Malaga and the Costa del Sol area

I'm rounding up my plans for a short holiday in the middle of August in Spain. I'll be driving down to the Costa del Sol. Which places would you recommend to visit, maybe a nice hotel where you have stayed as well. Any info is welcomed. Thanks in advance for any tips.

Ronda is nice. It's up in the hills, so hopefully it's also a little cooler than down on the coast.

Yeah, I'd second Ronda. Coin is nice too if I remember rightly. A jug or two of sangria at an outdoor bar in Mijas overlooking the sea is also very pleasant. You could take a drive down to Gibraltar. Puerto Banus is nice if you wanna see where the seriously rich park their yachts.

I go down there fairly regularly and stay in Calahonda which is between Malaga and Marbella.

We went to the same area last year:
Alhambra, a must!
Granada cathedral, a cheerful church
Nerja caves, fascinating formations
Gibraltar is sort of worth visiting just to see Africa - if the fog isn't in the way. Ronda is cool if you dig gorges, we didn't make it there.
No hotel tips, we were at a hacienda in the mountains above Velez-Malaga. Are you driving all the way there? Take a break around Béziers and admire the canal du midi. And prepare for some strenuous driving along the mountain ranges between Alicante and Almeria.
Have a great time!

It seems there's a lot more to see than what I've found so far. I'm planning to drive from Madrid down to Nerja and from Nerja drive to other places. I will check on the map later to see how to go about it. Thanks for the suggestions so far, keep them coming.

Not long back from that area.. visited Ronda Valley, Tarifa (most southern part of Spain) where you can see the African Coast, pay a visit to Benahavis where we stayed for our holidays, its known as the Gourmet Village, it sits up in the mountains, beautiful area, enjoy your hols..

I can only second most of what's been said previously and also recommend Tarifa, Ronda, Marbella (old town) and Puerto Banus (see how the other half live) also Benahavis (to eat). The Alhambra (Grenada) is very impressive but you should book a ticket in advance. Depending on how far you want to venture Cadiz and Saville are very nice. I personally don't like Gibralter. You can get a ferry from Tarifa to Africa for an interesting day out or do whale watching there also (there's lots to see).

We have an apartment between Marbella and Puerto Banus and spend many weeks of the year in that area. Because of the mountain range there is a micro-climate which keeps the weather moderate (around 28 in Summer and down to 16 in Winter) and witha nice cool breeze in summer it doesn't get overbearingly hot. There are some fine (ie. expensive) hotels (Puente Romano, Marbella Club, etc.) in that area.

August is the busiest time of year as a lot of Spaniards come down from Madrid which adds to the numbers of Brits/Paddies/Others who seem to permanently inhabit this area (fortunately without a lot of the stereotypes from their respective lands)...