The Marbella Club has royal roots. Spain’s party-loving Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe-Langenburg transformed what was an old farm between Marbella and Puerto Banus and opened it as the Marbella Club Hotel in 1954. Hollywood and royalty came — everyone from Audrey Hepburn to Princess Diana — and it remains a celebrity favourite. Its gorgeous gardens and seaside position invite outdoor exercise as it sits in a verdant biozone between La Concha mountain and the sea. And while the emphasis is on achieving wholeness — an alignment of body, mind and soul — as well as wellness, there remains a let-your-hair-down vibe — this is Marbs after all.
Overall score: 8/10
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Spa facilities and treatments
Score 9/10
Overlooking the Med, it makes sense that the Marbella Club’s Thalasso Spa focuses on sea water treatments. There’s a warm seawater pool and relaxation area from which guests can gaze at the jet boats zipping by on the horizon and an emphasis on natural ingredients — magnesium-rich mud, seaweed wraps. The Intensive Thalasso Vichy Detox with Thalion, which involves a seawater shower and algae massage, is popular. There’s a hammam, steam room and sauna, and the decor of cool, creamy marble is more backdrop than showstopper. Massages are also available in an open-air beach cabin in summer. Tibetan rituals plus reflexology and theta healing sessions (a type of meditation) take place in a holistic studio with a tranquil Moorish-inspired, tiled garden. New this year is Finca Ana Maria with its herbal spa amid plots of vegetables (300 varieties), roses, Instagrammable greenhouses plus an outdoor sauna and cold plunge bath. The herbal spa has a separate menu and therapists make use of ingredients from the garden for their relaxation-focused treatments.
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Rooms and suites
Score 8/10
Of the 130 whitewashed rooms, 16 are villas or bungalows with their own pools (Casa Hubertas was designed by Alfonso’s son). But even the entry-level (deluxe) rooms are sizeable with private terraces and garden views. The vibe is cool and calm — linen curtains, marble floors, crisp white sheets on elegant four-posters. Communal areas have more swagger — take naughty-feeling Rudi’s Bar (open October to May) with its shell-adorned fireplace and large tiger painting or the Club House with its lemon wallpaper by Schumacher. Alfonso loved to travel and he returned with ideas, bringing a hint of Mexico to the Beach Club with its palapa roof, for example, and a laid-back California ethos. More than 30 gardeners keep the outside — lofty agapanthus, sprawling pink bougainvillea, red hibiscus, palm trees, jasmine — looking Chelsea-worthy.
• Read our guide to Marbella
Food and drink
Score 9/10
Beachside, poolside, Moroccan, Mediterranean, straight from the veggie patch — guests won’t get bored dining in the eight restaurants and bars here. El Patio only opened in 2021 but it’s become a local favourite, the heart of the hotel, with its Middle Eastern-inspired sharer dishes. The Grill (where the lavish breakfast buffet is served) is the old-school, white tablecloth, personalised soufflés for pudding option (in summer, guests eat outside around a candle-draped olive tree). MC Beach puts you by the waves enjoying enormous prawns, sushi, paella and people-watching — though sandy feet are unwelcome. There’s a Sunday buffet for lunch in the Beach Club and El Olivar, which opened in summer, offers an anti-inflammatory menu using vegetables from Finca Ana Maria.
• Read more about Marbella Club facilities
What else is there?
Score 8/10
Shops! Buy into the MC look in the boutique next to El Patio — flamingo-patterned straw hats, vases covered in lemons, clothes by Borgo de Nor — there’s also a Chanel and a Louis Vuitton. Upmarket swimwear is for sale in the shop by the beach. Parents rejoice — the kids’ club (children aged between 4 and 14 can be left, younger ones are welcome but must be supervised by an adult) is magical with its pool, kitchen, dancing platform, mini football pitch, chic toys galore and even a sea museum with a tank full of baby seahorses. Marbella old town is a ten-minute cycle away (bikes are available to hire from the hotel for £26 a day) and the megayachts of Puerto Banus are a 15-minute cycle.
Spa treatments from £180
Restaurant mains in El Patio from £26
Family-friendly Y
Accessible N
Jenny Coad was a guest of Marbella Club, which has B&B doubles from £650 (marbellaclub.com). Fly to Malaga