Almuñécar, Spain - October 2025

Written by Lily and Amber (Year 10)

A trip centred around the Spanish language and its history took place towards the start of October. It included various Yr 10 and 11 students, who went to Málaga along with teachers. With a tight schedule and the sunny sky, the trip was amazing, read more if you want to know why. 

Day 1 :

To begin our journey, we gathered at Bassaleg School at 2:30 am. TWO IN THE MORNING!! After waving our parents goodbye, we departed on our morning of travels with 52 of us, trying to stay awake for Bristol airport up ahead. Upon arrival, we received our suitcases, our passports and faced the worst obstacle: security. Luckily, we got through alive. Then, the next step approached, take off. Whilst others were sleeping at 6am we took off for Málaga.

We could tell we were in Spain as soon as the hot air hit us, it being the hottest day of our trip. We then got off the plane and onto a bus, where we were met by two language teachers who took us to our hotel, Hotel Toboso.  After a bit of time to unpack, we headed for a subtropical fruit farm where the scenery was incredible. We even got to try some fresh subtropical fruit, like dragon fruit and papaya. ¡Qué delicioso! Everyone took lots of photos.

Then we went back to the hotel and had a rest. We were served delicious food and went to bed, eager for what adventures awaited the following day.

Day 2:

Waking up with an early start to the day, energised by breakfast, we went on a 2 hour walking tour of the historically beautiful town, Almuñécar. The grand town square, scenic ocean side and the eye-watering beaches accumulated to be a jaw-dropping sight. Following this, we visited one of Almuñécar’s 6 beaches, and participated in team activities and games, such as dodge ball, egg and spoon and conga using balloons. 

After lunch, we began our treasure hunt around the town which consisted of us using clues, we asked locals in Spanish to find where we needed to go next, these could be directions, names of fruit or more. Eventually, we took part in a two hour lesson, entirely in Spanish. They had us introduce ourselves, taught us new words and more. Once this was done, we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Day 3:

With another early rise, we once again ate breakfast and set off to San Miguel Castle, where we toured in small groups, admiring its beauty and learning about its and Almuñécar’s history. This was then followed by a view of the Roman aqueduct, leading to another glance into Spanish history.

Soon after, we once again walked to the Spanish school to learn about the Spanish food and recipes for them. As a reward, we earned 2 hours of free time around the town centre to shop, play on the beach, try local cuisine or do what our hearts desired. 

After the hours passed, we returned to Hotel Toboso , where we were instructed to pack our luggage for the upcoming day.

Day 4:

We woke up ahead of time, greeted with a morning Spanish class, where we worked on our conversation skills by recording a video of us explaining the reasons we want to return to Almuñécar. After this we went straight onto the bus and travelled back to Málaga airport, arriving with time for another one of our favourite stages of the journey yet again: security. Day 4, going home everyone was exhausted, the airport was quick and easy and we got through to another key stage, duty free. With 20 minutes of free time, some shopped, some ate, then we got onto the plane. 

3 and a half hours later, we met the gloomy Welsh weather and arrived back at Bristol airport after a smooth flight. Once out of duty free again, we hopped onto another bus and an hour later we got back, back to Bassaleg school around 6pm. Following this, we all waited for our parents, said thanks to the teachers involved, and departed to go back home. But what a trip!

From this trip, we believe our skills in Spanish speaking not only have grown but also flourished. With talking to locals, active translation and even local classes - all of this added to us being more confident. Not just in speaking but even translation and understanding. Maybe even writing due to local signs and menus we read. This trip helped us a lot, and we are grateful that we went. But more so, we want to say thank you to all teachers involved for this wonderful experience, all the new and happy memories we were given.