One week in Malaga in January 2023

I've been reading travel forums for decades and few have ever said anything positive about Gibraltar or Tangiers day trips. There are so many lovely places in Spain, I'd delve into places you think you'd enjoy. This website is a good resource: https://www.andalucia.com/. The Rough Guide is also good. Antequera looks interesting and I've had that on my list of "places when I return" for years. I adore Ronda.
Will you be renting a car?
Sevilla is two hours away--are you sure you would not rather stay in both? I enjoyed my brief stay in Malaga and the old town is lovely, but if I were going in January, I'd choose Sevilla. Or perhaps Cadiz, lots of easy day trip options from there.

Thank you, that is very useful input! I tend to like having one base and doing day trips just to avoid multiple hotel check-in/out moments, but you are right we could stay in Seville some nights too. Would it make sense to make Seville our base instead of Malaga, by the way? If we did that, should we even consider a day trip to Malaga or drop it entirely? There is so much to do and see in the area, I am trying to understand if Malaga should be lower on my priorities.

Wasn't planning on renting a car. Can we rely on trains/buses or do you reccommend a car rental?

It just depends on where you want to go and how long you like to spend in a car per day--two hours each way would be far too much for me! There is good bus and train transport in the region, it just does not go everywhere.
Sevilla would be a great base. The opportunity to spend time there without the crowds of spring and heat of summer would be hard to pass up. You have lots of choice, just need to peruse a guide to get a sense of what places you would enjoy and the transport. Certainly Cordoba would be an easy and highly recommended day trip. Possibly Jerez and Cadiz, also on train line.

We just spent a week in Malaga in May and rented a car for several day trips to Gibraltar and Ronda/ hill towns. A day trip eastward via car or bus would also be worthwhile. Not sure what weather would be like in January but I would think a car would be essential. We also took the 1.15h train to Granada so that could also easily be added as a day trip. We also took the high speed train from Madrid (2.5h) and so you could go there for a couple of days as well. Cordoba is only an hour by train from Malaga and is worth a visit. And as mentioned Seville/etc provide too many great options! We found 3.5 weeks in Andalusia too short! Enjoy!

I have been to Malaga 3 times (good place to fly in and out of) I would never spend a week there, one or two nights at most. With 7 nights: 3 Seville, 3 Granada, either one night in Cordoba or add a night to either Seville or Granada and see Cordoba as a day trip. The train or bus will work just fine and you won't need the expense of a rental car. That is assuming you have not seen these places on a prior trip. If you have seen anything of these places before then a rental car and smaller towns would be the way to go. I always spend 3 nights in Granada and always on Friday-Sat.-Sun, as the town is so much fun when all the locals come and dance in the street, tons of buskers too. If you really want to go to Morrocco (I do, but i have not done it) I would take a look at flying into Marrakesh, flights are reasonable from Spain. Enjoy your trip, J

To me, Seville is the clear choice as a base in that area. It's a city that really needs at least 3 full days (4 nights), and you could probably spend a full week there, happily. How many times would you want to get on the train in Malaga and travel to Seville?

There are many good day-trips from Seville to fill whatever time you have left after seeing the local sights: Cordoba (many trains under 45 min.), Jerez (many trains under 65 min.), Cadiz (about 1 hr. 45 min., but you'd probably only need to make the trip once), Carmona (buses can take under 1 hr. but some trips are longer). Malaga is 2 hr. from Seville if you choose your train carefully. That's a long day trip, but (pleasant though Malaga is) you'd only need to make that trip one time.

I heartily disrecommend spending a day (I'd call it wasting a day) going to Tangier. I haven't been to Gibraltar despite having spent at least 6 weeks in Andalusia over the years. It just doesn't sound all that interesting to me. Obviously, I could be wrong about Gibraltar.

Bad idea. We visited Malaga and didn't find it a first tier location to visit in Spain.

SEVILLE is the place, it is awesome.
FORGET Tangiers, it is not worth the time and expense to get there. Morocco is great, but not Tangiers. Think of Newark vs. NYC.

Granada is worth a visit.

Thank you so very much to everyone for your extremely useful input. I started out with a plan to make Malaga as our base, but clearly, Seville is the far superior option for that. Also, I have always wanted to go to Morocco, but I think a separate trip for that is wiser. So no more Tangier (or Gibraltar for that matter).

I am still torn between renting a car vs relying on trains and buses. I have done self-driven road trips in France and Italy in the past so I do love the flexibility and the added ability to explore that a car has to offer. However I was hoping to kinda sit back, relax and let someone else do the driving on this one. From what I understand from the answers on this forum -- having your own car let's you explore the smaller, quainter and less touristy towns, whereas being dependent on trains/buses will restrict me a little to the bigger places. I have some decisions to make, I guess :)

This is my first time ever in Spain, so everything is unexplored territory!

No need to decide now on the car--though if you have settled on Sevilla, I think the decision has been made. Use the excellent train and bus system--it will get you to more places than you have time for in 5-6 days. January would probably not be the ideal time to explore with a car anyway. When you return, stay in a smaller village and explore the gorgeous parks and countryside.