My wife and I have just returned from a two-month stay at Mario's apartment, where we had a fantastic time. The first thing to say is that Mario is an absolutely outstanding host. He provided tips and advice before and during our stay and checked more than once if we were getting on OK. His finest hour, however, was when the water heater broke down and he arranged its replacement incredibly quickly. It could have been a major problem, but it ended up being just a minor inconvenience. Mario's flat was lovely and simply perfect for our needs. The kitchen was well-equipped, the sitting room was comfortable and sitting out on the balcony was just great... even in February and March! We really enjoyed living in El Palo. The apartment is 10 minutes' walk from the beach and, as others have pointed out, there are two supermarkets close by and a wide range of shops. Public transport is fantastic, with buses to and from Malaga all through the day and night for a tiny price (load a tarjeta transbordo with 10 journeys for 8.70 euros). We went to Malaga for two main reasons: a spot of tourism and to boost our Spanish language skills with some serious immersion. Here are some tips for each of these... For tourism, the places we enjoyed visiting most were Ronda and Antequera (the latter was a big surprise because it has so much to offer, yet is off the tourism trail). We also enjoyed hiring bikes and riding along the coast to Rincon. As for learning Spanish, we did a one-week course at Clic Malaga, but also spent the whole of our stay attending intercambios (language exchange groups where time is divided between speaking Spanish and English). An organisation called Pachange is worth googling if this interests you. This was a truly memorable stay and I'm sure future visitors to Mario's apartment will not be disappointed.