Marbella Club

Style

Princely party pad

Setting

Monarch of the Mile

If Mrs Smith fancies herself as a coquettish Brigitte Bardot type, and Mr Smith a suave Sixties playboy, then luxury resort Marbella Club is a fitting holiday backdrop. Set by the shore on the Golden Mile, this legendary hotel’s lustre hasn’t faded one bit, with genteel service befitting its royal pedigree, retro-chic rooms and debonair dining. And, the addition of a buzzy beach club, cool chiringuito and a champagne room has ensured it’s kept up with the Joneses and the times.

Facilities

Rooms

A total of 130 rooms and suites and 15 luxury villas.

Checkout

Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm. Guests can stow luggage and relax in the bar, restaurant, café or gardens if they arrive early.

More Details

Rates generally exclude the à la carte breakfast (€49 for each adult and €21 for each child between 3 and 12), but include one free green fee a person a stay at the golf club.

Also

The hotel’s rocky paths and meandering layout make it unsuitable for guests with mobility issues.

Fitness Center

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pool

On-Site Restaurant

Room Service

Spa

At the Hotel

Spa, café, beach club, botanical gardens, kids’ club, gym, free WiFi throughout. The beautifully landscaped 18-hole golf course and equestrian centre is a 20-minute drive from the main building. In rooms: flatscreen TV with movie channels, DVD and CD player, radio, free WiFi, Nespresso coffee machine, minibar, safe, air-conditioning, black-out curtains and Babor bath products.

Our Favourite Rooms

With white-timbered roofs, a pretty pastel palette and sea views over the Strait of Gibraltar, the Deluxe Beachfront Rooms will thrill any romance-seeking sun worshippers. Want to sneak in a late-night skinny-dipping session? Book a villa with a private pool, where there’s also a secluded dining terrace and a fairy-tale four-poster bed. Extra beds can be also added for adults to certain rooms (for an additional cost).

Poolside

There are four. The garden pool close to reception is a peaceful spot surrounded by greenery, with a sunlounger and table-strewn terrace. The livelier Beach Club pool is larger, with throngs of sunloungers and socialisers on the wooden deck, and a small Jacuzzi. The indoor spa pool is better suited for lazy soaking. All are heated. The beach is open to the public, but it’s still a serene place to take a dip.

Spa

The Thalasso Spa's treatments focus on stress reduction; however, you'll feel any tension melt away as soon as you set foot in the cream-hued, beach-set space. There are 12 treatment rooms – some with sea views – a restful seawater pool, hammam, and steam baths, and an invigorating wood-burning Finnish sauna. Thalasso treatments are offered in a variety of programmes, ranging from pick-me-ups (the brisk 20-minute water-jet massage), to decadent week-long programmes with up to three hours of treatments a day. Body wraps, scrubs and facials are on the menu alongside therapies for dedicated beauty seekers, such as peels and lymphatic drainage.

Packing Tips

Chanel Resort wear – no matter how impractical a swimsuit with a full train is – and the Asprey travel chess case, for a cerebral yet stylish Beach Club distraction.

Also

Prince Alfonso ensured success by inviting his jet-set friends there, but the hotel’s legendary status hinged on its telephone – the only one on the coast at the time, meaning waiting crowds would rally at the restaurant, bar and bedrooms.

Children

Welcome. There’s a 5,000sq m kids’ club and golf and riding lessons can be arranged. Extra beds for under-12s are available for an additional cost, and can be added to all rooms; restaurants have children’s menus; and babysitting is available on request.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

For a romantic evening, head to the proposal-inspiring terrace at the Grill. For a chilled hangout, nab the closest Beach Club table to the sand.

Dress Code

Don’t hold back, it’s de rigeur to bedazzle. Pile on the labels, bring out the bling and don’t forget to spray tan. Mr Smiths – pack a blazer that’s tailored to within an inch of its life.

Hotel Restaurant

The Grill is an old-school eatery, with encyclopedic sommeliers and silver cloches to present the classic French fare served there. Its romantic terrace is lit by tree-trunk candelabra. The Beach Club’s famed buffet is a more laid-back affair, with elegantly-dressed seafood platters, sizzling paella pans, pastas, salads and hot and cold carne cuts. Chiringuito snack shack MC Beach offers barbecued brochettes, the MC Café has lighter bites washed down with café con leche, and charcuterie and salads are served beside the Garden Pool. Off-site, find upper-crust brunching and lunching at the Golf Restaurant.

Hotel Bar

Festooned with flowers and sheltered by fragrant orange trees, the open-air Summer Bar is bright with cosy sofas. Carefully chosen wines and classic cocktails are served, including the signature Sau Sau (vodka, lemon, sugar, mint and soda). Come winter, cosy up to the fire in the Jean-Pierre Martel-designed Champagne Room, an art deco space where corks pop and caviar is on stand-by. Chef Juan Galvez’s small dishes should stop you from getting too tipsy.

Last Orders

Restaurant opening times tend to change with the seasons.

Room Service

No less than four types of breakfast (spa, Continental, full English and Spanish), salads, charcuterie and seafood platters, sandwiches, soups, pizza, pasta, more robust meat and fish dishes and decadent desserts can be summoned to your room.

Planes

It’s a 35-minute drive to Málaga Airport (www.malagaairport.eu), where regular flights arrive from major cities across Europe. Flights from Asia via Singapore or Hong Kong, and there are direct flights from the US.

Automobiles

Four wheels will come in handy for exploring the coast, countryside and nearby towns. There’s a car-hire booth at Málaga airport and free parking at the hotel.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

A public beach sits just a few golden-sand-dusted steps away from your room at Marbella Club, just beyond the resort's tropical gardens, with day-beds and parasols, calm waters safe for swimming in and a selection of eateries, it's likely you'll spend plenty of time here. The Beach Club sits on the coast, with a sociable pool area, bar and a world-renowned buffet. However, if you tire of the resort's section of the Golden Mile, you can wander over to Puente Romano Resort's beach next door, or sunbathe further afield at Venus Beach (a 10-minute drive away) or Bajadilla Beach (a 15-minute drive away). If fillies and five irons are more your thing, the 18-hole golf club and equestrian centre are a 20-minute drive from the main building. Each room has a Virtual Hotel system loaded on to an iPad, so you can book the green and spa treatments, or consult the concierge at the touch of a button. You can also rent a bike to pedal along the beach paths. Piers Morgan may have dubbed it ‘Butlins for billionaires’, but Marbella has more than Puerto Banus’ designer shops and neon-lit nightclubs. Beyond the burlesque Andalusian-style villas, and five-star resorts along the Golden Mile, there are the winding streets of Marbella’s Old Town, which hold weekly markets. Stand-out sites include gilded to the hilt St Mary’s Cathedral. Pause for a languid coffee break in Los Naranjos Plaza, then head slightly further north of the town centre to hop on a dolphin-watching tour at Puerto Cabopino marina. Málaga is a 50-minute drive away, where the Moorish, medieaval Alcazaba fort sits overlooking the sea, and art buffs can swoon over the extensive Spanish collections in the Carmen Thyssen Museum (+34 (0)902 303 131) and Picasso Museum Málaga (+34 (0)952 127 600). If you prefer the sleek curve of a Rolls, the Automobile Museum Málaga (+34 (0)951 137 001) might be more your speed. Ronda, an hour’s drive away, has 13th and 14th-century relics scattered throughout, and you get to drive over the dramatic El Tajo canyon to reach the small town.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .