The birthplace of Pablo Picasso, in recent years Málaga has become recognised as one of Europe’s pacesetting centres of cultural excellence. In addition to a museum dedicated to Guernica’s creator (not far from where another favourite Málaga son, Antonio Banderas, has a penthouse apartment), Málaga is home to the only affiliated Pompidou Centre outside France, the Russian Museum (with works from the Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg), the Contemporary Art Centre and the Carmen Thyssen Málaga Museum – as well as numerous other smaller galleries and exhibition centres around the city, and a vivid profusion of original street art. As for golf, the standard-bearer is Royal Málaga Golf Club, founded in 1925 (the Coast’s pioneer club and one of the oldest in Spain) and located in a semi-links setting at the Parador Málaga de Golf beachside hotel complex. Also in Málaga are Guadalhorce, now featuring a re-design by Miguel Ángel Jiménez, and the private El Candado club. In addition, Jímenez, born in the nearby village of Churriana, has opened his own eponymous academy and nine-hole course in Torremolinos municipality, just across the border with Málaga’s western outskirts. Golf aside, Málaga’s tourist attractions are widespread and diverse, including well-serviced beaches, a dynamic nightlife, exquisite gourmet cuisine (highlighted by the Michelin-star José Carlos García restaurant on the chic Muelle Uno quayside) and (outside the city) the La Concepción botanical gardens, a lush natural delight for the senses with a collection of unique flora species in Europe. Founded by the Phoenicians as “Malaka”, the city retains the vestiges of different cultures that populated it over the centuries, with the Romans and Arabs also settling in this Mediterranean enclave before the Catholic monarchs regained control during the Reconquista. Its rich heritage is showcased in many historical buildings and monuments, such as the cathedral and the La Alcazaba palatial Arab fortification with its adjacent Roman theatre remnants.


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