Curious facts about Malaga that very few people know

Malaga is a beautiful cosmopolitan city that enchants anyone who visits it. It is the capital of the Costa del Sol, in the south of Spain, an Andalusian province that overflows with culture, gastronomy, and history.

It has a vibrant and diverse culture since, throughout history, it has been influenced by people of different regions, as happened with the arrival of the Phoenician navigators or with the Muslim settlements.

And that’s not all; Malaga also has the particularity of hiding several curiosities, which makes it even more special. Interests are well known by the locals but are a surprise for those who visit the city.

Therefore, if you are on vacation or taking a Spanish course in Malaga, read this article that will tell you all the city’s secrets so you can get to know it in depth and observe them with your own eyes!

The city is beautiful and invites you to visit its museums, know its art, taste its gastronomy, share its traditions, and many other things. It is perfect, so many international students choose it as a destination to learn the language through the Spanish courses Málaga. Thus, they not only learn Spanish but can also enjoy the beauty and wonders this city offers.

Without further ado, let’s see what those curiosities give a special touch to Malaga.

In Malaga, coffee is ordered differently

In most cities in the world, coffee is coffee, period. If you want to have a coffee, you order a coffee that is more than enough; at most, you ask for a bit of milk or something like that. However, in Malaga, the task is a bit more challenging; since there are ten different measures to order a coffee.

The mesures are: Solo, Largo, Semi Largo, Solo Corto, Mitad, Entre Corto, Corto, Sombra, Nube, and No me lo ponga.

This usually generates so much confusion among tourists that one of the essential coffee shops in the city (Café Central) made a mural with tiles where all the measures are expressed with their names.

Every Holy Week, the city of Malaga frees a prisoner

There is a very particular custom, which has a tradition of a little more than 270 years: to release a prisoner when Easter arrives. King Carlos III was the one who granted this privilege through the brotherhood of “Jesus el Rico” in the eighteenth century. There were very few years in which no one released some reason or exception.

The city where the minutes last 59 seconds

Malaga is so peculiar that it is the only Spanish province in which the subway clocks do not mark 60 seconds but only 59. This only happens in the subway network, as it takes as an example the old British trains. The second hand never reaches 60 but remains suspended in the second 59 until the minute hand marks the last second.

The one-armed cathedral

The Cathedral of Malaga is known as “La Manquita” (about a one-armed person) because one of its two towers was never finished.

A particular city must offer a specific sweet

In Malaga, there is a sweet that represents it called “Loca” (crazy). It is a pastry invented in the 50s by a woman baker. Its name is because the production was made right before a psychiatric hospital for women.

This delicious pastry consists of two puff pastry lids filled with pastry cream and covered with an orange glaze, decorated with half of a cherry. A local sweet that is unknown outside the city limits.

The Cenachero, a disappeared trade

The Cenachero is a very iconic statue of the city. It shows a young man carrying, hanging from his arms, two trays with fish inside them. This statue was built to represent a historical and very representative trade of the city: “El Cenachero”.

The Cenachero sold fresh fish walking through the streets of the city. He carried the fish in baskets tied with long ropes that he hung from his arms. The trade ended up disappearing because underage children primarily practiced it.

The only female lighthouse in Spain

There are lighthouses in several places in the world, but there are only two active “Farolas” (lighthouses with a female name), one in Malaga.

La Farola de Málaga (located in the city’s port) is so called because when it was inaugurated in the nineteenth century, it was said that the tower seemed to have dresses because of its shape.

The bridge of the Germans

It is a bridge that the Germans built in Malaga as a form of gratitude for rescuing a German frigate that in 1900 was shipwrecked due to a storm on the coast of Malaga. At that time, the city’s neighbors did not hesitate to help the ship crew and managed to save the lives of several of them. Thus, they earned the title of “a very hospitable city”.

Years later, in 1984, Germany decided to help rebuild a bridge where a river overflow had destroyed the original bridge.

The city of the sun

Malaga is a city where the sun is presently more than 300 days a year.

A city overflowing with museums

Malaga has 37 very diverse museums, making it the Spanish town with the most significant museums within its historic center. There are museums for all tastes and of all kinds.

The city of good food

Malaga has 5 Michelin stars to its credit. They are distributed in 11 restaurants. The restaurant of the Hotel Puente Romano in Marbella has 2 of them, and the restaurants “El Lago”, “Skina” in Marbella, and “Toro Muelle Uno” have one Michelin star each.

UnusualPlaces Field Notes

Location

Málaga city-area reference, Andalusia, Spain (OSM place=city point; not a single attraction entrance)

Coordinates

36.7167, -4.4167

Access

Málaga is served by María Zambrano rail station, airport rail/bus links and two metro lines; the city’s main historic attractions are concentrated in the centre and are walkable between one another. The official Spanish tourism portal lists metro hours of 06:30–23:00, extending to 01:30 on Fridays, Saturdays and holiday eves, and regular city buses generally 06:20–00:00. Check live transit notices and each outlying site separately.

Admission

There is no admission fee to enter Málaga as a city. Museums and monuments charge separately. The paid Málaga Pass comes in 24-, 48-, 72-hour and one-week versions and includes access to participating cultural venues; check current price, participating sites and each venue’s hours before purchase. Public streets and beaches do not imply free entry to ticketed attractions.

Time needed

Spain’s official tourism guide notes that many main visitor sights are concentrated in the centre and can be explored on foot; Málaga Pass is available in 24-, 48-, 72-hour and one-week versions. Allow a full day for a compact historic-centre visit and more time for the port, beaches, museums and hilltop sites; this is a planning estimate, not an official set duration.

Best season

No single best season applies to this city guide. Outdoor walks and beaches are weather-dependent, while museums provide indoor options year-round. Check heat and beach conditions in summer, event calendars and seasonal timetables when choosing dates.

Opening hours

The city has no single visitor schedule. Málaga’s municipal tourist office at Plaza de la Marina 11 lists 09:00–20:00 from April 1 to October 31 and 09:00–18:00 from November 1 to March 31, closed January 1 and December 25. A municipal notice dated April 23, 2026, announced temporary renovation closure from April 27 for about two months, with service moved to other visitor points; verify the current status before visiting. Museums and monuments keep separate hours.

Location checked

2026-09-29

Facts checked

2026-09-29

Map marks the area, not a visitor entrance.

Location

Use the zoom buttons or pinch to zoom. Use arrow keys to pan when the map is focused.

Interactive map loads when in view.

View coordinates on OpenStreetMap

Submit a correction

Explorer Passport

Next badge: Trail Scout

Unlocked after exploring 5 different unusual places.

0 of 5 places explored