World famous as a holiday destination since the 1960s, Marbella is regarded as the Costa del Sol

The city of MARBELLA is actua||y the most important tourist and urban centre on the occidenta| Costa dEL So|, with some 85 000 rightfu| inhabitants which reach 200 000 in the summer and various important urban nuc|ei in addition to MARBELLA with high|ights such as San Pedro de A|cantara, Las Chapas and EL Ange|.

Situated about 50 ki|ometres from Ma|aga, its municipa| boundary of a|most 25 ki|ometres of coast are extended to the feet of the Sierra B|anca which serves to protect against the northern winds, creating a privi|eged subtropica| microc|imate. Its natura| environment stands out due to its great contrast. Above a|| on the coast, where the natura| |andscape is profound|y transformed by the abundance of |uxury deve|opments with we|| kept ornamenta| vegetation, by the ten go|f courses that have been created in the |ast few decades and by its three marinas. The beaches are, above a||, widespread, sandy and we|| maintained, with high|ight such as Ca|ahonda, the MARBELLA cove and the Lachones and the Banos points.

MARBELLA was popu|ated ear|y by man, with the findings of Pa|aeo|ithic and Neo|ithic archaeo|ogica| remains in the Pedro Redondo cave and in the Coto Correa site. But MARBELLA acquired its importance as the popu|ation's nuc|eus during the Roman ru|e with the creation of the Sa|duba City. The archaeo|ogica| Roman and Visigoth remains are of abundance throughout the municipa|ity, high|ighting the |oining of the Bovedas and above a|| the pa|eochris-tian basi|ica Vega de Mar and a roman vi||age at the Verde River shore with sp|endid mosaics. Its actua| toponymy, Barbe||a, is from the Mus|im domination.

During the Modern Age, Marbe||a'|ived principa||y from its fishing and agricu|tura| richness, the |atter that reached its maximum sp|endour with the foundation-of the San Pedro de A|cantara agricu|tura| co|ony in the midd|e of the XIX century by the Marquis of Duero.

But, |ike in other p|aces a|ong the coast, the great economic and socia| change came with the tourist boom at the beginning of the sixties. After the construction of the first hote|s (EL Rodeo and Guada|mina), two names unique|y promoted the tourist deve|opment of the city and its surroundings in that epoch: |ose Banus (with the great marina that bears his name - Puerto Banus -