It hardly seems possible that it’s already time for the events in Malaga in November post – where has the year gone? But 10 months have indeed slipped by, so here’s the latest in our monthly series bringing you a round-up of what’s on in Malaga in November.
The month comes with several highlights. Top of the list is the Malaga Jazz Festival, celebrating its 36th anniversary this year with some big-name concerts. There’s also some great dance and art plus the usual monthly markets. And the event lots of people have been waiting for – the official switch-on of Malaga Christmas Lights. Read on to discover the best things to do in Malaga in November.
Note that this post refers to events in November 2022. We’ll be updating it for 2023 as soon as we have the information (usually towards the end of October) – bookmark the page for future reference.
Start the month with a day off!
The autumn’s a busy time for public holidays in Malaga. The month starts with a day off and then there are 2 at the beginning of December:
Tuesday 1 November – is a public holiday so businesses and banks will be closed. Most shops, bars, cafés and restaurants will, however, be open for business as usual.
Heads-up for December – Tuesday 6 December and Thursday 8 December are both public holidays.
Read more about public holidays in Malaga.
Astronomy evenings
See the night sky through a telescope and watch a live viewing of the moon at the Centro Principia Science Museum (next to the Rosaleda football stadium) on Friday 4 November 8-9.20pm. The activity’s free (and in Spanish), but you have to sign up in advance via the website as tickets are given out on a first-com, first-served basis. Click here for more information and click on the blue box (about halfway down the page) to sign up.
Malaga Jazz Festival
One of the biggest annual events in Malaga and this year the Festival celebrates 36 years. The main concerts take place in the Cervantes Theatre from 3 to 9 November. Read who’s playing when in our dedicated post about Malaga Jazz Festival. For information on free concerts around the city during the Jazz Festival, scroll down to the music section.
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Fantasy Film Festival
Fancine is back in Malaga and celebrating its 32nd edition this year. Running from 9 to 17 November, the Festival is showing a long list of weird and wonderful films including shorts, at different venues around the city. Mostly at the Albeniz Cinema (in Calle Alcazabilla) but some at Malaga University. Films are shown in their original language with Spanish subtitles. Highlights this year include the premiere of Flux Gourmet by Peter Strickland and The Lair by Neil Marshall. The Festival will also show the comedy Fumer Fait Tousser by French director Quentin Dupiex.
For full information and to book tickets, check out the website.
Open House Malaga
The second edition of this architectural fest takes place 18 to 20 November with guided visits and tours around the city’s most emblematic buildings. Leading the tours are architects and historical experts giving you a unique insight into Malaga’s architectural past. Note that all visits are in Spanish, but even if you don’t quite understand what’s being said, you’ll see some amazing interiors and exteriors. Read the full programme here (in Spanish only).
All visits are free, most you just turn up on the day (we’d recommend getting there early) and for others, you need to book in advance. Note that booking opens on Friday 11 November at 11am via the website on a first-come, first-served basis.
What’s on in Malaga in November – Christmas lights
It’s officially confirmed – Saturday 26 November is switch-on day for the Christmas lights in Malaga city centre, at 7pm. Calle Larios will have a brand new display this year (as the picture above shows). Festive music and light and sound shows at 6.30, 8 and 10pm! Read details of other Christmas attractions in this article. Subscribers of our free fortnightly newsletter will also get all the details – sign up here.
READ ABOUT CHRISTMAS IN MALAGA
Christmas Lights in the Botanics
The Christmas garden returns to the lovely botanical gardens for another year. The 2022 edition is called Stela, A Journey to the East, based on the Wise Men’s journey through Persia, Babylonia and then to Bethlehem. All lighting is LED this year in keeping with the national push to save energy, but expect a stunning show combining the gardens, its monuments and lights. The photo below of last year’s display gives you an idea.
The event runs from 27 November to 8 January and tickets cost €10-14, depending on when you visit. Family groups (2 adults, 2 children), students and the over 65s get a discount. More information and links to tickets here.
Godspell, the musical
Antonio Bandera’s theatre welcomes its annual musical from 3 November. This year’s treat is Godspell, the 1970s Broadway classic that has been reimagined for 2022. Mr Banderas isn’t performing in this one, although he’s the producer. However, there’s a star-studded and very talented cast: Victor Ullate, one of Spain’s best dancers, takes a lead role as Judas and St John the Baptist, while Pepe Nufrio, trained in NYC and an old hand in Godspell, plays Jesus.
