Recinto Ferial, Deportivo y de Ocio — Attraction in Estepona

It's great, it's fun, and it's free!

Well, the actual fairs in May (San Isidro) and July (Estepona Big Feria) are not free, but the use of the sports grounds is free.

This used to be where the Wednesday Market took place in the long-distant past, but now is a great place for outdoor sport and exercise. Bring your own team and your own equipment, it is not organised sporting activities but individual or groups.

Loads of sporting opportunities, and all free to use, until late at night (floodlights), although you may well frizzle in the mid-day sun in the summer months. Better head off to an indoor Sports Centre at that time of day!

You reach it by walking for 15 minutes up the main artery Avenida Juan Carlos 1, the one that leaves the seafront promenade by the fountain with the horses.

You walk up this street (hardly any parking at the Recinto ferial - the big downside) and then before you get to the big roundabout with the fountains by the BP garage you suddenly see it in the distance: Twin Towers.

They are a sort of pastiche of the Church tower in the town centre, with the painted brickwork and pointed roof with green and white striped tiling. This is the "Caseta Municipal" - the centrepoint of the Feria.

As you get nearer this drops out of sight, but soon you come to the entrance on the right, walk up the slope (mind the cyclists on the bike track!) and come to a reflecting pool with portraits of great thinkers around it.

Who are they? Well you may ask!

Federico Garcia Lorca, a poet from Granada. Maria Zambrano, a philosopher born in Vélez-Málaga and after whom the main Malaga railway station is named. Antonio Machado (my favourite!) a poet born in Seville. All fairly local, all fairly recent, so far so good. Saint Teresa of Jesus, a Carmelite nun born several hundred years and several hundred miles from here. Miguel Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, also born far from here in time and space.

Not quite sure how they justified their choices there!

But at this point you should stop and stare.

Stare straight ahead and see the Caseta Municipal. Turn around with your eyes towards the ground, and see the cleverly designed different coloured flooring for the different activities. Then just turn round and round (careful - don't get giddy) and see the wide range of sporting and leisure activities available.

You have to provide your own kit - balls, racquets, whatever - but it's all available for free.

What is there?

I may have missed some, but this is what I could see:

Chess, 7-a-side football, mini-football, running tracks, bike tracks, bowls, basketball, mini basketball, ping-pong, roller skating, tennis, children's tennis, volleyball, handball . . . what have I missed?

During the fairs - ferias - of course, it is closed to sports and open to fun.

Feria time is an amazing sight with the illuminations and happy Esteponeros whirling and dancing nearly all night long. No wonder they have to close the schools!

And 7 years ago, in the June 2014 Feria they went for the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people dancing "Sevillanas" - what the rest of the world calls Flamenco dancing. They were aiming to beat Cordoba's record of 780 couples. They achieved it by a large margin - more than...

Amazing and beautiful place, big center with lots of sports arenas and pista de carretas , football, handball, track field , restaurants, restrooms, very clean, very safe and is the center of the major events in the city of Estepona, ferias and celebrations , music and much more. Come in and take a look, if you can visit Férias Mayores on the first week of July , you will be in awa. Remember come in around 11 pm, the customers here in españa, they start very late to let the sun go down and the cool down of air....

Great place to play sports with friends or as a family. Possibility to play football, basketball, volleyball, but also tennis and paddle. There is a small area for skaters one table tennis. If all else fails, you could...