There’s something fundamentally absurd about the Costa del Sol’s road network.
On one side, you have the AP-7 – a fast, modern, largely empty motorway designed to take pressure off the coast. On the other, the A-7/N-340 – clogged, chaotic and increasingly dangerous.
And yet, in 2026, many drivers are still being asked to pay nearly €20 to use the safer option.
There’s no doubt the toll road works. It is faster, less congested and objectively safer, but pricing has effectively turned it into a premium product.
Many families, commuters and workers simply cannot justify paying these prices, especially when facing them daily.
This becomes especially true during the holiday seasons, which is when the prices are hiked during the busiest times of year.
As scores of drivers steer clear of the exorbitant tolls, the free coastal road absorbs the bulk of the traffic, becoming more congested, more stressful and, crucially, more dangerous.
If your infrastructure policy actively pushes drivers onto a riskier route, something has gone badly wrong.
A system designed for profit, not logic
The AP-7 is operated by a private concessionaire, meaning its primary function is generating profit.
Over the years, the road has generated enormous revenue, while the state has quietly taken hundreds of millions in tax.
In this case it seems that everyone wins except the driver.
While there are much-trumpeted ‘discounts’ being offered to daily commuters, these amount to little more than pocket change..
Safety should come before margins
Encouraging traffic onto high-capacity, well-designed roads reduces accidents and improves emergency response times, while discouraging their use does the opposite.
Right now, Malaga’s system does exactly that by penalising the safer choice and rewarding the riskier one.
The summer problem is coming
And when summer hits, the Costa del Sol will once again be flooded with tourists, rental cars and long-distance drivers unfamiliar with the roads.
Congestion will spike, tempers will rise, and the A-7 will become a bottleneck from Malaga to Marbella and beyond.
Meanwhile, the AP-7 will sit underused because it’s simply too expensive.
The obvious solution – and why it won’t happen
The fix isn’t complicated, they need to significantly reduce tolls or scrap them entirely during peak periods.
Get drivers onto the AP-7, relieve pressure on the coastal road, and improve safety across the network.
But that would mean sacrificing revenue and that’s where the system stalls.
Until that changes, Malaga’s toll prices will remain what they are – a joke with real-world consequences.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
