How Picasso’s birthplace became the Mediterranean meeting place for creative chefs, innovative hospitality experts, magnet for global technology, as well as a luxury hotel destination.
Every February, Málaga becomes the meeting place for Spain’s hospitality and gastronomy industries. H&T, the Salón de Innovación en Hostelería, now in its 28th edition, is an innovation show that brings together the full breadth of the sector from Michelin-starred chefs, winemakers, artisan producers of organic local produce, speciality coffee roasters, craft brewers, hospitality equipment suppliers, and the technology companies that are shaping how the industry operates. This year, over three days in February more than 600 companies, 70 speakers and 19,000 professionals came together at FYCMA, Málaga’s trade fair and congress centre.
The programme ranged from AI and digitalisation to sustainability, customer experience and talent, together with the headline draw of Michelin star chefs and industry thought-leaders.
Eduard Xatruch, whose Barcelona restaurant Disfrutar holds three Michelin stars, talked about his years at elBulli, the journey with his partners to open Compartir in Cadaqués, and the philosophy behind Disfrutar’s success. What stayed with me was his insistence that warm, welcoming, natural hospitality is what makes a dining experience memorable. That eating out is a complex ritual involving far more than what is on the plate.
Toño Pérez, the three-star chef behind Atrio in Cáceres, spoke about the influence of his mother and inspiration of the natural setting of his award-winning Extremaduran restaurant. I have stayed at Atrio and eaten there, and his presentation captured exactly why it is one of the most special dining experiences in Spain. Benito Gómez of two-star Bardal in Ronda, Hugo Muñoz of Ugo Chan in Madrid, and Víctor Gutiérrez, whose restaurant in Salamanca is Spain’s only Michelin-starred Peruvian kitchen, all shared their insights.
These chefs chose to come to Málaga, to this show, to inspire the next generation. And you could see it working. After each session, young hospitality professionals crowded to the front for selfies and conversation. For them, these chefs are rock stars.
Andalusian Wine, Reimagined
In the tasting salon, I joined a session titled ‘De Jerez al Cielo: Redescubriendo el Fino de Pago’, led by the team behind Bodegas San Francisco Javier. Sisseck, the Danish winemaker whose Pingus is one of Spain’s most revered wines, has turned his attention to Jerez with a project that is helping restore the historic prestige of single-vineyard Fino sherry, and it is one of many Andalusian innovation stories highlighted at the show.
A City Transformed
I have lived in Málaga province for over 20 years. I have witnessed firsthand how this city has evolved, Two decades ago, Málaga was a place most travellers passed through on the way to the Costa del Sol resorts.
What has happened since is one of the most remarkable urban reinventions in southern Europe. Málaga has become a genuine city destination, a place people fly to for unforgettable city breaks and international conferences. The city is increasingly more sophisticated, focused on a more sustainable model of tourism, with more boutique properties and fine dining. Malaga is also blessed with Mediterranean light, a 3,000-year history, a renowned coastline, an airport with extraordinary international reach, and the warmth of malagueño culture.
The malagueños are open, friendly, and quick to start a conversation, whether it is the taxi driver taking you from the hotel to the trade fair or a waiter in an old town tapas bar. This Mediterranean warmth and openness is part of why Málaga works as a hub for innovation. There is a freedom here, a lack of pretence and hierarchy, which acts as a natural incubator.
Cultural Capital
Málaga’s cultural reinvention is anchored by major institutions that very few cities outside national capitals can rival. The Museo Picasso Málaga, opened in 2003 in the Palacio de Buenavista, honours the city’s most famous son with over 200 works. The Carmen Thyssen Museum, in a 16th-century palace, holds an exceptional collection of 19th-century Spanish painting. The Centre Pompidou Málaga, the first branch of the Parisian institution outside France, is found on the stylish marina complex of Muelle Uno.
The Museo de Málaga, Andalucía’s largest museum, reopened in 2016 in the restored Palacio de la Aduana, the neoclassical former customs house, with over 15,000 archaeological artefacts tracing the city from its Phoenician founding around 770 BC. Add the CAC Málaga contemporary art centre, the Picasso birthplace on Plaza de la Merced, and a growing gallery scene in the Soho arts district, and the total reaches over 40 cultural spaces.
The Waterfront
Nowhere captures Málaga’s transformation better than its revitalised port. Muelle Uno, the palm-lined quayside development, has turned a working dock into one of the most attractive waterfront promenades in the Mediterranean, with the Pompidou’s emblematic glass cube art installation at one end and the Paseo de la Farola at the other. A new cruise terminal has also expanded the city’s international profile.
At the heart of Muelle Uno is the restaurant of José Carlos García, the city’s renowned Michelin-starred chef and a true malagueño. I have eaten there, and what distinguishes the experience is how relaxed and natural it feels. There is no pretence. García’s two tasting menus champion local produce, around 70 per cent from the surrounding land and sea, reinterpreting Andalusian classics like ajoblanco and gazpachuelo with technique and what he calls the classicism of his family heritage with a touch of rock and roll. This, I think, is the art of Spanish hospitality, modern yet built on generations of history and ancient recipes, delivered with authenticity and without a trace of stuffiness.
Beyond the Michelin table, the old town is filled with places to eat. The Mercado de Atarazanas is the place to start, with standing tapas and cold beers. Walk east along the coast to El Palo and you find espetos, fresh sardines on skewers over beachside fires, a culinary icon of Malaga.
Read The Luxury Editor’s Málaga Eat, Do, Stay guide here.
The Home of Innovation
Málaga’s ambition goes well beyond culture. The city has established itself as one of southern Europe’s most significant technology hubs. Málaga TechPark, a 30-year-old campus, is home to over 630 companies and 25,000 professionals. Google also chose the city for GSEC Málaga, its flagship European cybersecurity centre, housed in a landmark building near Muelle Uno. Malaga also beat seven cities in five countries to host Vodaphone’s European R&D centre. Oracle, Huawei, Globant, TDK, Capgemini and IMEC have all followed, supported by the proactive Malaga Chamber of Commerce.
This spirit of innovation is echoed in the hospitality sector. The Costa del Sol has been a testing ground for the hospitality industry for seven or eight decades, from the days when European royals discovered the coast, through the creation of landmark resorts, the mass tourism era and now out the other side with a refined, experienced model built on sense of place, sustainability, and gastronomy. H&T is the natural expression of that evolution.
The City to Watch
Málaga is compact, walkable, and vibrant with Andalusian energy. The old town is a maze of tapas bars, small squares, and sunlit terraces, backed by the Alcazaba, the Roman Theatre and the Castillo de Gibralfaro. Urban beaches run along the eastern coast.
It is also exceptionally well connected. The Pablo Ruiz Picasso Airport is Spain’s fourth busiest, with 55 airlines flying to over 160 destinations across more than 40 countries, including direct services to the Middle East via Qatar Airways and seasonally to New York. The city is on Spain’s AVE high-speed rail network.
But what sets Málaga apart, and what may in time see it eclipse Barcelona as southern Europe’s most dynamic Mediterranean city, is the combination of all these things in a place that remains genuinely warm, and human in scale. A city with 3,000 years of history, world-class art, a technology sector that attracts Google and Vodafone, a hospitality industry with seven decades of expertise, Michelin-star dining on the waterfront, urban beaches, over 300 days of sunshine, and a population whose instinct is to welcome you.
Discover The Luxury Editor’s collection of the best hotels in Málaga here.
