fbpx

Best beaches in Malaga – Costa del Sol beaches

best beaches malaga

Malaga is a city that has nothing to ask for.  You can find here everything that you’re looking for: history, art, gastronomy, good weather and amazing beaches

For this reason, if you’re coming to Andalusia, Malaga is the best option to have all at once.

A towel, sunglasses and a delicious “tinto de verano” at the chiringuito is all we need to enjoy the beaches of Malaga city and its province, both day and night.

Which beach is the best to go our beloved dogs? And with our children? Where can I do some water sport or have fun with my friends doing a BBQ? Keep reading and all the questions that you can have about Malaga beaches, will be answered.

In this post, we are going to tell you some useful tips about Malaga best beaches and about some of the best beaches on Costa del Sol, in order to make your vacation unforgettable. 

So, here we go!


Indice de la Entrada

Malaga city best beaches

Malaga city is the capital of Costa del Sol and since it is a coastal city, it is one of the best options if you are looking for some nice beach tourism

According to the web page of the city hall, Malaga counts a total of 15 beaches and here we want to show you some of our favorite where we use to spend time during the hot malaguenian days.


How are Malaga beaches like?

One of the most common questions among the tourists that choose Malaga is weather Malaga beaches are nice or not. 

If you go to the beaches of the center, don’t expect white tropical beaches, since the characteristic of Malaga is that the sand is fine and brown.

In any case, Malaga beaches have a lot of positive sides

The city doesn’t have private beaches, so you can just chose a spot and go there. Naturally,  if you come during summertime you will notice that they are overcrowded so we recommend you to don’t go very late. 

Moreover, one of the nicest thing of Malaga beaches is that  it doesn’t matter the period when you visit them. Weather you visit Malaga beaches in april or december, you will always find people trying to take a little bit of sun; thanks to the nice weather of the city, it is not strange to catch some warm days also in winter. 

We have to warn you that the water, compared to other Mediterranean countries as Italy or Greece, is colder but usually this doesn’t stop all the tourists that come here with the desire to enjoy having the possibility to swim all year round.

In Malaga it is never too cold to go to the beach!  

Anyway, if you’re not brave enough for swimming, you can just relax while sunbathing; in some beaches you can rent an amaca with a beach umbrella for just 5€. 


List of best beaches in Malaga area

Malagueta beach

The first beach in our list couldn’t be other than the Malagueta beach, one of the symbol of the city. Who has never seen the famous picture of the Malagueta written on the sand? 

In addition to its fame, the special thing of this beach is that it was artificially built more than 125 years ago.

This beach, close to the city center, it’s about 10 minutes walking and we have to admit that its proximity to the center makes it one of the busiest beaches of the city. 

All the tourists know the place, for this reasons, all along the Malagueta beach you will find bars and chiringuitos always full of people eating or enjoying a drink with an amazing view. 

With palms and parrots all around, you will feel like visiting a tropical city.


La Misericordia beach

Going towards the east side of the port we found the Misericordia beach. This beach is not so touristy as the Malagueta and for this reason you will mainly find locals there. 

The beach is collocated in the middle between Huelin and Guadalhorce and it one of the best places in Malaga city where you can play volleyball; in fact, all the beach is full of volleyball nets and groups of people playing. 

If you just see a group don’t worry, you can just go and join them, people are so friendly here!

Another curious attraction is the chimney that you can see just in front of the sea, remains of an old metallurgic factory. 


El Palo and Pedregalejo beaches

The beaches of El Palo and Pedregalejo are located in two of the old fishermans neighborhoods of Malaga city.

These beaches are very peculiar and it is very common to find around little coves and chiringuitos where you can eat some good seafood and some of the best espetos of Malaga. If you want to be an expert of chiringuitos and espetos, check our blog posts dedicated to them!

The atmosphere is very friendly and you can find here both locals and tourists; it is one of the perfect spots also to go with children due to the various playgrounds located here. 

Additionally, if you are a kayaking or paddle surfing lover, these beaches are perfect for you and its small coves give them a special touch; there you will find companies that rent out surf boards, paddleboards and kayaks. 

Our suggestion: in Pedregalejo there are some bars in front of the beach where if you have an early breakfast, they even give you one hour of free puddle surfing.    

How to go to Pedregalejo and El Palo?

You can reach Pedregalejo and El Palo by bike, or by bus n. 11 or 34 which have stops very close to the beach. 


Guadalmar Beach

playa de guadalmar

This beach is one of the most unknown in Malaga and especially during non summer season, it is quite hard to find some people here. 

The beach is one of the best one for having BBQ or enjoying playing volleyball with some friends. 

It is located near to Guadalhorce river estuary and for this reason you can admire a great fauna and flora; Guadalmar is one of the naturist beaches in Costa del Sol.

Additionally, Guadalmar is the only official nudist beach near Malaga city and it is famous also for being one of the gay beach in Malaga.

Due to its white and fine sand, it is one of the best beaches of Malaga city. 

