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Popular festival · Málaga
Málaga’s big summer party on the Andalusian coast: by day, the Feria del Centro fills Marqués de Larios street and the squares of the historic center with music, verdiales and flamenco; at night, the celebration moves to the Cortijo de Torres fairground, with casetas, horses and lights.
In the photo: Málaga
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Feria de Málaga — Málaga
In August, for about a week, with exact dates set each year and traditionally including the 19th.
August
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
The festival
The Feria de Málaga is the city’s summer festival and one of the liveliest in Andalusia. During the fair days in August, Málaga experiences two fairs at once. By day, the historic center fills with people, music and dancing at the Feria del Centro, with Marqués de Larios street decorated and stages in the squares. At night the party moves to the Real del Cortijo de Torres fairground, with casetas, attractions and lights into the early hours.
The date commemorates the entry of the Catholic Monarchs into the city in August 1487, at the end of the siege that incorporated it into the Crown of Castile. The city council began celebrating popular festivities from August 15, and in 1887, on the fourth centenary of the conquest, the tradition was revived with a procession that reenacted the monarchs’ entry. Over time the fair has taken place in several locations—from the port to Parque de Málaga and Teatinos—until reaching the Cortijo de Torres, where it is held today.
The opening usually features a historical cavalcade through the center streets, the presentation of the city keys, the proclamation of the festivities at the fairground and a light or fireworks show over the port. On the first Saturday, the Romería de la Feria brings carriages, riders and pilgrims in traditional attire from the city council to the Santuario de la Victoria, where the city’s patron saint is venerated, along a route through the center. In the following days, the Feria del Centro offers live music in several plazas, starting at Plaza de la Constitución, groups of verdiales (a traditional song and dance from the Málaga hills), impromptu sevillanas in the street and flamenco on every corner.
At Cortijo de Torres the rhythm is that of Andalusian fairs: casetas run by associations and friend groups—many open to the public—with music and food, decorated riders and carriages during the day, a funfair and shows for children. The celebration continues late into the night with the entire fairground illuminated, and the last day closes with fireworks.
If you visit the Costa del Sol in August, the feria combines the beach by day, a festive historic center and nights at the fairground, in a city that also has museums, the Alcazaba, the Roman Theatre and Gibralfaro Castle just a short walk from Calle Larios.
The fair opening, with the historical cavalcade through the center and the proclamation at Cortijo de Torres. The Romería de la Feria on the first Saturday, with carriages climbing up to the Santuario de la Victoria. An afternoon at the Feria del Centro, with Marqués de Larios street decorated and packed with people. Verdiales performances, with their flowered hats, violins and tambourines. Music in the center squares, such as Plaza de la Constitución. Riders and decorated carriages circulating the fairground by day. A night at the Real del Cortijo de Torres, among casetas, lights and the funfair. The fireworks that close the feria.
Split the day: afternoon in the center when the Feria del Centro is in full swing, and night at Cortijo de Torres. The two sites are some distance apart; a special bus line links the historic center to the fairground throughout the feria, and other lines increase service after nightfall, in addition to metro and taxis. Many streets in the center are closed to traffic; walk. August afternoons tend to be very hot and humid: seek shaded hours, drink water and wear a hat and sunscreen. In the streets, music and dancing are open to everyone; at the fairground some casetas are open to the public and others have restricted access. The city council sets up tourist information points in the center and at the fairground during the feria.
Cartojal, a sweet Málaga wine served very cold, is the drink of the Feria del Centro, alongside fino and moscatel wines from the province. At stalls and bars you eat pescaíto frito (fried small fish), including the city’s boquerones, and sardine skewers grilled over embers, typical of Málaga beaches. In the casetas at the fairground you’ll find jamón, cheeses, tortilla, montaditos and the campero, a local hot sandwich.
In August the Costa del Sol is at its busiest, and Málaga fills up during feria week; book early or stay in Torremolinos, Benalmádena or Fuengirola, connected by the cercanías train. Restaurants in the center also fill up on these days. Each year the city council publishes the schedule for the cavalcade, the romería, the center stages and the special transport.
In the city
Flavors of Spain
August
AugustFrom August 15 to 21, starting on the day of the Assumption; the proclamation is read the evening before, on August 14.
For one week in August, the streets of the Gràcia neighborhood in Barcelona are decorated by hand by the residents, who compete in a contest; there are concerts, castellers (human towers), gegants (giant figures) and correfoc in the squares of an old village now part of the city.
AugustOn the last Wednesday of August, during Buñol’s week of patron saint festivities.
A tomato battle that takes over the streets of Buñol, an inland town in the province of Valencia, on the last Wednesday of August: for about an hour, thousands of participants from several countries throw ripe tomatoes at one another, with access controlled by ticket.
Your questions
In August, for about nine days around August 15. It begins with the historical cavalcade and proclamation and ends with fireworks on the last day.
It is the daytime part of the fair, in the historic center, with Marqués de Larios street decorated, stages in the plazas, verdiales, sevillanas and flamenco. At night the party continues at the Cortijo de Torres fairground.
By a special bus line that links the historic center to the fairground throughout the feria, by reinforced bus lines from nightfall, by metro or by taxi.
It is a sweet Málaga wine, served very cold, that became the typical drink of the Feria del Centro.
Festivals and events in Spain
JanuaryOn January 20, the feast day of Saint Sebastian, the city's patron: the celebration begins at midnight between January 19 and 20 and ends at the following midnight.
For 24 hours on January 20, San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, honors its patron saint to the sound of drums and barrels: uniformed companies parade through the city playing the marches of Raimundo Sarriegi, from the raising of the flag in Plaza de la Constitución until the lowering in the same square.
February/MarchAt the end of winter, between February and March, following the movable Carnival calendar: the contests and the queen’s gala take place in the preceding weeks, and the streets celebrate from the opening cavalcade until the weekend after Ash Wednesday.
The capital of Tenerife’s Carnival, in the Canary Islands, with a monumental fantasy queen, murgas, comparsas and rondallas, the big Coso parade on Carnival Tuesday and balls that fill the squares and avenues of the center until dawn.
MarchFrom March 1 to 19, with the main days from March 15 to 19; the official opening, the Crida, is on the last Sunday of February.
Valencia’s festival, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in which hundreds of satirical monuments of wood, cardboard and cork are erected in the streets, visited for days and burned on the night of March 19 amid fireworks, music and flowers.
March/AprilIn the week before Easter, from Palm Sunday to Resurrection, in March or April.
During Málaga’s Holy Week on the Costa del Sol, the brotherhoods carry enormous floats through the city center, borne on the shoulders of hundreds of porters, accompanied by marching bands, daytime and nighttime processions, and moments unique to the city, such as the Legion’s landing at the port on Holy Thursday.
March/AprilFrom Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, in March or April depending on the date of Easter; smaller processions begin on the previous Friday, Friday of Sorrows.
During Holy Week, the brotherhoods of Seville, the capital of Andalusia, carry images of Christ and the Virgin through the streets on gilded floats carried by costaleros and followed by long lines of penitents, on routes that pass by the cathedral day and night, until the early hours of Good Friday.
April/MayIn April or May, one or two weeks after Holy Week, depending on the date of Easter; it lasts about a week, from the night of the pescaíto and the alumbrao until the fireworks on the last night.
A weeklong party in Seville’s fairground, between Los Remedios and the Guadalquivir: streets of decorated casetas with lanterns, a noon parade of horses and carriages, flamenco-style dresses, sevillanas danced until the early hours, and the amusement park on the Calle del Infierno.
