Costa del Sol Tourism Guide - Puerto Banus

Car Hire Puerto Banus, Puerto Banus Beaches, Puerto Banus Marina & Shopping

Puerto Banus' beaches are excellent, with golden sands except Rio Verde beach which has black sand. Main beach Puerto Banus beach nearest the marina has an adjacent pretty promenade, ample watersports facilities, sunbed hire, beach bars and a choice of restaurants. With easy access by car in and out of Puerto Banus, if you're planning to car hire on the Costa Del Sol, then Puerto Banus makes a good beach resort base from which to push out by car easily onto the N340 towards more fine beaches at San Pedro and Estepona beyond or onto the AP 7 for Gibraltar day trips west or Malaga day trips east. Puerto Banus' Tourist Information centre is at the west end of Avda Julio Iglesias on Paseo de Benabola. Ample parking is around the beachfront and shopping centres.

You've a choice of beautiful beaches on the Puerto Banus golden mile stretch from Marbella west to the marina. Nagules Beach stretches alongside the famous Marbella Club, has golden sands and has its own beach bar and two beach clubs to hand. Other beaches including Casa Blanca and El Ancon also have golden sands. Casa Blanca benefits from a choice of beach restaurants and ample watersports available, whilst El Ancon has two restaurants adjacent.

Pretty black sand beach Rio Verde sits near the Rio Verde River and the Roman villa remains. Watersports, several restaurants and a beach bar are here. The busiest beach is the main Puerto Banus Beach, also with fine golden sands it's a good one with Nueva mountain backdrop, ample sunbed hire and a choice of watersports with the facilities of Puerto Banus Marina adjacent. Just outside Puerto Banus the beaches of Nueva Andalucia, El Duque and San Pedro Alcantara are easily accessed. San Pedro's beach is particularly good for families with children, with a choice of watersports plus kids play area on-site.

Puerto Banus' Marina (see weblink right), to the west of the resort, is a bustling area with a wide range of shops and activities available. Shopping facilities are particularly good, including 1 department store, numerous restaurants and bars and three shopping centres no less. The harbour area tends to be home to most of the designer names in Puerto Banus - aka D&G, Versace, Dior and others. Move to the Plaza Antonio Banderas area for best budget names like Zara. Vintage clothing shops are here too in Puerto Banus, checkout Deja Vu's weblink right and there bases in Marbella centre and Puerto Banus Harbour area. The Saturday morning Puerto Banus Street Market centres around Centro Plaze, Nueva Andalucia. It's popular and a treasure trove for off the wall antiques, clothes, gifts, rugs, fruit and vegetables and more. Walk in as parking is a nightmare. For an all round good guide to Puerto Banus shopping see the local guide weblink right for more details.

Puerto Banus and Marbella Nightlife, Stag & Hen Weekends Puerto Banus

Popular as a stag and hen weekend break base, Puerto Banus offers a good nightlife scene, alongside great beaches and a bustling marina area. Some of Puerto Banus' clubs get some pretty top class visiting DJs. Checkout Dreamer's weblink right for DJ line up which includes the likes of Carl Cox, Morillo, Sinclair and others, as well as the ever popular Hed Kandi line-ups and more. Dreamer's is certainly the biggest and best clubs in the Marbella and Puerto Banus area. Find it on Ctra Cadiz Km175 - 29660 Marbella, Tel. 952 81 20 80. (see weblink right for details).

Other favourites include TIBV, Plaza de Antonio Banderas, 29660 Puerto Banus. Tel. 952 818 444. Heaven night here is especially popular. See Also Glam Club, Paseo Jose Banus, Gray D'Albion, 1 Puerto Banus for funky house and push further afield into Estepona to the west for Plato 68. If you're super rich or splashing out on a stag or hen party, VIP limousine from Puerto Banus to Estepona might be in order.

Dreamers, TIBV, Glam and Plato 68 rank as the best of the clubs, with plenty of other club choice available, some more about being seen, flashin' ya money about and drinking enough so you don't notice the slightly weird and tasteless decor than the quality of the music. For a good full listings check the local guide to Puerto Banus right. There's obviously been a shift - the medallion yacht brigade is still here (or the 'land of stick-on hairy chests' as John Noble & Susan Forsyth referred to Puerto Banus in their 1999 Lonely Planet guide to Andalucia), but both Puerto Banus and Marbella and these days pretty accessible. Puerto Banus makes a good base for stag and hen parties, low key clubbing beach holidays, family beach holidays and out of season chillin' quiet beach holidays with easy access into the Andalucian interior.