There is a particular feeling to the first full week of September, and you may have caught it already this week: the sense of the town exhaling. The queues at the deli are shorter, the beach has room again and the evenings have softened into something you can actually sit out in. The calendar has not emptied out, though. This week alone there is a wizard, a wine harvest, a sardine feast on the quay and the football season kicking off.

One thread to pull before you read on. Estepona has produced a genuine pop star, someone whose name you have very likely heard on the radio this year, and there is an Almodóvar-shaped surprise buried in her story. More on her further down.

Here's your week ahead.

First, the magic. From Thursday 3 to Saturday 5 September, Estepona marks 25 years since the first Harry Potter film with a three-day tribute, 25 Years of Magic, put on by the council with the Unicorn Association. It opens on Thursday at 21:30 with an open-air screening of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone at the 📍Orchidarium, the film that started it all, under the palms. Worth knowing for non-Spanish speakers: it screens dubbed into Spanish.

Friday fills out the day: a Harry Potter universe exhibition on 📍Calle Terraza from midday with life-size characters, an escape room at the 📍Padre Manuel centre, a magical parade from the Orchidarium through the centre to 📍Plaza del Reloj from 20:30, and a concert of the saga's music by the Jaén City Symphonic Band in the square at 21:30.

It closes Saturday morning with Harry Potter board games at Padre Manuel. Free throughout.

Then, up the coast, the harvest. On Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September, Manilva throws its Fiesta de la Vendimia, its defining event of the year. Manilva is wine country, and has been since Roman times: moscatel vines, the sweet white Muscat of Alexandria, cover the terraced hillsides so thickly that the town has been called Andalucía's greenest village, and those grapes still go into the region's sweet wines and into some of Málaga's best raisins.

The festival, a designated Fiesta de Singularidad Turística Provincial, marks the close of the harvest and draws thousands. The daytime fair fills the pedestrianised 📍Calle Mar with casetas, food and live music, but the moment everyone waits for is the pisa de uva: the ceremonial grape-treading in the 📍Plaza de la Vendimia, where residents stamp out the first must of the season for all to taste.

Saturday leans into the music; Sunday, the Domingo Rociero, is the big day, with a thanksgiving mass, a horse parade in full Andalusian dress and the grape-treading in the late afternoon.

This is one of those weeks where it is hard to imagine anyone not finding their evening in here. There is football under the lights as the season kicks off, a free feast of grilled sardines down on the quay, a charity street party, an esoteric market by the sea, a paint-and-prosecco night and a summer dance series drawing to its close. Something for the sporty, the sociable, the curious and the creative, in and around Estepona and Manilva. Free unless noted.

Thu 3, 19:00 to 24:00 · El Rincón Esotérico, 📍Paseo Marítimo, Sabinillas. The open-air esoteric market makes its final stop of the season, this time in Sabinillas, running from the Plaza de los Maestros down to La Colonia: alternative therapies, artisan stalls and mystical curiosities in the evening air. On tonight as this lands. Flagged last week as the second chance to catch it, and this is it.

Thu 3, 21:30 · Harry Potter: 25 Years of Magic, 📍Orchidarium. The tribute opens with an open-air screening of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, dubbed into Spanish. The full three-day run is up in the Main Event.

Fri 4, 21:00 · II Trofeo de La Vendimia, 📍Campo de Fútbol Las Viñas, Manilva. A pre-season football triangular in Manilva alongside the Vendimia festivities, with Balón Linense CF, Atlético CF "B" and Unión Manilva CF. One for the groundhoppers.

Fri 4, 21:30 · 45ª Edición Festival Flamenco Villa de Manilva, 📍Plaza de Orfeo, Manilva. 15€ in advance, 20€ on the door. The forty-fifth edition of Manilva's flamenco festival, part of the Vendimia programme, and a serious bill of jondo for the price: Reyes Carrasco, Beatriz Romero, Tomás Fernández Soto "Perrate" and Francis Bonela on cante, with the bailaora Eva Bravo and a full cuadro flamenco. A proper festival night rather than a bar set.

