Nerja · TV backdrop
Verano Azul
For a whole country Nerja was first a television image: the teenagers on their bikes, Chanquete and his boat La Dorada, the beach at Burriana. The series aired more than forty years ago; its places still stand.
As of August 2026
Filming locations, statue and park are in the centre of Nerja.
- TV format
- 19 episodes, produced by TVE
- Broadcast run
- 11 Oct 1981 – 14 Feb 1982
- Viewers
- Over 9 million for later episodes
- First day in Nerja
- 21 Aug 1979, Playa de Burriana
- Today
- Parque Verano Azul with La Dorada, Chanquete statue, AR route since 2023
The trailer is hosted on YouTube; loading it sends data to Google.
The series
A summer that all of Spain watched
Verano Azul tells of a group of teenagers spending their summer holidays in Nerja, of the old fisherman Chanquete and the painter Julia. 19 episodes, broadcast between October 1981 and February 1982.
The series was repeated for decades; generations know the theme tune and the bicycles on the promenade. Anyone who grew up in Spain still connects Nerja with that summer.
Why Nerja
Why the production filmed here
The team was looking for a place where beach, old town and streets lie close together, so that scenes could be linked without long journeys.
Nerja offered exactly that: Burriana, the Balcón and the lanes behind it, all within walking distance. On 21 August 1979 the first take was shot on Burriana beach.
The filming locations
Burriana, Balcón, Cala Chica and the lanes
Burriana beach, the Balcón de Europa, the small cove of Cala Chica, the Cueva de Nerja and the streets of the centre: whoever walks through Nerja today walks through the series.
Some scenes were shot further east near Motril and Almuñécar; but the image of Nerja is the one that stayed.
Chanquete, the old fisherman who lives on his beached boat La Dorada, is the character everyone remembers. His statue stands today at Playa Calahonda, right below the Balcón.
La Dorada was a set, built for the series. In Parque Verano Azul there is a replica of the boat today, and visitors queue in front of it for their photo.
Chanquete and La Dorada
The fisherman and his boat
What remained
How the series made the town known
After the broadcast all of Spain knew Nerja, and many came to see the beach from the television. Since then the town has dedicated a park, a promenade and a street to the series.
Today
A walk through the series
In Parque Verano Azul stands La Dorada, at Playa Calahonda the Chanquete statue, the promenade is named after the director Antonio Mercero, a street after Antonio Ferrandis, who played Chanquete. All of it lies between the Balcón and Burriana, on foot in an afternoon.
Since 2023 there is also an augmented-reality route: open the app, point your phone at the place, and the scene from back then lays itself over the picture of today.
The route
From the beach to the Balcón
An order that makes sense on foot.
Burriana
This is where filming began; today beach restaurants and the long sandy beach.
Balcón de Europa
The Chanquete statue stands right below at Calahonda.
Caves of Nerja
The cave was a set and is worth a morning of its own.
All experiences in Nerja
Beaches, cave, Balcón and evenings.
Your direct-booking advantage
What we recommend to friends is in the Guest Guide.
Book directly with us and the AMARA Guest Guide for Nerja comes with your stay: the addresses we give our friends, and the details that make the day easier.
Explore further
Links to look into it yourself
Dates and locations from RTVE reports and announcements by the town of Nerja.
As of August 2026
And afterwards
The summer from the television, right outside the door
AMARA Playa is a few hundred metres from the Balcón, within walking distance of statue, park and beach. You take the walk through the series from your own front door.