Malaga appears to be a tourist city for students and therefore accommodation, food and drinks can be incredibly cheap. The airport is unexpectedly huge though, and the tourists outside Malaga's city center is from a much older demography.
Accommodation options can be so fancy that we stayed at the second floor of the building where Antonio Banderas owns the penthouse. He apparently bought this place so that it overlooks the Roman Theatre where he performed his first stage play.
Food is very different from the rest of Spain. Paella is not common. Instead, sardines on bread and other forms of seafood, like prawn and octopus salads are the specialities here. But you can get the usual tapas like potato bravas, padron peppers and shrimp croquettes to satisfy the tourists here.
Drinks are incredibly inexpensive in most places and beer and even the Cava Sangria are great options.
Club scene is a sham where girls pretend to befriend you to get you inside and spend on expensive drinks. Avoid falling for the trap.
Other city highlights we picked from a free walking tour that I highly recommend:
- Malaga is the birthplace of Picasso and there is a museum at a corner building he was born but it seems in reality he was born in the neighboring building
- There is another Picasso museum of paintings, however it has the least of his popular works there since his best works are at Lourve Paris
- Baroque paintings on the church walls were discovered as recently as 7 years back when the limestone facade from the period of Black Death was removed for restoration
- These baroque paintings were done by Muslims left behind after Christian’s reclaimed Malaga in 15th century, who also added touches of Islamic designs on the doors of all churches of Malaga
- The crypt below the biggest obelisk of the city has the head of Malaga’s most popular general missing, and nobody seems to know how it went missing
One activity we did was color profile for everyone:
- Yellow: Pakach Tunu
- Blue: Gop Hari Sush Muni
- Red: Aakash
- Green: Praty Upkar Munda Ash Noel Duma
- Bala could be the only rare Blue Yellow
Funniest joke on the trip:
- Upkar: Hey Praty, check out the girl at 6 o’clock
- Praty: In BST?
Places to eat:
Marbella
Marbella is all cobble street walks in the old town by day and wild partying at the beach strip by night
Partying is definitely the biggest selling point at Marbella as there is little else to see or do beyond laying at the the beach all day. And the best place to party is a small strip just besides Harbour Club.
Beaches are split between sections that have cabanas attached to restaurants and cabanas by themselves. Find the beach section that have the cabanas with the restaurants to be served food and drink right on the cabana itself and make the most of the rent paid for it.
Drink are plenty with Sangria the most popular choice. However, across the restaurants by the beach which have cabanas, the quality is cheap. Stick to just the draft beers here and do the Sangrias a bit off the beach.
Food is absolutely delicious especially among sea food options. Sardines are the same everywhere and must have given the fantastic quality of sardines from this coast of Spain. Prawn pil pil and red sausages are other great tapas to have. And just like in drinks, the best food, especially for the main courses, are a bit away from the beach.
Partying is definitely the biggest selling point at Marbella as there is little else to see or do beyond laying at the the beach all day. And the best place to party is a small strip just besides Harbour Club.
Beaches are split between sections that have cabanas attached to restaurants and cabanas by themselves. Find the beach section that have the cabanas with the restaurants to be served food and drink right on the cabana itself and make the most of the rent paid for it.
Drink are plenty with Sangria the most popular choice. However, across the restaurants by the beach which have cabanas, the quality is cheap. Stick to just the draft beers here and do the Sangrias a bit off the beach.
Food is absolutely delicious especially among sea food options. Sardines are the same everywhere and must have given the fantastic quality of sardines from this coast of Spain. Prawn pil pil and red sausages are other great tapas to have. And just like in drinks, the best food, especially for the main courses, are a bit away from the beach.
Places to eat:
Sevilla
Sevilla is peppered with enough beautiful architecture to spend 3 days just walking through all of them. So the big tip is to stay as close to the centre as possible, which is exactly what we did. From here, you could walk, or even take a single ride bus fare of 1.5 Euros and travel around.
Things to see:
- Palace of Alcazar - lots of shots of GOT here and need to take tickets at least a few days in advance given they're quite in demand
- Bell Tower - was under construction when we where there, but thankfully had a great view from the terrace of our hotel itself
- Cathedral - said to be the 3rd largest in the worls, after the Vatican and one in Brazil. Definitely worth a visit.
- Plaza de Espana - we were running from one shade cover to the next given hot the day was, but a nice place to check out, especially for the free Flamenco shows that happen
- Setas de Sevilla - an ugly construction created to make you spend an unnecessary 4th day at Sevilla - avoid
Things to do:
- Definitely a Flamenco show in the area it is said to have originated
Place to stay:
- Aquitania Home Suites - highly recommended given the absolute central location
Places to eat:
