Mid-August, and the coast is running at full tilt. Half the country is on holiday, the beaches are full, and the calendar is fuller still: ferias, flamenco, open-air concerts and summer cinema, most of it free and most of it after dark. This is the season firing on all cylinders, and the back end of it, so I'll keep the preamble short and let the week speak for itself.

If you've had your fill of the ferias in Estepona, Manilva and Casares, there's one more waiting in the wings: Cancelada throws its own this weekend. More on that in a moment.

Something to notice next time you're in town: there's more written on the old town's walls than street names, if you know where to look. Why, further down.

Here's your week ahead.

First, the feria. If you thought that season was done, Cancelada hasn't finished with you. From Thursday 20 to Sunday 23 August, the Estepona district throws four days and nights of free feria: more than twenty activities, a day fair, and a music line-up that builds as the weekend goes on, topped on Sunday by No Me Pises Que Llevo Chanclas, the veteran kings of Andalusian agropop, headlining an 80s night.

Around the stage there's a Feria de Día, a children's programme with a 50-metre water slide, a water-and-foam party, free paella, and a Domingo Rociero to close: a Rocío-style Mass, procession and the third "Andalusian Attire" competition. Everything is free. The full night-by-night line-up and timings are on the day-by-day programme.

Then, up the mountain, the flamenco. On Friday 21 and Saturday 22, the hill village of Casares (the whitewashed one up the mountain, not Casares Costa on the coast) hosts the Rosa Fina Festival de Flamenco y Músicas Andaluzas: two evenings of cante, toque and baile alongside Andalusian roots music and fusion, set in one of the most striking villages on this stretch of coast.

The bill is led by Rafaela Carrasco and Estepona's own guitarist Daniel Casares, with more names across the two nights. Acts run from around 21:00 well past midnight. It's free, and the bar takings go to a Gambian school project through the Mol Beh Taa association.

A small village, a serious programme and no ticket: the move is to head up early and make an evening of it. This is about as close to unvarnished Andalusian flamenco as the week gets, and it's a short drive away.

The flamenco doesn't stop up there, either: there's more down on the coast this week, gathered in its own block below.

A properly loaded week, and that's before the flamenco, which has a block of its own below. What's left still covers a lot of ground: a four-day feria, a couple of family nights, some music old and new, a summer film and a village keeping its saint. Something for most moods, most nights. In and around Estepona and Manilva. Free unless noted.

Thu 20 to Sun 23 · Feria de Cancelada, 📍Cancelada. Four days and nights of free feria in the Estepona district: music every night, a day fair, food and a full family programme. The rundown is up in the Main Event.

Thu 20, 21:30 · Tributo Musical "Alicia en el País de las Maravillas", 📍Parque El Ángel. A family musical-theatre take on Lewis Carroll's tale, part of the council's summer programme and pitched at all ages, with Alice chasing her white rabbit through a cast of impossible characters. An easy early-evening one for kids and grandkids.

Thu 20, from 19:30 · 60's Mania Karaoke & Disco, 📍The Café, American Bistro, Sabinillas. 20€. A 60s-themed karaoke-and-disco night in aid of ACE Dog Charity, with host Keith on the mic, a raffle and a best-dressed prize. The ticket includes a spread of tapas. Fancy dress optional, singing along not.

Fri 21, 18:00 · Laura Jiménez presents "Cenizas", 📍Casa de las Tejerinas. The local poet, twenty-six and Estepona-born, presents her second collection, published by Ediciones del Genal: intimate verse on love, loss and putting yourself back together. In the Tejerinas' Sala Alfonso Gil Alfonso.

Fri 21, 21:30 · Los Reyes del Swing, La Insostenible Big Band, 📍Plaza del Ajedrez. A Málaga big band, twenty years and two albums in, running through swing and jazz standards tied to the greats: Ellington, Fitzgerald, Gershwin, Cole Porter. Part of the cultural summer, and by their own account as much fun for their patter as their playing.

