Spain is my favourite country to visit, and I’ve seen a few different parts of it now, from the green mountains of Galicia and dramatic coastline of the Basque Country to the heat of Madrid and beautiful beaches of the Balearics. I’ve now made a few trips to the lovely city of Málaga on the Costa del Sol, so thought it was worth sharing some of my tips!
Málaga has a good mix of beach and city, is well located for a few different day trips, and is only a short flight from Bristol at 2.5hrs.
We’ve stayed for short and long stints and never ran out of things to do and find it a really reasonably priced city with friendly locals, gorgeous sights and fantastic food – it’s also pretty easy to navigate within a day or two of arriving.
Food and drink
First things first, when ordering tapas here you can order three different sizes : tapa (small), media (medium), or racion (full portion). Tom and I kept forgetting to specify which so ended up with the larger plate, but I’d recommend ordering a tapa or media portion of the dishes you want and then decide if you need more – you can always add but you can’t take away!
I’ve split some of our favourite places out by the type of drinking and dining they offered, but needless to say we were spoilt for choice!
Tapas & casual bites
One of the first bars we visited and we’ve returned a few times – La Tranca is a more traditional style tapas bar, offering a range of great dishes, plus a few different vermouths and sherries.
Colmado 93 across the road is smaller but just as charming, with great wines, vermouths and sherries.
Located in the middle of the city is the Mercado Central de Atarazanas, perfect for stocking up on fresh fruit, veg, meat and fish, or stopping in for a delicious lunch. Bar Central is one for loitering at the bar and snacking with a beer or cava in hand, or you can take a seat at one of the many seats outside the market too to enjoy table service (although this will cost slightly more than snacking at the bar).
We’v e had an outdoor lunch at Ataranazas Cafe a couple of times – the first couple of times I messed up when ordering my portion sizes so ended up with quite a lot of seafood, including friend dogfish, clams with garlic butter, paella, grilled octopus and fried prawns.
One of the most repeated recommendations we had was for churros & chocolate at local institution Casa Aranda – they have two locations in the city centre with tables which take up most of the street. I was prepared for the place to be overhyped, but the churros are so tasty – quite savoury with a good crunch on the outside and soft inside, and the chocolate was creamy and silky smooth. Just the thing to start your day! They’re also open in the evenings if you fancied a post-dinner treat.
An experience you have to make time for is eating at one of the chinringuitos (shacks) on Malagueta beach – you’ll spot the barbecues up and down the beach grilling sardines, squid and other marinated fishes caught just a stone’s throw away. We stopped into Chiruinguito El Cachalote about half way along the beach and enjoyed a selection of salads and those grilled sardines. Delicious!
Head to famous chiringuitos such as El Caleno, El Kiosko, and Pez Tomillo in the Pedregalejo area which used to be an old fishing village further along Malagueta. El Tintero II is also worth a visit – there’s no menu, they come round with plates of cooked fish and auction them off to you. El Balneario is the place to go for sunset drinks and dining.
Restaurants
Another Málaga institution is the maze-like restaurant El Pimpi, located just by the bottom of the castle in the old city.
The menu is a simple selection of local dishes, cooked well – nothing too fussy!
There are several sections to the restaurant and bar so it’s worth having a wander through; one area is decorated with a collection of wine barrels signed by celebrities such as Antonio Banderas, and another with photos of famous past diners. You can sit inside or outside on their vast plaza.
One of our most frequented bars is Los Gatos on Plaza de Uncibay close to the Picasso Museum. They serve up a simple menu of tapas and pintxos, the atmosphere in the bar is always buzzing, and sitting on the terrace outside the bar looking out over the plaza is the best spot for people watching with a Cava or caña!
If you’re looking to try some classic local dishes, Mesón Ibérico is one of the lushest meals we’ve had in the city – make sure you book of get in the queue about 15-20min before they open to secure a table! Another great traditional place is Méson Mariano, tucked into a side street just behind the square where you’ll find Los Gatos.
Specialities include roasted kid and grilled artichoke, and they served us the best jamón we had for the whole trip, which is saying something! Make sure you go early or book as it is very popular with locals.
Another old school place where you can expect a great feed up is Cortijo de Pepe, which has a section of its menu dedicated to dishes cooked over their coal grill. They also do a selection of lighter snacks, so you can come in for a sit down meal or just a nibble at the bar. I’d recommend the grill dishes in particular though, especially the chorizo and the octopus.
