Marbella, Spain’s former jet-set capital

Saturday, 2 April 2011 - 08:55 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
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Puerto Banús © __Lolo__

Puerto Banús © __Lolo__

It is not so long ago, Marbella Spain’s undisputed capital of the jet-set was – until their rank Mallorca expired. The atmosphere is still fashionable, though not universally associated with good taste. Marbella is a city in Andalusia, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea, situated in the province of Málaga, beneath the La Concha mountain.

Marbella and nearby Puerto Banús are important tourist resorts on the Costa del Sol. Marbella is especially popular with tourists from Northern Europe (including the UK, Ireland and Germany), Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and the U.S.A. Marbella is a major destination for luxury cruise ships and mega yachts which are also often docked in its harbour. The area around Marbella is particularly popular with those who like golf. Marbella also hosts a WTA tennis tournament on red clay, the Andalucia Tennis Experience.

Puerto Banús © __Lolo__ © Maximo88/cc-by-sa-3.0 Venus of Marbella © Jacobo Canady Centro Histórico © fernando0 Alameda © Bernard bill5 Marbella Beach © David Iliff Marbella Fountain © Tyk Marbella from La Concha © David Iliff Marbella suburbs © Franziska Garvert Malecón © Manuel González Olaechea y Franco Medieval defensive wall © Té y kriptonita Plaza de la Iglesia © Tyk Salvador Dalí - Horse with rider © Manuel González Olaechea y Franco San Pedro Alcantara © Klaus Graf Tourist information Marbella historic center © fernando0 Urbanización Marbesa © pip13
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Salvador Dalí - Horse with rider © Manuel González Olaechea y Franco
In the 1940s, Marbella was a small jasmine-lined village with only 900 inhabitants. But this soon changed when Prince Max Egon zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his heir Alfonso de Hohenlohe experienced a problem with their Rolls-Royce in the vicinity. This first encounter with Marbella so impressed Alfonso that he decided to buy land commercially, marketing the area as a tourist destination. In 1954, he opened the Marbella Club Hotel; his son had recently returned from California and the hotel was loosely modelled on the motel style with lower pitched terracotta roofs among 23,000 trees.

Given Alfonso’s maternal membership in Spain’s titled aristocracy (his mother, Doña Piedad Iturbe and Scholtz, was the Marquesa de Belvis de las Navas), and his paternal kinship to the royal courts of Europe, the hotel quickly proved a hit with vacationing members of Europe’s ruling elites, and those privileged to socialise with them in casual yet discreet luxury. Don Jaime de Mora y Aragón, a Spanish bon vivant, brother to Fabiola, Queen of Belgium, Adnan Khashoggi and Guenter Rottman, were frequent vacationers.

To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facepage pages/Twitter accounts. Read more on Stadt Marbella, Wikitravel Marbella and Wikipedia Marbella. Learn more about the use of photos.




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