Andalusia has so many beautiful towns and things to do.
Malaga province is a fairly large province, it’s central in the region with easy access to a lot of different sights. It’s also only a 1-2 hours drive (or train) away from the other big cities in Andalusia.
My Personal Favourites:
I’ve seen a lot of different places here in Andalusia, so I can honestly say some places are over-rated but many are under-rated! Let me tell you about some of my favourites.
Torcal & Antequera
One of my personal favourite day trips is up to Torcal Mountain; which is in the photo at the top of this page. It’s a beautiful park an hour drive inland from Malaga city. The geological formations here are really unique, the mountain is covered in these round boulders and rock outcrops with perpendicular lines that perfectly align across the entire rock face. There are a bunch of small hiking trails and a couple longer ones; the main path takes you to 2 different view points that look towards the coast. On clear days you can easily see all the way to Malaga city. One thing to note if you want to go here: you will need to drive a car, there aren’t many (if any) tours or public transit options to come here. However, there is a train to the nearby town of Antequera, which is a beautiful old city with a castle in the centre. If you can’t get to Torcal, Antequera is definitely worth the train ride!
Ronda
Every site you visit will tell you to go to Ronda when you are in the area. This city is incredible; the old town is sprawling with incredible views over the surrounding areas. It’s built with one side of the city on a steep and tall cliff face, and a huge ravine dividing the city in half. You can walk from one end of the town to the other along the edge, there are plazas, parks, and viewpoints throughout. There are also a couple trails which lead down through the ravine to view the city from below. You can get here on a group tour, or by driving a car. It’s a small city, so you likely won’t need to be there more than 2-3 hours, there are other places to stop along the way there from Malaga and really beautiful scenery as well.
Tarifa
Now Tarifa is getting futher away, it’s about 180km from Malaga but well worth the trip. This was our last day trip before leaving Spain, we honestly feel we should’ve gone sooner! The area is still really untouched, with views all the way down to Morocco. The beaches here go on for ages and are white sand beaches, which makes you feel like you are in the caribbean. There are 2 different dunes, Duna de Tarifa and Duna de Bolonia, Duna de Bolina is more expansive and a really interesting hike. This area is super windy and in winter gets large swells; you’ll see dozens of kite and windsurfers on the beaches. When we go back (we can hope!), I’ll definitely try to go wind surfing!
La Herradura & Marina del Este
This one is for the divers and snorklers. This area is right on the border with the Granada province, and is a marine reserve/park. I went diving here and it’s an incredible dive sight! It’s shallow so it means LONG bottom times (got to have two 70min dives with no long deco stops). There are lots of octopi, cuttlefish, nudis, we even saw a flying fish. If you want to go here I recommend going with Diving with Nic based in Cala de Mijas (disclaimer: Nic is a friend of mine but his shop is still the best in Costa Del Sol).