Marbella is an upmarket city in Andalusia, Spain, by the Mediterranean, situated in the region of Malaga, beneath the Sierra Blanca. In 2000 the city had 98,823 inhabitants, in 2004, 116,234.

Marbella is an important beach resort of the Costa del Sol. The town is famous for being a playground for the famous and super-rich. Marbella is internationally recognised as a favourite destination for extremely wealthy tourists from Northern Europe, in particular the UK, France and Germany and also to wealthy Arabs. The area around Marbella is particularly popular with those who like Golf.

It is easy to reach other places, like Malaga and Algeciras, by bus. The area is also served by the A7 autovia, and the closest airport is at Malaga.

History of Marbella

Archaeological excavations have been made in the mountains around Marbella, which point at human habitation in Paleolithic and Neolithic times. There are also remains of Phoenician and later Carthaginensian settlements in the area of Rio Real. In Roman times, the city was called Salduba

During Islamic rule, Muslims built a castle in this city, and they surrounded it by walls. The name Marbella, which is derived from Marbil-la, dates from this Islamic era. In 1485, the Spaniards reconquered the city, and during the centuries that followed, the city grew.

In the 1940s, Marbella was a small village with only 900 inhabitants but this changed when Prince Max Egon zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his heir Alfonso of Hohenlohe experienced a problem with their Rolls-Royce in the area. 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