Laurence Dollimore
A POPULAR beach resort in Granada is ramping up its property and hotel expansion plans.
Motril, on the Costa Tropical, has announced it is building just shy of 1,500 homes to keep up with housing demands.
It comes after the City Council revealed it had approved the construction four new hotels amid a surge in tourists.
The town has long been a favourite among British expats and Spanish second homeowners (including disgraced ex-football boss Luis Rubiales).
It is one of the few remaining areas where you still get a free tapa with each beer you order.
Of the 1,395 homes being built, some 407 will be VPO, meaning they are set aside for lower income families.
Mayor of Motril, Luisa Garcia Chamorro, underlined the importance of the project for the economic and social development of the city.
She said: “With these new homes, we are not only responding to residential demand, but we are creating accessible homes for our families, our young people and for those who need it most.”
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025.
Located south of the Sierra Nevada mountains on Granada’s Mediterranean coast, Motril lies within the Costa Tropical, a popular tourist zone known for its year-round sun and subtropical microclimate.
The town’s history can be traced back millenia and its origins are cloudy, but by the early Middle Ages, Motril had become an important defensive port on the southern edge of the Al-Andalus empires of Muslim Spain.
The Arabs brought sugarcane cultivation, which quickly became the town’s primary agricultural export and remains so to this day, evident in the town’s drink of choice: ron pálido, or pale rum.
Visitors interested in this history can find it on display in the Motril Pre-industrial Sugarcane Museum, where they can admire the ancient machinery and contemplate sugar cultivation as a way of life, before seeing it put to practice with a free tour of the local Ron Montero bodega.
Due to its subtropical climate, Motril’s stunning beaches can be enjoyed almost all year-round, but guests looking for a unique experience should plan their visit around one of the town’s summer festivals.
June 24 is La Noche de San Juan, a night of beach bonfires to welcome the start of the summer.
Locals spend the night on the beach, and throw three wishes for the year into the flames.
In the morning, women wash their faces with seawater and cover them in rose petals.
And around July 16, locals celebrate a week of festivities dedicated to La Virgen del Carmen, the patron saint of fishermen and sailors.
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To thank her for keeping them safe at sea all year, seafaring men and women gather in the coastal Varadero neighbourhood and fill the streets with music and celebrations, culminating in a massive procession in the saint’s honour on the 16th, passing from the fisherman’s quarter along the coast of Motril.
