Bullfights and Bullrings in Malaga Province

The building

La Malagueta stands on Paseo de Reding, in the eastern district that gave it its name, with the harbour and the Mediterranean in the same frame. Joaquin Rucoba — also the architect of Atarazanas market — began the work on 16 June 1874. The ring opened on 11 June 1876 with Murube bulls for Lagartijo, El Gordito and Desperdicios.

The plan is a hexadecagon: sixteen sides in neo-Mudejar brick. After the 2010 seating reform the capacity is 9,032, not the old figure of 14,000. The sand is 52 metres across. The building is a Bien de Interes Cultural (1981) and a historic ensemble (1976). Diputacion de Malaga owns it and lets the season by public tender. A two-year restoration from 2017 recovered the brick facade; the plaza reopened in 2019 and now works as a year-round cultural shell as well as a ring.

The old Museo Taurino Antonio Ordonez sat inside the building. After the restoration the visit is framed as La Malagueta Tour / an experience centre. Treat “museum opened in 1999” as the previous layer, not the current ticket.

The Malaga calendar

La Malagueta is a seasonal first-category ring. Four appointments structure the year. None of them is a fixed count of fights.

• Feria de Agosto. The main abono, inside the city’s August fair. Older pages said six to eight events. Recent seasons have been longer: in 2026 the billed cycle runs 8–22 August with a mix of corridas, novilladas, rejones and a recortadores contest, closing on the 150th anniversary of the plaza.
• Easter. Two fights in Holy Week. One of them is the Corrida Picassiana, with suits that quote Picasso rather than a standard traje de luces.
• Corrida de la Prensa. In June, around the feast of San Ciriaco and Santa Paula (18 June), Malaga’s patrons. The exact day moves with the poster.
• Corrida de la Victoria. Around 8 September, feast of the city’s patron, the Virgen de la Victoria. Often the last serious afternoon of the year in the capital.

Map of La Malagueta

The Goyesca is not a fortnight of fights. It is one afternoon — the centrepiece of the Feria de Pedro Romero — in the plaza of the Real Maestranza de Caballeria de Ronda. That ring, finished in the 1780s, is one of the oldest purpose-built plazas in Spain. In 2026 the Goyesca returns on 5 September after two years of structural works, as the 67th edition, with a novillada the evening before and a morning of rejones the same Saturday.

Goyesca means the costume: eighteenth-century dress taken from Goya, not a different way of killing the bull. The old contrast with a “plateresca” Seville school is not a term the plaza itself uses. The useful pairing is the Ronda school (Pedro Romero) against the Seville school (Pepe-Hillo): a short, dry style against a more ornamental one. The afternoon is about the gate, the suits, the invited cartel and the town on the gorge. Tickets disappear early.

More on the town: Ronda. Map of the Real Maestranza

Antequera

Opened 20 August 1848. The Real Feria de Agosto usually carries about three fights. Antequera is the inland stop that pairs with dolmens and the Alcazaba, not a Costa del Sol evening.

Map of Antequera bullring

Mijas

Oval, not round, opened 8 September 1900 on the rock of Mijas Pueblo, rebuilt in 1977. Small, white, and used as much as a museum and viewpoint as a working ring. Encierros from the Vega used to end here; they no longer do. The architecture is the reason to climb the hill.

Map of Mijas bullring

Carratraca

An octagon opened on 25 June 1878, set into the hillside of Sierra Blanquilla, with room for about 3,000. Diputacion still lists August novilladas and other uses (the Moorish festival, a Passion play). The stone bowl is the visit.

Map of Carratraca bullring

Estepona

Juan Mora Urbano’s asymmetric ring opened on 4 June 1972 next to the marina. The west stand is taller so more seats sit in shade. Third category, white walls, oval-leaning plan. The July festival is the usual taurine date when there is one.

Map of Estepona bullring

Marbella

Opened 11 June 1964 for San Bernabe, about 7,000 seats. This is the plaza that the old page dated to Fuengirola by mistake. Corridas stopped for years and returned in 2024 for the 60th anniversary. The August fair is the window to watch; do not assume a full abono every summer.

Map of Marbella bullring

Fuengirola

Opened 8 July 1962 (Cesar Giron, Manuel Segura, Limeno), about 4,000 seats, reworked in 2012. Summer dates and the October Rosario fair used to fill the diary. The building now also runs as a cultural and food venue. Check whether the year you travel still has a corrida.

Map of Fuengirola bullring

Torremolinos and Villanueva del Rosario

Torremolinos fights around the Feria de San Miguel in September. Villanueva del Rosario, inland, holds a Rosario festival in September that can include a fight. Both are third-category dates, not a second Malagueta.

Map of Torremolinos · Map of Villanueva del Rosario