Mijas is two places sharing the same passport. Mijas Pueblo sits high against the mountain, a pueblo blanco of narrow lanes and dusty bougainvillea, about 430 metres above the coast with views as far as Morocco on a clear day. Mijas Costa is down below, along the N-340, mostly built in the 1980s for northern-European retirees. Anyone who sees only one thinks they know the other.
The old village is what the buses come for, and rightly so — the plaza with its bullring, the mirador on the Compás balcony, and the green processional walk along the mountain belong on every Costa del Sol list. But go early, before ten, or the donkey-taxis arrive with their tour groups. And don't stick to the centre alone: drive five minutes to Bar El Mirlo Blanco for one of the best menus del día on the whole coast. We end up there ourselves after a morning hiking.
