Málaga’s Sights and Museums: The Alcazaba, Gibralfaro, the Picasso Museum and the Cathedral, with Tickets and Free Hours

Málaga’s main sights sit close together. The Museo Picasso Málaga describes itself as “very close to the Cathedral, the Alcazaba and the Roman Theatre”, and the Alcazaba and the Roman Theatre share Calle Alcazabilla. Most of what follows fits into two unhurried days on foot.

Prices, hours and free times below are as each venue published them on 21 October 2026. Winter hours start on 26 October at the Cathedral and on 1 November at the Alcazaba, Gibralfaro and the Picasso Museum, so both are given.

The Alcazaba and the Castillo de Gibralfaro

The Alcazaba is the Moorish fortress on the slope of Mount Gibralfaro, entered from Calle Alcazabilla 2. The city’s site for the monument says that under Islamic rule it grew from a fortification into “a palace-fortress, and the seat of the city government”, built as two fortresses, one inside the other. Restoration began in 1933. The route takes in the entrance gates, the lower and upper precincts and the Nasrid palace. Of everything in Málaga, it’s the sight to see first.

The Castillo de Gibralfaro crowns the same hill, 132 metres above sea level. Yusuf I began the castle and the Coracha, the walled path down to the Alcazaba, in the 14th century. After the Christian conquest it was a barracks and prison until 1925, when it passed to the city. Its old gunpowder store holds an interpretation centre on its life as a garrison and watchtower from 1487 to 1925. The main reason to go up, though, is the wall-walk along the battlements.

• Who pays less: EU citizens over 65, retired or unemployed; EU citizens who can prove they’re students; European Youth Card holders; and people with a disability of 33% or more. Under-6s go free.
• Free: every Sunday from 14:00, for everyone.
• Hours until 31 October 2026: 09:00 to 20:00, last entry 19:00.
• Hours from 1 November 2026 to 31 March 2027: 09:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:00.
• Tickets: the city sells them at alcazabaygibralfaro.janto.es, which calls itself the “Official ticket sales page”. On 21 October it was selling the Alcazaba, Gibralfaro and the combined ticket for dates up to 31 December 2026.

Getting up. Besides the main gate, the Alcazaba has a lift from Calle Guillén Sotelo, which the monument uses as an entrance and exit. Gibralfaro’s entrance is at Camino de Gibralfaro 11. EMT bus 35 runs there from the historic centre about every 30 minutes, or you can walk up the Paseo de Don Juan Temboury in about 20 minutes. Fares are in getting around Málaga. Taking the bus up and walking down saves the climb.

The Roman Theatre

The Roman Theatre (Teatro Romano) sits below the Alcazaba at Calle Alcazabilla s/n. It was built in the early years of the 1st century AD, and lay hidden under streets and houses for centuries until gardening works in 1951 uncovered its vaulted entrance. Much of the seating, the marble-paved orchestra and the stage survive, and under the glass pyramid on Calle Alcazabilla are the vats where the fish-salting works that later took over the site made garum. The visit is the theatre plus an interpretation centre, and it costs nothing.

• Price: free, up to the site’s capacity. You don’t need to book for a visit on your own; for a guided visit the site recommends booking on 951 501 115.
• Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 18:00; Sundays and public holidays 10:00 to 16:00. Closed on Mondays, and on 1 and 6 January, 1 May, and 24, 25 and 31 December.
• Last entry: no one is let in during the last 30 minutes.
• In heat waves: the site may close when the state weather agency issues an orange or red heat warning.

The Junta de Andalucía, which runs the site, publishes a photograph of the theatre from the Alcazaba’s lookout: walk one, then look at it from the other.

Málaga Cathedral

Málaga Cathedral (the Santa Iglesia Catedral Basílica de la Encarnación) is at Calle Molina Lario 9. It was built where the city’s main mosque stood, to a first design by Diego de Siloé. It opened for worship as it is today in 1768, with the towers still unfinished.

