A century of history by the sea: El Balneario Málaga welcomes EUPRERA 2026

One of Málaga’s most iconic venues, open since 1918, will host the congress Beach Dinner on the evening of Thursday 17 September. A night where academic exchange meets the Mediterranean.

More than a venue: A living piece of Málaga’s history

When EUPRERA 2026 delegates gather for the Beach Dinner on the evening of Thursday 17 September, they will not simply be stepping into a restaurant with a sea view. They will be walking into over a century of history.

El Balneario Málaga, officially known as El Balneario de los Baños del Carmen, opened its doors on 16 July 1918, making it one of the oldest and most storied leisure spaces in the city. Located at C/ Bolivia, 26, in the Málaga-Este neighbourhood, the venue sits right on the seafront, looking out across the Mediterranean with a terrace that remains, to this day, one of the finest in the city.

Born as a pioneer: Open-sea bathing in 1918

From its very first day, El Balneario was conceived as something different. While other bathing establishments of the era operated in more sheltered or enclosed waters, Baños del Carmen was built directly on the open sea, a bold choice that followed the fashionable bathing culture of cities like Santander and San Sebastián on Spain’s northern coast.

The concept caught on immediately. Within just a few years, the complex had expanded to include a pier, a restaurant, an outdoor cinema screen visible from the shoreline, and a tennis court that hosted the first tennis tournament ever held in Málaga. In 1922, a dance floor of over 2,000 square metres was inaugurated, a space that became the stage for festivals, regattas, open-air concerts and popular fiestas that drew the whole city to the seafront.

Among its more curious features, the gardens were home to an aquarium and a fountain that, according to local legend, dispensed wine rather than water.

A venue that grew with the city

Throughout the twentieth century, El Balneario evolved alongside Málaga itself. In the 1950s, the grounds hosted equestrian events including the prestigious XI National Show Jumping Competition in 1955. By 1958, a campsite with capacity for 300 visitors had been authorised on the premises, a sign of how the space had become a destination in its own right, not just a local gathering place.

After decades of decline and neglect, the venue has been working to reclaim its original spirit: a landmark of leisure, culture and open-air life beside the sea. Today, it operates as a restaurant and event space that honours its heritage while looking firmly forward.

Thursday 17 September: The EUPRERA Beach Dinner

The congress programme places the Beach Dinner on the evening of Thursday 17 September, from 20:30 to 22:00, at El Balneario’s address on C/ Bolivia, 26. It will be one of the key social moments of the four-day congress, a chance for delegates from across Europe and beyond to step away from the lecture hall, share a meal by the sea and continue the conversations that academic conferences make possible in a more informal setting.

There is something fitting about the choice of venue. A congress devoted to regenerating public relations and strategic communication, held in a city shaped by its relationship with the Mediterranean, gathering at a space that has itself been through a process of regeneration, from pioneering bathing resort to declining relic to renewed cultural landmark. The parallel is not forced. It is simply there.

Málaga, the sea and the congress: A sense of place

For many EUPRERA participants who will be visiting Málaga for the first time, the Beach Dinner at El Balneario will offer something that no conference room can: a direct encounter with the city’s character. Málaga is a Mediterranean city in the most complete sense, it lives facing the sea, it has always drawn its energy from the water, and its social life has historically unfolded in spaces like this one.

The evening will also serve as a reminder that academic congresses are not only about papers and panels. They are about the people who travel to be in the same room, or in this case, the same terrace, and the connections that form when the formal agenda gives way to an open sky and the sound of the sea.