Nueva Andalucia is west of Marbella and is tucked behind the world famous Puerto Banus Marina. Whilst driving towards Nueva Andalucia you will see the famous bullring on your right hand side and this indicates the entrance to Nueva Andalucia. You will notice the road winds back towards the mountains providing magnificent views of both the coast and the mountain know as La Concha (The Shell) which provides an excellent backdrop.

Nueva Andalucia

This is a largely residential area with Centro Plaza shopping centre providing a numerous quality shops, beauty salons, supermarkets and restaurants and is popular with local residents. These restaurants provide an array of international cuisine for those not wishing to venture out every night into the Marina. Here you can enjoy a great night out in the Casino Marbella located in the Andalucia Plaza hotel and is one of the only the two casinos of the Costa del Sol.

This area is extremely popular with golfers and is nicknamed the Golf Valley due to there being many stunning golf courses within an area of 10KM including; Los Naranjos, Las Brisas Aloha Golf, La Dama de Noche (which is being regressed at the moment) La Quinta, Guadalmina to name a few. Every Saturday there is one of the busiest street markets (“rastro”) held next to the bullring until 14.00 hours. Here you can buy everything thing from flowers to handbags or just sit and relax in a café bar and watch the world pass by. Many expatriates re-locate to Nueva Andalucía as it is home to several well accredited schools, including the international Aloha College and the Swedish school located in Atalaya Rio Verde. Nueva Andalucia is a mature area with stunning villas and apartment complexes located around the vast green valley. Property prices here are, and have been recovering quickly over the last few years and its very popular with investors buying rental investments due to the longer tourist seasons being busy with golfers and families.

ATTRACTIONS IN NUEVA ANDALUCIA

Eating and drinking

It is virtually impossible to mention all the restaurants and to distinguish the different styles of cuisine in Puerto Banús. There really is something for every taste, Italian, Japanese, Thai, Indian, modern European, Argentinian, Moroccan, Russian, Lebanese and of course specialist fish restaurants along the front line of the Marina, these can tend to be a little more expensive. If you are a family and on a slightly tighter budget, there are more reasonable options such as the Italian restaurant Picasso’s, which has a great location on the front line and serves great pizzas and is excellent value for money. Just remember it gets extremely busy all year round so try and get there earlier though don’t be put off if there is a queue as the staff are extremely efficient and you will soon be seated.

Nightlife

One of the port’s most popular night spots is restaurant/lounge bar La Sala located just a few minutes’ walk from the Marina and slightly away from the main bustle of the Port. This is a lively spot where you can rub shoulders with celebrities, locals and holiday makers and offers an excellent restaurant and bar with live music. Aqua Mist is the nightclub located under la Sala and gets busy after the bar), There are a huge range of lounge bars playing music until the early hours including Cavalli, Pangea, News Café, Havana, Seven and are all must do venues for any party goers and clubbers. The port can be expensive but most of the bars have happy hours so there is something to suit every style, taste and budget!

Daytime activities

If you are more of a day person there are many sports and family activities to enjoy on both land and sea. On the sea you can enjoy Banana rides, water skiing, wake boarding, yacht charters, scuba diving, deep sea fishing and there is also an excellent catamaran boat called Fly Blue offering hourly charters between Marbella and Puerto Banús. This is an excellent and in expensive way to see the coastline from the sea and we highly recommend it! On land you have Segway hire, paintballing, bike hire or just visit one of the many gyms and health centres available offering Yoga classes and gym classes.

Shop till you drop

Over 5 million tourists visit the Marina every year and many come to enjoy the Shopping opportunities in Puerto Banus that will satisfy the most devoted shoppers, with designer boutiques from Armani to Hermes that can be found lining the pretty streets around the marina. If your budget doesn’t stretch to big designer names, you can find more reasonable prices in chains such as Zara, HnM and Massimo Dutti in the Marina Banus shopping centre. If you prefer to do your shopping all under the same roof then the 5-floor department store El Corte Ingles, offers everything from electrical goods to furniture and fashion. There is also an enormous, well-stocked supermarket on the ground floor. Throughout the Easter and Summer holidays you can visit the market stalls in Plaza Antonio Banderas where you’ll find food stalls, fashion accessories, clothes, ceramics, antiques and much more.

FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT NUEVA ANDALUCIA

Transport links

Puerto Banus is linked to the rest of coast by two major road roads; the Costa del Sol toll road with prices varying between high and low season(AP-7) or the coast road Autovia del Mediterraneo (CN-340A)

Airports:

    • 45 minutes’ drive from Malaga airport
    • 60 minutes from Gibraltar airport
    • 5 hours from Malaga to Madrid on the AVE fast train