Companies like Royal Caribbean – owner of the world's largest cruise liner, Oasis of the Seas – choose the Port of Málaga for their stopovers.
But what can Málaga offer to the cruise industry?
Málaga offers a full list of tourist attractions for travellers who are in town for a few hours only, based on three kinds of experiences: culture, gastronomy and shopping.
1. Museums and cultural heritage
The capital of the Costa del Sol has a large number and a wide variety of museums. In Muelle Uno, without leaving the Port of Málaga, there is the Centre Pompidou Málaga – the only branch of the Centre Georges Pompidou out of France.
Leaving the Port and getting into the Historic District, visitors will be in contact with Picasso's Málaga at the Picasso Museum Málaga. Housed in the Palacio de Buenavista, it contains 230 works by the artist born in this city. It also puts on temporary exhibitions. In addition, the Picasso House Museum, run by the Picasso Foundation, in Plaza de la Merced, shows both items that belonged to the Picasso family and works by nineteenth-century local artists.
But there is much more art beyond Picasso in Málaga. There is, for instance, the Carmen Thyssen Museum, at Palacio de Villalón, also in the Historic District. The Carmen Thyssen Museum includes more than 200 works by nineteenth-century Andalusian and Spanish artists.
History buffs have two major sights in the Historic District: the Cathedral (a religious building from the sixteenth century, known by locals as 'La Manquita') and the Arab Fortress (built between the eleventh and the fourteenth centuries).
2. Málaga's cuisine
Cruise passengers can also relax in the bars with street tables in the Historic District as they taste Málaga's famous tapas.
Local cuisine includes popular dishes like fried fish, which you can try in any of the bars in town or the beach bars standing by the sea.
Of course, there are also lots of restaurants offering fine modern and international menus. Haute cuisine is also present on the Costa del Sol.
3. Shopping in Málaga
Málaga is a great city for retail therapy, from the moment you get off board and make out the huge lifestyle centre of Muelle Uno.
And past the Port of Málaga, you will find an interesting assortment of shops in the Historic District, selling everything from arts and crafts to fashion clothing.
Cruise travel is on the rise in Málaga. Every year, more than 200 ships call at the Port of Málaga. They bring 400,000 passengers on board, who are eager to enjoy the city and its tourist attractions during their short stopovers as designed by cruise line operators.
