Alhaurin el Grande is situated at the foot of the northern slope of the Sierra de Mijas. The town opens up to the green valley of the Gaudalhorce, where the landscape surrounding Alhuarin el Grande is rich with citric plots, fruits, vegetables, olive fields and cereals. The name Alhaurin el Grande dates back to the Moors, who originally named it Alhaurein (Garden of Allah). Like the Romans before them they divided the area into two valleys, that of Alhaurin el Grande and Alhaurin de le Torre.

The location of Alhuarin el Grande underpins its enriched heritage. Artefacts of the Neolithic age such as axes and cave drawings have been discovered there. The Iberians, the Phoenicians, the Greeks and the Romans have all left their mark on Alhaurin el Grande in some way however, it was the Moors who formed the town as it is today. They built an important fort named Torres de Fahala, based on stations and defence towers, of which only a few fragments are left today. They also generated great prosperity, which the residents of Alhuarin el Grande enjoyed, until Christians conquered it in the fifteenth century.

The fort in Alhuarin el Grande did not survive the invasion of the Christians but the town and a selection of its monuments did. They include the parish church of Our Lady of the Incarnation, which was originally built at the beginning of the sixteenth century but was renovated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Other sights of interests scattered around Alhaurin el Grande include the Palace of Montellano, the watchtower of Ubrique and the Roman remains of the Fuente del Sol and the Moorish Cork Mill known as El Molino Morisco de los Corchos.