Alfonso von Hohenlohe built his family's Andalusian estate into a hotel in 1954, and the property he created — the Marbella Club Hotel — effectively invented the template for glamorous European resort living that the entire Costa del Sol would spend the following seven decades imitating. The low-slung whitewashed pavilions set within umbrella pines and mature palms were never meant to feel like a hotel at all, and that residential instinct has survived every subsequent renovation. The estate stretches across the Golden Mile between the N-340 and the beach, its bungalow-style accommodation arranged around gardens dense enough to make guests feel genuinely lost in them. The interiors carry two distinct registers, both visible in these images. Garden bungalows are dressed in a relaxed Andalusian vernacular — iron four-poster beds, hand-woven jute rugs, geometric ikat cushions, rattan wall sconces, and terracotta pots opening directly onto private terraces — while grander sea-facing rooms shift toward a more formal Colonial warmth, with upholstered four-posters in navy diamond fabric, tufted Louis XV-style armchairs, and layered curtaining in camel and cream. The beach club strikes the property's most purely Mediterranean note: white-painted timber pergolas hung with coiled esparto pendants, blue ikat chair covers, cobalt glassware, and olive trees planted directly into the sand. Inside, a salon lined with vintage Andalusian travel posters and framed in carved timber latticework confirms that this place has always understood nostalgia as a design material.

45min drive from Málaga airport (AGP)

The Marbella Club is one of Europe’s most sought-after beach resorts since 1954. Get swept away by the hotel’s legendary magic and embrace slow and mindful living away from the trappings of modern life. The hotel has 115 rooms and suites and an impressive collection of 17 villas, as well as a variety of bars and restaurants that add to the village-like, charmed feel of the resort. The Kids Club is one of the most extensive in Europe, making the hotel a family paradise. In keeping with its heavenly ethos of ‘be your best self,’ the hotel’s new, progressive approach to holistic wellness boasts an array of facilities and therapeutic offerings designed for ultimate relaxation and healing. Guests can indulge in treatments in the sea-facing thalassotherapy spa and be immersed in a range of deeply nurturing rituals, exploring breath work, meditation and aromatherapy. The newly introduced Holistic Studio, located within the peaceful botanical gardens, offers deeply healing, integrative holistic health practices.