Málaga does its Christmas lighting on a scale that would look excessive anywhere else and gets away with it. Calle Larios, the wide marble-paved street through the centre, is roofed end to end with an installation of a couple of million LEDs, and several times each evening the whole thing runs as a choreographed show with music. Tens of thousands of people stand in the street to watch it.
What to expect. The switch-on is a night in itself, usually the last Friday of November, with the street closed and packed hours beforehand. After that the shows run nightly — typically around 6.30pm, 8.30pm and 10pm — through to 6 January. Eighty-odd more streets and squares are lit, there are Christmas markets on the Paseo del Parque and around the cathedral, and the belenes — nativity scenes, some of them enormous — go up across the city.
Practical bit. Exact dates are announced in October or early November; the pattern is reliable but do not book flights on our word for it. Come on a weeknight if you can — Larios on a December Saturday is shoulder to shoulder. Park outside the centre and walk in, or leave the car and use the trains along the coast; the Costa del Sol line runs from Fuengirola to the city in half an hour.
