Things to do in Malaga

Málaga spent decades as the airport on the way to the beach. That changed about twenty years ago. The port was rebuilt, the museums arrived, and the city became the destination.

The hill and the old town

Two fortresses stack up above the centre. A walled path joins them. A Roman theatre at the foot of the lower one surfaced in 1951, under a cultural centre.

• The Alcazaba. An eleventh-century Moorish citadel of gardens and gates, built partly from Roman stone.
• Gibralfaro. The castle above it, twenty sweaty minutes on foot or a ride on bus 35.
• The cathedral. Known as La Manquita, the one-armed lady, because the second tower was never finished.
• Atarazanas market. The old shipyard gate, now fishmongers under a stained-glass window of the city.
• La Malagueta. The city beach, fifteen minutes from the cathedral.

Picasso and what followed him

Picasso was born on Plaza de la Merced in 1881 and left as a boy. He never lived here again. The museum in his name opened in 2003, in a Renaissance palace nearby.

Others followed. A Carmen Thyssen collection took another palace, and the Pompidou put its first outpost outside France on the quay.

What leaves from Málaga

This is the gateway to the Costa del Sol, and the day-trip trade heads inland or along the coast. Coaches run the long circuits. A private car covers the same ground at several times the fare.

• Ronda. A town split by a gorge 100 metres deep, with the Puente Nuevo across it. Often sold with olive oil tasting.
• Nerja and Frigiliana. A cave system and a white village in the hills, usually done together.
• Caminito del Rey. A 7.7-kilometre route, part of it boardwalk pinned to a gorge wall, reopened in 2015.
• Gibraltar. A full day, a border crossing and apes on the rock. Bring a passport.

Practical

• Sun more than heat. The coast claims around 300 days of sunshine. July and August sit in the mid-thirties, and winter days reach 18C.
• From the airport. The C-1 train reaches the centre in twelve minutes for a few euros.
• Espetos. Sardines skewered on cane and grilled over a boat full of embers. The shacks in Pedregalejo do them properly.
• August. The Feria fills the centre for a week and half the coast is on holiday. Come in May.
• Prices. Sweet local wine by the glass is under three euros, a plate of fried fish about twelve.
• Early starts. Coaches to Ronda or Gibraltar leave by eight, and the border queue is the reason.
• Shade. Awnings go up over the main lanes in summer.