Park in Malaga is one of the great challenges that we will face when we arrive in the city for the first time or to spend a weekend in the city. It does not reach the level of Granada or Toledo, where parking in the center is an almost impossible mission, but things are getting more and more complicated.
And if we are already looking to park in the center of Malaga and also for free, the options are considerably reduced and our patience must grow proportionally. However, there are solutions for everything and you just have to know where, when and what to look for to find that free parking space on the streets of Malaga that makes your day (or night) happy.
If we don´t like to park on the street or we do not want to waste time, we can always use the car parks (parkings and garages) in the city, which I will talk about at the end.
Where to park in Malaga: zones and hours
The first thing is to identify the payment areas and differentiate them from the free ones. As it happens in almost all cities, this is about colors, so in Malaga we have the blue zone as the payment zone, but it has a division in the so-called zone 30.
Zone 30 is a zone of high rotation, where the maximum is 30 minutes, but it remains blue and we can only identify it by a sign, so we must be vigilant.
The free or free zones in Malaga are marked by a white line.
Electric vehicles will be able to park for free in paid areas, but unfortunately (and inexplicably) it is only applicable to residents of Malaga who request it.
Hours and price of the blue zone in Malaga
The schedule of the blue zone in Malaga is as follows:
- Monday to Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- Saturdays: 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
- The maximum parking time is 150 minutes (2h 30 min).
Outside these hours, you can park without any problem in the blue zone or zone 30.
If you come for the weekend, one option may be to park in the white zone when you arrive and then move it to the blue zone from 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
The prices of the blue zone are the following:
At the vending machine, the minimum payment is for 30 minutes and intermediate fractions of 0.05 can be obtained. Time / Price:
- 30 minutes (minimum): €0.30
- 1 hour: €1
- 2 hours and 30 minutes (maximum): €2
My great recommendation is that you use the TelPark application, because you can choose the fraction of time you want, cancel, extend or reduce the duration of the stay. And it’s not an affiliate link, it’s good advice.
Where to park in Malaga Center for free.
Once the subject of the blue zone has been explained, it is time to look for free parking in Malaga Center or at least the closest to the most important parts of the city.
I recommend 4 areas where you can try to park for free in Malaga, but as I said before, you need to be patient.
Obviously, the location of your accommodation will have important, take a good look at the map and do not go to park on the other side of the city just to save €4-5.
Victory neighborhood (Barrio de la Victoria) – Lagunillas – El Ejido.
It is the best area to park for free in Malaga and is only 15 minutes from the historic center. If you stand in the Plaza de El Ejido, all those streets are white zones; Later, you will find the Lagunillas area, where you have to be more careful when parking.
Another option would be to go north, Cristo de la Epidemia street or the Basilica de la Victoria area, where it is possible to find parking.
El Perchel – Carmen Market.
This area is small, but it is possible to find free parking on Calle de Montalban.
Be careful in this area because it is surrounded by the Blue zone and we can easily make mistakes.
Rosaleda Avenue – Capuchinos.
This area is all free parking, it is difficult to find, because the streets are narrow, but with patience you will be lucky. We would be about 15 minutes from the Cathedral of Malaga, to give an example.
Vialia – Around Train station
We are a bit far from the historic center of Malaga, but nothing that a walk of 20-25 minutes on foot or the public transport of Malaga does not solve.
Parking in Malaga. Paid car parks.
In Malaga we have 12 car parks that are part of the Municipal Car Park Network. They are located at strategic points in the city and will help us to park in Malaga.
The car parks closest to the historic center and that may be of interest to you are:
- Marina Parking (440 places)
- The busiest in the city. Very narrow seats.
- Parking Camas (526 places).
- Very central and busy on weekends.
- Parking of the Alcazaba (543 places)
- Complicated during weekend nights, a very good option during the day to be 5 minutes from downtown.
- San Juan car park (704 spaces)
- On weekends there is almost no demand, a good option.
- Tejón car park (253 spaces)
- Small and not very accessible. I do not recommend it.
- Salitre car park (931 spaces)
- Payment alternative in the Vialia-El Perchel area.
- Cervantes car park (866 spaces)
- Located in the area of the Malagueta and the bullring.
- Andalusia car park (929 spaces)
- Another paid parking alternative in the Vialia-El Perchel area.
Not all paid car parks in Malaga have the same prices. Here I leave you their rates: Rates of paid car parks in Malaga
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