VacationSelector
The cathedral from the gardens, Malaga
MalagaThe cathedral from the gardens
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Malaga by Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Malaga or Valletta?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Malaga for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Malaga’s own page.

Choose Valletta for

  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Malaga 77, Valletta 68: Malaga leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Malaga 68, Valletta 55: Malaga leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Malaga 65, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Malaga 62, Valletta 46: Malaga leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Malaga 73, Valletta 56: Malaga leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Malaga 87, Valletta 76: Malaga leads by 11 points.
Good for families. Malaga 70, Valletta 58: Malaga leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Malaga 70, Valletta 62: Malaga leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Malaga 55, Valletta 38: Malaga leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Malaga 55, Valletta 50: Malaga leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Malaga 45, Valletta 44: Malaga leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Malaga 42, Valletta 32: Malaga leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Malaga and Valletta.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Malaga
Best match
64match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and shopping with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

Wins on culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Malaga in July

31 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
MalagaValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Malaga: 1991-2020 normals, Malaga / Aeropuerto (8.2 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureMalagaValletta
Official languageSpanishEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation18 m56 m
Main airportMálaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP)8 km from centre166 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureMalagaValletta
City population599,0635,197
People per km²1,5176,496
Museums within 10 km3216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km13
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months6 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Malaga or Valletta somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.