Cookie Policy

The short version

We use three kinds of cookies and none of them are creepy. One keeps you logged in, one remembers your cookie choice itself, and one counts visitors anonymously so we know which guides help people.

Essential cookies (always on)

Login session and security cookies. Without these the site cannot keep you signed in or protect your account, which is why every site sets them and no law requires consent for them.

Analytics cookies (your choice)

An anonymized visitor counter. No advertising IDs, no cross-site tracking, no profiles. It tells us "the Estepona guide had 900 readers this week", never "this specific person read it".

Marketing cookies (your choice, off by default)

Only set if you say yes to our one question. They tell us which of our ads brought you here and whether a visit led to joining, a message to us or a tap on the App Store badge. The companies that may set them are Google (Google Ads and Google Analytics), Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Microsoft (Bing ads), LinkedIn and TikTok. They see which pages you open here, never your name, your posts or your messages. If you say no, none of them is loaded.

Changing your mind

Click "Cookie settings" in the footer of any page and the question comes back. Your new answer counts at once and is kept for 12 months.

How long your choice is remembered

Your cookie choice is stored for 12 months in a cookie of its own. After that we ask again. You can reopen the choice any time from the Cookie settings link in the footer.

The cookies by name

Today the site sets exactly three cookies, all essential: a session cookie that keeps you logged in as you move between pages, a security token that protects forms against forgery, and, once you have made a choice on the cookie banner, a cookie remembering that choice for 12 months. When an analytics tool is added, it will be named here before it sets anything, and only after you say yes. Two small cookies of our own may join them: fc_consent keeps your answer to the question for 12 months, and fc_camp keeps for 30 days the name of the ad that brought you, nothing about you.

Third parties

Google Maps sets its own cookies when you use the map, governed by Google's policy. The YouTube videos in guides use YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode, which sets no tracking cookies unless you press play.

The marketing companies above have their own privacy pages: Google, Meta, Microsoft, LinkedIn and TikTok.