Sat 22, from 10:00 · Batalla de Porteros, Goalkeeper Battle, 📍Campo de Fútbol San Fernando. Something different for a Saturday morning: a tournament made up entirely of one-on-one goalkeeper duels, each keeper defending their goal and trying to score against the other. Run by ACD Esteponense across the youth age groups, from under-8s up. Free to watch.

Sat 22, 22:30 & Tue 25 · Verbena de San Luis, 📍Plaza Vicente Espinel. Sabinillas keeps its patron saint over two dates. Saturday opens at 22:30 with a live set from Aguardiente, rumba, pop-rock and popular favourites. Then Tuesday 25 is San Luis day proper: an early-morning musical parade with the Charanga de Cádiz, evening Mass sung by the Manilva music-school choir, a procession through the town, and dancing in Plaza Vicente Espinel from 22:30 with the duo Malacar.

Sun 23, 21:00 · Concierto de Verano, Banda Municipal de Estepona, 📍Plaza del Reloj. The municipal band closes its summer series with "Music and Cinema: A Night in the Wild West", a programme of western scores: The Magnificent Seven, A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and more, most played by the band for the first time. Free, open-air, in one of the prettiest corners of the old town.

Mon 24, 22:00 · Cine de Verano: Voy a pasármelo mejor, 📍Parque Botánico Orquidario. Open-air summer cinema continues at the Orchid Park with the Spanish coming-of-age comedy Voy a pasármelo mejor. Free and aimed at all audiences. Worth noting for non-Spanish speakers: this one is a Spanish film, so it plays in Spanish with no subtitles.

Tue 25, 21:30 · Bailes Noches de Verano, 📍Plaza del Reloj. The free summer dance series stops at the Clock Square this week: Spanish dance and flamenco under Eva Alarcón, plus the Ocean Dance and Acrobatics school under Laura and Sara Perea. A gentle, family-friendly evening.

Rosa Fina up in Casares is the headline (see the Main Event), but the flamenco runs right through the week down on the coast too, from a mother-and-son show in the Orchid Park to two nights of jazz-flamenco at Huber and the regular show at Mi Caseta. Free unless noted

Thu 20 & Fri 21, 21:30 · Mi Caseta Flamenco Show, 📍Mi Caseta. 45€. The regular flamenco show at Mi Caseta, on twice this week as it is every Thursday and Friday: cante, guitar and dance from a professional cast, in a setting styled after the feria. The 45€ ticket covers the show and a welcome drink; dinner is optional and charged on top, a spread of feria dishes like tortilla, jamón ibérico, queso payoyo and gambas. Booking ahead is the safe move.

Sat 22, 20:00 · Flamenco Jazz: Leyanis Valdés, Francis Posé & Jorge Pardo, 📍Huber Art & Food. 25€ (cash). Where flamenco and jazz share a stage, the toque marking the path and the jazz given room to move. Jorge Pardo, flute and sax, is one of the genre's defining figures, a long-time Paco de Lucía and Chick Corea collaborator; here with pianist Leyanis Valdés and bassist Francis Posé. A small room and an early-evening start. Reservations on 608 359 656.

Sat 22, 21:00 · Raíces y Herencia, 📍Parque Botánico Orquidario. A flamenco show built around two generations: Estepona-born bailaora Lourdes Bazán and her son José de Lourdes, experience and youth on the same stage. Free, in the glasshouse setting of the Orchid Park.

Sun 23, 20:00 · Jorge Pardo & Daniel Casares in concert, 📍Huber Art & Food. 25€ (cash). The second Huber night of the weekend, stripped back to just the two of them: Pardo on flute and sax, Estepona's own Daniel Casares on guitar, no band behind. A duo that leaves each player exposed and lets the dialogue between the instruments carry the evening. Reservations on 608 359 656.

Not everything runs to a start time. These are the things already under way that you can drop into when it suits, ordered by what closes first, so the ones near the top will not wait around much longer.

A livelier week down at the bars, with something for every hour and mood: an early Sunday set by the marina, a tropical night on the Sabinillas sand, two late and loud rock nights at Louie Louie, and a barbecue up at Roman Oasis with a singer and a cold drink. Free unless noted.