• Buying: at the door or online, at the same price. The audio guide comes in 10 languages, English among them. Guided visits, at €5 extra, are listed as coming soon.
• Hours from 26 October 2026 to 29 March 2027: Monday to Friday 10:30 to 18:30; Saturday 10:30 to 18:00; Sunday 14:00 to 18:00.
• Hours until 25 October 2026: the same, except Monday to Friday until 20:00.
• Last entry: 45 minutes before closing.
• Free access: the Cathedral’s ticket page lists free entry every day from 08:30 to 09:00. Mass is at 09:00 and 10:00 on weekdays.
• Dress: the Cathedral asks visitors to dress with decorum inside.

The rooftop is shut. The Cathedral offered a guided climb of more than 200 steps to the vaults, at a height of almost 50 metres. Its page now says these visits “han quedado suspendidas debido a obras en el tejado”: they’ve been suspended because of works on the roof. No reopening date is given.

Museo Picasso Málaga

The Museo Picasso Málaga fills the Palacio de Buenavista, Calle San Agustín 8, a 16th-century palace that mixes Renaissance and Mudéjar elements. The collection display, Structures of Invention, shows around 144 works from 1895 to 1972, hung so that work from different decades shares each gallery. Below the palace, Phoenician and Roman remains are on view, among them a Phoenician city wall from the early sixth century BC and vats from a Roman salt-fish factory. It’s the city’s essential museum for Picasso.

From 30 October 2026 to 28 February 2027, Munch–Picasso brings more than a hundred paintings, drawings and prints by the two artists together, with the Munchmuseet in Oslo.

• Tickets: €13, or €11 for over-65s, students under 26 and European Youth Card holders. Children under 17 go free. The ticket covers every exhibition on at the time and includes an audio guide that runs in your phone’s browser.
• Booking: all tickets are sold online. If they sell out, the ticket office may sell them at quieter times. The museum’s advice: “Buy online to make sure you get your ticket.”
• Hours: open every day, from 10:00. It closes at 19:00 in September and October, 18:00 from November to February, 19:00 from March to June and 20:00 in July and August. Last entry 30 minutes before closing.
• Holidays: 10:00 to 15:00 on 24 and 31 December and 5 January; closed on 25 December, 1 January and 6 January.
• Free: every Sunday for the last two hours before closing, which means from 17:00 in October and from 16:00 from November to February. Also free on 27 October, the museum’s anniversary, and on 28 February, 18 May and 27 September.

Museo Casa Natal Picasso

The Museo Casa Natal Picasso (formerly the Fundación Picasso Museo Casa Natal) is the house where Picasso was born, at Plaza de la Merced 15, declared a national monument in 1983. Picasso was born in Málaga on 25 October 1881 and spent his first ten years there; the rooms cover his family, his childhood and his training under his father, José Ruiz Blasco, a drawing teacher. Its prize piece is Picasso’s sketchbook no. 7 of studies for Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, the only one of the 16 he filled for that painting that is in Spain, and drawings from it are shown in room 2. At Plaza de la Merced 13, the museum’s exhibition room shows Picasso. Propaganda y activismo político until 7 February 2027.

• Tickets: €3 for the house, €3 for the exhibition, €4 for both. Reduced, for over-65s and students up to 26: €2, or €2.50 for both. Under-18s go free; under-13s must come with an adult.
• Hours: every day, 09:30 to 20:00, holidays included. Last admission 15 minutes before closing.
• Free: every Sunday from 16:00 to 20:00, and on 25 October, Picasso’s birthday. In 2026 that’s a Sunday, and the museum opens its Octubre Picassiano programme that day with an open day.
• Booking: the house takes 25 people at a time, and the museum advises buying ahead, online or by phone. Buying online adds €0.30. There are no changes or refunds.

Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga

The Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga, at Plaza Carmen Thyssen (Calle Compañía 10), is the place for 19th-century Spanish painting, with a particular focus on Andalusian painting. Sorolla’s Rocks at Jávea and the White Boat (1905) is among the works it features. Its temporary exhibition, ¡Olé! The Myth of Spanish Identity through Andalusia, runs from 3 October 2026 to 21 February 2027, with 75 works by 52 artists, Goya, Sorolla and Picasso among them. The museum also takes in an archaeological site of Roman Malaca, with guided visits that use virtual-reality headsets.

