Swimming out past the yellow buoys usually means leaving the safe strip. Here it means the opposite, because the marked lane sits halfway to them.
Where are Malaga’s swimming lanes and how long are they? At La Misericordia and La Malagueta, the only 2 city beaches with one. Each lane runs 600 metres, marked by 5 orange buoys of 60 centimetres set every 150 metres, and sits roughly 100 metres offshore, inside the 200-metre strip closed to boats. Both are swum clockwise, and the city rates them medium to high difficulty.
An open-water swimming lane is a marked corridor inside the bathing zone, reserved for swimming and kept clear of both waders and boat traffic. There are two, at La Malagueta and La Misericordia, each 600 metres long and marked by 5 orange buoys of 60 centimetres. They run clockwise, sit 0.1 km out inside a 0.2 km no-navigation strip, and cost 0 euros, with no ticket and no registration. The Área de Deporte rates them medium-hard and marks each lane at 150 metres, 300 and 450 so it can be cut short.
Nothing to pay and nothing to book. Access is free, there is no ticket and no registration, and there are no opening hours because the water does not lock. Getting to either beach costs a Cercanías single ticket at 1.80 euros from the airport line, with the rest in getting around Malaga.
What the two lanes are made of
Both are described in identical terms by the Área de Deporte, which sets out the design beach by beach.
| Lane | Beach | Length | Buoys | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Misericordia lane | La Misericordia | 600 metres | 5, every 150 metres | Clockwise |
| La Malagueta lane | La Malagueta | 600 metres | 5, every 150 metres | Clockwise |
The buoys measure 60 centimetres, smaller than those on the 200-metre line, and they are orange rather than yellow so that nobody mistakes one for the edge of the bathing zone. GPS coordinates are published for all 10 buoys, from the 0-metre marker to the 600.
One wrinkle sits inside the document itself. The text says buoys every 150 metres to make up 600, while the site plans label the gaps with smaller figures, 128, 136, 139 and 137 metres at La Misericordia, adding up to 540 metres. The buoy labels running 0 to 600 are what a swimmer actually uses.
What the rules say if you are renting a boat or a jet ski
Malaga marks protected zones inside a coastal strip 200 metres wide where navigation is banned, reserved for bathers and closed to every water sport. The Área de Deporte draws the lane at roughly half that distance, about 100 metres from shore at both La Misericordia and La Malagueta, which keeps swimmers clear of waders while staying inside the strip no motorboat or sailing boat may enter.
Anyone hiring something with an engine here runs into the same rulebook that protects the lane.
- Where the coast is not marked, the bathing zone is still the first 200 metres from shore.
- Inside it, no vessel may exceed 3 knots.
- Jet skis may only cross it perpendicular to the beach, and under that speed.
- Every craft leaving or approaching a beach must do so perpendicular to land, under 3 knots, from the 200-metre line inwards.
- Anchoring is banned inside marked bathing zones and in the access channels to ports, coves and beaches.
- Marked access channels are no-swim zones, since they exist to get boats through.
Who writes and who polices each of those layers is unpicked in who runs Malaga’s beaches.
What to wear and when to get out of the water
The notes published for both lanes are identical and run to seven lines. If the sea is not in good condition, stop. The lane is for swimming only. Wear a brightly coloured cap and an inflatable tow float, and a wetsuit especially in winter. Swim clockwise, with company or with someone watching from shore, and warm up first. What anyone arriving with a board or a kayak may do in that same strip is set out in kayak and paddleboarding in Málaga.
Three things the document leaves out and you have to find elsewhere: the dates the buoys are in the water, which follow the seasonal marking calendar in the Malaga beach season; lifeguard hours, on their own calendar; and water temperature, which is what makes the wetsuit line matter far more in January.
Both beaches have their own entry in La Malagueta beach and La Misericordia beach, and the full city list is in Malaga’s beaches.
Common questions about the Malaga swimming lanes
Where are Malaga’s open-water swimming lanes?
On 2 city beaches, La Misericordia and La Malagueta. Each lane runs 600 metres, is marked by 5 orange buoys 60 centimetres across set every 150 metres, and sits about 100 metres offshore inside the strip where no boat may navigate.
Which way do you swim in the Malaga lane?
Clockwise, and that is published for both lanes. It is not politeness. The lane has no divider between directions, so a single agreed direction is what keeps swimmers meeting face on rather than blind.
Is the Malaga swimming lane suitable for beginners?
No. The city’s own document rates it medium to high difficulty and recommends it for keen amateurs and experts. Shorter sessions are possible using the intermediate buoys at 150, 300 and 450 metres from the start.
What do you need to swim in the lane?
A brightly coloured cap and an inflatable tow float, plus a wetsuit especially in winter. The official notes also ask you to swim with company or with someone watching from shore, warm up first, and give up if the sea is not in good condition.
The same Área de Deporte marks 31 kilometres of running lane on land, leg by leg, in where to run in Malaga.
Yellow buoys tell you how far. The small orange ones tell you where.