The city got its name due to the fact that many years ago Italian fishermen from Genoa were kindly allowed to catch and salt fish 27 km southwest of Malaga.
The population is 68 thousand people, the distance from Malaga airport is 24 km. The flotilla of their dilapidated boats was called 'fuente de girolas' - 'fountain of boats'.
Initially, the city was founded by the Phoenicians, who were later replaced by the Romans, leaving a memory of themselves in the form of ruins, as well as the baths that have survived to this day. Later, the Arab conquerors left their mark, having built in the 10th century (912) a castle-fortress on the ancient Roman ruins, and the settlement was named Soail - in honor of the star, according to legend, visible only from this place. The castle rises on a hill at the mouth of the Fuengirola River. It has an irregular octagonal shape, and previously each of its corners was crowned with a turret.
Sohail Castle (Castillo de Sohail) is a building with a rich historical past. The Catholic kings expelled the Arabs from Fuengirola in 1485, destroying the walls of the castle during the assault. Regular unfriendly visits by pirates (the famous Francis Drake was among them) forced them to soon be restored: the entire local population hid in the castle during raids.
From 1810 to 1812, the castle was occupied by Napoleon's troops, successfully defending it from the British. The French were evicted from the castle by the Spaniards, once again damaging the architectural monument. The long-suffering fortress is still being restored in order to open a cultural center on its territory.
The city acquired the importance of a fishing port in the Middle Ages, however, even now local fishermen do not give up their positions, although the city has gained great fame as an international tourist center.
Lively and cosmopolitan, Fuengirola is ideal for family life. Pleasant embankments (the busiest - Paseo Maritimo - lined with bars, restaurants and shops for every taste), ecologically clean sandy beaches stretching for 8 kilometers, convenient pedestrian streets, a large number of parks and fountains - everything here seems to be created for comfort.
Nightlife will pleasantly surprise you with a variety of places to stay. We advise you to visit the city center - a typical Andalusian quarter with narrow streets radiating in all directions from the Constitution Square (there is also the church of Nuestra Señora de Rosario) and the historic fishing quarter 'Los Boliches'.
The main attraction of Fuengirola is the zoo (Parque Zoologico). Not to say that it is very large, but decorated with taste, and most importantly, the conditions for animals are created as close to natural as possible. There are monkeys, crocodiles, hippos, tigers. There is also a water park, which has an Adventure River, a high Kamikaze slide and a magnificent tropical garden.
The city has a lot of great places to eat, including waterfront bars and cafes, discos and cinemas, many churches, an excellent level of medical care, good schools for children from all over the world and many shopping opportunities - from indoor markets to state-of-the-art shopping centers Miramar and El Corte Ingles.
Compared to Torremolinos and Benalmadena, Fuengirola is a less well-known resort among Russian tourists, with a well-developed infrastructure. The resort hotels are mainly aimed at middle-income tourists.
In Fuengirola, not only “foreign tourists” like to relax, but also the Spaniards themselves: many of them have summer apartments in the city.
