Enjoy lazy summer days on a Costa del Sol beach with your head in a book

Stephen King once said, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” This is why they make the ideal b each accessory. So much so that beach libraries or ‘biblioplayas’ are cropping up in a number of coastal towns around Spain.

What do you do if you finish one book but don’t have another? And what do you do with the book you’ve just finished? Well, if you are in Torre del Mar, Caleta de Vélez or on Nerja’s Burriana beach, you can simply take it along to the biblioplaya or one of the ‘bookcrossing’ exchange points and swap it for your next summer read.

With a constant turnover of people from Spain, UK, Germany, Holland and beyond, the chances are that you’ll find something to read in your own language.

The book crossing points along the beaches of both Torre del Mar and neighbouring Caleta de Vélez are always full of books, so you might grab yourself a classic or a a curious sounding title that you’ve never heard of before. Torre del Mar’s biblioplaya saw an astonishing 15,410 users in 2023.

As well as the numerous book exchange posts, which have information in Spanish, English and German, there’s also a ‘biblioplaya’ with tables, chairs and shade as well as a programme of reading activities and storytelling, mainly aimed at children.

In Nerja the biblioplaya is located on Burriana beach and was first started by the Nerja Cultural Action Association almost 20 years ago.

Visitors to the beach library can borrow books in a wide variety of languages for free and the space also has games such as table tennis and chess, as well as providing tourist information. It is open every day throughout July and August from 11am to 8pm.

As Burriana beach attracts an international crowd all year round, including Brits, Americans, Germans, Scandinavians, Dutch and many more, there’s bound to be something in your language that catches your eye.

J. K. Rowling once said, “Wherever I am, if I’ve got a book with me, I have a place I can go and be happy.” If you have a good book and find yourself on a beach on the Costa del Sol, surely it doesn’t get better than that.

So if you’re in the Axarquía this summer, dig out the books that you have already read and take them down to a ‘biblioplaya’ for a guaranteed supply of summer reading matter.