We would like to visit Malaga and meet some friends (whose condo is too small to fit us all) early July. We are 2 adults and teens aged 18 and 16. Can someone recommend a hotel that will accomodate a family? At a reasonable price? Thanks.

Where is the condo (I suppose you want to be near your friends)? What is your budget? What are you looking for (beach/fun or quiet/monuments)?

AC Palacio de Malaga - not the cheapest but top quality, great location etc etc and I'm sure they'll do deals

check out ac-hotels.com

I was very impressed with Hotel Ibis Malaga Centro. New, clean, modern, nice staff, inexpensive and literally a stonesthrow from the old part of Malaga. Much better than a Holiday Inn or HoJo's.

Roommate Lola was fantastic

I've enjoyed staying at the AC Palacio, but it doesn't have family rooms. You'd need to be two doubles.

The two Room Mate properties, Lola and Larios, will probably be less expensive.

www.room-matehoteles.com

Their condo is in Manilva. We have found the Holiday Inn for E80 per night with breakfast. I guess I don't know enough about Malaga to determine if we should stay near them or closer to the beaches. The Lola and Larios also would require 2 rooms. I will check out the Ibis. Thanks for the awesome information.

Oh, and we want to see the sights, attend the beach and have fun. It will be the first visit to Spain for our 16 year old. Our daughter lived in Alburqurque for a year with the family we are meeting.

Manilva is very far away to the west. Next town and you'll be in Cadiz.
I can rec. some hotels in the Pedregalejo area. Hotel Cohiba (recently renamed La Chancla, i.e. the flip-flop http://www.hotellachancla.com/ )is by the beach. There are many language academies around and the area is full of young people trying to learn spanish. It is busy at night, many bars with terraces but no discos. All the activity is by the sea strip, so you may consider other options in the same area but not in the very beach: http://www.lasacaciashr.com/ or www.hoteleshijano.com . They are family hotels. There is a good bus service to the city center. Have in mind that life begins in Malaga at 9-9'30AM, and there's little to do but walk by the seaside (or get into a traffic jam).
On the city center itself, I'll paste a report I made some time ago. The city center is busy at night Thu to Sun, especially in the summer.

HOTELES EN MALAGA


I have been checking hotels, and I am writing them downbelow, from near to far from the city center (when I say far, I mean a short walk, let's say 10 mins ). The following are in the very city center, a short walk from mostly every place.
www.hotel-larios.com is in the very center of Malaga, which is the Plaza de la Constitucion. It has no parking, but they may have some arrangement with nearby municipal pk. building. Though the center is pedestrian-only, it is permitted access by car to the hotel door, where a porter'll take care of luggage.
www.ac-hotels.com and select Malaga Palacio. A traditional hotel, recently fully restored. Location as the doncurro, in the photo you’ll see. It is a good hotel, has parking in the adjacent building (but I think it has limited space. I recommend checking with them).
www.hoteldoncurro.com functional, 5min from center (I mean the Pza. Constitucion), across the street from AC Malaga palacio. PK: same as before.
www.nh-hotels.com and select nh Malaga. It is modern, recently built, with good parking. Located 10 min from center, along the promenade and crossing the river. Very near El Corte Ingles department stores. Good choice as well.
www.eurostarshotels.org and look for Astoria Malaga, functional recently restored, with own garage, 10 mins, this side of the river (Guadalmedina). Very near the nh, which is the other side of the river. Only problem is that faces west, sunset, direct sun all afternoon and evening, an issue in summer.
www.solmelia.com go to Tryp Alameda. A new building as part of a shopping mall. That side of the river. Own pk., very near El Corte Ingles. This is the farthest, 15-20min, but I see it has good offers, so you save for taxis.

I have considered other two: Kris Tribuna and Malaga Centro, one in front of the other with the river in the middle. These are 10-15 min., but north from the others, and to go to the centre (or back) you have to cross streets that are unpleasant, especially at night.

There are other hotels recently opened but I don’t know, such as Molina Lario (right in front of Malaga Palace) or Atarazanas, and lower budget hotels such as Sol or Venecia.

manilva is not close to cadiz but nor is it close to malaga, and there's no rail connection between the two so you're at the mercy of the horrible Costa del Sol road system which can be gridlocked in summer.
If you want to be close to them, think about the not very inspiring development of Sotogrande which does at least have either an ac or an nh hotel (can't remember which but you'll find it via their websites) or a hotel in the frankly pretty plush marina.
If you think out of the box a little more you could try Gibraltar - not far from your friends, quite an experience if you research it right and some good hotels esp the colonial beauty The Rock. From there you could do Tangiers for the day - a fantastic experience.
Other than that Malaga has loads to recommend it but it will be difficult to spend time with your friends.
Let me know if you need more info.