Málaga and the Costa del Sol: a first guide

Málaga is a beach city with 2,905 hours of sun a year, an airport 12 minutes from the center by train and high-speed rail to Córdoba in under an hour. This guide covers when to go, where to sleep and how to get around, and tells owners what a tourist rental can do today: in the city, nothing new.

When should you go to Málaga?

May to October if you want the beach, and November to April if you want the city and day trips without the heat. Per AEMET’s climate normals for Málaga Airport (1981-2010), the annual mean is 18.5 °C, with 2,905 hours of sun and 534 mm of rain spread over only 42.3 days a year. July and August are the hot months: average highs of 30.5 °C and 30.8 °C, lows above 20 °C and 0 mm of rain in July. January is the coolest, with highs of 16.8 °C and lows of 7.4 °C: you walk in the sun with a jacket, you do not swim.

Rain is concentrated in November and December, 100 mm each. Book early if your dates fall on Holy Week or the August Feria. If you come for the city and not the beach, May, June, September and October give average highs of 24.1 °C to 28.2 °C and fewer people.

Which neighborhood should you sleep in?

It depends on whether you want the old town, the beach or a residential district. The Centro Histórico holds the Alcazaba, the cathedral and the Picasso Museum (Calle San Agustín 8, open daily 10:00 to 19:00), and it is where you walk the most and pay the most; the Alcazaba costs €7 alone or €10 with Gibralfaro castle, and entry is free on Sundays from 14:00. Soho, between the Alameda Principal and the port, is known for its street art. La Malagueta, on the other side of the port, has an urban beach of about 1.2 km right next to the center.

To the east, Pedregalejo and El Palo are the chiringuito zone, where sardine espetos roast over fires on the sand; La Caleta, between them and La Malagueta, is the quiet residential stretch. To the west, Huelin and the beaches of La Misericordia and San Andrés are everyday Málaga, with lower prices and the commuter train close by. The city has 14 kilometers of coast and 15 beaches, per the city’s tourism portal, so the beach is not what decides the neighborhood; what decides it is whether you want to sleep with terrace noise or without it.

How do you get around without a car?

By train, bus and metro. Málaga-Costa del Sol airport is Spain’s fourth busiest, with 26,760,549 passengers in 2025, and sits 8 km from the center. From the terminal, the C-1 commuter train reaches Málaga Centro-Alameda in 12 minutes and María Zambrano station (high-speed rail) in 8, and Benalmádena in 18 and Fuengirola in 34 in the other direction, with a train every 20 minutes. The EMT’s Línea A Express bus leaves from floor 0 at arrivals, costs €4, runs every 20 to 25 minutes at peak times and stops at Paseo del Parque, the bus station and the high-speed rail station.

The metro has two lines: Line 1 runs from Andalucía Tech and Line 2 from the Palacio de los Deportes; both share the last stretch from El Perchel, where you change for high-speed and commuter trains, to Atarazanas on the Alameda Principal. Marbella has no train: the Avanza bus takes 1 hour from Málaga’s bus station, leaves every 30 minutes and costs €7 to €12. Rent a car only if you plan to move between inland villages.

Which day trips fit in one day?

Córdoba, Granada, Ronda, the Caminito del Rey and the coast in both directions. Córdoba is the easiest: the AVE high-speed train from María Zambrano takes 52 minutes, leaves hourly and costs €25 to €45 per Rome2rio. Granada is 1 h 22 min by train (€21 to €35) or 1 h 45 min on the Alsa bus, hourly, for €10 to €17. Ronda, 94.4 km away, is a 2 h 15 min Damas bus (five departures a day) or a train with a change at Antequera-Santa Ana in about 2 h 27 min.

