Spain Guide
Andalucía
Arrival
From the airport, the electric train (ferrocarril) provides the easiest approach to Málaga (every 30min 7am–11.45pm; €1.20). The Málaga platform is the one farthest away and reached by an underpass; stay on the train right to the end of the line – the Centro-Alameda stop (12min). Alternatively, city bus #19 leaves from outside the Arrivals hall (every 30min 7am– midnight; €1), stopping at the train and bus stations en route to the centre and the Paseo del Parque near the port, from where you can also pick it up in the opposite direction when you're returning to the airport. A taxi into town will cost around €15 and takes roughly fifteen minutes.
The city's impressive new RENFE train station is southwest of the heart of town; bus #3 runs from here to the centre every 10min or so. The bus station is just behind the RENFE station. In summer, it's best to arrive an hour or so early for the bus to Granada, since tickets can sell out.
Arriving in Málaga by car you face the serious problem of parking and will have little choice but to use one of the many signed car parks around the centre or use a garage connected to your accommodation (for which you will still need to pay). Note that theft from cars is rampant.
Málaga has the remnants of a passenger ferry port, the Estación Maritima, though these days there's a service only to the Spanish enclave of Melilla in Morocco, with Trasmediterranea (7hr; 902 454 645, www.trasmediterranea.es). If you're heading for Fes and eastern Morocco, this is a useful connection – particularly so for taking a car over – though most people go for the quicker services at Algeciras and Tarifa to the west.