- Malaga
- (20)
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Spain
Great selection of Picasso works including portrait of a bearded man.
Admission is only eight euros, plus the cathedral is right next door to explore afterwards!
Palacio de Buenavista
c/ San Agustín, 8
29015 Málaga, España
Tel: (34) 952 127600
Fax: (34) 952 127607
info@museopicassomalaga.org
www2.museopicassomalaga.org/
Vetas is a very small wine producer located in the town of Arriate, close to Ronda in Malaga, Spain. The visit to the winery is a personal and really good experience. The wines are good, but the best thing is how you can approach the activity of the wine producer being here.
www.turismodevino.com/malaga/ruta_del_vino_malaga_2.php
or in English
www.winetourismspain.com/malaga/wine-route-malaga-2.php
Dirección: Finca El Baco. Camino Nador, s/n. Arriate
Tel: +34 647 177 620 - You need to ask for María Elena Rodríguez
A place to remember for the wrong reasons! A lesson learned... don't always trust your guide! This is the sole reason I decided to add a profile to the Been there travel site.
Where to start? Imagine, it's the final night of your holiday and you have an early flight the following morning...
What you want is preferably quiet accommodation with easy access to your chosen airport transport (in this case the shuttle bus). Something simple and clean is fine as it's only an overnighter.
We booked on the phone the night before from Cordoba based on the above needs following the review in the usually trustworthy TimeOut guide.
True, as most of these things are indeed facts, but in my mind this place should never have been recommended.
This is what they wrote...
"A friendly hostel with cheap, cheerful rooms. The best is number 15, with windows giving fine views over the port. There's also a communal balcony."
It should read...
"A friendly-ish hostel (on the 4th floor of an office block, with nighttime skinhead bouncer for the night shift who locks everyone in the hotel over night... eek), very cheap, cheerless rooms with paper-thin walls. The worst would be number 15, with windows giving fine views over the noisy/busy road. There's also a communal balcony (and lounge which stinks of fag smoke)."
What you get...
Communal toilets (communal showers if you're on a stupidly tight budget and really can't afford one in your room) - all complete with 80s plastic concertina doors. Super thin walls - chatty neighbours optional. McDonalds - on the corner full of local teens until the early hours with obligatory noisy Vespa.
Don't waste your cash... it should be turned into a museum; it's exactly what I imagine early 90s Malaga was like (which is perhaps when the review was written).
Frustratingly it's probably always fully booked in high season due to the volume of holidaymakers in the city, and therefore will never clean up its act.
Hostal Derby - "Don't forget your ear plugs, nose plugs..."
David is an experienced walking leader and expert history and wildlife guide with great personality. Offering day walks, tours and holidays from Yunquera, hidden in the unspoilt Sierra de las Nieves, close to Ronda and only an hour from Malaga airport, yet it seems a different world to the Costa del Sol. Fantastic value - David walks and guides for the joy not for profit. Check out the website...
www.walkspain.com
1hr Malaga Airport.
This is a really well-equipped and comfortable group of apartments to rent, close to the lovely mountain village of Alora, less than an hour from Malaga airport.
Sangria and home grown melon on arrival get you ready for those mountain views. Lovely, really comfortable apartments with shared pool.
The countryside around is stunning. Drive over to Antequera or see the gorge at El Chorro.
www.lafincablanca.com
tel 0844 734 4454
or 00 34 952 496 683
A fabulous restaurant, which - despite its name - serves superb modern Spanish food.
Don't go during the Feria (roughly mid August), as you will be whizzed through because the staff want to join the festivities. At all other times the service is flawless and the food imaginative and well executed. Try the prawns in kataffi pastry with lettuce soup.
Vélez Málaga 8 E - 29016, Málaga
Telephone: 95 222 50 43
Fax: 95 260 38 64
E-mail: cafedeparis@rcafedeparis.com
Website: www.rcafedeparis.com
Europe's biggest natural lake and home to the second largest colony of breeding flamingos after the Camargue in France.
A lovely, peaceful place with excellent facilities for walking or hiring bikes and cycling round the lagune to the hides.
Off the A92 Autorovia 29km north-west of Antequerra; 71km north of Malaga.
This site will tell you all you need to know about Semana Santa in the major cities of Andalucia.
I've been looking at the guide to Malaga and it is great. You can see animated maps of the brotherhood routes by day and times and excellent descriptions of where they go and what happens. One of the best travel sites I've seen.
http://195.57.5.13/index_in.php
Marbella is more than a corrupt collection of officials, it still is the diamond of the Costa del Sol, and I think it deserves some positive news again. Just like they do at marbellas.com, with positive local news and events.
Found the site pebblesonthebeach.com, aimed at expats looking for love in Spain, I liked the name, and its free!
This large and attractive market town sits high up in the mountains tucked away behind the tourist traps of the Costa del Sol. Fortunately it has escaped the mass-tourism of nearby Torre del Mar and Fuengirola; for that reason it is a peaceful and friendly town with lots to see and do.
The must see places are the 13th century tower of La Fortaleza - the most prominent remnant of Vélez Málaga's Moorish past which dominates a hill overlooking the town. On a clear day you can see right down the Mediterranean coast towards Málaga in the west and Almería in the east. There are also the numerous churches to see - such as the 15th century Santa María la Mayor church, the church of Señora de la Encarnación and finally San Juan la Baptista.
