5 tips for surviving Semana Santa in Malaga
If you didn’t already know, Semana Santa (Holy Week or Easter Week in English) brings Malaga to an absolute standstill every year.
Easter in Spain is not just a religious festival, it’s a deep-rooted tradition that dates back centuries and brings whole communities together.
In Malaga city alone, between Palm Sunday and Good Friday, there are more than 40 processions (plus one on Easter Sunday).
Processions, parading carved images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and other biblical figures, mounted on enormous, ornate floats (tronos), pass through the city’s streets each day between around 4pm and 4am, and in the morning on Palm and Easter Sundays.
During this week, Malaga is paralysed by religious fervour.
So, if you’re counting on getting around without problems or hoping to get some much-needed shut-eye, here are some top tips!
1) Always check the itinerary
During Easter Week, make sure to check the day’s schedule if you’ve got plans.
If there’s a procession nearby, a quick five-minute trip could stretch into an hour-long ordeal.
The streets will be packed, roads closed and there will be queues at crossing points.
And remember, cutting through a procession is a big no-no. It’s considered very disrespectful (and people may shout at you!)
2) Confirm that places are open before setting off
Before you embark on what could potentially be a very long and tricky journey, check that where you’re going is actually open!
Opening hours can vary massively during Semana Santa (and remember Google Maps isn’t a reliable source of information for this).
So call up or check your destination’s social media to make sure it’s actually open.
You don’t want to suffer the disappointment of finding it’s closed after all of the effort of swerving the crowds.
3) Make time for naps during the day
Or become a night owl for the week!
If you live in the city centre and you value your peace and quiet… you’re going to be in for a nasty surprise.
For those living on a procession route, it may well sound like there’s a marching band in your bedroom at 3 o’clock in the morning. So don’t count on being able to sleep!
Therefore, either make sure you create time to take naps during the day or embrace the madness and temporarily adapt your sleep schedule.
4) Go to the beach
Semana Santa in Malaga is very much focused on the city centre.
To avoid the chaos, you could use this as a chance to explore other barrios in the city or simply head to the beach.
You’re safe from processions there!
5) Book a flight elsewhere!
This might sound harsh, but if you’ve ‘been there and done that’ with Semana Santa, you might want to just avoid it entirely.
You could use the opportunity to explore other parts of Spain that aren’t so big on Easter (ie. anywhere that isn’t Andalucía) or cast your net even further.
But, as you might expect, flights for this time of the year can get very expensive. So book well in advance!
2024 Semana Santa dates
Semana Santa 2024 starts on Palm Sunday, 24 March, and finishes on Easter Sunday, 31 March.
Click here for more information about the timings and the routes.
Daryl is the co-founder of Malaga Guru. He is a copywriter, editor and translator who moved to Malaga a decade ago having first fallen in love with the city on his Erasmus year. After working for many years at local expat newspaper SUR in English, Daryl gained expert knowledge in life from the perspective of foreign residents and decided to co-found this site in 2016.