• Table of contents
• The history of Marbella
• Exploring Marbella Downtown
• Sectors in which Marbella Downtown is divided into
• The Old Town, the millenary heart of Marbella Downtown
• Gastronomy in Marbella Downtown
• Hotels
• Tips to get around Marbella
• Family leisure and sports in Marbella Downtown
• Hiking in Sierra Blanca, the mountains of Marbella
• Schools
• Private Hospitals in Marbella Downtown
• Situation of the real estate market in Marbella Downtown

Marbella was 100 years ago a small mining, fishing and agricultural town of less than 10.000 inhabitants that seemed to be anchored in its millenary past.

Then tourism arrived and, one hundred years later, Marbella’s transformation is complete. It is a city of more than 160,000 registered people (to which should be added the unregistered who add tens of thousands more), which receives millions of visitors from five continents. Many of them fall in love with the city after getting lost in the narrow and well-kept streets, squares and churches of the Old Town.

In its 27 kilometers of Mediterranean coastline are some of the most luxurious villas in Europe. It has 5 of the 10 most expensive streets in Spain in which to buy a home. Marbella’s real estate market is one of the most dynamic and promising in Spain and currently real estate developments valued at billions of euros are being carried out.

It is the city of Andalusia with the most Michelin Stars. 5 in a total of 4 restaurants.

It has four marinas: Cabopino, La Bajadilla, Virgen del Carmen and Puerto Banus. All this under the shadow of the mountains, Sierra Blanca, which are responsible for the special microclimate from which tourists and Marbella residents benefit so much.

Marbella has evidence of human occupation for thousands of years. The discovery of human remains and various objects in the cave of Pecho Redondo in Sierra Blanca, near the shopping center La Cañada, evidence of human presence since 25,000 years ago.

All cultures have passed through Marbella: Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths, Arabs, etc. All have left their mark in the form of historical remains such as the Phoenician factory of Rio Real, the Roman Villa of Rio Verde, the Roman Baths of Las Bóvedas, the Paleo-Christian Basilica of Vega del Mar, the Roman-Arabic Castle in the Old Town and the Arab layout of the Old Town, etc.

After the Christian reconquest in 1486 Marbella became a small commercial town where vineyards were cultivated and where fishing occupied many of its inhabitants.

During the 19th century, with the installation of the first blast furnaces in Spain, in El Ángel and La Concepción, to take advantage of the iron from the Sierra Blanca mines, Marbella joined the industrialization of Malaga, which became the second most industrialized province in the Peninsula.

In the 20th century, after the Second World War, the arrival of a Spanish-German nobleman, Ricardo Soriano, Marquis of Ivanrrey, marked the beginning of the arrival of tourism in Marbella. Both Soriano and his nephew Alfonso de Hohenlohe attracted the world’s social elite to this then rustic and authentic corner of the Costa del Sol: Hollywood actors, aristocrats, businessmen of international level.

Marbella began to grow in an incredible way, during the second half of the twentieth century evolved into what it is today: a bustling and cosmopolitan city where more than 160 nationalities live together and has all the necessary services to serve millions of tourists every year.

Marbella Downtown stretches from the famous Arco de Marbella in the East to the monument known as the Pirulí in the West, right from the beginning of the Golden Mile. To the south it borders the Mediterranean Sea and to the north it is bounded by the Sierra Blanca mountain range.

Marbella Downtown has one of the most impressive old quarters of the Costa del Sol and of the whole province. With dozens of narrow and well-kept streets, beautiful squares and numerous stores. Two elements stand out in this area of the city: the Plaza de los Naranjos and the church of the Encarnación.

To the south of the old town is the Alameda, a beautiful centennial park that connects to the beach through the Avenida del Mar, a street full of statues. From this point we can enjoy the Paseo Marítimo for several kilometers in both directions. This is a place full of restaurants and stores next to the sand of the Mediterranean Sea.

