🇪🇸
Malaga
Spain
Costa del Sol sunshine with a growing creative scene.
🇮🇹
Padova
Italy
Historic university town, just 30 minutes from Venice.
Estimated monthly student budget
🇪🇸 Malaga
€850–1,150 / month
Estimated monthly student budget
🇮🇹 Padova
€800–1,100 / month
Best for
🇪🇸 Malaga
- Students who prioritise climate and beach
- Those who want excellent quality of life
- People who want to travel frequently around Europe
Best for
🇮🇹 Padova
- Students who want a real university-town atmosphere
- Those who plan to travel around northern Italy frequently
- People who value academic prestige
Category profile
How each city tends to feel across the things students care about — different, not better or worse.
🇪🇸 Malaga
🇮🇹 Padova
Moderate
Cost of Living
Moderate
Moderate
Nightlife
Moderate
Excellent
Weather
Good
High
Travel Opportunities
Excellent
Very Active
Student Life
Outstanding
Tight
Housing
Manageable
Well-Regarded
University Reputation
Top-Tier
Student insights
🇪🇸 Malaga
- Exceptional climate all year round
- Direct access to urban beaches
- Very good international flight connections
Student insights
🇮🇹 Padova
- One of Italy's oldest and most prestigious universities
- Just 30 minutes by train to Venice
- Strong sense of student community
Student voice — 🇪🇸 Malaga
“I did my Erasmus in Málaga and went to Madrid. Málaga was much better.”
Student voice — 🇮🇹 Padova
“Padova surprised me — I'd choose it again over Milan.”
🇪🇸 Malaga
Pros
- Exceptional climate all year round
- Direct access to urban beaches
- Very good international flight connections
- Modern and increasingly international city
- Excellent quality of life
Cons
- Expensive and competitive housing
- Strong tourist pressure
- Less university atmosphere than other Erasmus destinations
- Higher cost of living than Granada or Seville
- Less feeling of a unified student community
🇮🇹 Padova
Pros
- One of Italy's oldest and most prestigious universities
- Just 30 minutes by train to Venice
- Strong sense of student community
- Compact, walkable historic centre
- Reasonable cost of living for northern Italy
Cons
- Smaller international community than Bologna
- Less famous than Florence or Rome
- Cold and foggy winters
- Limited big-city nightlife
- Housing tightens up at the start of the academic year
Have you studied in one of these cities?
Share your experience and help future students make better Erasmus decisions.