Notice the shift? The great August crush is loosening its grip. In a week or so the bulk of the visitors will have packed up and gone, the heat will have eased to something you can think in, and the coast starts sliding back towards its own rhythm. That is not the same as everything going quiet. There is still a full week ahead, and a fortnight from now the Vuelta a España comes barrelling through town.

Here is the secret the summer keeps from the newcomers: this is when it gets good for those of us who stay. The evenings turn pleasant, a table on a Friday no longer needs a phone call three days ahead, and the place feels like ours again. So enjoy the last of the big nights while they are on, and look forward to the quieter, easier ones just behind them.

One last thing before you dive in. You have said this town's name a thousand times, but it belongs to something that spent centuries hidden behind other people's front doors. More on that further down.

Here's your week ahead.

First, the bullring. On Saturday 29 August at 22:00, the 📍Plaza de Toros hosts the Festival del Arte Ecuestre, a large-format equestrian gala that was meant to happen back in July and was pushed to now. Expect haute école, dressage, mounted fantasies and fire, worked into a staged evening built for all ages by the Córdoba company Entre Toros y Caballos. Tickets from 15€ through Giglon or at the bullring museum, and the box office opens an hour before. If you held a ticket for the original July date, it still works, no need to do anything.

Then, up the coast, the magic. From Friday 28 to Sunday 30 August, Manilva dresses and lights 📍Calle Mar for Noche de Embrujo, three summer evenings with an artisan market from 19:00 each night. Friday leans into the music, a Gipsy Kings tribute followed by a DJ into the small hours. Saturday is the night to plan around: local wine to taste, the "Villa de Manilva" fandango contest and a set from Los Superlocos. Sunday eases off, just the market and the lit-up street.

Two very different evenings, then, and a fitting way to see the big season out.

Plenty to work with for a week that is meant to be winding down: a horse gala, three nights of Embrujo, an open-air electronic festival by the sea, the summer cinema signing off, flamenco, a rare outing for the town's football club, and a good scatter of live music gathered in its own block further down. In and around Estepona and Manilva. Free unless noted.

Thu 27, 19:00 to 24:00 · El Rincón Esotérico, 📍Castillo de la Duquesa. Not one of the weekly regulars, so worth flagging: an open-air esoteric market of alternative therapies, artisan products and mystical curiosities, spread from the castle down towards the front. On tonight as this lands. If you miss it, it returns one more time this season, over in Sabinillas on Thursday 3 September.

Thu 27, 21:00 · 13º Sendero Nocturno: Senda Litoral, 📍Plaza del Cali, Sabinillas. A guided moonlit walk along the coastal path, setting off at 21:00 from the Plaza del Cali on the Sabinillas promenade, 10km there and back to Playa del Negro. Back at the finish there's a cold drink and a "gong and quartz singing bowl" chill-out session on Playa de la Colonia to wind down. On tonight as this lands, and free. One from Manilva's environment department.

Fri 28 to Sun 30 · Noche de Embrujo, 📍Calle Mar, Manilva. Three enchanted evenings on a specially lit and dressed Calle Mar, with an artisan market from 19:00 nightly, music, local wine and a fandango contest. The full run is up in the Main Event.

Fri 28, 21:00 · II Trofeo Villa de Estepona: CD Estepona vs Atlético Malagueño, 📍Estadio Francisco Muñoz Pérez. 5€. A rare bit of local football in the letter, and an easy one to get into: our own CD Estepona play their last friendly before the season starts, against Atlético Malagueño, Málaga CF's reserve side and a team they will meet again for real in the same regional league. Free for club members, a flat 5€ for everyone else, on the door or online. A cheap, low-key way to see the town's club up close before the campaign kicks off the following week.

Fri 28, 21:30 · Peña Flamenca de Estepona, 📍Peña Flamenca. 12€. The Friday flamenco night at the Peña, this week with Bonela Hijo on cante, José Fernández on guitar and Tatiana Cuevas and Curro Román dancing. An unvarnished, members'-club setting rather than a show for tourists.