From the Paseo Marítimo we can approach the two ports that are in Marbella Center. El Pesquero is a marina for fishermen and owners of pleasure boats and sailboats. It has several restaurants and beach bars where seafood is the specialty. The Virgen del Carmen Marina is a leisure marina: it has restaurants, bars and night clubs, and companies offering water sports and diving.

To the north and northeast of the Old Town there are high density neighborhoods, such as Miraflores, Divina Pastora or Las Albarizas, where the people of Marbella live, most of whom have jobs associated with tourism, hotels, restaurants, etc.

To the northwest there are several urbanizations and areas of urban villas such as Valentuñana, El Capricho, La Virginia, Camoján, El Mirador, Xarblanca, Huerta del Prado, etc. These areas are very close to the hustle and bustle of the city but still retain a quiet and relaxed atmosphere.

To the southwest of the Old Town is the area of Molino de Viento: a succession of high quality housing blocks close to the sea.

The Old Town

It is the soul of Marbella Downtown. The Old Town is almond-shaped because it was for hundreds of years limited by the ancient Arab walls of the twelfth century. In fact, the layout of the Old Town, with 44 narrow streets, 4 small squares and a square, is preserved, with slight variations, today.

The Neighborhoods: Miraflores, Albarizas, Divina Pastora, Marbella Oeste, Bello Horizonte

The great majority of the people who live in Marbella live in the following neighborhoods. Miraflores, Divina Pastora and Albarizas are areas of housing blocks and local businesses located to the north and northwest of the Old Town where tens of thousands of people live.

Walking through Marbella’s Old Town is one of the must-do activities for visitors who want to get to know Marbella. Its narrow and labyrinthine streets of Arab origin, its squares and small stores are one of the hallmarks of Marbella.

The configuration and physiognomy of the historic center of Marbella began during the Muslim domination of Al Andalus. Until then, there were enclaves of various peoples (Visigoths, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines) that, after their abandonment, disappeared, as evidenced by the few archaeological remains, mainly in the surroundings of the Castle of Roman origin.

In the Middle Ages, Marbella was fortified with an urban wall whose layout currently delimits what is now the historic Old Town, whose perimeter was formed by the streets of Peral and Portada to the north, Huerta Chica to the west, from Fortaleza to Muro Street to the south, and Arroyo de la Represa to the east.

In 1485, the Muslims surrendered the keys of Marbiliya to the Catholic Monarchs, who granted Marbella the title of City, very noble and very loyal. From then on, religious institutions began to be endowed with buildings, which were founded as a paradigm of the new doctrine: the Ermita de Santiago, the Convento de la Trinidad, the Hospital de San Juan de Dios, the church of Santo Cristo and the Hospital de Bazán.

The city was entered or exited through three gates: to the northwest, through the Ronda Gate (today Plaza del Puente de Ronda), so called because it was the beginning of the road to the town of the same name, and the future Ancha Street; to the south, through the Puerta del Mar (its current approximate location would be the Plaza de José Palomo) and to the east, through the Puerta de Málaga (today Plaza del Puente de Málaga), where the road to the capital of the province began.

The sixteenth century was a period of great urban expansion, as revealed by the new layout of its streets to make them more passable, a work that highlights the now emblematic Plaza de los Naranjos and Calle Nueva, which connected it with the Puerta del Mar.

An ideal itinerary to get to know the historic center begins in Lobatas street, where the houses still have two floors. From there, we can go through the Plaza del Santo Cristo and down Ancha Street until we reach the Puente de Ronda, which will be the access to the popular Plaza de los Naranjos, a place visited by thousands of people. There you will find the Casa del Corregidor, built in the 16th century, date from which dates also the old Town Hall, located in the same square. Next to it is the hermitage of Santiago, also built in the sixteenth century, which houses the images of the Cristo del Amor and María Santísima de la Caridad, carvings that are part of the Holy Week of Marbella.