Fri 21, 23:30 · Tributo Chili Pepes, 📍Louie Louie Rock Bar. from 12€. A full-throttle Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute tearing through the Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Californication and By the Way years, all funk-rock swagger and big riffs. Doors 21:00, on stage 23:30, so it runs late and loud. 12€ in advance plus fees, 15€ on the door.

Sat 22, 22:00 · Ernesto & Friends, 📍Sabor Tropical, Sabinillas. Here the setting does the work: Sabor Tropical is a chiringuito right on the Sabinillas sand, so this is a tropical night with your feet near the water, cocktails in hand and live music over the sound of the waves. Ernesto & Friends play from 22:00, with a special turn from LiV, a silk fan dance performance, woven into the evening. The kind of easy summer night that's worth the short drive down the coast for.

Sat 22, 23:30 · Sound Friction, 📍Louie Louie Rock Bar. A Málaga rock band who plough straight through the good stuff: Foo Fighters, Muse, Arctic Monkeys, Nirvana, Franz Ferdinand, the songs you already know the words to. Loud guitars, a late start and a room built for it. Tickets on the door only.

Sun 23, from 14:00 · Sergio & Diva, 📍Amigos del Puerto. An early one for a change: live music from lunchtime, trumpet and vocals with a Sirtaki flavour, out on the terrace overlooking the marina. A relaxed afternoon of food, drinks and music by the water, and a good option if you'd rather not wait for the late-night sets.

Tue 25, 20:00 · Marcus Myers & BBQ, 📍Roman Oasis, Manilva. 25€. If the name is new to you, Roman Oasis is worth the trip for itself: a riverside spot hidden in the valley below Manilva, with a shaded terrace, cold drinks and even a crazy golf course out back. The same owner has kept it going since 1983, long enough that they reckon it's the oldest restaurant still under its founder anywhere on the coast. This one's a barbecue with Marcus Myers on vocals, and the 25€ puts food and music on the same ticket. Book ahead.

Beyond the dated sets, there's a lot more music threaded through the week: the whole Cancelada feria line-up, the municipal band's western-scored concert, the swing of La Insostenible big band, and the Aguardiente and Malacar sets for San Luis in Sabinillas, all up in This Week, plus the entire flamenco block, from Rosa Fina in Casares to the two Huber nights. Over in Beyond, Starlite runs five nights and Marbella Arena has INNA.

Wander the old town and you'll pass them without always noticing: ceramic tiles set into the walls, each one carrying a poem. There are fifty-three of them, and together they make up the Ruta de las Poesías, an open-air museum you can walk for free, any hour of any day.

What makes it worth slowing down for is the range. Alongside Andalusian and Spanish voices, Antonio Machado twice over, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Rafael Alberti, Antonio Gala, you'll find Shakespeare's As You Like It on Calle Reyes, Victor Hugo round the corner on Calle San Antonio, Rilke's eighth Duino elegy on the street that bears Gloria Fuertes' name, and Szymborska and Góngora scattered through the lanes between. Some are odes to Estepona itself; one, on the Plaza Paco de Lucía, is Daniel Casares' tribute to the great guitarist, the same Casares playing up at Rosa Fina and Huber this week.

The turismo office keeps a map, so you can do the full circuit or just keep an eye out next time you're walking into town. Either way, it turns an ordinary stroll into a slow read.

The markets that come round every week, so you always know what's on where.

Wednesdays · Mercadillo de Estepona. The big traditional one: fruit, veg, clothes, shoes and household bits at local prices. 📍Calle Francia / Calle Alemania, 9:00 to 14:00.

Sundays · Mercadillo de Puerto. A smaller, breezier affair by the marina: summer clothes, bags, jewellery and local art, with a coffee on the terraces after. 📍Puerto Deportivo, 9:00 to 14:00.

Sundays · Mercadillo Plaza de Toros. A flea market for antiques, collectibles and bric-a-brac at the bullring. One catch: it doesn't run every Sunday, so best to check before you head over. 📍Plaza de Toros, 9:00 to 15:00.

