Malaga is consolidated as a tourist destination of excellence, and sustainable, beyond the sun and the beach. If your cruise stops or leaves this beautiful Andalusian city, I recommend that you visit it, either walking through its streets and enjoying its gardens and squares or visiting some of its museums.
I warn you that if the scale of your cruise is only one day you will have to choose very well, because the hours will be short with everything there is to see and do in Malaga, which is already known as the City of Museums.
If when you booked your cruise they told you about an excursion, unless you have a special interest in an exhibition that is held in their museums, and that is not incorporated into it, I recommend that you hire it.
Now, If you prefer to organize a little on your own, or you already know the city and want to see what you left behind on another occasion, then the Málaga Pass card may be an option. Its price is 28 euros and is valid for a 24-hour visit. With it, you have guaranteed entry to all museums and monuments, discounts in shops and guided tours. It includes a guide in seven languages and there are two versions, the physical card and the QR code that you download to your mobile phone and that you show at the entrance of the museums.
The monuments that you cannot miss in the city are the Alcazaba, the Cathedral, the Gibralfaro castle and the Roman theater, but Malaga is also its churches, basilicas and palaces, in addition to its notable buildings, such as the tobacco factory or the Town Hall, and of course the birthplace of Picasso.
And as for its museums, this city is the center at this time after Madrid, with the Picasso Museum, the Center for Contemporary Art, the Pompidou Center, the collection of the Russian Museum of San Petersburg Hermitage and the Carmen Thyssen Museum Malaga… This is speaking of "the greats" but there are real treasures hidden in the lesser-known museums of this City of Museums.