Malaga or Rome?

[Staghead1]

Family of 4, 2 teens. We are looking to go to Malaga or Rome next march for 5 nights and can't decide on which.
We aren't very well travelled at all, so easy to get around, transfer from airport to accommodation.
We like museums, bit of sight seeing.

Rome! It may not be particularly warm and could be wet so a bigger city is a much better option anyway, loads to do - book your tickets for the colosseum in advance, it gets sold out, look into multi attraction passes and take comfortable footwear, we walked so many miles. Loads of info online eg reas restaurants because near the major attraction there’s lots of places praying on tourists

No comparison whatsoever. Rome is an iconic capital city with millennia of amazing history to see, enjoy & learn about. The Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Vatican etc etc. It’s an amazing place. Incidentally, it also has the ugliest, most spectacularly crass & tasteless monstrosity in Europe. The ghastly Vittorio Emmanuele monument, aka ‘the wedding cake’ or ‘the typewriter’.

Malaga is a smaller, provincial city with nothing like Rome’s history or grandeur. It’s still a fantastic place to spend a few days, though. The Atranzas food market is worth the trip on its own.

Budapest is a good alternative if you want somewhere a bit less popular, bit cheaper too, easy access from airport

Malaga is a wonderful destination. There is the Picasso museum, the castles/,forts on the hill, plus a beach. Gorgeous old buildings and like a pp suggested its an hour away from Cordoba which is worth a trip.
We went in January. It was shorts and t shirt weather in the day (well, t shirts 😊) chilly at night.
It was really bustling but not too busy. I think you would get more for your money out there.

I've been to both several times and always off season in Spring or Autumn. I loved both for different reasons. They are very different in terms of size and vibe. My own thoughts/experience:

Rome
-A capital city so MANY more museums to see than Malaga
-We walked everywhere although got the metro train to the Vatican museums because it was quite far from our hotel
-It can get incredibly busy, even in Mar, so you might need to pre-book museum tickets and/or queue
-Can feel very touristy in places and like any city, you need to cautious of touts, pick pockets etc. Yes, this can occur anywhere, but I actually noticed it far more in Rome than in Malaga
-You could be busy every day just seeing museums
-We stayed here and booked into their regular B&B room. The hotel room was fine, but a bit average TBH. After 1 night, they happened to mention that they also had an apartment around the corner and due to it being off season, we could have it for not alot more. It was a 2 or 3 bed apartment, kitchen, plenty of space and we could still eat breakfast in the main hotel. It was fantastic! I'd return to their apartment anytime, their regular hotel rooms, not so much. https://www.hotelcortinaroma.it/

Malaga
-Much smaller than Rome and also easily walkable. More of a town size as opposed to the city that Rome is, but technically, Malaga is a City
-A mix of locals, visiting Spaniards and also foreign tourists but doesn't feels overly touristy
-There used to be a bus direct from the airport for 3euro each which stopped at multiple places in the 'city' and very easy to get
-Several museums to see, the castle Gibralfaro, the long beach promenade to walk along, Picasso museum, the beach and much more.
-1 memorable trip was an easy train journey to Rhonda to see their famous bridge
-Despite what someone up thread said, I find that there is plenty to see/do to keep me busy there, but also allow a quiet day if I want to look around the shops, seafront etc
-I've stayed here once https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/nhmalaga.en-gb.html A hotel with a pool, good facilities but rooms not massive
-I preferred here and stayed here the the rest of my visits https://www.santacruz-apartments.com/index.php?lng=en No pool but its likely too cold in Mar to need one. The apartments I've stayed in have been spacious and well equipment. Its a 1min walk to the mercado de atarazanas market which has all manner of fresh fruit/veg/eggs/meat etc. Also several supermarkets nearby.

Overall, Malaga might feel more manageable in terms of size as you haven't travelled much before but check on tripadvisor and other sites for more info. Have a fabulous time where ever you go.

Rome is wonderful but always busy - my friend went for the first Friday in December (long weekend) and it was still rammed. Less busy than summer but definitely still plenty of tourists.

As suggested by PP, planning and pre-booking sites plus multi-attraction passes all help.

Really? It’s three years since I was there but we booked the day before I think, certainly not further in advance than 2 days because we booked while we were there. That was in late July (and it was hotter than Satan’s furnace, March sounds much more comfortable).

I’d say Malaga as Rome needs at least a week!

Thanks everyone, comments have been really useful.
Think we will go for Malaga and Rome after that.
I'll check out the accomodation recommended as well, so helpful

Rome, without a shadow of a doubt. Malaga is fine, very nice, but nothing on the magic of Rome. I would return in a heartbeat. You lucky things!

From what you say, that sounds a good choice for you. I hope you will be lucky with the weather as I have experienced beach weather in that area year-round (also occasional heavy rain so not guaranteed).

To add to your future city break possibilities, we loved Budapest.

Rome. Malaga is pretty dull in comparison..

Hi OP
We went to Málaga in Feb this year and it was great! We only had two days as headed onto Granada afterwards.
We enjoyed a catamaran trip from the harbour of about 1 hour (this was my tweens favourite thing as loads of fun on the trampolines on the front of the boat). Cathedral was surprisingly good and the children's audio guide is apparently engaging, first time ever they listened to every bit (I didn't have it myself so not sure what a teen would think?)
The beach was warm enough as sunny and the bars were buzzing with lots of people sat outside eating and drinking.
We stayed at https://www.petitpalaceplazamalaga.com
and I would recommend but not sure our budget would have stretched to five nights there!
Jealous, wish we were going again

So change of plan, kids really want to go to Rome, they think Malaga will be boring in comparison and the weather won't be great.
So any accomodation recommendations for Rome would be fab. Or what is the best area to stay?

Could I just ask whether the weather is only of importance if you had been going to Malaga because of the possibility of going on the beach? As Malaga will most likely be warmer than Rome ar this time (Rome in March is like January in Malaga). Obviously as everyone has previously mentioned they are totally different places but just checking your reasoning.