How to get to Guadalmar beach?

You can get to Guadalmar with the cercania (the local train) that will leave at Plaza Mayor, and then you have to walk just 15 minutes. 

Although, the best option is to get to Guadalmar by car where you will also find a parking area. If you go there in summer and you want to be sure to find place , we recommend you to go before noon. 


El Peñón del Cuervo beach

como ir al peñon del cuervo

This beach is quite different from the others; forget white sand because what you are going to find here is a sand made of pebbles.

For sure it is one of the best beaches in Malaga city where you have enough space to do some barbecue or just to send some good time with your friends; el Peñón is very popular among young people, that sometimes organize little parties there. 

You can take your four-legged friend with you, but remember to clean up the beach before you go.

It is important to remember that you are not going to find chiringuitos or bars here, so you should go to the close neighborhood of the Araña to find some.


Malaga beaches near cruise port

Since Malaga is one of the destinations of many cruise ships, a lot of tourists who come are cruisers that usually have very few hours to visit the city. 

A lot of them, besides visiting the historic center, come here in order to escape from the cold and the bad weather of northern Europe and America. For this reason, knowing which beaches are close to the cruise port can be a relevant information.

So, if one of your desire is enjoying the warm weather and sunbath, we recommend you the Malagueta beach; it is near to the port, just 10 minutes walking.


Nice beaches around Malaga

Now that we have seen some of the main beaches of Malaga city, it’s time to tell you some of the beaches around Malaga worth visiting.

Maro beach

Maro is one of the nicest beach that you can find on Costa del Sol, part of a natural park. Its landscapes will make you feel like on a beach in Central America; thanks to its tropical weather, the beach is surrounded by avocado and mango plantations. 

Maro has one of the largest fish stock in the region and here fishing is prohibited. 

The beaches are not made of sand, but of pebbles. This may seem a negative thing, but it is one of the reasons why its water is totally crystalline and it is a real pleasure to dive; there are various cliffs where fishes, crabs and octopus hide.

Here it is also easy to see dolphins approaching the coast looking for a school of fish.  

Outside the main beach of Maro you can find some hidden small bays where people do nudism or go with the dogs and the atmosphere is more relaxed. 

If you want to reach these coves, we recommend you to be careful; sometimes with your car you can reach some paved streets where you can have a flat tyre. 

Kayaking in Maro

One of the main activities that you can do in Maro is rent a kayak and discover the caves of the region and the waterfalls.

Just be careful if you decide to pass under the waterfall, because sometimes it can be dangerous. 

Camping in Maro

Camping on the beach is forbidden but it’s true that this area has some of the best virgin beaches of the province, where usually tourist don’t go and where you can also find “hippies”, especially during summer time.

If you want to try to spend a night here, you can bring with you a sleeping bag, but as we say…it’s up to you! Just remember to take your garbage with you when you leave, since no one goes to clean there. 

In any case, the best option if you don’t want to risk is to go close to Maro where there is a proper camping with all the facilities that you can need.

How to go from Malaga to Maro?

The best way to get to Maro is to take the A-7 motorway for 43 minutes, in the direction of Nerja. Once you pass Nerja the next exit will be Maro. It is very easy to get there with the gps, you just have to put “Playa de Maro”

There you will find a car park or you can go nearby, but it is advisable to go early in the summer season to be able to park near the beach and not on top of the cliff.

If you want to find more info about Nerja, Maro and other amazing places that you can visit, check our blog post for the best places to visit near Malaga.


Calahonda beach – Mijas

mijas playa

Mijas has some of the best beaches on Costa del Sol. It is difficult to say which one is the best one, since each one of them has something that makes them special.

Some of them can be full of tourist meanwhile other are very hidden places. 

Some of our favourite beaches where we use to go are:

  • Cabo Rocoso;
  • Playa de la Riviera;
  • Playa del Chaparral. 

Our suggestion is that if you to Mijas beach, go and visit also Mijas Pueblo, it is one of the gems of our province. 


We hope that you enjoyed our post about Malaga best beaches and we hope that you have found some useful tip to enjoy your vacation 100%. 

Do not hesitate to share with us your experiences by leaving a comment below!

See you at the beach!



Imma

Imma

I love Málaga and its surroundings, I hope I can help you with tips from my experiences.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Read also

Book tour
WhatsApp

Utilización de Cookies

Málaga Adventures se reserva el derecho de utilizar cookies en la navegación del usuario por su website para facilitar la personalización y comodidad de la navegación. Siguiéndo la política de protección de datos de la empresa, Málaga Adventures informa que las cookies se asocian al usuario anónimo y a su ordenador, y no proporcionan por sí el nombre y apellidos del usuario.

El usuario tiene la posibilidad de configurar su navegador de modo que se le informe de la recepción de cookies, pudiendo, si así lo desea, impedir que sean instaladas en su disco duro. No obstante, para el acceso a la website de Málaga Adventures no será preceptiva la instalación de cookies. ”