Performances take place from 3 November to 8 January, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 5.30 and 9pm, and Sundays at 6pm. Tickets cost from €20 and are available via this link. Note that the performance is in Spanish and that the link to book takes you to El Corte Inglés booking platform.
Flamenco events in Malaga in November
International Flamenco Day is on 16 November. We are waiting for confirmation on special events in Malaga to celebrate the day.
Free flamenco concert
Local group, Cuadro Flamenco de la Repompa (song and dance), perform at the MVA Auditorium on Calle Ollerías on Monday 28 November at 7.30pm. Tickets are free, but you need to get yours from the box office on the day (available from 7pm onwards) or from the Municipal Fiestas Department in Camino de San Rafael 99 (available from 9am onwards – you can get here on the No 20 bus from the Alameda Principal).
What’s on in Malaga in November – music
November welcomes a long list of musical and dance events in Malaga and as usual, there’s something for all tastes and budgets:
Concerts at the Botanic Gardens
The municipal band plays a free concert in the lovely gardens on Sunday 6 November at noon, performing music by von Suppé and Tchaikowsky with a foot-tapping pasodoble to finish. Entry is free, but you need a ticket available from Thursday 3 November at 11am on this link. Don’t click before then because the link won’t work. Entry to the gardens also comes included in the ticket.
You can get to this concert on the Tourist Bus (green line) that leaves the mainline train station at 11am on Sunday 6 November, gets to the gardens at 11.40am and returns from the gardens at 2.15pm. This option gives you the chance to explore the gardens for an hour or so before you return to the city centre. Tickets are €1.40 each way.
Concerts at the Sala Maria Cristina
November welcomes a couple of concerts at this lovely venue off Calle Carretería:
Saturday 5 November at 7.30pm – Iván Martín plays Beethoven and Chopin on the piano. Tickets cost €15 and are available online here.
Saturday 12 November at noon and 7pm – the Promusica Chamber Orchestra play a Night at the Opera. Tickets cost €16 and are available here.
Opera Stars
Soprano Inna Klochko and tenor Artjoms Safronovs are accompanied by Hayk Grigoryan on piano in a performance of popular arias and duets from the world of opera (take your hanky). They perform at the Congress Palace on 6 November. Tickets are available online here.
Free jazz concerts
This year, there are 16 free jazz concerts at venues around the city from Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 November, including the following:
Plaza de la Merced – the main stage with seats for 150 (but get there early to bag yours)
Thursday 3 at 6.30pm, Lara Wong & Lucía Rey Quartet
Friday 4 at 5pm, Rubem Dantas Quartet and at 6.30pm, Antonio Serrano + Nono García Cuartel
Saturday 5 at 5pm, Tino di Geraldo QuartetT and at 6.30pm, Benavent di Geraldo Pardo
Sunday 6 at 5pm, Carmen Vela Quartet and at 6.30pm, Cristian de Moret
Plaza Félix Sáenz
Friday 4 at noon, Antti Sarpila Hot Trio
Plaza del Obispo
Saturday 5 at noon, Lara Wong & Lucía Rey Quartet
Plaza del Carbón
Thursday 3 at 4pm, Antti Sarpila Hot Trio
Friday 4 at 4pm, Carmen Vela Quartet
Saturday 5 at 4pm, Cristian de Moret
Sunday 6 at 4pm, Naike Ponce
Hotel H10 Croma
Sunday 6 at 6pm, Paula Bilá
Hotel Molina Lario
Thursday 3 at 10pm, Pakete + Naike Ponce
Friday 4 at 10pm, Cristian de Moret
Saturday 5 at 4pm, Paula Bilá
Sunday 6 at 4pm, Fernando Brox + Carlos Cortés
Hotel Málaga Palacio
Thursday 3 at midnight, Carmen Vela Quartet
Friday 4 at midnight, Tino di Geraldo + Jose Carra Quartet
Saturday 5 at midnight, Antonio Serrano + Nono García Quartet
Sunday 6 at midnight, José Mª Pedraza Trio
Hotel La Chancla
Thursday 3 at 5pm, José Mª Pedraza Trio
Friday 4 at 5pm, Cristian de Moret
Saturday 5 at 5pm, Naike Ponce
Sunday 6 at 5pm, Eneko Alberdi + Noe Sakura
Huelin Park
Saturday 5 November at 1pm, Rubem Dantas + Petaca Quartet in Huelin Park (links to Google Maps).
