Marbella travel guide

Background

Marbella has a long history, having been populated at various times by Phoenicians, Visigoths and Romans, as well as being the most important Moorish town between Málaga and Gibraltar. Historians suggest that Moorish Marbella was a fortified town, with an oval shaped, 2-m-thick encircling wall containing 16 towers and three gates – to Ronda, Málaga and the sea. The town was taken by the Christians in 1485 and they set about remodelling the layout of the fortress, but much of the Moorish street plan remains today. In the early years of the last century, Marbella was little more than a large village struggling to earn a living from agriculture and iron mining.

The iron industry is believed to have employed over 1000 men in the mid-19th century, with the main centre of operations along the banks of the Río Verde. An iron pier was built near the present fish dock to export the finished product and a few stanchions remain today. The industry finally closed in 1931, not through shortage of iron ore, but because of the depletion of local trees which provided the charcoal for the smelting process.

The changes began in the mid-1950s when a Spanish nobleman named Ricardo Soriano introduced his friends to the area. His nephew, Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe, built the Marbella Club, attracting a wealthy international set to the area. Marbella’s inhabitants include Arab royalty, stars of the media, famous sportspeople and members of the Russian mafia. A visitor to Marbella might be surprised at its reputation as life seems entirely normal on the surface, but the glitzy social life is there going on behind closed doors in luxury yachts, palatial villas and private clubs.

Former mayor Jesús Gil actively promoted Marbella as a sort of Spanish Montecarlo, but ran up huge debts, and was staggeringly corrupt. He had friends in high places but, once he died in 2004, his lackeys and co-conspirators found themselves in an exposed position. The police investigation Operación Malaya has seen some three billion euro in cash and valuables seized, paid for by illegally appropriated public funds, and over a hundred notables sent to prison at some point, including the late Gil’s protégé, Julián Muñoz, and Muñoz’s lover, the famous copla singer and darling of the celebrity pages, Isabel Pantoja.

Getting there and around

The nearest airports are Málaga and Gibraltar, both accessible by road in under an hour. The nearest train stations are Algeciras to the west and Fuengirola to the east. There is a Málaga airport bus that leaves from Marbella bus station ten times daily between 0530 and 2200.

There are taxi ranks in the main street, Avenida Ricardo Soriano, and in Calle Arias Maldonado, next to the Parque de la Constitución.

There are regular buses to and from Málaga, some of these are express (€5.13, 50 mins), and some go via Fuengirola (€2.73, 45 mins) and Torremolinos. Heading west, there are regular buses to Algeciras (€6.65), some via Estepona.

Other cities served include Sevilla, Madrid, Granada, Ronda, and Cádiz. The main bus station is in C Trapiche, next to the bypass, but most local buses pass through the town centre.

Banks

Mainly along Av Ricardo Soriano.

Internet

Marbell Telecom, C Estación, 1 next to Plaza de Naranjos (€2/hr). In Puerto Banús, the Cristamar Centre has several internet points, including Cristanet (€2/hr).

Medical services

Marbella Clinic, T952- 774282, is located on the Av de Severo; Hospital Costa del Sol, is 5 km east of Marbella on the N340, opposite Los Monteros Hotel. Marbella Medical Services, T952- 823135, have English-speaking doctors and do not charge those with travel insurance.

Post office

C Alonso de Bazán, T952- 772898.

Telephone

Locutorios are placed at intervals along the seafront, Av de Duque de Ahumada. Credit cards accepted.