The Long Coastal Path in the province of Malaga is a joint project between the 14 coastal municipalities, the Junta de Andalucía and the Ministry of Agriculture. This project will enable walking and cycling routes from Manilva in the west to Nerja in the east along the entire coastline, which covers almost 200 kilometers, i.e. virtually the entire Costa del Sol.

90 % of the Malaga coastline is already operational (November 2023), some parts are more complicated than others to connect such as the section between Nerja and Torrox Costa which consists of an area of rock and cliffs and between Mijas Costa and Marbella where many sections are built up, therefore a deadline of five years has been set.

The trail currently consists of 167 sections of boardwalks, paths and hiking trails.

The objectives of La Senda Litoral

1/ Make the Coastal Path accessible by improving the old infrastructure such as footpaths, cycle lanes and paths and connecting these with new paths.

2/ Promote tourism on the Costa del Sol.
The coastal path is intended to be a major tourist attraction with opportunities for entrepreneurs, hotels, bars and restaurants, and active leisure businesses.

3/ The aim is to have a positive economic impact and create jobs.
The economic impact coming from the opening of the Coastal Path is based on:
Increase in the average number of days spent by tourists in the area, new visitors and economic benefits from new businesses. Around 270 new permanent jobs are expected, and 400 jobs during project completion.

4/ Public beaches and the area around the trail will be refurbished. In addition, visitors will be able to naturally approach places of great importance, such as the Peñón del Cuervo Rock , Punta Chullera and its beach in Manilva, the Artola Dunes , the Vélez Delta in the mouth of the Guadalhorce River and the rocky land between the Calahonda and Calaburras beaches in Mijas.

5/ Emphasize the importance of historic sites
When La Senda Litoral is completed, the Coastal Trail will allow visitors to see the 42 watchtowers (pdf) found along the Málaga coast, or the Phoenician ruins of Velez Málaga.

However, it should be emphasized that projects of this size tend to take a long time, so the schedule to complete La Senda Litoral in 2023 is unlikely to be met.

You can follow the progress of the work here