Hola Board members,

I will be traveling to Marbella in June of 2003 for 15 days, has anyone been? If so, can I get some details of the beaches, things to do, I am very excited... Thank you MM for this helpful board...

I went to Marbella last September and I can advise you that is the best in Spain. Marbella + Puerto Banus + San Pedro de Alcantara are one municipality, with 10 kilometres of beaches without interruption. Safety, hotels,cleanliness = 10 you have "Ronda" about 40 kms, the road from San Pedro de Alcantara to Ronda is great, you can see from the mountains a lot of white villages, el Estrecho de Gibraltar, Morocco. and the beaches of the Costa del Sol. I like the old district of Marbella. Nightlife very good, but the water sea is cold. Cadiz, Sevilla,Cordoba and Granada are a few hours by car.

ABP

hi!
we spent nearly a month in marbella last september as my in-laws live there. i really like the old town, do not miss having some chocolate con churros in la plaza de los naranjos!!! delicious!! my 4 year old had to go every single night! also the paseo maritimo is quite nice with many good restaurants. you can also do some sightseeing to nearby towns, like mijas, ronda, etc. the only disapointment, in my honest opinion, were the beaches. not very pretty and the water was freezing cold!!!once you've been to the carribean nothing else can compare. also, i really don't think puerto banus is all it's cracked up to be, alot of drunken foreigners. there is a beautiful disco called olivia valere, just gorgeous, but very, very expensive and many rich middle-eastern men with gorgeous high-end prostitutes. i hope i don't offend anybody, i'm just telling what i saw. by the way, there is a little family run restaurant in san pedro de alcantara called la casa de la abuela that is just awesome and very reasonably priced, only locals go there. try the cogollos with fried garlic and olive oil, to die for!!! well, hope this helps, have a great time!!!

Not taking away anything from Marbella and Costa del Sol, I was there from late Dec 2001 to early Jan 2002, which was supposedly offseason, and I still found it to be too crowded and touristy. That may be fine for most, but personally, I would prefer to spend more time in the Costa de la Luz area, which stretches from the Straits of Gibralter to the Portuguese border. This is the Atlantic side of Spain's southern coast and though the waters may be just a tad bit rougher than the Costa del Sol, there are some beaches in this area that are probably the finest in Spain and perhaps even better than what the Mediteranean side has to offer. And considerably less congested. Case in point is this small town I visited called Zahara de low Atunes. I would love to go there again and perhaps stay at the Melia Atlanterra.

Hey, neighbor!! Could you tell us more about Zahara de los Atunes?

Sorry for the tardy response but I haven't been near a computer for nearly 3 weeks. As for Zahara de los Atunes, just use your favorite search engine and you will find some info on this place. A picture is worth a thousand words and you may find some pics and even thousands of words in several web sites. Here's one with a brief description

http://www.andalucia.com/province/cadiz/zahara-atunes/home.htm