Verano Azul: Nerja and the Costa del Sol

Verano Azul opens with Julia, a young widowed painter, arriving in a seaside town and meeting the children who become the gang. The first scene shot for the series was filmed on Burriana beach on 21 August 1979. Burriana is the largest urban beach in Nerja, about 800 metres long, and the town still names it as one of the series' settings. The sand is about 40 metres wide, and the beach is the natural first stop on a Verano Azul walk.

Visitor guidance: Burriana is the large urban beach at the southeast of Nerja.

The Balcón de Europa is the gang's meeting place and appears in many episodes, with its cannons and railing above the sea. The viewpoint stands in the centre of Nerja, on the cliff between the Salón and Calahonda beaches, where a castle was built at the start of the 16th century. The series has drawn visitors to the Balcón and Burriana. Stand at the railing and look down on Calahonda, the next stop on the route.

Visitor guidance: The Balcón is in the centre of Nerja.

Calahonda is the small beach directly below the Balcón, reached through the 'boquete de Calahonda', a stairway cut beside the viewpoint. It featured in numerous episodes. On its promenade stands a bronze Chanquete, installed on 24 May 2019 and made by Francisco Martín. The plaque reads: 'En homenaje a Chanquete, el viejo pescador de aquel Verano Azul...'. Fishermen's boats and a small white hut with blue doors still sit on the sand, one of Nerja's most photographed corners.

Visitor guidance: The beach is reached through the stairway beside the Balcón de Europa.

Cala Chica is the invented name the series gives to La Caleta de Maro, the cove where the gang spends much of its summer. A bottle with a message washes up here while the children play; later Bea is carried out by the current on her lilo; and Pancho runs here to tell the gang that Chanquete has died. The cove is listed among the beaches of Maro and remains the series' most recognisable shore. Three key scenes in one small bay.

Visitor guidance: The cove lies below Maro, east of Nerja.

The children go on an excursion to the Cueva del Gato Verde, and Pancho gets trapped inside while exploring. Javi enters on the rope from Piraña's kite to rescue him. The cave is fictional: its interiors were filmed in the Cueva de Nerja, and the exteriors at a cave on the Río de la Miel. The Cueva de Nerja lies in Maro, was discovered on 12 January 1959 and opened to visitors in 1960. The rescue is one of the gang's bravest moments.

Location precision: The fictional cave was assembled from exteriors at the Río de la Miel and interiors in the Cueva de Nerja; the pin marks the show cave.

Visitor guidance: The Cueva de Nerja is at Maro, a hamlet of Nerja.

In episode 16 a developer, Promovisa, wants to build flats on Chanquete's vegetable plot and around La Dorada. Julia and the children face the excavators, shouting 'No nos moverán', and save the boat. La Dorada was not a real boat but a boat-shaped set built at the Prado del Rey workshops. In 2001 Nerja opened the Parque Verano Azul and placed a replica there, with monoliths carrying the episode titles and full-size figures of the gang. The park is free and open at any hour.

Visitor guidance: The park is on Calle Antonio Ferrandis 'Chanquete' in Nerja and is free to enter.

The scene with Buzo, Chanquete's old friend, was filmed at the port of Motril. In the series it is Buzo who tells Julia that Chanquete is ill, sending her to persuade him to enter hospital. The production found the port hard to record: keeping such an open, working harbour quiet for direct sound was almost impossible. Motril's port is a commercial, fishing and leisure harbour in Granada province, begun in 1908 to export sugar, salt and iron.

Visitor guidance: The port is in Motril, on the Granada coast.

The clinic where Chanquete is hospitalised is the Hospital de San Juan de Dios in Vélez-Málaga, built in 1680 and later used as an old people's residence. The series' director, Antonio Mercero, appears as Chanquete's doctor. Chanquete leaves hospital apparently recovered but dies the next day, and the town goes into mourning. The building is a rare interior in a series shot almost entirely on location, with much of the filming outdoors and direct sound.

Visitor guidance: The old hospital stands in Vélez-Málaga.

Chanquete's funeral was filmed in a cemetery that never existed. The production built the graves at the Peñón del Santo in Almuñécar, a headland normally used as a park and viewpoint; the only real grave was the one dug for the shoot. The headstones carried the names of crew members. During the burial the series plays 'Algo se muere en el alma'. The site is a viewpoint, not a cemetery, so visitors find a park above the sea rather than Chanquete's grave.

Visitor guidance: The Peñón del Santo is a park and viewpoint in Almuñécar.