The municipality of Mijas, in the midst of the Western Costa del Sol, expands from the Sierra bearing the same name to the mountainous coast line up to the sea through a changing landscape of low ridges, hills and undulations. The mountain offers an abrupt panorama partly softened by the pine woods beautifying the area and enhancing Mijas appearing among them high on a white vantage point, watching the sea like a Lady of the mountain. At the foot of the Sierra the important change produced by the tourist activity is contrasting with the low ridges and hills landscape, traditional images of this area offered to the traveller. Mijas was inhabited by the Tartesian or Turdetanos and called Tamisa. They expanded up to 1he bank of the Guadalquivir river and through the southern part of the Iberian Province. Then came the Celts and the Phoenicians.

During the Roman times, Mijas (Tamisa) formed quite a prosperous nucleus due to the fact that part of the Via Augusta connecting Cadiz to Malaga was built through Mijas to transport to Rorne the tributes of marble, ores, fruits and above all the delicious honey one can always savour. Abdalaziz, son of Muza, conquered Mijas at an early date when he was governor of Sevilla between 714 and 716 entering into a pact with the Spanish townships. During the rebellion of the Muladi Ornar Ben Hafsun (end of IX c. and beginning of X c.) Mijas narned Mixa during the Arab era successively belonged to the emirate of the rebel and his followers calling it the "Mijas Kingdom". He was crowned in 856 as King Sarmuel I in the main square of the mountain town. He immediately reconstructed the fortifications and in 883 he completed the big castle of Peña named like that for the majestic rocky summit on which Mijas lays.

Conquered again after the Christian troops took Malaga (1487), "Jane the Crazy" gave it the title of Villa. Her son Charles I of Spain and V of Germany gave it the title of Muy Leal (very faithful) for having remained faithful to the emperor during the rebellion of the people. In the field of handicraft, embossed silver, grass and osier works still exist.

From the perspective of gastronomy, beside the many existing international restaurants we can highlight local dishes such as the salmonejo, maimones, cachorreñas, gazpachuelo and typical sweets such as the buñuelos and the hornazos, all inherited from the Arab era.

The Climate and the landscapes of Mijas offer us countless sporting activities; paragliding, delta gliding, trekking and mountain sports in general, golf in its numerous courses and horse races in the recently inaugurated Hipodromo Costa del Sol. The beach is also an ideal place to practice all sorts of sports. Mijas boasts 12 kilometres of coast line with more that 150 urbanisations distributed within the 147 km2 encompassing the municipality. La Cala de Mijas is located in the centre of the Mijas coast line. This urban centre keeps the charm of a fishermen's village despite the urban development which took place during the last decades. In La Cala is located one of the formerly mentioned watch towers named Torreon de la Cala, built in 1540. Now-a-days it houses the Tourist Office of La cala as well as an interpretation centre where the operation of these watch towers is shown.

Mijas has successfully achieved a tourist development thanks to its beaches as well as the location of its old town having maintained its typical character despite the fact it is 8 km away from the coast. There are various interesting monuments to visit such as the Bull Ring with its special oval shape.

The village has, in addition, two churches with a Mudejar style: the parish church constructed upon the ruins of the former mosque and castle between 1541-65 and the Ermita de San Sebastian built at the end of the XVII c. The interesting Santuario (sanctuary) de la Virgen de la Peña, patron of the town should also be visited. It was dug into the rock in 1682. Much higher is la Ermita del Calvario which can be seen from any point of the town. Various watch towers can also be seen all along the Mijas coast constructed in Hispania (Spain) by the Phoenicians or the inhabitants of Cartage to watch the coastline, though it was the Arabs who achieved a modern and perfect watch organisation. Several museums can be visited such as Casa Museum located in the former town hall displaying the past through ancient working tools, oil milis, a wine cellar, etc. The Miniature Museum ..Carromato de Max" is an interesting collection of unique miniatures and the Bull Fighting Museum, a private collection of a local bull fighter. The local festivities take place during the first fortnight of September an homage to the Patron, la Virgen de la Peña. On 17 January

This held the feast of San Anton with a pilgrimage up to the hermitage of the Saint with carriages and carts containing food. The International Day of the Peoples should also be highlighted, a multi-cultural feast held on the second fortnight of May.