijas | 14 | 16.4 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 3 339appraised |
| Manilva | 14 | 16.7 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 3 450asking |
| Estepona | 14 | 16.7 | 2/5 | 5/5 | 3 453appraised |
| Rincón de la Victoria | 14 | 16.4 | 1/5 | 5/5 | 3 498appraised |
| Fuengirola | 14 | 16.8 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 3 711appraised |
| Torremolinos | 14 | 16.4 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 3 736appraised |
| Benalmádena | 14 | 16.4 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 3 779appraised |
| Marbella | 14 | 16.8 | 2/5 | 5/5 | 4 477appraised |
The winter column is a 1-to-5 score: how many cafés, hotels and shops run in January compared with the best month of the year. Where a village has no government figure of its own, it is our estimate. Tourists never notice; anyone who moved does.
Rain days and humidity are annual here, not monthly: 44 rainy days a year, 71% humidity in winter. We have no monthly normals yet and will not invent a split.