The Golden Mile is a four-kilometre stretch of the N-340 running west from Marbella old town to Puerto Banús. It got the name in the 1950s and 60s when a Spanish aristocrat, Ricardo Soriano, and his nephew Alfonso de Hohenlohe brought a European set to what was then a fishing village, and the hotel Hohenlohe opened in 1954 is still there.
That is the specific stretch of the Costa del Sol worth knowing about. The coast either side of it runs for 150 kilometres and a great deal of it is apartment blocks built in the 1970s and 80s.
What Marbella actually is
Three separate things, and visitors conflate them.
The old town is a small whitewashed Andalusian centre of lanes and orange trees behind the seafront, which surprises people who expect only development.
The Golden Mile is the beachfront strip of established hotels, villas and beach clubs between the town and Puerto Banús.
Puerto Banús is the marina, built in 1970, with the yachts, the boutiques and the nightlife.
Behind all of it, the La Concha mountain rises to 1,215 metres and shelters the coast, which gives Marbella a microclimate several degrees warmer than the rest of southern Spain in winter and around 320 days of sunshine a year.
Inland, Benahavís and the Ronda road climb into the mountains within twenty minutes, and the golf — around seventy courses within an hour — is the reason a large share of visitors come at all.
The twelve below are grouped by stretch.
The Golden Mile
The original strip between the town and the marina.
Marbella Club Hotel · Golf Resort & Spa occupies gardens on the beach that opened in 1954 as the hotel that started the resort, with bungalows among subtropical planting, a beach club and a level of understatement its neighbours do not attempt.
Marbella Club Hotel · Golf Resort & Spa
Golden Mile · 5★ · $$$$
The 1954 hotel that started the resort, in beach gardens
Check availabilityPuente Romano Marbella sits on the same stretch as a village of low buildings around plazas, with a tennis club, a beach club and a run of restaurants that make it a destination in its own right.
Puente Romano Marbella
Golden Mile · 5★ · $$$$
A village of low buildings with a serious restaurant strip
Check availabilityNobu Hotel Marbella occupies a wing of that property as a separate hotel with its own entrance, a restaurant and a design-led interior.
Nobu Hotel Marbella
Golden Mile · 5★ · $$$$
A design-led wing with its own entrance and restaurant
Check availabilityKimpton Los Monteros Marbella by IHG sits at the eastern end of the Golden Mile with a large spa, mature gardens and a long-standing family clientele.
Kimpton Los Monteros Marbella by IHG
East Golden Mile · 5★ · $$$
Mature gardens and a large spa with long-standing regulars
Check availabilityDon Carlos Marbella occupies a beachfront position with several pools, a spa and full facilities at a lower rate than the landmarks.
Don Carlos Marbella
East Marbella beachfront · 5★ · $$$
Several pools and a spa below landmark rates
Check availabilityMarbella old town and the seafront
The whitewashed centre and the beaches east of it.
Amàre Beach Hotel Marbella - Adults Only Recommended sits on the seafront a short walk from the old town with a rooftop pool, an adults-only policy and the best value in central Marbella.
Amàre Beach Hotel Marbella - Adults Only Recommended
Marbella seafront · 4★ · $$$
Adults-only rooftop pool near the old town
Check availabilityEl Fuerte Marbella occupies a position by the old town beach with gardens, a pool and a family operation going back decades.
El Fuerte Marbella
Marbella old town beach · 4★ · $$
Gardens and a pool beside the whitewashed centre
Check availabilityBenahavís and the hills
Twenty minutes inland, with the golf.
Marbella Villa on the beach occupies a palace-style property in the hills with three golf courses, a spa and views down to the coast. It is the golf answer on this coast.
Marbella Villa on the beach
Benahavís hills · 5★ · $$$$
Three golf courses and a spa above the coast
Check availabilityLa Zambra Resort Mijas - Marbella The Unbound Collection By Hyatt sits in the Mijas hills in a restored estate with gardens, a pool and a quieter setting than anything on the beach.
La Zambra Resort Mijas - Marbella The Unbound Collection By Hyatt
Mijas hills · 5★ · $$$
A restored estate with gardens away from the beach
Check availabilityEstepona and Casares
West, beyond Puerto Banús.
BAHIA DE MALAGA occupies a beachfront site at Estepona with a large spa, several pools and full family facilities.
BAHIA DE MALAGA
Estepona · 5★ · $$$
Large spa and several pools on a quieter beach
Check availabilityFinca Cortesin Hotel Golf & Spa sits on a 215-hectare estate at Casares with a golf course, a beach club, an Arab bath and a level of privacy nothing on the Golden Mile has. It is the best hotel on the Costa del Sol.
Finca Cortesin Hotel Golf & Spa
Casares · 5★ · $$$$
A 215-hectare estate with golf, an Arab bath and total privacy
Check availabilityMálaga
Forty minutes east, with the airport and the museums.
Gran Hotel Miramar GL occupies a 1926 palace on the Málaga seafront, restored, with a domed hall and the city's best rooms. Málaga has become a serious museum city and is worth a night.
Gran Hotel Miramar GL
Málaga seafront · 5★ · $$$
A restored 1926 palace with the city's best rooms
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The apartment complexes along the coast either side of Marbella are excluded, and between Fuengirola and Estepona they represent an enormous share of the beds. They are apartments rather than hotels.
What to do
Walk the old town, which is small, whitewashed and genuinely Andalusian, and eat in the Plaza de los Naranjos.
Play golf, which is the reason a great many people are here. Around seventy courses sit within an hour and winter is the season.
Drive up to Ronda, an hour and a half inland, a town split by a 100-metre gorge with a bridge across it. It is the best day trip on this coast.
Go to Málaga for the Picasso Museum, the Carmen Thyssen and the Pompidou outpost. The city has changed enormously in fifteen years.
Walk the coastal path, the Senda Litoral, which now runs for long stretches and is the pleasant way to move along the front.
Practical notes
Málaga airport is 40 minutes from Marbella with very heavy European traffic. The AVE reaches Málaga from Madrid in two and a half hours.
The microclimate means winter is mild and sunny, which is why the golf season is November to April. Summer is hot and busy, with August at capacity. Spring and autumn are the best all-round.
Traffic on the N-340 through Marbella is heavy in season; the AP-7 toll road is worth the fee.
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Questions people actually ask
Is Marbella just development?
The Golden Mile and the old town are not. The wider Costa del Sol has a great deal of 1970s and 80s apartment building.
Golden Mile or Puerto Banús?
Golden Mile for the hotels, the beach clubs and the gardens. Puerto Banús for the marina and the nightlife, a short drive west.
Is it good in winter?
Unusually so. The mountain shelters the coast and it holds around 320 days of sunshine, which is why the golf season is winter.
How many nights?
Five. Four on the coast with a day in Ronda.
If you only book one
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