• Tickets: €12, or €15 with the archaeological site. Reduced: €8, or €10 with the site, for over-65s, students under 26, European Youth Card holders and residents of Málaga province. Under-18s go free. An audio guide is included.
• Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 20:00; closed on Mondays. Last admission 30 minutes before closing. It opens specially on Monday 7 December 2026.
• Free: every Sunday from 16:00.
• Buying: at the ticket office on the day, or online in advance.
• Bags: no rucksacks, sports or travel bags, suitcases or umbrellas inside. There’s a cloakroom.
• How long: the museum says a visit takes about an hour and a half.

Centre Pompidou Málaga

The Centre Pompidou Málaga is in the Cube (El Cubo) on the port, between Docks 1 and 2 at Muelle Uno (Pasaje Doctor Carrillo Casaux s/n). It opened on 28 March 2015 as the Paris institution’s first outpost abroad, and in 2025, at ten years old, renewed its commitment to the city for ten more. The semi-permanent exhibition, To Open Eyes, runs until 17 January 2027: a loose tour of 20th- and 21st-century art from the collections of the Musée national d’art moderne in Paris. The temporary show, Hors Pistes, ends on 2 November 2026.

• Tickets: €9 for both exhibitions (€5.50 reduced); €7 for the semi-permanent one (€4); €4 for the temporary one (€2.50). Reduced prices are for over-65s, students up to 26 and large families. Under-18s go free. Buying online adds €0.30.
• Hours: 09:30 to 20:00 every day except Tuesday, holidays included. It also opens on Tuesdays that are public holidays. Admission stops 30 minutes before closing.
• Free: every Sunday from 16:00.
• Audio guide: free, in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Russian.

The Bono Arte Xperience is a €16.50 pass (€9.50 reduced) for three city-run museums over one week: the Museo Casa Natal Picasso, the Centre Pompidou Málaga and the Colección del Museo Ruso. Bought separately, the full tickets come to €17 (€9 at the Pompidou, €4 for the Casa Natal and its exhibition, €4 at the Museo Ruso), so the pass saves 50 cents. Buy it for convenience, not to save money.

Museo de Málaga

The Museo de Málaga fills the Palacio de la Aduana, the late-18th-century customs house on Plaza Aduana, and opened there on 12 December 2016. It has two sections, fine arts and archaeology, with more than 15,000 pieces between them. The archaeology section’s core comes from the Alcazaba’s excavations, including glazed Hispano-Muslim ceramics, and from the old Museo Loringiano, the collection the Marquises of Casa-Loring built up after a find in Málaga in 1851. For EU citizens, it’s the best free hour in the city.

• Tickets: free for EU citizens with ID; €1.50 for other nationalities.
• Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 09:00 to 21:00; Sundays and holidays 09:00 to 15:00; closed on Mondays. It opens on the 1 and 2 November and 6, 7 and 8 December holidays.

MUCAC and the Colección del Museo Ruso

MUCAC (the Museo Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga) is the city’s contemporary art museum, formed by merging the old CAC Málaga with the Museo del Patrimonio Municipal. Entry is free. Its open site is La Coracha, Paseo de Reding 1, which reopened on 25 April 2025 and opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 20:00. Ayer. Colección 1940–1990 shows more than 120 works by 73 Spanish artists, many from Málaga, until 30 April 2027. Mediterráneo: continente sin tierra opens there on 30 October 2026.

The Colección del Museo Ruso is in La Tabacalera, the old Royal Tobacco Factory, at Avenida Sor Teresa Prat 15. It’s a 3-kilometre walk from the centre along the Paseo Marítimo Antonio Machado, or near the Princesa-Huelin metro stop. Until 31 January 2027 it shows an exhibition on the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka and his time in Spain, with about a hundred pieces from collections in Spain and abroad. Entry is €4 (€2.50 reduced), and it opens Tuesday to Sunday, 09:30 to 20:00, free on Sundays from 16:00. It’s the furthest from the rest, so it makes most sense on a free Sunday afternoon.