Read the full guide to the Jazz Festival
Sunday lunchtime concert
The Museum of Malaga has its usual noon concert on Sunday 20 November with a piano and sax duo playing music by female composers. Free entry, but get there early to be sure of a seat.
Museum concert
This month’s concert in the lovely patio at the Carmen Thyssen Museum takes place on Friday 25 November at 7pm when the Compañía Lírica Teatro del Arte will be singing. Free entry, but get there early to be sure of a seat.
Opera in the Albeniz Cinema
This month’s operatic treat is Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, filmed at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 2017. Watch it on Tuesday 22 November at 7pm – tickets cost €15 and are available online here.
Dance in Malaga in November
This year’s edition of Malaga Dance continues throughout November with world-class performances in the city. The programme is eclectic and encompasses all types of dance from ballet to hiphop via flamenco and modern. Performances take place at the Cervantes Theatre and you can see the full programme here. Click on performance to get to the link to book tickets online.
Still Japi?
The Spanish dance company Japiverdy brings this performance to La Térmica Cultural Centre on Saturday 5 November at 5, 7 and 9pm. Free entry, but get there early to be sure of a seat. Get to La Térmica by walking west along the seafront (the cultural centre is behind the modern glass Diputación building) or on the No 7 bus from the Alameda Principal (south side).
The video below gives you an idea of what to expect.
Vinarama Malaga
This celebration of Malaga wine returns for its second edition on Friday 18 and Saturday 19 (noon to 10pm) and Sunday 20 November (noon to 6pm) at La Térmica Cultural Centre. Over 20 bodegas from the province will be present, showcasing over 100 different types of Malaga wine and the event includes tastings, workshops, live music, local produce and a wine market. Tickets cost €6 and are available on the door on the day at La Térmica
Sporting events in Malaga in November
The city celebrates two biggies this month:
Malaga Half Marathon
You can still sign up for the city’s annual 21k race (cost €30). This year’s takes place on Sunday 13 November at 9am and runs along the entire length of seafront promenade from the Martin Carpena Stadium and back. Please give us a big cheer if you see us running by!
Davis Cup finals
One of the world’s biggest tennis tournaments takes place in Malaga between 22 and 27 November at the Martin Carpena Stadium. The quarter finals (Australia vs the Netherlands, Croatia vs Spain, Italy vs the US and Germany vs Canada) take place on 22 and 23 November, the semis on 25 and 26 November and the grand finale on 27 November. At the time of writing (late October), tickets were still available and you can buy them online.
What’s on in Malaga in November – art exhibitions
As always, events in Malaga in November include lots of great art (whatever your favourite genre). For more information, read our guide to museums in Malaga.
MUPAM
The city museum (on Plaza de General Torrijos at the end of the Paseo del Parque) has a new temporary exhibition in November, Mar de Málagas. Taking the Mediterranean as its central theme, the exhibition brings together 22 works by local artists in the 19th, 20th and 21st century, showing their interpretation of the sea in Malaga. Until 26 November.
Open Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 8pm. Free entry.
Picasso Museum
The most-visited museum in southern Spain has a permanent collection, called Conversations with Picasso 2020-2023. The exhibition explores 8 decades of artistic creativity from the 20th century’s greatest artist. The Museum also has a room (Sala XII) showing 19 ceramics and 3 paintings created by Picasso between 1931 and 1962. You can also see 22 works from his La Californie sketchbook, which he drew in Cannes in 1956.
Open daily 11am to 7pm. Tickets €9, free Sundays after 5pm. Note that the Picasso Museum café has now reopened 🎉
Carmen Thyssen Museum
The museum continues to showcase Spanish art from the 18th and 19th centuries seen in the permanent collection.
You can also see Masterpieces in Belgian Art, an exhibition with the essence of Belgian art from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th. René Magritte is just one of the artists. You can see this exhibition until 5 March.
Open Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 8pm, €10 (€6 for entry between 2.30 and 4pm), free from 5pm on Sundays.
The Carmen Thyssen Museum has a lovely café serving coffee, light snacks and lunch. There’s a daily lunchtime menu, which is excellent value for €11.90.
Keep your finger on the Malaga buzzer – sign up for our free fortnightly newsletter. All you need to know about what’s on and what’s new in the city in your inbox every other Friday.
CAC Malaga
This avant-garde art museum has 3 main exhibitions showing this month:
- Osgemeos – Brazilian twins, Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, showcase 22 paintings and a musical installation in their exhibition When the leaves turn to yellow. Until 4 December.
