Costa del Sol
Alhaurin de la Torre
Its municipal area stretches from the eastern section of the Sierra de Mijas to the Guadalhorce Valley and the Málaga Basin, in a landscape ranging from pine groves to vegetable gardens, sprinkled with a number of residential areas.
The village was founded by the Arabs, but retains little evidence of its Moslem past, having become a dormitory town for Málaga and Torremolinos. Nearby are the Royal Pigeon Shooting Society and a golf course.
Its origin dates back to the period in which Gades exercised its hegemony over the whole of the Frentum Gaditanum (Straits of Gibraltar), over 3000 years ago, when the Phoenicians began their wanderings and founded their first commercial factories, encouraged by the rich mineral deposits to be found in the south of the peninsula. Alhaurín de la Torre has conspired to hide its past with such ruthless efficiency that it is now almost impossible to find. Even the tower which gave it its name is long gone. As yet, the town is still set among large plantations of citrus and avocado, but as it continues to grow, and land becomes increasingly scarce and valuable, it may be that many of them will disappear.
There are 2 Alhaurín villages, Alhaurín de la Torre and Alhaurín el Grande, of which Alhaurín de la Torre is the smaller. It is located 17km from Málaga and 8km from Málaga airport, in between the Mijas mountain range and Guadalhorce Valley River. Both the Alhauríns can be reached on the N-340 south of Málaga and then onto to the C-344 exit to Churriana.
The village has changed from a quiet agricultural community into an important centre of tourism but unlike its neighbour Alhaurín el Grande, it has not managed to preserve much of its Roman and Moorish heritage. There are still remnants mainly on private land, in the suburbs of La Alquería, (once a town in its own right Roman time). A list of archaeological sites has been drawn up by the town council called the Carta Arqueológical.
Alhaurín de la Torre has recently evolved due to its close proximity to Málaga into a commuter and residential town with more than 20,000 inhabitants. At the present rate of growth, the smaller of the two towns will soon be Alhaurín el Grande.
The biggest attraction is the garden of El Retiro founded by Fray Alonso de Santo Tomás the Bishop of Málaga in the 17th century as his retirement home. The gardens display an impressive variety of plants, wildlife with recreated natural habitats and an impressively restored manor house.
Golf in Alhaurín is popular. Lauro Golf Club, opened in May 1999 and was the last project of the renowned Italian golf course designer, Folco Nardi. It adjoins the protected forest of the Sierra de Mijas. Many of the holes, each bearing the name of a bullfighter, are cut between lines of olive trees and to add to the difficulty, there are several carefully placed water hazards. The clubhouse is an old grange or Cortijo built around a shaded courtyard and has an open-air restaurant. Lauro Golf is about 20 minutes from Málaga airport and Torremolinos on the C344 road, signposted to Coín.