Benalmádena is a Spanish municipality in the province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located on the Costa del Sol, about 22 km southwest of the provincial capital. It is part of the metropolitan area of Malaga, the region of the Costa del Sol, one the joint board of the same name2 and the judicial district of Torremolinos.3
The municipality covers an area of ​​just over 27 km ² extending from the peaks of the Sierra de Mijas to the sea, falling in some places as a cliff. The territory is crossed from east to west on Highway A-7, which communicates with the provincial capital and other nuclei of the Mediterranean coast.
With 65,965 inhabitants according to the INE in 2012, Benalmádena is the eighth largest city in the province and the third largest metropolitan area, behind Málaga and Torremolinos. The population is concentrated in three main centers: Benalmadena Pueblo, Arroyo de la Miel and Benalmadena Costa, although high urbanization and population growth tends to unify the three núcleos.4
Inhabited since prehistoric times, Benalmádena experiences a remarkable development during the period of Muslim rule development that would be paralyzed after joining the Kingdom of Castile in 1485, due to several natural disasters and intensity of the activity of pirates in the area . The paper industry and the cultivation of the vine reactivate the local economy during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but the biggest population boom in its history led by tourism come from the second half of the XX.5
Currently, Benalmadena is one of the major tourist destinations of the Costa del Sol, notable for its leisure facilities, including an amusement park, two aquariums, a casino, a cable car and one of the largest marinas in Andalusia.