Caleta de Velez

Caleta de Velez Promenade
Caleta de Velez Promenade
La Caleta de Velez is the mid-coastal point of the Axarquia. It is a pretty fishing town only 30 kilometres from Malaga with superb beaches, an impressive marina, a large and colourful Saturday morning street market and the 18-hole Baviera golf course.

Caleta means bay in Spanish and the name of this town literally means The Bay of Velez-Malaga. Velez-Malaga, the historic capital of the area with a traditional town centre, theatre, central hospital and water park plus the large El Ingenio shopping mall, is just a kilometre away. Caleta is unique in having a village atmosphere with all amenities on hand plus it is a short stroll along the attractive promenade, lined with palm trees and nesting green parrots, to the lively adjacent resort of Torre del Mar, and a two minute drive to the Mediterranean Motorway which connects east to west and north to south.

Caleta de Velez Facts
Municipality: Velez-Malaga
Altitude: 15 m
Distance to Malaga: 30 km
Distance to coast: 0 km

The vibrant fish market and harbour are attractive and important features of Caleta, which is the primary fishing harbour and market of the Malaga Province. A total of 397 species of fish and 102 species of seafood make up the sea life eaten in this part of the world, although most of these species are concentrated in about ten different types of fish. Sardines, anchovies, squid, octopus, red bream and mackerel are some of these fish and the Alborán Sea is full of them.

The Alborán Sea is the passage of water between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean which renovates itself every hundred years or so. It brings a rich sea life to the bay of Caleta which has the depths needed to support the spiral of sea life that produces the type of fish we like to eat in large quantities. The area is rich in plankton, due to the sun that shines year round, and this is what the fish feed and reproduce on. The different temperatures of the different waters that flow into the Alborán Sea from both sides make for a rich marine flora in the region, giving the fish that are caught here a special flavour that is missing from the same fish caught in other parts of the world.