Málaga · Andalucía
Málaga
If you think the Costa del Sol is soulless, you clearly haven't been to Málaga — the city that gave the world Picasso has reinvented itself with contemporary art, edgy street art and a nascent art district called Soho.
What Málaga is like
Portrait drawn from Lonely Planet & The Rough Guide.
The second city of the south after Seville.
On the table. Tapas washed down with sweet local wine; a food culture spanning Michelin stars and tastefully tatty fish shacks.
Worth the trip
- The Alcazaba and Gibralfaro citadels, vestiges of seven centuries of Moorish rule
- Museo Picasso Málaga, in the artist's birth city
- The pedestrianized Calle Marqués de Larios leading to Pza. de la Constitución
- The Centre Pompidou Málaga
Fiestas
- Feria de Málaga, 13-21 August
Who it suits: Art and culture travellers · Tapas crawlers
The numbers
The decision data — each figure against the Spanish average. Regional overlays and estimates are labelled, and where there's no local reading we say so plainly.
Climate
- Winter average temp
- 14.4°C 6.6°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 31.9°C 1.7°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 42 days 39% less than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- no local data
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 30 26 below the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- €3,241/m² 47% more than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
- Net income per person
- €13,847 4% less than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 29.8%
Schools
- Schools in town
- 418
- Nearest international school
- 5 km
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 457 24 below the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 0 min
- Nearest health centre
- 2.2 km
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 173 days 60% more than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 30 min
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 98% 20% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 99% 16% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 597,173
- Born in Spain
- 83.2% 5.6% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 2.6% 1.2% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 1.67 per 1,000
Numbers: SettleSpain town dataset, derived from INE, AEMET, Mitma, Ministerio del Interior and the Catastro. National average = the unweighted mean across all 8,132 Spanish municipalities with data. A blank means no municipal-level figure is published — not a zero.
How does Málaga fit you?
These are the town's numbers. Whether it's your town depends on what you're optimising for — winter sun or mild summers, a city or a village, short medical waits, an easy flight home. The 3-minute quiz scores Málaga against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 17 min from Rincón de la Victoria, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Málaga for you →Nearby towns
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