What's on in Málaga (Costa del Sol), Spain through the year

Peak crowds — Calle Larios lights, Christmas holidays in Spain

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Calle Larios lights (25 Nov – 6 Jan)

Busy — Carnaval de Malaga, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Carnaval de Malaga

  5 Feb – 10 Mar · usuallyCarnivalCrowded

  A week of satirical singing groups in the centre before Lent, ending with the burial of the anchovy on the beach at Malagueta. It is a local carnival rather than a tourist one. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Carnaval de Malaga, Festival de Malaga

• Hazard

  Calima dust

  1 Mar – 31 Aug · usuallyDust season

  Saharan dust rides in on a southerly and turns the sky orange and the parked cars brown for a day or two at a time, most often in spring and again at the height of summer. The met agency warns for it. Source ↗

• Festival

  Festival de Malaga

  5–25 Mar · usuallyFilm festivalCrowded

  The Spanish-language film festival takes over the Cervantes and the Albeniz for ten days in March, with a red carpet on Calle Larios and the city's hotels full of Madrid. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Semana Santa

  29 Mar – 5 AprEaster & Holy WeekCrowdedBook earlyClosures

  Malaga's processions are the heaviest in Spain — thrones carried by two hundred men, moving through the centre from afternoon into the small hours all week. Streets close on a published route and the city fills. Source ↗

Still on: Carnaval de Malaga (5 Feb – 10 Mar (usually))

Peak crowds — Semana Santa, Cruise calls at the port

• Season

  Cruise calls at the port

  1 Apr – 31 Oct · usuallyCruise seasonCrowded

  The port takes several hundred calls a year and the passengers walk straight into the centre, so Calle Larios, the cathedral and the Alcazaba are thickest between ten and four on a two-ship day. Source ↗

Still on: Calima dust (1 Mar – 31 Aug (usually)), Semana Santa (29 Mar – 5 Apr)

Busy — Cruise calls at the port, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Calima dust (1 Mar – 31 Aug (usually)), Cruise calls at the port (1 Apr – 31 Oct (usually))

Peak crowds — Cruise calls at the port, Summer holidays in Spain

• Season

  Sea warm and espetos lit

  1 Jun – 15 Oct · usuallySea warm enough

  The chiringuitos run their sardine boats aground on the sand and grill on them from early summer to autumn. The Alboran is swimmable long before and after the school holidays.

• Season

  The terral

  15 Jun – 15 Sep · usuallyWind seasonRisk

  Instead of the sea breeze, a dry wind comes down off the mountains behind the city and sits for two or three days. It is what turns an ordinary Malaga summer week into an unbearable one.

• Hazard

  Wildfire season

  15 Jun – 15 Oct · usuallySmoke season

  The Sierra de las Nieves and the hills behind the Costa burn in most bad summers, and a fire inland puts smoke over the coast and closes the mountain roads for a day or two. Source ↗

Still on: Calima dust (1 Mar – 31 Aug (usually)), Cruise calls at the port (1 Apr – 31 Oct (usually))

Peak crowds — Cruise calls at the port, Summer holidays in Spain

• Hazard

  Jellyfish on the beaches

  1 Jul – 15 Sep · usuallyInsect season

  Warm water and an easterly push mauve stingers onto the city beaches in some summers and the lifeguards fly the flag for a day or two. Which years are bad is not something anyone can tell you in advance. Source ↗

Still on: Calima dust (1 Mar – 31 Aug (usually)), Cruise calls at the port (1 Apr – 31 Oct (usually)), Sea warm and espetos lit (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), The terral (15 Jun – 15 Sep (usually)), Wildfire season (15 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Peak crowds — Cruise calls at the port, Feria de Malaga

• Festival

  Feria de Malaga

  15–22 AugMajor festivalCrowded

  A week with two fairs: the day one in the historic centre, which is impassable from noon, and the night one out at Cortijo de Torres. Nobody in the city is working and few places are quiet. Source ↗

Still on: Calima dust (1 Mar – 31 Aug (usually)), Cruise calls at the port (1 Apr – 31 Oct (usually)), Sea warm and espetos lit (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), The terral (15 Jun – 15 Sep (usually)), Wildfire season (15 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), Jellyfish on the beaches (1 Jul – 15 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Cruise calls at the port, Summer holidays in Spain

• Hazard

  Autumn storms and flash floods

  1 Sep – 30 Nov · usuallyFlood season

  A cut-off low over a warm Mediterranean can drop a season's rain in a few hours, and the dry riverbeds inland are what carry it into the towns. One or two days a year, and they are severe ones. Source ↗

Still on: Cruise calls at the port (1 Apr – 31 Oct (usually)), Sea warm and espetos lit (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), The terral (15 Jun – 15 Sep (usually)), Wildfire season (15 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), Jellyfish on the beaches (1 Jul – 15 Sep (usually))

Busy — Cruise calls at the port, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Cruise calls at the port (1 Apr – 31 Oct (usually)), Sea warm and espetos lit (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), Wildfire season (15 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), Autumn storms and flash floods (1 Sep – 30 Nov (usually))

Busy — Calle Larios lights, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Calle Larios lights

  25 Nov – 6 JanChristmas & New YearCrowded

  The main street is roofed in lights that run to music several times an evening from late November, and the crowd for it comes from across Andalusia. Larios is closed to traffic for the show. Source ↗

Still on: Autumn storms and flash floods (1 Sep – 30 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — Calle Larios lights, Christmas holidays in Spain

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Calle Larios lights (25 Nov – 6 Jan)