Where to stay in Malaga when you have an early morning flight the next day? My criteria: clean, good value, good wifi, access to food, AND, most importantly, easy access to the airport. If it’s centrally located even better.
Last year I had stayed at the Holiday Inn Express at Malaga Airport. I had thought that the location (a 15 to 20 minute walk to the airport) would be ideal. The price was good (60 Euros) but everything else wasn’t: the wifi was bad, the restaurant food was overpriced and not very good, and the walk to the airport required me to cross a highway. My full review of the Holiday Inn Express.
This year I decided to stay at the Casual del Mar Malaga. The hotel is centrally located, about 10 minutes from the bus and train station and about 10 minutes from the historical center. The idea was that I would take the bus to the airport the next morning. But when I checked in, the girl at reception told me about the commuter train – which is a few minutes walk down the street – that I could take to the airport. I detail that further down the post.
First though, I’ll talk about the hotel (don’t miss the video I’m including at the bottom of this post)
Casual del Mar Malaga – what’s it like?
Casual del Mar is a located in a very modern building. It’s not in a very attractive part of town but it’s not far from the attractions. Reception is on the ground floor and there’s someone there 24 hours/day. Rooms are all on the 2nd floor. It’s when going to your room that you realize that this is a pretty big hotel. There are a LOT of rooms on that 2nd floor (46 rooms I’m told).
Rooms are all modern and bright with a nautical theme. All the amenities are modern and clean: the bathroom, beds (very comfortable), TV. Very nice. Wifi is strong.
It’s not in the middle of the historic center (like say, about 10 minutes away) so it’s not ideal for sightseeing. But for my purposes it was great. Right next to the hotel is a large supermarket where I bought some pre-made sandwiches, coffee and snacks. That was my dinner and would also be breakfast.
A few minutes away is El Corte ingles. I wanted to buy some travelling pants and they have a Columbia and a North Face store there. I found everything I needed.
I’ll get to the transport options in a minute.
The bed was very comfortable and I had an excellent night’s sleep.
PS. they serve breakfast but I was leaving early. You can even bring pets to Casual del Mar. Lots of excellent reviews on Trip Advisor.
You can book Casual del Mar Malaga here.
Getting to the Airport from the Casual del Mar Malaga
BUS. You can walk to the bus station (10 minutes away, right across from the Maria Zambrano train station) and take the city bus (Line A Express) from there. It leaves at queue 30 and runs 24 hours leaving every 20 minutes. You can pay the bus driver directly (4 Euros). It takes about 20 minutes and delivers you right in front of the airport.
BUT that’s not the best way to get to the airport.
TRAIN. You can take the Commuter train at Málaga Centro Alameda which is 3-5 minutes away walking from the hotel. The train starts around 6:30 am and goes to the airport every 20 minutes of so. Cost: 2:30 Euro. It takes 12 minutes. More detail here.
I’ve given you the basics above. Have a look at the video for a visual on the hotel and getting to the airport.
Conclusion? Casual del Mar was excellent and I would stay here again if coming back to Malaga for an early morning flight.
Related: A Review of the Holiday Inn Express Malaga Airport
Related: The Parador de Toledo
Related: The Best Paradors in Spain
Thanks for the tip. I am considering a few weeks this winter in Andalucia to get away from the Scandinavian winter. It looks like a very nice hotel.
I was in Malaga in 2019 and my friend and I had a 6 am flight. When I was looking for hotels, I found that the airport wasn’t as accessible as I had hoped from hotels nearby. We ended up at the Ibis Malaga Centro Cuidad, for €66 just half a kilometer north of your hotel. It was acceptable but we were just looking for a place to crash for a night before our flight
out after having spent two weeks in Andalucia. A taxi to the airport at 4 am ran us about €25.
Exactly Edith. I’ve previously written about the Holiday Inn Express which was ok…but despite it being close it wasn’t that accessible.
I know the Ibis Malaga Centro, we stayed there on another stay in Malaga. As you say, just acceptable but not super close to the train to the airport (which was an advantage to the Casual del Mar)