One of the fanciest meals we’ve had in Málaga was at Uvedoble, a sophisticated bar restaurant which does a great modern take on tapas in a more finessed style, but still affordable.
I particularly loved the fideos (squid ink noodles) with aioli and prawns, the grilled tuna and their mini burger, but it’s the sort of place I wish I could have ordered everything!
Bars
As you’ve probably gathered, Málaga is packed with lively and friendly bars, but here are a few of our favourite discoveries…
Rooftop bars are a particularly big business here, with some of my favourites being Terraza de San Juan for rooftops and to be within touching distance of a medieval church tower, Terraza Room Mate Victoria for views of the port and sea, and Terraza de la Alcazaba for views of the historic fortress, castle and Roman ampitheatre. The highest terrace is probably that at AC Malaga Palacio, which is only open to the public from 4pm daily, and you may have to queue, whereas I’ve just walked into the other ones without a problem.
Craft beer bars have also really taken off in the last few years, so if small batch breweries and Belgian beer are your thing (just go easy on a hot day), then my recommendations would be Cervecería Untertürkheim by the beach, Birras Deluxe on Plaza de la Merced, El Rincón Del Cervecero in Soho and Little Delirium Tako Bar on Carreteria.
The area around the marina was mainly full of snazzy shops and a few pricey restaurants, but the bars on the upper terrace are worth stopping into for a sunset cocktail while you listen to music and try to guess the price of the yachts in front of you.
La Fabrica is a huge brewpub run by Spanish brewery Cruzcampo, there’s a good selection of their beers on tap and due to the size of the place you’re guaranteed a seat, althought I did find the food and drinks quite pricey compared to other places we visited. It’s big and modern and a nice contract with with most othe bars in the city, so worth look.
For wine lovers, I’d recommend Vinoteca Bouquet to try some wines by the glass or bottle. Their food is good too. The team here are really good at recommending wines if you’re not sure what to get. Bottega is tucked down a side street and specialises in top quality wines and coffee, alongside some great cheese and meat boards. Vertical has two wine bars in the city, and is the place to go for high quality wines and paired dishes.
Los Patios de Beatas is a wine lover’s paradise, with a huge selection available by the glass (over 50, plus 600 on their full wine menu by the bottle!) and a restaurant where you’ll be expertly guided through pairings with your food. If you want to try a few different wines it’s also worth stopping into Vinumplay by Malagueta beach, where you can use their self service wines machines to try wines in a variety of sample sizes.
Antigua Casa de Guardia is allegedly the oldest bar in the city, serving predominantly Málaga wines, but also a small selection of spirits and beer. The tab is chalked up on the bar top as you go, and all wines are poured directly from the barrels into little tumblers.
One of our favourite newer finds is Taberna Cofrade Las Merchanas, which is the closest place we’ve found to the vibe of an old school boozer – the place is rammed to the gills with nick-nacks, the music playlist is a weird mix of ceremonial brass band stuff, the bar food is homely and delicious, and the vibes are always impeccable, whether it’s midday or midnight.
Other places we were recommended but haven’t visited yet:
- Mason de Cervantes/Vinoteca de Cervantes for great tapas and wine.
- El Refectorium behind the Cathedral is you’re looking for a fancy dinner.
- Hierbabuena serves good huevos rotos con jamon and drinks.
- La Cosmopolita for contemporary tapas, raved about by locals.
- La Reserva 12 for modern, honest and tasty food with good ingredients.
Things to do
With all the food you’re going to be eating, you’ll need some activities to burn it all off…
One sight you can’t miss is Gibralfaro Castle, which is situated just above the Alcazaba moorish fortress. Both are really interesting to explore – there’s a bit more to see at Alcazaba but you can get a combined ticket for them, or entry is free for both on Mondays.
It’s worth climbing to the top of the castle for the views across Málaga alone! You can also do a nice hike in the woodland area next to the castle, or just walk up to the view point for sunset views.
At the bottom of the castle and in front of the Alcazaba are the ruins of a Roman Ampitheatre, only discovered in 1951 and partly excavated, but with some interesting displays.
You can take a tour of the ampitheatre or just wonder around as part of your ticket to the fortress. There are also some displays on the main square and the ampitheatre is fully visible from there too.
Plaza de la Merced nearby is a great place to hang out, read and pretend you’re a local, but there are numerous other squares and side streets where you’ll find yourself wanting to take a seat and watch people go by.