Sat 29, 17:00 to 24:00 · Electrolunch Beach, 📍Mirador del Carmen. Estepona's free open-air celebration of electronic music and club culture is back for its second date of the year, an afternoon-into-night on one of the prettiest stretches of the front. A run of DJ sets carries the day, but it is built to be more than a party: food trucks, a market of local craftspeople, workshops and a children's zone, so it works as much for families as for the dance crowd. All ages, come and go as the day suits you.

Sat 29, 22:00 · Festival del Arte Ecuestre, 📍Plaza de Toros. from 15€. The postponed July gala, now under the late-summer sky at the bullring: haute école, dressage, mounted fantasies and fire. Full billing in the Main Event.

Sat 29, 22:00 · End of Summer Ibiza Party, 📍Sean's Bar, Duquesa. One last big summer night down in Duquesa, done up with an Ibiza theme to send the season off, music, drinks and the white-isle treatment. Billed as a proper end-of-summer blowout, and free to get in.

Mon 31, 22:00 · Cine de Verano: Karate Kid: Legends, 📍Parque Botánico Orquidario. The Cine de Verano programme signs off for the season with the latest Karate Kid. Worth knowing for non-Spanish speakers: this one is a US film, so it screens dubbed into Spanish. Free, all audiences, and the last of this summer run.

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 good week down at the bars, with something for most hours and moods: an intimate concert by an ex-Elefantes guitarist next to the Santa Ana market, flamenco and latin music at Huber, a powerful rock trio at Louie Louie, an Irish-bar run in Sabinillas and easy sets by the marina. Free unless noted.

Thu 27, 21:30 · Liam Waldron, 📍The Quays Irish Bar, Sabinillas. The first of three live nights this week at the Quays, on tonight as this lands. The Irish act is back after a well-received debut here last week, the kind of set that goes with a meal or a pint at the bar rather than one you sit down for.

Fri 28, 20:00 · Flamenco at Huber: Sheila López, Julián Bedmar, Samuel Vélez & Alex Vargas, 📍Huber Art & Food. 20€ (cash). An intimate flamenco night in Huber's gallery, with dancer Sheila López, guitarist Julián Bedmar, Samuel Vélez and percussionist Alex Vargas, plus billed surprise guests. Cash on the door, and worth booking given the room size. Reservations on 608 359 656.

Fri 28, 21:30 · Rocking Johnny, 📍The Quays Irish Bar, Sabinillas. The Friday turn at the Quays, and a livelier one: a run through the crowd-pleasing classics, the sort of singalong-and-dance-floor set built to kick the weekend off.

Fri 28, 22:00 · Hugo Toscano, "Classic Pop Rock Songs", 📍Plaza Casa Cañada. An intimate open-air concert next to the Santa Ana market. Toscano was a founding member and, for twenty-five years, guitarist of the Spanish pop-rock band Elefantes; here he runs through classic pop and rock from the sixties, seventies and eighties. Part of the council's summer programme.

Fri 28, 23:30 · Muchachos, 📍Louie Louie Rock Bar. A powerful rock trio back at Louie Louie, with Vanery guesting on bass. Free, and it runs late.

Sat 29, 20:00 · Habana Vieja, 📍Huber Art & Food. 20€ (cash). A night of live latin music in Huber's small gallery room. A cash-on-the-door affair, and worth booking ahead given the size of the place. Reservations on 608 359 656.

Sat 29, 20:30 · Remi LeFox, 📍Amigos del Puerto. Guitar and rock out on the terrace overlooking the marina, an easy Saturday-evening set by the water.

Sat 29, 21:30 · The Soul Brothers, 📍The Quays Irish Bar, Sabinillas. The Saturday turn at the Quays, back by popular demand for a night of soul hits and feel-good favourites, the sort of set that keeps the whole room going.

