Hello friends,
My husband and ai are planning a 2 week trip to Malaga and Malta in last week of October and first week of November. We are flying into Malaga from US and flying out of Malta.
Here is how I am thinking of dividing our days.
Reach Malaga Monday afternoon..
Day trips to Rhonda and Marbella on 2 separate days
Fly to Valencia on Friday
Saturday and Sunday in Valencia
Fly to Malta on Monday
Stay in Malta until Friday.
Fly back on Saturday.
We are in our 50s and enjoy art, culture, history and food. Just generally like to walk in the cities and absorb the culture. We do not like our trips to be too rushed and take it at an easy pace. Does above spread of days look reasonable? Critique please.
We have been to Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Cordoba and Grenada
Thank you so much in advance,
Shaily
Posted by
Surrey, UK
1132 posts
I think this is far too rushed.
Malaga is a wonderful city with Roman and Moorish ruins and castle, an old town with great bars and restaurants and several world class art galleries, including the Picasso Museum.
You seem to be spendng hardly any any time there.
Given your time scale, Marbella is hardly worth a visit. Ronda is worth a day trip.
Both Valencia and Malta are interesting in different ways.
However, out of your two week trip, you only have eight full days on the ground. I would rethink.
Posted by
new york
1844 posts
It's really not a good plan, especially given that you want to take things easy.
First of all: Why add Malta to a trip concentrating on Spain? I did see a direct RyanAir flight from VAL but again, why?
Marbella?? Why? (Where is the art and culture there?)
Ronda on a day trip? Possible but you';; be one of a thousand day trippers. That's not taking things slow, and there are many lesser known towns in the region that might be more appealing..
There is so much more to Andalucia than the cities you have visited..maybe see the less-traveled towns in that region, if you fly into Malaga.
Just as comparison, my third visit to Valencia was in 2024, and we spent ten days there....relaxed time to enjoy....you could also visit Cuenca or Denia from Valencia, and many other spots with easy transport options..
Posted by
7051 posts
I’m a slow traveler but I don’t see this as problematic as the others. You have several days in Malaga and overall just break up the trip to Malta, with ample time for Malta (in other seasons, I’d want to include Gozo too, but in November that’s less pressing to me). Now I would not necessarily plan this way, especially the extra flight and the weekend in Valencia, but if you have determined it gives you ample time to do what you want, go for it.
If you were feeling it is too much, which place was the priority for you? Are flights already purchased?
Posted by
OP
20 posts
Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply to my post. This is exactly why I needed you guys input.
Our trips are often determined by when we can take vacation from our work, and Malta was on my bucket list. I tried to combine Spain/Malta as we did not have enough time on our last trip to explore smaller villages of Andalusia.
We can totally skip Valencia and perhaps should for another trip assuming there are enough places of interest around Malaga for about a week. Our tickets are already purchased, but if there are strong arguments, we can look at modifying the tickets.
We will have full 11 days on ground if we do not count the transit days in the middle. There are nonstop flights between Malaga and Valencia( 1:15 hours) through Ryanair and Iberia.
Thanks much again. Looking forward to hearing your input.
Posted by
7051 posts
If you can fly direct from Malaga to Malta, I’d definitely consider cutting the Valencia portion, as you could easily fill roughly a week in each place.
While I can fill time just about anywhere, I do think a full two weeks would really not be needed for Malta. It surprises me, but I’d keep the two-country trip, since you fulfill two goals—revisiting some of Spain you missed and seeing Malta.
Now if you decide to save Malta, you could of course fill the time in Spain with ease.
Posted by
new york
1844 posts
But you have no small village in Andalucia on the list....
Posted by
OP
20 posts
You are right. I realized as I was writing my response earlier that I would have missed the smaller villages again. So instead here is what I am thinking I will do now. Spend one week visiting Malaga, Ronda, Nerja and then fly to Malta for one week.
Thinking of landing in Malaga, renting a car at airport and go straight to Ronda. Stay for three nights in Ronda. Visit Caminito del ret on way back to Malaga. Four nights in Malaga. Use one day to day trip to Nerja. Fly to Malta.
All of your input has been very helpful. Thank you so much.🙏🏽
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
8820 posts
You may find that three nights in Ronda is too many. It depends on what you want to do in Ronda. If you do, you could replace one Ronda night for a night in Antequera. Its main sites are the dolmens and Alcazaba and it has a compact historic center. The Caminito is the same distance from Ronda as it is from Antequera.
Posted by
new york
1844 posts
But Ronda is not a small Andaluz village.....it's a city with about 35.000 inhabitants...just so you understand. forgive me if you know this already...
Not far away is Sentinil.....might be worth a look for its streets with huge rocks overhanging...but also very popular with tourists...
https://mappingspain.com/is-setenil-de-las-bodegas-overrated/
Posted by
OP
20 posts
Thank you so much. Will weave that in… any other not to miss places?