AYUNTAMIENTO DE BENALMÁDENA, Benalmádena, Ghid vizitatori și ce de văzut în apropiere

The Ayuntamiento de Benalmádena is the town hall of Benalmádena, on Avenida Juan Luis Peralta in the old pueblo, the whitewashed hill village above the coast. It is the working centre of local government and a handy starting point for the pueblo's best-known sights, including the Jardines del Muro and the Museo de Arte Precolombino Felipe Orlando.

The story behind it

The town hall is a working civic building, so most of what makes this corner worth a stop lies in the streets around it. Benalmádena pueblo grew up as a fortified Moorish settlement, and the Jardines del Muro take their name from its old defensive walls. Sections of those walls still form part of the garden boundary. Walls like these protected a medieval Andalusian town from raids and marked the edge between the settlement and the countryside beyond.

A short walk away, the Museo de Arte Precolombino Felipe Orlando holds a well-known collection of art from ancient civilisations of Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua, Colombia and Ecuador. It exists thanks to Felipe Orlando García-Murciano, a Mexican painter, poet, writer and anthropologist who made Benalmádena his adopted home. He built up the collection over many years and donated it to the town. Pre-Columbian simply means made before Columbus's voyage of 1492, and the cultures represented developed their own art, astronomy, agriculture and government independently of Europe and Asia.

What to look for

• Look for the surviving stretches of old wall at the edge of the Jardines del Muro, which show how the medieval town was bounded.
• Notice the town hall itself and how it sits on the main avenue, the practical heart of a village that otherwise runs on narrow lanes.
• Inside the museum, look for the range of origins in the collection, with pieces from Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua, Colombia and Ecuador side by side.
• Where the hill falls away at the edge of the pueblo, look for views over the rooftops toward the coast.

Tips for your visit

• Allow about 20 to 30 minutes for the town hall and the gardens, and more if you want to see the museum properly.
• The town hall is an office for local business, so enjoy it from outside unless you have an errand there, and check current opening hours for anything you want to enter.
• Go in the morning or late afternoon, when the pueblo is cooler and the light is softer on the white walls.
• Wear comfortable shoes, as the old streets slope, and check current admission details for the museum before you go.

See it on a quest

The town hall is one stop on Streets of Benalmádena: Discover the “Pueblo” with its famous Niña, a self-guided walk through the pueblo. You reach each place on foot as part of a longer route, the app tells you about it as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle based on what is in front of you. It is a pleasant way to take in the streets around the town hall without a guide or a group. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.