Fri 4, 21:30 · Flamenco Night at Mi Caseta, 📍Recinto Ferial. From 45€. A staged flamenco evening at the fairground: song, guitar and dance built around the atmosphere of an Andalusian feria, with a drink included. Runs every Friday through September, the pick if you want your flamenco as a proper night out.

Sat 5, 18:30 · III Verbena La Luz de Santa María, 📍Plaza Antonia Guerrero. A charity street party for a good cause: a popular bar, raffles and prizes, and live music with Compás Flamenco, DJ David Tex and Delunares. From 18:30 into the night, all welcome.

Sat 5 to Sun 6 · Fiesta de la Vendimia, 📍Plaza de la Vendimia, Manilva. Manilva's grape-harvest festival, the town's biggest weekend of the year, culminating in the Sunday grape-treading. Full billing in the Main Event.

Sat 5, 20:00 · La Gran Espetada, 📍Puerto Pesquero. A free tasting of 350 kilos of grilled sardines, cooked over open wood fires on the quay by four of the province's award-winning espeteros. A charity bar runs alongside and a DJ plays through the evening. From 20:00 by the breakwater at the fishing port, and a very Estepona way to spend a Saturday night.

Sat 5, 21:00 · CD Estepona vs Xerez CD, 📍Estadio Francisco Muñoz Pérez. The league opener: our own CD Estepona start the new Segunda Federación season at home against Xerez CD, a former La Liga side. Fourth-tier professional football, a good standard and a friendly crowd, for the price of a couple of coffees.

Mon 7, 11:00 · AREME Coffee Morning, 📍Rick's Café, Puerto. The Foreign Residents Association's regular get-together for coffee, conversation and the odd board game. An easy way in if you are new here or just after some company.

Tue 8, 21:30 · Bailes Noches de Verano, 📍Orchidarium. The free summer dance series returns after its late-August break with "El Taller del Arte", a flamenco and modern dance evening directed by José Franco and Inmaculada Carmona. One of the last two nights of the run.

Wed 9, 18:30 · Sip & Paint, 📍The Quays Irish Bar, Duquesa. 29,99€. A guided painting evening with Prosecco Picasso: all materials, a welcome cava and nibbles included, and no experience needed. You leave with your own canvas. 18:30 to 20:30, booking through Ticket Tailor.

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 busy and unusually broad week at the bars, from a Fairway favourite's farewell before her holiday to jazz nights at Huber, classic rock in Bel-Air, not one but two Elvis tributes across the weekend and, for a change, a late night of homegrown rap and trap. Free unless noted.

Thu 3, 19:30 · Patricia Roe, 📍The Fairway Bar. An evening of music at the Fairway, and your last chance for a while: Patricia is off on a well-earned holiday and won't be back until October. On tonight as this lands.

Fri 4, 20:00 · Mostaza, 📍Huber Art & Food. 20€ (cash). A night of jazz manouche and gypsy swing in Huber's gallery room. Cash on the door, and worth booking given the size of the place.

Fri 4, 20:00 · Rock n Roll Animal, 📍Taro Fresh Bar, Bel-Air. The kind of Friday you fall into rather than plan: live piano and guitar out in Bel-Air, a cold drink in hand and the weekend stretching out ahead of you. Easy, unhurried, and right on the road between Estepona and San Pedro. From 20:00.

Fri 4, 23:30 · Melodías de Leyenda: Elvis meet The Beatles, 📍Louie Louie Live. From 8€. The one to stay up for: the King and the Fab Four sharing a stage at half past eleven, sound and swagger and all, in a room that knows how to run late. If you are still out on Friday night, this is where to be.