Also in the historic center we find the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, from the eighteenth century, whose three naves lead to the altarpiece of the main altar from where one of the most important organs in Andalusia can be seen. On a mahogany and silver altar rests the Soledad with its black mantle, one of the oldest carvings of Holy Week.

At the exit of the Encarnación, through the side door, we arrive at the well-known Calle del Viento, a narrow street flanked by white walls, which leads us to the old Hospital de Bazán, founded by Don Alfonso Bazán (mayor of Marbella) in 1568. It was a house built to care for the most needy of the town and had an impressive Mudejar coffered ceiling. However, the passage of time has caused the building to be remodeled and the Museum of Contemporary Spanish Engraving is located in it.

Continuing along this same street, there are the ruins of the old Convent of the Trinity, where in the sixteenth and seventeenth century the Spaniards rescued from the Barbary pirates of Africa were sheltered and, according to tradition, in this place was hosted the famous writer Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote.

Leaving the Calle del Viento, we can look for the walls of the Barbican of the castle, an elevated fortress defended by the Arabs until their surrender. The highest part that remains is the one that overlooked the river, the stream of Represa, which is now embanked and was the one that served as a moat for the castle. Legend has it that there are passages that connect the fortress with the sea. Tunnels lead to the beach where the Fort of San Luis stands, of which only a small tower remains. The remains now serve as a showroom of the beginnings of tourism in the city, as a hotel complex has been built in this place.

Michelin Star Restaurants

Marbella has hundreds of restaurants with a gastronomic offer that caters to all culinary tastes that exist in the five continents. Looking for the best offer, we must take into account that Marbella is home to four restaurants that have a total of 5 Michelin Stars and is, therefore, the city of Andalusia with more awards of this type.

Back

The chef David Olivas, born in Úbeda, gives a good example of his cooking know-how in the Marbella restaurant Back, recently awarded with a Michelin star and considered as a recommended restaurant in the Repsol guide. Back is a bistro where the idea, rather than eating constrained by the rigors of haute cuisine, is to have a good time and enjoy. To achieve this, it proposes to enjoy its free and creative cuisine with contemporary creations that are not exempt from detail and technique. The idea is to modernize the traditional flavors with fixed dishes and others that change according to the market.

Messina

Messina is the restaurant of the Argentines Mauricio Giovanini (chef) and Pía Nincia (sommelier and head waiter), responsible for fusing the Argentinean and Mediterranean recipes in a masterful way, obtaining a Michelin star and a Repsol sun. The restaurant opened its doors for the first time in 2003, so it is already more than two decades of trajectory. They have their own space on the second floor of the R&D establishment called InsIDe Messina, where it is also possible to make reservations. This 2024 the space has been renovated by opening the kitchen to the public and introducing a space called “The Chef’s Table” to convey more faithfully the philosophy of its owners in what is a new stage in the history of the restaurant.

Nintai

The restaurateur Marcos Granda is responsible for Nintai, one of the most talked-about openings in the city of Malaga in recent times. Granda, who also runs the Skina restaurant, wanted here to capture what he saw after a trip to Japan in 2019 where he was captivated by the kaiseki culinary philosophy in which it is the chef himself, in this case the itamae, who defines each day the menu based on the best seasonal products. The space, for just a dozen diners, guarantees umami through all kinds of sushi, nigiri or sahimi.

Skina

The first restaurant opened by Marcos Granda in Marbella is called Skina and chef Mario Cachinero is at the helm of its kitchen. After moving recently to an impressive farmhouse in the middle of Marbella’s golden mile, Skina also opens a new stage in its history aspiring to everything. Today they have two Michelin stars and 3 Repsol suns that practically make them the best haute cuisine restaurant in Marbella. It is enough to go there to check it thanks to its dishes, designed as a contemporary vision of the traditional Andalusian recipes and based on seasonal products, proximity and the best quality.

