We are coming into Malaga late morning (early December) and need recommendations for hotels for one night before we fly out the next morning. We sometimes have bad luck in these scenarios choosing accommodation for convenience to the airport rather than get the most out of our last day, and we have heard good things about the town!
We are planning to do the Picasso museum and would love dining and activity recs as well as a hotel for one night (2 adults, 2 tweens).
Thank you!!
I have only been through Malaga, did start to look at spending a couple nights there, but opted for Nerja and 4 nights to end the trip, not an option in your case. I just never warmed to the idea of staying near an airport, always stay in town and enjoy a last night out, but I also avoid very early morning flights like the plague (or covid). I really have nothing specific, but a couple observations:
The good news is, the airport is almost in town, so you could stay almost anywhere and you are a 20 minute drive to the airport from central Malaga, a bit more if you stay further East on the coast. I usually go through, or at least start my hotel search on Booking.com, looks to be lots of reasonably priced rooms for early December available. For food, my interest was mainly Tapas, I turned up a number of places to add to a list...My short list was El Pimpi, La Tranca, and Casa Lola. Of course not having been able to go to them, I can't highly recommend, but they looked worth a try. For a bigger meal, you have lots of seafood options, Rice restaurants, Traditional Andalusian, and I suppose ex-pat Brit places. The only advice I have is maybe plan your larger meal for 1-2 in the afternoon (as the locals would) and maybe do tapas in the evening. If the afternoon is packed with sights, you can flip it, being on the coast and lots of Brits around, there will be lots of early dining options, many more if you can wait until 8 or 9 PM.
My wife and I spent 3 weeks in Malaga taking language classes. For convenience to everything, we initially stayed at the AC Marriot, right by the Cathedral, a few minutes walk to the Picasso Museum, Alcazaba , port dining area, main shopping area, a garden, etc. Later we got a rental through the school (which was less convenient but fine.) The airport is circa 20 minute taxi ride away.
We just returned from a trip to Andalusia and spent two nights in Malaga. We stayed at the Molina Lario, which was almost next to the cathedral. Very centrally located and more of a modern vibe. It was a nice break from the traditional old Spanish mansions turned hotels we stayed at everywhere else. We ate at El Refectorium Catedral as recommended by our hotel. It was fantastic. (I recommend a reservation as they were packed and basically squeezed us in) They had plenty of Spanish favorites, but we again took a break from our vacay and had American steak....it was fabulous. The dinner was so fancy and delicious we thought it would be a fortune but no!
As for activities, we spent a day in Cordoaba so didn't have much time in Malaga. We simply wandered the city and walked out to the pier/ocean. We planned to eat at a chirinquito but had foggy, rainy weather, so we ate on the touristy side facing the water. There are probably better options with a water view but we still enjoyed ourselves.
Don't miss the Roman theatre which is lit up at night and very beautiful to walk by. No cost. We opted to skip the interior of the cathedral and the Alcazaba since we saw better options in Seville, Cordoba and Granada.
Just enjoy the beautiful pedestrian area!
