Antonio Banderas, a son of Málaga, directed and produced El camino de los ingleses (Summer Rain, 2006), filmed entirely in his home city: it wanders down Calle Granada, Calle Mármoles and the Plaza de la Merced, the very square where Pablo Picasso was born. That same square served as a set for the series Genius: Picasso (2018).
Málaga has reinvented itself as the cultural capital of the Costa del Sol: the Soho district, once ageing and half-empty, was revived by the MAUS project (Málaga Arte Urbano Soho), which invited world-famous street artists such as D*Face, Obey and ROA to cover its walls with monumental murals.
To eat like a local, step into the Mercado Central de Atarazanas, whose entrance archway dates from the 14th-century Nasrid era, and pull up to the seafood counters. Before climbing to Gibralfaro castle, check the bus times with a data eSIM: the walk up is steep under the Andalusian sun.