Marbella has several hotels located very close to the old town of Marbella. Do you prefer to stay in the center of Marbella and forget about taking the car? These are your hotels: Obal Urban Hotel, Hotel Lima and Hotel El Fuerte. They are three hotels founded by old Marbella families that have been able to adapt to modern times. All three hotels have been recently remodeled and, in fact, have increased their Stars. Obal Urban Hotel and Hotel Lima have 4 and Hotel El Fuerte has 5.

Within the Casco Historico there are also several boutique hotels of small size and high quality standards. Such as La Fonda or Hotel Claude.

If you are looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and relax with your family, the best option is the Hotel Club Med Magna Marbella. This hotel establishment is located in the shadow of Sierra Blanca, making it ideal if you want to take a walk in the mountains before returning to cool off in one of its pools.

The Hotel Club Med Magna Marbella was remodeled just two years ago and is specially designed for family leisure and therefore has extensive sports and entertainment facilities.

The Hotel Meliá Don Pepe is one of the most classic hotels, an icon of Marbella. It wasthe first luxury hotel to be built in Marbella, in 1964, and its first illustrious guest was Audrey Hepburn. It has 32,000 square meters of land facing the sea. It has also been a refuge for celebrities and personalities from different fields. Sean Connery, Omar Sharif, Prince, Arthur Rubinstein, Begun Aga Khan and Alain Delon, among others.

Several tips to keep in mind if you want to move around Marbella center:

-Marbella is a very safe city, you can practically walk through all its streets without problems but it is better to avoid the area of Las Albarizas at night.

-Two options for a breakfast made in Marbella: eat churros at the churrería in Plaza Victoria. The second: eat a “mollete de carne mechada” (a kind of local pulled pork sándwich) on the terrace of the classic Fiesta bar, inside the municipal market.

-The sunset with a gin and tonic from the terraces of one of the hotels in the center is one of the mandatory experiences if you want to know Marbella from the heights.

-Sitting on one of the benches of the Alameda under the centenary shady plane trees.

-Take some fried fish, anchovies and sardine skewers in the restaurants or beach bars in the fishing port of La Bajadilla.

-To make one of the routes by Sierra Blanca as the Vereda del Faro to enjoy the Nature.

-Visit the church of the Incarnation, the cathedral of the Costa del Sol and make the small pilgrimage to visit some of the chapels of the old town as the hermitage of Santiago, the Santo Cristo or San Juan de Dios.

-Stroll early in the morning along the promenade and have breakfast at Capuchino, the cafeteria on the beachfront of the hotel Don Pepe.

Virgen del Carmen Marina

Located in an unbeatable enclave in the center of the coast of Marbella, this port offers all kinds of options to enjoy water sports: jet skis, parasailing, scuba diving, etc. In addition, the Marina is an ideal meeting point to enjoy a drink at sunset, watching the sunset. There are several options of entertainment venues to dance and enjoy the good atmosphere and good music until the wee hours of the morning.

La Cañada Shopping Center

La Cañada shopping center is the largest on the Costa del Sol and has more than 200 stores offering a wide variety of brands and products, including Zara, Victoria’s Secret, Hollister, Sephora and Apple Store.

There is also a wide range of dining options. If you’re looking for a restaurant, La Pappardella serves tasty Italian dishes and The Sushi Bar offers a variety of Japanese bites. In addition, there are several fast food options, such as Mcdonald’s, Starbucks and TacoBell, for a quick and delicious meal.

La Cañada also has eight movie theaters. There is also a movie theater that shows movies in both English and Spanish.

El Barato

The popular and picturesque Barato is a flea market held every Monday that fills the streets of the Las Albarizas area with stalls offering visitors just about everything. Clothes, handbags, jewelry and costume jewelry, hats, fabrics, food, fruit, vegetables, etc.

In El Barato there is a mixture of Marbella ladies with their shopping carts and tourists attracted by the picturesque of this enclave.

Sports

Marbella has numerous sports clubs and facilities of all kinds. There are sports clubs for all ages of Volleyball, Basketball, Football, Water Polo, Rugby, triathlon, athletics, karate, tennis, paddle, etc. You just have to choose a sport discipline and you will find in Marbella a club to join or sign up your child.

