Costa del Sol Weather in March

Mild rather than warm, and a little milder each week. Afternoons average about 18°C and nights about 11°C. On a good day that means coffee outside in the sun by eleven, lunch on a sheltered terrace in shirtsleeves and a jacket by the time the streetlights come on. The midday sun is noticeably stronger than in February, so a south-facing spot out of the breeze feels far warmer than the average suggests, while a grey, breezy day feels like what it is: the last of winter.

March is still a showery month. An average March brings rain on about 8 days with at least 1 mm, much the same count as December (8), but the monthly total is lower, around 85 mm against 123 mm, so a typical wet day here brings less rain than a midwinter one. Most days stay dry, and sunshine climbs to about 7 hours a day, up from 6 in February. Before you fly, the seven-day forecast on our live weather page will tell you more than any average.

People often ask whether it is hot by the end of March. Not usually. The last week tends to run a touch warmer than the first, and once the clocks go forward on 28 March the light lasts until about 20:40, which makes Easter feel like spring. Heat in March is the exception, though: come for walking, sightseeing and long lunches, and count any lying-on-the-beach weather as a bonus.

Only if you enjoy cold water. The sea off Sabinillas sits near its lowest point of the year in March. The satellite record for the water off this beach (NASA JPL MUR, 2003–2025) averages 15.0°C for the month, barely above February's 14.8°C and below January's 15.4°C. The sea runs weeks behind the air, so it bottoms out in late winter just as the afternoons begin to warm.

Year to year, the March average has ranged from 14.1°C in 2013 to 15.7°C in 2025, so a mild spring does not rescue it. Driving along the coast will not find warmer water either: in March the sea off Málaga is the same temperature as it is here. Winter sea swimmers and anyone after a bracing two-minute plunge will be happy. For most families, March is a month for paddling, poking around the rocks at either end of the beach and digging in the sand.

March also has the fewest calm days of any month in our wave record. Over four years of data for the water just off the beach, only about 23% of March days stayed under half a metre, and about 35% reached a metre or more. On a flat, sunny morning the water looks inviting; on the lively days, enjoy it from the paseo, and whatever the day, check the beach flag before anyone goes in.

In 2027 three things fall in the last week and a half of March. Semana Santa runs from Palm Sunday, 21 March, to Easter Sunday, 28 March. Maundy Thursday (25 March) and Good Friday (26 March) are public holidays across Andalucía, so banks and offices close, though shops in Manilva may still open because the town's tourist-area trading exemption covers Holy Week. Easter Monday, a bank holiday at home, is an ordinary working day here. Most English schools break up on Thursday 25 March and return on Monday 12 April, but academies and some councils set their own dates, so check your school's calendar.

Easter Sunday is also the day the clocks go forward, in Spain and the UK alike, so the one-hour time difference stays the same. In Sabinillas, sunset jumps from about 19:38 on Saturday 27 March to about 20:39 on the Sunday, and sunrise slips back past eight o'clock. Across the month, daylight grows from 11.4 to 12.5 hours. London catches up around the equinox, and by 31 March its days are slightly longer than ours, at 12.9 hours, but the evenings are later here: that day the sun sets at 20:41 in Sabinillas against 19:31 in London.

Bring layers rather than a summer wardrobe. By day, jeans or light trousers with a T-shirt and a jumper you can peel off; for the evening, a proper jacket. Pack a waterproof for the showery days and shoes that grip for the hills and the Caminito boardwalk, whose boards can be damp, so leave the flip-flops behind. If you plan to watch a procession, modest clothes rather than beachwear are expected, and you will be standing for hours on cobbles, so comfortable shoes and an extra layer for the late-night processions matter more than anything smart. Sun cream earns its place too: on a clear day the March sun burns faster than the temperature suggests.

February has the coldest sea of the year, about 14.8°C, with afternoons near 17°C, rain on around 7 days and shorter evenings. March keeps much the same water but adds light and sunshine and, in 2027, Holy Week. April is the clearer step towards summer: afternoons near 20°C, rain on about 6 days, roughly 8 hours of sun a day and a sea creeping up to 16°C. Choose March for the bird migration, quieter golf and an early Easter at the start of the walking season; choose April for warmer, drier sightseeing days. Neither is a swimming month for most people.