Motril: The Working Heart of the Costa Tropical (Sugar, Rum, Fruit, and the Port to Africa)

Sep 25

5 min read

Updated: Oct 2

Motril is not a resort, and that is exactly why we like it. It is the working heart of the Costa Tropical, Granada's coast, a real Spanish city rather than a place built for tourists. It has the region's main fishing port, a thousand-year sugarcane heritage that turned into rum, subtropical fruit farms found almost nowhere else in Europe, and ferries that run to Africa. It is not on the tourist trail, and that is the whole appeal.

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The beaches: genuinely accessible

Motril's beaches, Playa Granada and Playa Poniente, are some of the most accessible we have found on this coast. There are ramps running out over the sand toward the water (they may not reach all the way to the sea itself, but they get you close), new shaded areas, walking trails, shaded parking right by the beach, playgrounds, and small palm groves with grass and shade to sit in. For families, for grandparents, for anyone who does not want to trudge across hot open sand, this is a beach that has clearly been thought through.

The markets, and getting fresh food

Last Wednesday we set out to buy fresh fish straight off the boats, so we called down to the lonja, the fish auction at the port. They told us they only sell to the public in the afternoons; mornings are for the businesses. If you want fish fresh that same day in the morning, they said, go to the Mercado Municipal. So we did.

On the way we stumbled onto a humble little street market just up from the Mercado Municipal, above the Indigo parking garage, with excellent fruit prices. We bought a "mango watermelon" there that was one of the best watermelons I have ever eaten.

At the Mercado Municipal itself, there was a good variety of fresh fish and seafood, though prices were higher than we expected. By American standards it is probably still a good deal, but it was noticeably more than we pay at our home fish market back in the Comunidad Valenciana, where, to be fair, we also know which days to go for the best prices. On the stall owner's recommendation we paid €19 for a kilo of a local white fish whose name we cannot remember. It was good, not fantastic.

A quick parking note

We drove around almost long enough to give up before we found the Indigo parking garage. Worth knowing about parking garages in Spain: they are almost always very reasonably priced. Not always, but usually. We were in town for about an hour between the two markets, and the garage cost us one euro.

Motril's port does triple duty. It is the main fishing port of Granada province, the export gateway for all that subtropical fruit, and one of Spain's ferry links to Morocco. Motril has no train — it is connected by bus to Málaga, Almuñécar, Nerja, and Granada city, but to really explore the Costa Tropical you will want a car.

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Here is what makes Motril genuinely unusual. The Moors brought sugarcane to this coast more than a thousand years ago, and Motril grew into the sugar capital of Europe, once nicknamed "Little Cuba." Cane fields covered the fertile Vega right up until the last commercial harvest in 2006, when the final sugar factory in Europe, over in nearby Salobreña, shut down. You can still spot the old refinery chimneys standing over the town, quiet monuments to what this place used to be. (A fun aside: Columbus is said to have carried sugarcane from Spain to the New World, so the rum of the Caribbean traces a line back to this very coast.)

For more of this stretch of coast, our full Costa Tropical guide covers the whole coastline. And for everything inland, from the Alhambra to the Alpujarras, see the Granada province guide. Nearby on the coast: Salobreña, the white village on the clifftop that gave us some magic.

Europe's tropical fruit basket

That same sugarcane climate is why Motril grows fruit that most of Spain simply cannot. The Costa Tropical sits in a rare subtropical microclimate, sheltered by the Sierra Nevada and Sierra de Lújar, with over 300 days of sun a year and one of the warmest winters in Europe, essentially frost-free. When sugar declined, farmers turned to tropical fruit, and today this is Europe's main producer of chirimoya (custard apple), avocado, and mango, alongside loquat, papaya, guava, and newer exotics like lychee and dragon fruit. The chirimoya trees you see everywhere have their prized "Fino de Jete" variety and even their own protected designation. It explains that little street market's incredible fruit, and that unforgettable watermelon.

The port, and getting there

Motril's port does triple duty. It is the main fishing port of Granada province, it is the export gateway for all that subtropical fruit, and it is one of Spain's ferry links to Morocco. That large ferry we watched pull out from the beach was almost certainly bound for Nador or one of the other Moroccan ports; Motril connects across to Nador, Melilla, Tangier, and Al Hoceima.

One thing to plan for: Motril has no train. It is connected by bus to Málaga, Almuñécar, Nerja, and Granada city, but to really explore the Costa Tropical you will want a car.

Accessibility notes

Playa Granada and Playa Poniente: among the most accessible beaches on this coast, with ramps over the sand, shaded areas and parking, trails, playgrounds, and grassy palm groves. The ramps may not reach the water's edge, but they get you close.
Parking: the city center is tight for street parking, but the garages (like the Indigo garage near the markets) are cheap and easy, around a euro an hour.
Markets: the Mercado Municipal is the place for same-day fresh fish; the lonja only sells to the public in the afternoons.
Getting around: no train, bus connections only, so a car is the practical choice.

If you love this stretch of coast, read our full Costa Tropical guide, and for everything inland, from the Alhambra to the Alpujarras, see Granada province.

Where to Stay in Motril

Motril itself is a working town — most visitors base in the port area or near the Playa de Poniente for the best beach access. For something quieter, the area toward Torrenueva just east has a few smaller options and less traffic. Browse hotels near Motril →