The Caminito del Rey, the walkway hung over the Gaitanes gorge, has its reception center 57.7 km from Málaga; general admission is €10, the guided visit €18, the shuttle bus €2.50, children under 8 are not allowed in and you buy in advance on the official website. Renfe reaches El Chorro-Caminito del Rey station with its Proximidad services. Marbella is 57.1 km down the highway and Nerja 54.7 km to the east, with an Avanza bus to Marbella and an Alsa bus to Nerja from the airport.

Can you open a tourist rental in Málaga in 2026?

In Málaga city, not today: since August 23, 2025, licenses and declaraciones responsables for new viviendas de uso turístico (tourist-use homes) are suspended across the whole municipality, for up to three years or until the amendment to the general plan (PGOU) that regulates them is approved. In the rest of Andalusia it depends on each town hall. The base rule is the regional government’s Decree 28/2016, amended by Decree 31/2024 of January 29, in force since February 22, 2024: it renamed them “viviendas de uso turístico,” swapped the first-occupancy license for a declaración responsable of compatibility with planning rules and let town halls limit them in saturated areas.

Málaga used that door three times. In June 2024, the planning department’s Instruction 1/2024 required any new tourist home in a residential building to have access, evacuation and utilities independent from the rest of the block. In January 2025 zoning took effect: no new registrations in 43 neighborhoods where tourist homes exceed 8% of family dwellings (among them the Centro Histórico, La Malagueta and Pedregalejo Playa), and in the other 328 an independent entrance and utilities are mandatory, with 32 of them also capped at 8%. In August 2025, with neighborhoods above 8% already at 53, the city suspended all new registrations citywide under article 6.2 of Andalusian Decree-Law 1/2025. On July 16, 2026 the city council added a three-year moratorium on new hotels, hostels, guesthouses and tourist apartments on residential land, not retroactive. Homes already registered keep operating; what does not exist, as of September 2026, is a way to register a new one in the city.

What else does an owner need to know?

That the home has minimum requirements, that the building’s owners’ association can veto it, and that the national registry is up in the air. Decree 28/2016 sets the basics: a maximum of 15 guests per whole home, air conditioning from May to September and heating from October to April, a first-aid kit, a 24-hour contact phone and cleaning at check-in and check-out; registration in the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía is by declaración responsable, and the owner is liable unless another operator is named. Since April 3, 2025, the Horizontal Property Law (article 17.12, amended by Organic Law 1/2025) requires the express approval of the owners’ association, by three fifths of owners and shares, to start a tourist activity, and lets it raise that unit’s share of common expenses by up to 20%.

The national number is what changed this year. Royal Decree 1312/2024 created the Registro Único de Arrendamientos, in force since January 2, 2025 and effective from July 1, 2025, and platforms began asking for that number. The Supreme Court, in rulings of May 19, May 21 and June 1, 2026, annulled the articles regulating the registration procedure. As of September 16, 2026, the BOE’s consolidated text shows no rule replacing it, and EU Regulation 2024/1028, which obliges states to keep a registry and platforms to check it, applies from May 20, 2026. Before you list, check which number the platform asks for that day.

Where to stay

Tres Mares has no homes in Málaga yet, so there is nothing to book in this guide. Our team is based in Málaga, the next place we will manage homes, starting with Málaga city center and Málaga Este; when the first one is published it will appear under stays. Meanwhile, pick a listing that shows its Registro de Turismo de Andalucía code and look at which neighborhood it is in: the neighborhoods in this guide, from the Centro Histórico to La Malagueta and Pedregalejo Playa, are among the 43 saturated ones, so the supply that exists is the supply there will be.

If you own an apartment or villa in Málaga city center or Málaga Este (El Palo, Pedregalejo, El Candado, Cerrado de Calderón, Pinares de San Antón, Hacienda Paredes, Hacienda Clavero, Monte Sancha, El Morlaco, La Caleta, Limonar or Malagueta), already registered in the Registro de Turismo de Andalucía, and you want it run to the same standard as our homes in Costa Rica, start a conversation: photos and the address are enough to get a written plan within a week. For now we only take on homes in these two areas.