Sat 29, from 00:00 · HARD MNDNG, 📍Louie Louie Rock Bar. From 8€. Here is something you do not see every week around here: a proper techno, trance and electro rave, and in a self-declared rock bar of all places. Benny Yasoto, Loss of Balance, Tax Adviser and Marinelli take it deep into the small hours, four-to-the-floor where you would expect the guitars. If that is your frequency, this is a rare night to catch it. 10€ on the door, 8€ with a flyer before 1:00, box office only.

Sun 30, 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 marina terrace. A relaxed afternoon of food, drinks and music by the water.

Beyond the dated sets, there is more music threaded through the week: the whole Noche de Embrujo run in Manilva, the Electrolunch DJs and live acts by the sea, and the flamenco at the Peña. Over in Beyond, Starlite has Love of Lesbian and Soleá Morente plays Finca Cortesín.

You say the name of a vanished fortress every time you say where you live.

Before there was an Estepona, there was Estebbuna, an Arab stronghold that stood in what is now the old town. In the early sixteenth century the Catholic Monarchs had it replaced with the Castillo de San Luis, but the old name stuck: the name Estepona most likely traces back to it, worn down over the centuries into the one on your post. Estepona is, in effect, Estebbuna with the corners rubbed off.

Here is the part that gets people: for hundreds of years you could barely see the castle at all. Houses were built right up against it and then over it, until the fortress all but disappeared into the streets around Calle Castillo, hidden in plain sight behind ordinary front doors. Only a careful restoration brought a stretch of the old wall back into view. Next time you are near the market in the casco antiguo, look for the run of weathered stone: that is the wall the whole town is named after, back in the daylight after centuries out of sight.

The markets that come round every week, so you always know what's on where. A couple of seasonal ones are into their final days, flagged below.

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. 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.

One that is not a weekly regular but worth catching: the open-air esoteric market El Rincón Esotérico stops in Castillo de la Duquesa this Thursday, with a second date in Sabinillas on 3 September. Details up in THIS WEEK.

A quieter week next door as the festival season thins out, but there is an indie heavyweight at Starlite worth the drive, and a special evening of music and poetry at Finca Cortesín for those with a table booked.

Sat 29 · Love of Lesbian, 📍Starlite Occident, Marbella. From 39€. The Spanish-indie mainstays play Starlite for the first time, twenty-five years and a shelf of anthems in, touring their latest record. It also lands near the end of the run: Starlite's summer concert season wraps up around now, so if you have been meaning to catch one of those nights up in the Nagüeles quarry, this is close to your last chance this year. Doors 20:00, on stage from around 22:00.

Sat 29, from 20:00 · Soleá Morente, 📍Finca Cortesín, Casares Costa. Part of Finca Cortesín's Blue Bar Nights, the singer, daughter of Enrique Morente and Aurora Carbonell, presents "Poemas de Cámara", a set that puts poetry to music. Expect flamenco roots woven through pop, rock and something more alternative, with the odd fandango or alegría surfacing amid the fusion. Free, but access is reserved for guests with a confirmed table reservation and capacity is limited, so walk-ins are not guaranteed. Reservations on +34 952 937 800.

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

Fri 4 & Sat 5 September, 21:30 · Thomas Helmig, 📍Marbella Arena. from 72€. The Danish pop-rock star returns to the Puerto Banús arena for two nights, four years after his last run here, with hits like "Malaga" and "Stupid Man". Doors 19:30. Two dates, so pick your night and book, because a name this size at an open-air arena tends to move.

Fri 11 September · La Vuelta a España, Stage 19, Estepona and up to Peñas Blancas. No ticket needed, just a date to keep free: the Vuelta's longest stage runs along Estepona's seafront before a hard summit finish up at Peñas Blancas, our own mountain. A proper piece of world sport passing the door, and it does not happen here often. Full details and the best spots to watch closer to the day.

That is the summer's last big pile-up, and a good one: horses under the lights, three enchanted nights in Manilva, a festival by the sea and the summer film series bowing out for another year. After this it eases off, and if you have stayed put through August, the best part is the bit that comes next.

One favour before you go: if I have 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