Only YOU Hotel Málaga has given its main rooftop a new identity, creating a new experience, aiming to be city’s music-led meeting place. The summer inauguration of Sonora Sky & Bites began as the sun was setting, bathing the city’s skyline in warm, Mediterranean light. As guest sipped signature Sonora cocktails, the emblematic Alcazaba fort and ancient Gibralfaro castle caught the last of the light, yachts moored long of Muelle Uno began to glow along the waterfront, and RJAYMUSIQ sang Stevie Wonder over his own R&B set.
The rooftop itself is not new. Part of the restored La Equitativa building at the foot of Calle Larios, it has been Only YOU Malaga’s main restaurant since the hotel opened, and the Lolita Skyview Pool & Lounge still crowns the very top floor. The change is on the main terrace below. Lola, the hotel’s restaurant, has gone, replaced by Sonora Sky & Bites, a livelier destination, more in tune with how Málaga likes to spend its evenings, from afterwork ‘till late.
Summer rooftops
Rooftops are certainly in fashion in Spain these days. Barcelona started the trend, then Madrid turned the after-work terrace into a ritual, and Málaga now has an on-trend rooftop scene. Sonora Sky & Bites promises something different, putting live music at the centre of the experience rather than in the background.
Music
The programming includes vinyl-only DJ sessions, R&B Nights led by the excellent RJAYMUSIQ, intimate acoustic evenings with singer-songwriters, live jazz from soloists to quartets, and pop-ups with local promoters championing Málaga’s own music scene. Fridays bring DJ & Bites sessions to open the weekend, while on Thursdays the sushi counter becomes an omakase experience. Even between performances, the soundtrack is carefully chosen. The hotel talks of creating one of the city’s first listening bars, a term borrowed from Tokyo’s audiophile scene.
Gastronomy
The gastronomy matches the mood with a menu made for sharing, like whole calamari a la Andaluz, prawn and squid fideuá, ibérico ham croquetas as well as beef katsu sando and sushi prepared to order.
The cocktail list is filled with creations named for a music icon. Three signatures were unveiled on the launch night. The David Bowie brings together sake, yuzu, jasmine syrup and egg white, served with a trimmed palm leaf; the Blondie combines Bombay Pressé and prickly pear with a lime foam, arriving raspberry-pink beneath a crown of white; and The Doors has Frangelico and coffee liqueur with bitter almond ice cream.
City destination
What makes Sonora genuinely interesting is that it’s created as much for the city of Malaga as it is for hotel guests. Sometimes upscale hotels are not always places city residents actually go, yet here the door at Only YOU Malaga is very much open. The menu and drinks are accessibly priced, and the music gives locals every reason to make this rooftop theirs. It is a clever way of bringing the city into the hotel, and it captures what Only YOU does best.
Read The Luxury Editor review of Only YOU Hotel Málaga here.
If you’re visiting from out of town, make a night of it and stay over. The hotel is as welcoming and sparkling as the day it opened a few years ago, with refined, contemporary Mediterranean style interiors, private terraces and a choice of views from the marina, the city’s lush park with the Alcazaba beyond or the city view taking in the iconic Calle Larios street.
The Luxury Editor attended the inauguration as a guest of Only YOU Hotel Málaga.
