Early May - Malaga or Costa del Sol?

We were in Malaga on a repositioning cruise the end of April. Those on Hop On/Hop Off bus tours were complaining about their inability to see anything because of terrible traffic. I'd hate to see the place in High Season.
Malaga and the cities along the Spanish coastline were infested with hundreds of high rise condos and apartments--very congested. That is not the Spain I want to visit.

The big three foreign tourist towns seem to be Fuengirola, Marbella, and Torremolinos. Since the entire Costa del Sol is popular with foreign ex-pats, the towns should be fairly lively in May. If you go there, there’s not much Spanish about it. I’m not a huge Malaga fan and avoid it. That being said, since it’s only a day or so, it would probably be easier to stay in Malaga so transit to the airport doesn’t take as long. You can take a day trip to a beach of your choosing.

The first week of May will be Gay Spring Break in Torremolinos. I"m quite looking forward to it, but it might not be the place for relaxing by the beach.

I should stay in Malaga. There are plenty of good restaurants, nice strools with things to see, and now art museums if that interests you. It would be a lovely conclusion to your trip with the airport right there.

Thanks to all for your helpful advice

May should be reasonably active along the coast. UK half term is the last week of May and that is a popular time in Spain but you can also expect a number of people who aren't tied down to school dates taking advantage of the lower airfares at the beginning of the month.

I would avoid Torremolinos, Benalmádena and Fuengirola unless you want to be surrounded by sunburnt Brits eating all day English breakfasts, reading British tabloids and watching English football in English themed bars. Essentially they want to go abroad and have the familiarity of home in the sun.

I prefer Estepona or Nerja although both are about an hours drive from Malaga. A lot of people like Marbella but I find it too pretentious and a bit naff.

Thanks JC
Your information will surely help me.
Since we’re only staying 3 nights and need to be at the Malaga airport early in the morning, we’ve decided that we’ll stay in Malaga with a day trip to
Beth’s. Seems like that’ll be less of a hassle on the day of departure.
Again, thanks to ALL for your input
Happy trails