Sierra Blanca is the set of mountains that embrace Marbella. In fact, it is responsible for the fact that the city enjoys a very special microclimate: in winter it avoids the cold coming from the Sierra de las Nieves and in summer it acts as a barrier to the dry air coming from the Guadalhorce valley.

There are two outstanding mountains in Sierra Blanca. La Concha is the most characteristic peak, being the most iconic symbol of any panoramic photo of Marbella. There is a spectacular route that, starting from the Juanar valley, allows you to reach the summit of La Concha. It is not an easy excursion since going and coming back requires at least six hours walking a hard and, at the same time, impressive path.

The other outstanding mountain of Sierra Blanca is the Cruz de Juanar, a peak that can be reached in less than two hours, also starting from the Juanar valley.

From Marbella itself you can enjoy more than 50 kilometers of approved and perfectly signposted trails through the valleys to the south of Sierra Blanca. There are three valleys that are worth touring and, moreover, are interconnected with each other. The first one is Nagüeles and allows to know a valley full of old lead mines through a path with great views of Sierra Blanca.

The second valley is Los Monjes, which is accessed through the area of Xarblanca. A beautiful trail takes us into the heart of Sierra Blanca walking very close to the stream of Los Monjes, which in spring and winter is usually full of water. This invites us to take a dip in the several pools of crystal clear water that are there when you walk this route.

The third valley is that of Puerto Rico, very close to the La Cañada shopping center. The trail allows us to access the valley of Juanar, in the heart of Sierra Blanca, through an ancient path and through lush forests.

As you can see, hiking in Sierra Blanca is an option to take into account for all those who love nature.

École Française Internationale de Marbella (EFIM)

EFIM is a nursery and elementary school that offers an innovative trilingual education approved by the French National Education. The excellence of the children’s education is guaranteed, in the French educational system, by a high scholastic level in many subjects, but also by the development of their personality, their critical and analytical thinking, their working method and their ability to work in groups.

Swans International School

This international school was founded in 1971 and is one of the most prestigious in Marbella. As the school itself says: we want every child to achieve their full potential. At Swans, we provide an excellent learning environment. Our results are testament to this, with consistently high grades at both GCSE and IB level that rival some of the best students worldwide.

But we also pride ourselves on the pastoral care that we offer.
An inherent feature of our school is the social and emotional support that we provide to all of our students, which gives the sense of a family environment for both students and teachers. Our belief is that such support inspires young people to be the best that they can be, regardless of their age or ability, and it is this structure which ensures that, when a student leaves Swans, they are fully prepared for life beyond education.

Marbella International University Centre (MIUC)

Marbella International University Centre is a private international university that offers one of the most impressive study environments in the cosmopolitan city of Marbella. MIUC is a large international community with students from over 90 nationalities. It offers 3-year bachelor’s and 1-year master’s degrees in the areas of Politics and International Relations, International Business Management, and Marketing and Social Media. All programs are taught entirely in English.

Quirón Group

Grupo Hospitalario Quirón or QuirónSalud is the commercial brand of the Spanish private healthcare company IDCQ Hospitales y Sanidad, S.L.U., a subsidiary of the German company Fresenius, and the Goodgrower Group. It operates more than fifty hospitals and close to a hundred outpatient clinics. In Marbella, Quirón Salud welcomes patients from all over the world. Its privileged location overlooking the sea makes it a unique center. In addition to all this, it offers 24-hour services and a wide range of medical specialties. They incorporate to their team prestigious professionals that together with the investment in the most advanced technologies in medicine, increase their efficiency and quality. It has agreements with the main Spanish health insurance companies. Patient care is its priority and it ensures at all times that both patients and their environment are cared for with the best services.

Premium Clinic

At Clínica Premium Marbella, we care about your health and that of your family, therefore, and to cover all the needs of our customers, we have a complete medical team of recognized prestige and extensive professional experience spread over two centers with more than 30 medical specialties and health care services.

