Cost Liess Dell Sol
Can you really have a three-day break in Spain for under £150? We sent one skinflint traveller to Malaga to find out!
BY TREVOR BAKER
DAY 1
When I’ve been poor in the past, friends have occasionally tried to persuade me to go on holiday with the winning line: “Look, we can fly to Malaga for less than you’ll spend on packets of cheese and onion crisps if you stay in England”. But, after securing cheap flights, the challenge is to keep all other costs down when you arrive.
That’s why, after arriving at Malaga airport, I’m feeling slightly smug – but also a little nervous. This time I’ve found somewhere to stay using the www.couchsurfing.com website, which means I won’t be paying a penny for accommodation. But it also means that I know very little about the people I’m staying with – except that they’re a 20-something French/Spanish couple. Having seen plenty of horror films, I also know that if you turn up at a mysterious person’s house, you can confidently expect them to have a dark secret and/or some kind of a chainsaw.
Happily, my hosts, Ben and Belen, are lovely and they don’t live in an isolated cabin in the woods, but in a beautiful flat on the eighth floor of an apartment block overlooking the city and the mountains. Their only dark secret, as it turns out, is that Belen used to be the president of the Spice Girls fan club for Andalusia.
DAY 1 COSTS:
Flight: €64.50 return (inclusive)
Train from the airport: €1.20
Accommodation: nothing
Evening meal: nothing (lovely homemade soup and quiche made by my hosts)
Total: €65.70
DAY 2
Ben and Belen are a bit confused when I say I’m off to Torremolinos (€2.05 on the train). The Spanish don’t really understand why British people are so keen to go to a town in Spain that is so, well, British. Resorts like the equally fun Pedregalejo down the coast have far more of an Andalusian flavour.
In most English people’s minds, though, there’s a romanticised view of the seaside town that reality can’t always live up to. Torremolinos, with its pubs, fish and chip restaurants and cheerful hedonism is like Margate, but with sunshine and palm trees. There are also some great, very cheap tapas places in the back streets.
It’s nice, though, to come back and experience some culture at the Picasso museum in Malaga (entry €3 with student card; www.museopicassomalaga.org). It mostly exhibits paintings that Pablo gave away to friends and family, and they range from entertaining, wonky-limbed filth (sorry, escenas eróticas) to realistic portraits that, unusually for Picasso, have both eyes and limbs roughly where they should be. That’s more than can be said for my pulpo frito (fried octopus) at the Pepa Y Pepe café (9 calle Caldereria) later, but at €8 for two tapas and two beers, at least it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
My cheapskate skills slip slightly at the Velvet club (20 Juan de Padilla; www.velvetclub.es) where two drinks for me and my friendly host Ben cost another €7, but at least the barmaid pours the spirits like her wrist’s suddenly locked. Still, if you do as the Malagueños do, and bring your own booze to plazas like Paseo de los Curas, where hordes of exuberant locals gather every weekend, then it’s easy to have a cheap night out.
DAY 2 COSTS:
Breakfast: nothing (cereal and rolls provided by my hosts)
Train to Torremolinos: € 2.05
A palmera: a kind of sticky pastry (two stuck together – bonus!) and a bottle of water from a shop, €0.90
Albondigas tapa: (a tiny, tasty meatball) and glass of beer at the La Taperia de Pepa (Pasaje Europa, Torremolinos), €1
Sandwich and Coke from a shop: € 3.40
Tapas and two beers: € 8
Whiskey and Coke, and a rum and Coke: € 7 Picasso museum: € 3 (with student card)
Bus into town and back: €2.20
Total: €27.55
DAY 3
While many so-called forts look like they could be taken by a determined kitten with a ball of string, even 700 years after its heyday, 14th-century Castillo Gibralfaro (€1.20 with student card) still looks completely impenetrable. Its lofty position gives a good view of Malaga’s streets and alleyways, all teeming enticingly with tapas bars and restaurants. Unfortunately, this makes me peckish and, unable to wait till Andalusian lunchtime (2pm onwards), I end up having an English lunch (bacon roll at 1pm) and then a Spanish lunch as well (more tapas, at 3pm), before getting the bus back to the airport.
Still, Malaga was a great place for my experiment because, as well as all the wonderful, cheap food in the tapas bars, the beaches and streets themselves provide all the free entertainment you need.
DAY 3 COST:
Breakfast: nothing (cereal provided by hosts)
Lunch (English): coffee and bacon roll, €3.40
Lunch (Spanish): Albondigas con almendras (meatballs with almond sauce) and a Coke, €3.50
Castillo Gibralfo: €1.20 with student card
Bottle of water: €1
Bus to and from town centre: €2.20
Present for my hosts (bottle of wine): €6.50
Airport bus: €1.20
Over-sized sombrero (optional): €5.50 (60 calle Andre Gide; www.nuevogema.es)
Total: €24.50
COUCH SURFING: THE LOW-DOWN
WHY WOULD SOMEBODY LET YOU STAY IN THEIR HOUSE FOR NOTHING?
“The concept of the CouchSurfing website is to bring travellers together. Somebody lets you stay on their couch (or nice spare room complete with difficult-to-remove Spice Girls stickers, in my case) and one day, if you can, you let somebody stay on yours.”
WHAT IF THEY TURN OUT TO BE A WEIRDO?
“Well, that’s possible, but there is an ebay-style system of references from previous surfers. Essentially, though, it’s based on the concept that most people are pretty nice.”
AH, SO IT’S A KIND OF HIPPY THING?
“Exactly. But then, if you’re the kind of person who’d prefer to chance it on somebody’s couch rather than staying in a nice, sensible hotel, then no doubt you’re a bit of a hippy yourself.” www.couchsurfing.com
WHAT IF I DON’T WANT TO MAKE SMALL TALK WITH STRANGERS?
“If you like all your mod-cons and staying in glamorous hotels – or simply can’t face the thought of sharing with strangers or really need to know what you’re letting yourself in for – you can find a whole range of great deals on hotels and apartments in Malaga and all the bmibaby destinations at www.bmibaby.com/hotels. Powered by Europe’s leading travel and leisure website, www.lastminute.com.”