Sat 5, 20:00 · B&V Jazz Quartet, 📍Huber Art & Food. 20€ (cash). Jazz in Huber's little gallery room, where the walls are close and the crowd is small enough that it feels more like a private session than a gig. An intimate way to spend a Saturday evening. Cash on the door, and worth booking ahead for the size of the place.

Sat 5, 21:00 · Stelvis: Tributo a Elvis Presley, 📍Duke, Sabinillas. The second Elvis of the weekend, and this one comes back by popular request, so someone down in Sabinillas clearly had a good time the first time round. A Saturday night of the King in a room that asked for more. Reservations on 654 631 219.

Sat 5, 22:00 · AstraParty, 📍Louie Louie Live. 9€ in advance, 13€ on the door. A late one for a younger crowd, and something different for the town: a first-time gathering of the Costa del Sol's underground rap and trap scene, with Peluki, Hizoox, Coino and Leamsiaura leading a longer bill. There's an open mic for anyone brave enough to freestyle, a secret guest act and a giveaway, and the first fifty through the door get a beer thrown in. Doors 22:00.

Beyond the dated sets, there is more music through the week: the two flamenco nights up in This Week (the 45th Villa de Manilva festival and Mi Caseta), the live acts at the Verbena and the Vendimia, the Harry Potter symphonic concert on Friday, and over in Beyond, Thomas Helmig at Marbella Arena and a Paco de Lucía tribute at Finca Cortesín..

You have almost certainly heard her voice this year. Ana Mena was born in Estepona in 1997, and long before the radio hits she was a child actress: at just thirteen she appeared in Pedro Almodóvar's La piel que habito, playing the younger version of a character opposite Antonio Banderas.

She went on to break through as a singer in 2018, became one of the most-streamed Spanish artists of recent years, and in 2020 the town made her an "Hija Predilecta", a favourite daughter. Accepting the honour, she said being from Estepona was a gift she carries with her wherever she goes, and that pulling into town she can smell the sand and the salt and knows she is home.

Not bad for a girl who started out sharing scenes with Banderas.

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.

One that is not a weekly regular but worth catching: the open-air esoteric market El Rincón Esotérico makes its last stop of the season in Sabinillas this Thursday. Details up in THIS WEEK.

The neighbours keep a little of the summer going this week: a Danish star who can fill an open-air arena twice over, and a guitarist bending an evening around the ghost of Paco de Lucía for those lucky enough to have a table.

Fri 4 & Sat 5, 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.

Sat 5, 21:30 · Antonio Sánchez, 📍Finca Cortesín, Casares Costa. Part of Finca Cortesín's Blue Bar Nights, guitarist Antonio Sánchez pays tribute to Paco de Lucía, running through a selection of the maestro's best-known works. 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 one to sort now rather than later, because it is close to full.

Sat 12 September, 19:00 · A Night To Remember, 📍Septimo Cielo, Manilva. 45€. A one-off tribute night, two singers working through seven acts across the evening, from Roy Orbison, Karen Carpenter and Amy Winehouse to Shania Twain, Cher and Elvis, with a buffet laid on. I flagged this a month back, and the reason it is worth flagging again is simple: it is nearly gone. The organisers were down to their last fifteen seats by late August, and it is booking and payment in advance only, so if this is your kind of night, treat it as a book-now rather than a keep-in-mind. Price excludes drinks.

So that is this week seen to. But the one I would keep an eye on is the next: a week today, the Vuelta a España comes sweeping along the seafront and up to a summit finish on Peñas Blancas, our own mountain. For one afternoon the whole cycling world is looking at our stretch of coast, and that is a rare thing to have on your doorstep. I will have the route, the timings and the best places to stand in next week's letter, so you can pick your spot.

One question before you go, and it is a practical one. If you have watched a big bike race go past before, where is your favourite place to catch it, the seafront, the climb, somewhere with a screen and a cold drink? Hit reply and tell me, it will help me point everyone to the good spots.

Until next week.
Stefan