Planning: what to combine, and in what order

What goes together.

• The Alcazaba and the Roman Theatre share Calle Alcazabilla. Start at the Alcazaba at 09:00, see the theatre when it opens at 10:00, then take bus 35 up to Gibralfaro on the combined ticket and walk back down.
• The two Picasso museums pair naturally: the birthplace on Plaza de la Merced before or after the main collection.
• The Cathedral works best on a weekday morning, from 10:30; on Sundays visits start only at 14:00.
• The Pompidou goes with a walk along the port at Muelle Uno.

A free Sunday. Do the Roman Theatre and the Museo de Málaga in the morning, since both close at 16:00 and 15:00 on Sundays. The Alcazaba and Gibralfaro are free from 14:00. From 16:00 the Casa Natal, the Carmen Thyssen, the Pompidou and the Museo Ruso are free, and the Picasso Museum is free for its last two hours.

How long each takes. Only the Carmen Thyssen publishes a visit time: about an hour and a half. Give the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro a morning, and the Picasso Museum at least two hours while Munch–Picasso is on.

For where to base yourself, see where to stay in Málaga, and for a day-by-day plan, 3 days in Málaga.

Skip it

What to skip

• The Cathedral rooftop, for now. The visit is suspended, though the Cathedral’s home page still advertises it as running “only until 31 March”. Don’t buy a rooftop tour anywhere until the Cathedral’s own page shows it back on sale.
• Paying anyone but the venue. Every price here is the venue’s own: the Cathedral charges the same online as at the door, the Alcazaba sells through the city’s official page, and the Picasso Museum sells online. There’s no need to book through anyone else.
• Calle Alemania for MUCAC. The old CAC Málaga building there, now called Mayoristas, is closed for a full renovation. The museum is open at La Coracha.
• Paying for what’s free. If you’re in Málaga on a Sunday, the Alcazaba, Gibralfaro and most of the museums above cost nothing for at least part of the afternoon.
• The Bono Arte Xperience on a Sunday. The three museums it covers are free from 16:00 that day, and on other days it saves only 50 cents.

A few things worth knowing

• Mondays and Tuesdays. On a Monday, the Alcazaba, Gibralfaro, the Cathedral, the two Picasso museums and the Centre Pompidou are open, and the rest are shut. On a Tuesday, everything except the Pompidou is open.
• Late October 2026. Sunday 25 October is free at the Casa Natal, with an open day. Tuesday 27 October is free at the Picasso Museum. Munch–Picasso opens on Friday 30 October. The Museo de Málaga opens on Monday 2 November, a holiday.
• The Cathedral is a working church. Mass is said at 09:00 and 10:00 on weekdays and five times on Sundays, when visiting starts at 14:00.
• Bags. The Pompidou has a cloakroom and lockers on its ground floor; the Carmen Thyssen doesn’t let rucksacks in at all.

Questions

How much is the Alcazaba in Málaga in 2026?

€7 for the Alcazaba or for Gibralfaro, or €10 for both on the combined ticket. Reduced tickets are €3, or €5 combined, and under-6s go free. Both are free for everyone on Sundays from 14:00.

What time does the Alcazaba close?

At 20:00 until 31 October 2026, with last entry at 19:00. From 1 November 2026 to 31 March 2027 it opens 09:00 to 18:00, with last entry at 17:00.

Can you go up on the roof of Málaga Cathedral?

Not in October 2026. The Cathedral has suspended its rooftop visits because of works on the roof, and gives no reopening date. The Cathedral itself is open, at €10 with an audio guide.

When is the Picasso Museum in Málaga free?

Every Sunday for the last two hours before closing, so from 17:00 in October and from 16:00 between November and February. It’s also free on 27 October, 28 February, 18 May and 27 September.

Which Málaga museums are free?

The Roman Theatre and MUCAC are always free, and the Museo de Málaga is free for EU citizens. On Sunday afternoons the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro (from 14:00), the Casa Natal, the Carmen Thyssen, the Centre Pompidou and the Museo Ruso (from 16:00) are free, as is the Picasso Museum for its last two hours.