Clínica Premium has 2 centers in the heart of Marbella, one in c/ San Juan Bosco, 8 and our new center in C/ Jacinto Benavente, 11, in this way we give complete coverage to our patients in any medical specialty or medical service they need.

Our Premium Clinic facilities in Jacinto Benavente street, have 900 square meters in which 20 medical consultations are located, an operating room for outpatient interventions, a Physiotherapy Unit of 150 square meters with seven independent spaces plus a new Aesthetic Medicine Unit.

Ochoa Hospital

Since 1997, Hospital Ochoa has set itself the challenge of achieving health excellence in order to offer patients a comprehensive service and personalized attention. Hospital Ochoa has 6000 square meters distributed in different areas; 24h emergency, radiology, surgery, endoscopy, recovery unit, hospitalization, ICU, outpatients, laboratory, etc. A total of 180 doctors work in this private hospital, attending 37 medical specialties.

In addition, Hospital Ochoa has one of the best in vitro fertilization clinics in Marbella, IVF Ochoa.

According to this medical center, “the fertility specialists at FIV Ochoa in Marbella strive every day to make your goal of becoming a mother come true. And to make it easier for you, you can request a free informative appointment”.

In addition, FIV Ochoa have very competitive rates, maintaining the quality of care during all the treatment processes: artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization with our own eggs and/or sperm, or donor sperm, egg freezing and embryo donation”.

The real estate market is going through a very sweet moment in Marbella Downtown, as well as in the whole Costa del Sol. Very few new housing developments are being developed in the center of the city and continuously, month after month, the price of housing and rent is increasing. As a result, there are very few properties for sale in Marbella Downtown and, when they do come up for sale, they do not last long on the real estate market.

One element that is conditioning this increase in the price of housing is the rise of tourist apartments. Throughout Marbella there are more than 7,000 tourist homes, many of them in Marbella Downtown. In fact, it is a very common sight to see tourists with suitcases and trolleys touring the city center.

For this reason, it is very attractive to buy a property in Marbella Downtown, both as a first and second home and as an investment property.

Currently apartments are being sold in blocks of apartments in neighborhoods such as Miraflores for between 210,000 and 250,000 euros for three-bedroom homes of between 80 and 100 square meters.

On Avenida Ricardo Soriano, in the heart of the city center, apartments of 180 square meters and four bedrooms are being sold for 700,000 euros. On the beachfront, also in the center, apartments with two bedrooms and 100 square meters are being sold for 1 million euros.

The area west of Marbella Downtown, next to the sea, is one of the most sought after, as a number of high quality buildings such as Mare Nostrum, Don Gonzalo, Cipreses del Mar, Gran Marbella, Atrium, Jardines del Mediterráneo, etc. are located there. An example: a 220 square meter apartment with three bedrooms on the beachfront is currently on sale for 6 million euros.

Right next door, but on the second line of the beach, we find in the Don Gonzalo building, an apartment of 200 square meters with three bedrooms for 3.3 million euros.

In the same area, a little further towards the center but also on the beachfront, you can buy a 95 square meter apartment with two bedrooms for 1.1 million euros.

As far as villas are concerned, one of 400 square meters on a plot of 800 square meters in the northern part, Valdeolletas and El Mirador area, is sold for 1.5 million euros.

A little above this area, in Xarblanca, a villa of 420 square meters on a plot of 1,100 square meters is sold for 1.9 million euros.

Another example, a little closer to the city center and the Golden Mile, next to the Pirulí, was built in 2022 La Fuente, a development of villas of about 600 square meters in the shade of a spectacular pine forest that sold almost instantly for between 2 and 3 million euros. Currently there are some units being resold for 4.5 million euros.

Another example of a villa for sale in an exclusive area such as Huerta Belón, very close to the city center is this: a villa of 850 square meters on a plot of 1,600 square meters is sold for 5.5 million euros.