Marbella

Why go

A real sixteenth-century old town — orange trees, whitewash and a Moorish castle most visitors never find. Puerto Banús — the 1970 marina that set the template for Mediterranean display. The Sierra Blanca — mountains directly behind the coast, with walking an hour from the beach. Three hundred and twenty days of sun — the microclimate that built the Costa del Sol.

The character

Marbella has two histories that barely speak to each other. The first is an Andalusian town of Roman and Moorish foundation, with a castle, a fifteenth-century church and a Casco Antiguo of narrow whitewashed lanes around the Plaza de los Naranjos — a genuine old quarter that survives intact a few streets from the seafront.

The second began in 1946, when Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe bought a finca here and turned it into the Marbella Club, drawing European aristocracy to a fishing village of nine hundred people. José Banús opened his marina in 1970 eight kilometres west, and the Costa del Sol as the world knows it followed: the Golden Mile, the golf courses, the yachts, and the reputation. Modern Marbella is both things at once — a working Spanish city of a hundred and fifty thousand with a serious old town, and a resort strip where the display is the product. Knowing which one you are visiting on any given afternoon is the whole skill.

Places of character

Casco Antiguo and Plaza de los Naranjos — the fifteenth-century square with orange trees and the old town hall. Museo del Grabado Español Contemporáneo — Spanish print-making in a sixteenth-century hospital, and always empty. Puerto Banús at eleven at night — go once, look properly, and draw your own conclusions. Avenida del Mar — Dalí sculptures along the promenade between the old town and the beach. La Concha — the mountain above the town; a four-hour walk to the summit with the African coast visible. Ronda — an hour inland through the sierra, and the best day out on this coast.

The way to do it

Stay in or near the old town rather than on the Golden Mile — it is cheaper, prettier and where Marbella actually is. Walk the Casco Antiguo in the morning, the beach in the afternoon, and go to Puerto Banús after dark or not at all. Take one day inland: Ronda, the white villages, or up La Concha.

One perfect day

Coffee under the orange trees on Plaza de los Naranjos before the shops open, then the old town lanes and the castle walls. Down to the Avenida del Mar and along the promenade for a swim in the flat morning sea. Lunch of fried fish at a chiringuito with your feet nearly in the sand. Afternoon drive inland to Ronda for the gorge and the bridge, or up into the sierra for the view back over the coast to Africa. Return for aperitivo in the old town at nine, dinner at ten, and a late walk down to Puerto Banús to see the other Marbella lit up.

Grand hotels

Marbella Club — Hohenlohe's 1954 hotel, the building that started the entire Costa del Sol. Puente Romano — beside it, built around a Roman bridge, with a tennis club and a strip of restaurants that functions as the town's other centre.

When to go

Best expression: May and October — warm sea, mountains walkable, and the coast working in place of heaving. Consider: February, when the almond blossom is out inland and the hotels are half price. Avoid if possible: August, when the coast road, the beaches and the marina reach capacity together.

The frame

Ideal stay 4 nights · Minimum 2 nights · Best arrival fly to Málaga, forty-five minutes by road · Airport AGP, 55 km · Walkability the old town yes; the coast needs transport · Best without a car possible, but a car opens the sierra