- Work, Rest and Play – one of the most representative exhibitions ever of work by British artist James Reilly. The works include oil and watercolour paintings, many of which are based on stories and pictures from newspapers. Until 27 November.
- While you were asleep – almost 40 works from the museum’s archives by local artist, David Escalona
Open Tuesday to Sunday 9am to 9.30pm. Free entry.
While you’re at CAC, don’t miss the permanent and Neighbours exhibitions. They’re both packed with interesting and thought-provoking art work and installations.
Russian Museum
It’s been all change at this art museum in Malaga since (understandably) no new artworks from the Russian State Museum have arrived. But the latest exhibitions are excellent and both draw on the massive collection in the archives at the Picasso Foundation.
Incessant Picasso. Freedom and Life – over 150 works by Picasso or depicting him are on display to illustrate his seemingly limitless creativity. The exhibition takes the theme of the different stages of his life and you’ll see photos, books, sketches, prints and ceramics.
The Reasons for Dreams – this collection, divided into eight sections, looks at the different shapes and forms of dreams. Works on display are by artists including Henry Moore, Joan Miró, Francis Bacon, Georges Ségel, Joaquín de Molina and local Chema Cobos.
Shadow Dancers – Mallorcan artist Bernardi Roig has two art works at the Russian Museum this month. Shadow Dancers are four bronze sculptures of ballerinas displayed in a room and his drawing Cap Negre.
Open Tuesday to Sunday 9.30am to 8pm. Permanent exhibition €6, temporary exhibitions €4, €8 combined ticket. Free on Sundays after 5pm.
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Pompidou Centre
The latest exhibition, Our Own Time, is our favourite so far. It’s divided into six sections (Leisure Time, Holiday Time, InnerTime, Interspatial Time, Introspective Time and Confrontation Time) and showcases work by artists from the early 20th century to the present day. Expect to see the usual thought-provoking collection of paintings, sculptures, videos, photos and installations. Artists on show include Accardi, Léger, Matisse, Picasso and Zangewa.
Read our dedicated post about the exhibition at the Pompidou Centre.
You can also see The Laberynth of Light and the Minotaur by Bernardi Roig, an installation made from 25 blocks of polystyrene. Until May.
Open Wednesday to Monday 9.30am to 8pm. €7 for the permanent exhibition, €9 for both. Free Sundays after 5pm.
Top tip – art museums in Malaga have free entry on Sunday afternoons.
La Térmica Cultural Centre
La Termica Cultural Centre has two exhibitions this month, both with free entry. Open Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 2pm and 5 to 8.30pm.
This is my swim lane
This exhibition showcases work by Slovakian photographer, Maria Svatova. Half the photos are of her iconic swimming pictures, usually with women swimmers in red or yellow hats, and the other half are contemporary images entitled Retro Future. Until 12 February 2023.
Ozange
The 1st African Photography Bienal arrives on 4 November and celebrates the work of artists from across the continent. Women photographers take centre stage in what promises to be one of the best exhibitions in Malaga this winter. Until 29 January 2023.
Get to La Térmica by walking west along the seafront (the cultural centre is behind the modern glass Diputación building) or on the No 7 bus from the Alameda Principal (south side).
What’s on in Malaga in November – markets
With Christmas on the horizon, Malaga markets are a great place to start your Christmas shopping. As well as the usual Sunday arts and crafts markets on Muelle Uno and on the western seafront promenade:
Red Friday – arts and crafts stalls, vintage items, food trucks and live music make up this fun cultural/market event at La Térmica. This month’s edition is on Friday 4 November 7pm to midnight and musical performances are by Cori Matius, Jordana B and The Mary Onettes.
El Zoco – the arts and crafts market takes place on Muelle Uno every Sunday in November from 11am to 6pm.
Merced Market – takes place on Sunday 6 November on Plaza de la Merced from 11am to 7pm.
Soho Market – more arts and crafts on Calle Tomas Heredia in Soho on Sunday 27 November from 11am to 7pm.
Organic and local produce markets, all grown locally in the Guadalhorce River valley – Saturday 12 November on Calle Cervantes and Paseo de Reding (near La Malagueta) and Saturday 26 November in Huelin Park. 10am to 2pm.
Next month’s post will of course be about events in Malaga in December so stay tuned for all the information you need about Christmas in Malaga.