We absolutely loved the Málaga Cathedral tour, you can go with a group but we decided on the headsets to do things at our own pace. Both the exterior and interior are worth taking time to appreciate, and the commentary on the headset was really informative and interesting. A great way to get out of the sun and cool off while learning something new!
Parque de Málaga is a gorgeous park area which runs from the old town alongside the port and along to the Malagueta beach, it’s full of beautiful tall palm trees, exotic plants and the bright green parakeets which you’ll hear across the city. It’s a proper oasis in the middle of the city.
As I mentioned, one of the appeals of Málaga is that it is a city which also has a beach, and as city beaches go, the Malagueta is a decent one, with lots of the aforementioned seafood chiringuitos, plus numerous bars and restaurants dotting the road which runs parallel to the beach.
We spent quite a few days doing the beach in the morning before stopping into one of the beach restaurants for lunch – I’d recommend heading further along the beach to Pedregalejo for great seafood with a less touristy vibe than the Malagueta.
If you fancy renting a bike, you can either cycle out to Pedregalejo (the segregated cycle path runs alongside the beach), or go in the opposite direction towards the airport along a dedicated bike path which runs alongside the beach for the most part, to Reserva Natural Desembocadura del Río Guadalhorce, a large nature reserve which is great for birdwatching. It’s a nice flat bike ride and takes around 30-40min from central Málaga – just be aware that there aren’t any shops or cafes nearby so I’d pack some water and snacks.
One thing I wasn’t aware of was the amount of street art around Málaga – I didn’t manage to capture much of it, but we spotted a lot in the more modern area between Parque de Málaga and Alameda station.
Other activities to consider:
- Kelipe is the place to go to see a flamenco show.
- We Love Malaga is great for food and historic tours around the city.
- Hammam Al Andalus are underground Turkish baths and a great way to unwind. Massages and other treatments are also available.
- If you’re into shopping, the area between Calle Nueva and Calle Larios is filled with well-known brands and local shops.
- Housed in a renovated palace, the Picasso Museum has several exhibitions and events on throughout the year.
- The Wine Museum is fairly small but we found the displays interesting and entry was only 5 euros, which included a tasting of two wines.
Day Trips
There’s so much to see in the region around Málaga, it can be hard to pick where to go!
Ronda had been on my wishlist for years, and luckily we found an excursion that took in the town and two local vineyards – it wasn’t the cheapest day out at 150 euros per person, but when trying to cost up other modes of transport, lunch and wine tasting, this still came out as good value for the pair of us!
We were picked up from our apartment and driven to Ronda first, which took about 45 minutes, we were then given just over 2 hours to explore the town which was enough time to walk along the gorge, across the famous bridge and down into the valley below.
If you get time I’d definitely recommend Ronda for a quick visit – I don’t think there’s enough to keep me occupied for more than a day, but it really is a beautiful place with a fair amount to see.
Our guide gave us the top tip that if we didn’t want to pay money to visit the old bullring, we could instead go for a drink on the terrace of the hotel opposite and enjoy the view there!
Next it was time to move on the vineyards. First up was the Joaquin Fernandez winery, set in a stunning valley and run by a passionate family.
Their output is pretty decent for the area but fairly modest overall. All of their wines are organic and tasted pretty damn good – I bought a couple to take home!
After the tour of the vineyard and warehouse, the setting for our tasting and lunch was nothing short of dreamy.
Another day trip we did was to the historic city of Córdoba, which is just 50 minutes from Málaga by direct train. The city itself is really pretty, with several historic sites to visit, including the Roman bridge, the Alcazar and the stunning Mosque-Cathedral which dates from 785AD! I was absolutely blown away by this building, so don’t miss a chance to visit.
For other day trips from Málaga, I found this guide from The Crazy Tourist really useful, I’d say that Granada, the Alhambra and Seville deserve trips in their own right but it depends how determined you are! Seville is around 1hr45 from Málaga by train, while Granada is around 90min away by coach.
Other nearby places I’d love to have visited if we’d had time included the quirky town of Setenil de las Bodegas, built into a cliff and full of cute little bars and restaurants, but only accessible by car.
I’ve also loved the idea of doing the Caminito del Rey but didn’t trust my vertigo on this occasion, it looks like an amazing day out though, and many excursions are available from Málaga throughout the year.
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