Malaga is just 1.5 hours by train from Granada and it’s our next stop on our European trip. The train station is farther from the city center in Malaga than it is in Granada. To maximize time in the city, we decided to take an Uber. We got to the central area around 9am, but we would not be able to drop luggage at our AirBnb for another 3 hours. So we looked for a storage locker shop. There are a lot of those in Malaga. It’s another reason why you should not carry a lot of bags. We used The Lockers because the storage is spacious enough for our big suitcase. After luggage was safely stored, we went on to explore the city.

What To Do

Cathedral of Malaga

We were wowed by the imposing structure and the beauty of this church. It’s hard to put into words. The ticket is 12 euros and you can listen to free audio guide from multiple spots throughout the church. In our experience, only the Church of Saint Mary in Toledo can rival this great church. We highly recommend it.

Mercado Central de Atarazanas

You can find a lot of fruits, nuts, legumes and seafood in this market.

Alcazaba and Gibralfaro

The old castles/fortresses are still interesting to see and it’s a good hike. You get to see a lot of good views of Malaga.

Museum of Malaga

A great museum that has art, history and archeaology. When we got there, they let us in for free; which was greatly appreciated.

Where To Eat

• Mercado Central de Atarazanas: a lot of fresh fruits and seafood
• Restaurante Esquina Padilla: very good paella
• Gusto: very good pasta
• El Gastronauta: seafood and salad are very fresh and delicious
• Bico De Xeado: order mint chocolate. It’s very good
• Lucciano’s: order dark chocolate and passion fruit. It is very tasty
• Santa Coffee: very good coffee. They rotate some beans (Ethiopia, Colombia and Guatemala) every week
• La Teteria: very close to the Museum of Picasso. Good coffee
• Ana La Fantastica: the shop looks fancy and the display of numerous delicious pastries makes your mouth watering. Good coffee on top of that.
• Mala Leche Malaga: very close to Ana La Fantastica. My wife actually prefers this to La Fantastica

Museum of Picasso

You may notice that I have not talked about the Museum of Picasso when we were in his hometown. We did go to the museum. I am not an art person, but my wife, the artist in the family, didn’t appreciate some works towards the end of Picasso’s life. What gave us pause when talking about Picasso is his personality. We read up on his bio to learn more about this genius and were disappointed when we found out that he seemed like a terrible person. He had multiple girlfriends while being marriage. He abandoned two of his children because of disagreement with their mom. Those close to him said he was a misogynist.

No one is perfect. But I am reluctant to advocate for someone whose values contrast with mine. He is a genius, indeed. If you want to visit the museum, by all means. I just thought you might want to know a bit about the person behind the genius.

Tips

• If you have an early flight (like 6am departure time) like we did, I think you can get an Uber at that time. We weren’t sure, so we asked our AirBnb host to call a taxi for us. Taxis cost almost 3 times more.
• Everywhere we went to in Spain was dry. Very dry. If you have a portable and light humidifier, bring it.
• Wear comfortable shoes, especially if you want to go to the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro
• If you eat at Mercado Central de Atarazanas, it costs 1 euro for a table outside PER PERSON. If you eat right at the shop, there may not be a lot of room, but you’ll save some money
• While at Mercado Central de Atarazanas, don’t buy legumes and nuts at first sight. Make a round there. You are likely to find cheaper shops.