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Málaga

Málaga is a sun-soaked Mediterranean port city where Moorish heritage meets modern vitality. Backed by dramatic limestone hills and fronted by golden-sand beaches, it pulses with a distinctly Andalusian rhythm—a place where the past echoes through whitewashed neighborhoods and Baroque churches, yet the energy is decidedly now. This is where Spain's southern coast began its rise as a destination, and the city has rediscovered itself not as a transit hub but as a genuine place to linger.

CountrySpain
RegionAndalusia
LanguageSpanish
CurrencyEuro (€)
Where it is
Spain · Andalusia

Roughly where Málaga sits.

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From the magazine

What we wrote about Málaga

The map tells you where. These pieces tell you when to go, whether the place is for you, and what nobody mentions.

Read the Málaga guideMálaga is a city that spent a century with its back to its own sea.
01When to go1
Málaga Is Understood When It Smells of Espeto, in the Months Without an R

Málaga has more than three hundred days of sun a year, so the weather never decides when to go. A ritual does: from May to September the city comes down to the sand, skewers sardines on canes over a burning boat and eats facing the sea. That is when Málaga stops being a city of museums and becomes what it really is.

11 min
02Made for you1
Málaga for the Art Traveller Who Wants Museums, Not a Resort

In twenty years Málaga stopped being the gateway to the Costa del Sol and became a city of museums with the sea beside it. If you travel for art but don't want the resort atmosphere, here you walk from a Picasso to a Pompidou in ten minutes — in exchange for giving up the postcard beach.

9 min
03Worth knowing1
Why Málaga's Sardines Are Never Cooked in a Kitchen

The espeto de sardinas is not a recipe you can take home. It is a beach ritual read by the wind and the season, cooked on a boat that no longer sails — and understanding why changes what you order and where.

7 min
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