Don't miss the 16th century Palacio del Marques de Beniel, the Moorish-built walls of the old Arab quarter and the town's two convents - Convento de Jesús and Convento de las Carmelitas with it's eighteenth century paintings.
Vélez Málaga is only 30km east of Málaga itself so it makes for an excellent day trip from there. There is also a tram link running between Torre del Mar (just 4km away) and Vélez. Almost all of the buses which take the slower mountain road between Málaga and Granada rather than the quicker N340 and N232 stop at Vélez Málaga. The journey time from Málaga is approx 40 mins.
Spain is a one-hour ferry ride away from Africa. We were a little worried about our safety, but we thought that maybe we could take the ferry across, walk briefly on African soil, and take the next ferry back to Spain. We talked it over and decided to go for it.
We drove the rental car from Malaga to Algeciras and parked it in an all-day lot (for 19 euros). There are two ferries. One takes an hour to cross, and the other takes two and a half hours. We boarded the faster ferry (two adults for 102.30 euros) and waited for the departure. The ferry sat for an hour before finally leaving. As it turned out, that was the best thing that could have happened to us. While we were waiting to leave, we started talking to a man named Habibi and his wife and eight-year-old daughter, they were on vacation from their home in Birmingham, England, to visit his family, who still live in Tangier, Morocco. We asked Habibi for a private guide, two hours later, when we arrived in Tangier, we helped carry their luggage to the parking area where they were met by Habibi’s brother.
To our surprise, Habibi sent his wife and daughter with his brother and told us he wanted to join us to see Tangier. Using his cell phone, he reached one of his old friends Benny, a licensed guide who picked us up with his air conditioned car.
They drove us all around the city highlights and up into the hills to see the mayor’s home and the king’s palace. He talked a man with camels into letting us ride on them. Then we returned to the city where he led us through the oldest part, the Kasbah, Medina and Berber Souks. We visited a famous hotel where American and English actors stayed while filming in the area. He spent the entire day and most of the evening showing us the city he grew up in and obviously is still in love with.
We had such a great time that our new friend had to remind us that the last ferry back to Spain leaves at 11pm. He and his Guide/drove us back to the ferry building, made sure we got our passports stamped, walked us to the boat and made sure we were safely aboard before they left to join their families.
The last ferry back was a slow one and took two and a half hours to make the crossing. We drove the rental car back to our resort. Thanks to Habibi, we had a wonderful time visit.
The Alcazaba which is undoubtedly, the most important military fortification remaining from the Hispanic-Arabic period. This malaguenian fortress of Bobastro was built on the hillside of the Gibralfaro mountain (Yabal-Faruk, meaning mountain of the lighthouse) from where it is possible to watch the African coast. The Arabic historian Maqqari, assured that Badis el Ziri, king of Grenada, ordered its construction between the years 1057 and 1063, being the inside palaces remade by the following Nazaries kings copying the style of the Grenada Alhambra.
Salobreña is the weekend getaway for the people of Granada, but despite this, its sandy beach is quiet. The locals are very friendly, and the town itself is pretty, with a castle and a less commercialised atmosphere than nearby Malaga and Nerja.
Regular buses from Granada, which is 80km (50 minutes) away.
Fantastic vegetarian restaurant with lots of tofu, soya and wholefoods. A welcome relief after eating nothing but eggs in the mountains - it took us half an hour to decide what we wanted there was so much choice.
Plaza de la Merced 2195222 9056
A smart, centrally located hotel within the budget of most travellers. Situated opposite Malaga's bustling fish, fruit and veg market, the Atarazanas is in the heart of the city, walking distance to the Picasso museum, the Alcazaba and Malaga's many fine tapas bars. The hotel has been recently refurbished, with a bar, good restaurant and clean, modern, en-suite rooms. I went in October 2005 and a double room cost £34, via an online hotel discount company.
Calle Atarazanas 19, Malaga 29004, Spain;
tel: +34 952 12 19 10;
fax +34 952 12 19 11;
email: atarazanas@balboahoteles.com;
The hotel is opposite the main Mercado, just five minutes walk from Malaga train station (not the RENFE).
Take advantage of, in many cases half price tee times from June to September as its low season for the many golf courses in Malaga. The courses are empty - just make sure you take a hat and plenty of water. Check out this URL for more information on courses in the area.
Opened last year this houses an excellent collection of Picasso's work from the whole of his career. Mainly composed of items loaned or donated by members of his family. The building itself is lovely and has architectural remains of a roman/visigothic palace in the basement.
C' San Augustin 8 not far from the Cathedral; www2.museopicassomalaga.org/i_home.cfm
Restaurant. In the beach suburb of Palo, at the Eastern end of the city (bus from the Alameda goes there)- great fresh fish, no menu. They cook what's good that day and the waiters bring it out on trays and shout out what it is. If you fancy it, stick your hand up or just ask for a look. Helps to know your Spanish fish names.
On the beach front at Palo.
This hotel in Malaga city centre is a great place to stay. It has a pool on the roof with fantastic views and a lovely breeze. I would definitely recommend it.
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