Thursday to Sunday · Summer Market. New for the season: around 30 stalls of crafts, food and attractions have taken over the seafront promenade for warm-evening browsing. Craft and food stalls run 19:00 to midnight at 📍Paseo Marítimo; the funfair attractions are open daily. On until 6 September.

Sundays · Mercadillo Rastro, Sabinillas. One of the coast's best-loved flea markets, with over 100 stalls: second-hand finds, antiques, vinyl and a growing row of local craft sellers. 📍Recinto Ferial de San Luis, 9:00 to 14:00.

Friday to Sunday 18:00 to 00:00 · Mercado del Mar, Sabinillas. A seasonal craft market right on the seafront: handmade goods, accessories and art under the stars. 📍Paseo Marítimo de Sabinillas (by La Noria), until 30 August.

A big week next door, mostly at Starlite, which runs five nights this issue. Plus a headline dance-pop show at Marbella Arena and a scenic dance evening over in Sotogrande. Worth the drive if one of the names lands for you.

📍Starlite Occident, Marbella. Doors at 20:00, shows from around 22:00.

Fri 21, from 18:00 · Kiko Navarro Experience, 📍Finca Cortesín, Casares. A soulful, Afro-Latin house set from the Mallorca DJ and producer, three decades and a long Pacha and Ibiza pedigree behind him, part of Finca Cortesín's Blue Bar Nights. Free, but access is reserved for guests with a confirmed table reservation and capacity is limited, so walk-ins aren't guaranteed. Reservations on +34 952 937 800 or [email protected].

Sat 22, from 19:00 · INNA, Echoes Tour, 📍Marbella Arena. from 64,90€. An open-air dance-pop night in Puerto Banús from the Romanian chart star, Hot, Sun Is Up, Cola Song, Déjà Vu and newer Echoes-era material, with DJ Sak Noel (Loca People, Trumpets) opening. Billed by the promoter as her only headline show on the Costa del Sol. Doors 19:00, last entry 20:30; stage times were still to be confirmed at the time of writing, so check your ticket.

Sun 23, 21:30 · Cabalgando entre Arte, 📍Ribera del Marlin, Puerto Sotogrande. 38€. The fifth edition of this open-air staging where lyrical and contemporary dance meet horses and riders at the Sotogrande marina. Numbered seating, reservations on 667 984 948.

Not this week, but worth putting in the diary now, while tickets last or dates are still free to hold.

Fri 28 to Sun 30 Aug · Noche de Embrujo, 📍Calle Mar, Manilva. Three summer evenings on Calle Mar, the street specially lit and dressed for the occasion, with an artisan market each night from 19:00. A Gipsy Kings tribute opens the run on Friday; Saturday is the fullest bill, with local wine to taste, the "Villa de Manilva" fandango contest and a set from Los Superlocos. One to hold the last weekend of August for.

Sun 13 Sep, 19:00 · Generation ABBA, 📍Teatro Auditorio Felipe VI. 33€. A Slovakian ABBA tribute that's been touring since 1999, two hours of live music and voices, video projections and costume changes at the Felipe VI theatre. ABBA tends to sell, and tickets are already moving, so this is one to book rather than leave until the week itself.

Sun 11 Oct · Maratón de Estepona. The inaugural "Garden of the Costa del Sol" marathon, a seaside course along the promenade, with a half-marathon option for the slightly more sensible. Over 1,000 runners from 50-plus countries are already signed up. I'm flagging it now purely in the interest of public health: if you're planning to run the full 42 kilometres and you're currently starting from the sofa, October is not as far away as it sounds. Entries and training plans, in that order.

That's a full one, and a fitting way to run down the summer: a feria, a flamenco festival, jazz, swing, a western-scored send-off for the municipal band's season. The great August pile-up is near its peak, and it'll start easing off after this, so make the most of it while it's all still on.

One favour before you go: if I've left something out, a gig, a market, a show, some corner of Estepona or Manilva that deserves a mention, hit reply and put me right. I read every reply, and the good tips do make it in.

Until next week.
Stefan