Top 10 Luxury Hotels in Marbella

If it's good enough for Michelle Obama, it's good enough for us!

Villa Padierna Palace Hotel is one of the most striking hotels on the Costa del Sol. Located between Puerto Banus and Estepona, this 5* hotel offers settings inspired by the Italian region of Tuscany, with a love for detail, works of art, antiques, fountains and marble at every glimpse, and the guarantee of comfort and glamour everywhere you turn.
Its elegance flows through each of their 129 rooms, suites and villas - each of them different to the next - all that have marble bathrooms with a separate shower and bath unit and terraces that offer great views overlooking the 18 hole golf course, the Mediterranean and North Africa.
To relax, their famed Thermae Spa spread over 2,000sqm is designed to resemble a traditional Roman bath house. It includes steam rooms, saunas, plunge pool, indoor swimming pool with massage jets, salt vapour treatment, ice fountain and relaxation area.
There are five gastronomic venues to satisfy even the most discerning palates, including their beach club, an extragavant tapas restaurant and La Veranda, voted the best hotel restaurant in Malaga.
And if money is no object, host your wedding here in their stunning outdoor Roman amphitheatre.
If it's good enough for Michelle Obama (she stayed here a few years ago), it's good enough for us!

The Finca Cortesin Hotel in Casares is a short drive from Marbella, but is certainly worth the extra mileage to get there. This stunning 5* venue exubes elegance and class, with their choice of 67 suites and villas offering affordable luxury and splendour.
Spread over 2,147,600sqm, the Finca Cortesin is famed for two things, their cuisine and the golf course. They have three main award winning restaurants, ranging from Italian ingenuity, creative Spanish and a fusion of Japanese and Meditternean beauty.
Their world famous 18 hole golf course has been host to the Volvo World Match Play Championship for three years, and is accessible for all ranges of skill.
They also have a 2,200sqm relaxing spa to revel in, with treatment and massage zones, indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, three thermal areas and Spain's first snow cave, kept at a cool minus12 degrees.
And their beach club is the ultimate in relaxed luxury, where you can choose between their infinity pool and beach for where you want to lounge during the day.
This hotel is the perfect getaway.

The Puente Romano Hotel really does offer a lot in terms of keeping you entertained, you don't really have to leave! Situated on Marbella's Golden Mile, it is built in a typical Andalucian style with whitewashed buildings scattered amongst sub-tropical gardens, waterfalls, lakes and fountains. The greenery winds its way down straight onto the beach and the hotel's Beach Club El Chiringuito.
The Puente Romano features 261 guestrooms set throughout the gardens in small three-storey buildings. Rooms are spacious, with marble floors and private terraces, and offer privacy and luxury. The suites are particularly special spreading out across three floors with their own private terrace, jacuzzi and sauna.
Dining options are varied at Plaza Village in the grounds of the hotel, housing four restaurants including Japanese restaurant Nobu, tapas and wine bar La Plaza Tapas, Italian eatery Serafina and Suite Restaurant and Lounge, a place where the world of Moroccan and Lebanese cuisine meet, transforming into a cosmopolitian discoteque at midnight, the venue of choice for Nicole Scherzinger's birthday. Also Sea Grill restaurant set on the beach front is surrounded by sub-tropical vegetation, palm trees and wonderful sea views and offers a complete lunch buffet of salad specialities with a Mediterranean and Indian influence.
The Puente Romano Tennis Club houses ten courts (eight clay and two hard courts) and four paddle courts, often frequented by tennis legends including John McEnroe and Greg Rusedski.
They also have three outdoor pools in the grounds, a fitness centre with sauna and Turkish baths and all kinds of water sports running from their beach club. If you are a golfer, you have exclusive use of the Marbella Club Golf Resort, definitely worth taking advantage of!

Once the home of Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe and with frequent guests including Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, the Marbella Club Hotel offers a unique blend of old and new.
Set on a prime beach front location on the Golden Mile, the 5* hotel houses 84 rooms, 37 elegant suites and 14 private Andalucian-style villas nestled amongst lush gardens, all designed by the Prince himself.
The hotel has an array of locations to satisfy your dining and drinking wishes; the famed Beach club buffet, the romantic Grill Restaurant serving International and Spanish cuisine in elegant surroundings, MC Cafe offering a Euro-Asian menu, their beach club MC Beach, the pool bar and the extravagant Champagne room for the highest in opulence.
The Marbella Club houses three swimming pools and their Thalasso Spa that boasts an indoor seawater pool, steam baths, saunas, a solarium and treatment rooms.
Also, the superb Marbella Club Golf Resort and riding stables are located 20 minutes from the hotel near the quiet mountain town of Benahavis.
And for the ultimate in luxury, you can hire the 55 foot Marbella Club Yacht for half days, full days and short trips.

The Westin La Quinta Golf and Spa is an exclusive 5* resort in a prime location just 10 minutes from Puerto Banus in the heart of the Golf Valley.
There are 172 air-conditioned guestrooms that are large and comfortable and decorated with terracotta tiles and wooden furniture. The rooms are decorated with the highest-quality furnishings, and all have a private balcony which offers views over the pool, garden or golf course. They are also six deluxe suites to choose from if you're looking for something extra plush.
The hotel is famed for their YHI Spa La Quinta, where the Arabic influences marry perfectly with the Mediterranean style. The spa is spread over two floors and divided between the dry area for relaxing, treatments and beauty centre and the wet area which includes a Mediterranean sauna, aromatic steam room, Turkish hammam, sensorial and cascade showers, hydrotherapy pool and outdoor garden pool. 
For the men, and women, onsite is the first-class 27-hole La Quinta Golf Course and golf academy, beautifully designed by Manuel Pinero, three times world champion and winner of the Ryder Cup.
And for when you get hungry or thirsty, the Westin La Quinta offers a range of Mediterranean and Japanese restaurants and there is the Moroccan or poolside bar to enjoy a relaxing tipple.

In an unexpected location for a 4* resort, Hotel Fuerte Marbella has a beach front location, five minutes walk from the old town of Marbella. The hotel grounds span a massive 4,000sqm of warming charm, decored in a classic Andalucian style.
There are 263 air conditioned guestrooms, cleanly designed with ultra comfortable beds and the majority have balconies with views of the sea.
Dining options include their Restaurant Grill at their exclusive Beach Club, and their inhouse restaurant El Olivo, serving delicious Mediterranean cuisine accompanied by live music and cooking shows on some evenings.
To escape for the afternoon, be sure to visit Spa and Beauty Miramar, just a few metres from the hotel, boasting a full hydrotherapy and beauty centre. And to completely relax, beauty therapy treatments and massages are also available.

A little outside Marbella in Elviria, you will find the Don Carlos Hotel. This 5* resort is set in 40,000sqm of mature tropical gardens.
The Don Carlos Hotel has a total of 241 newly-renovated air-conditioned rooms, spacious and comfortable with all the modern assets, all with balconies that overlook either the rolling mountains or the blue sea. There are also 24 suites located adjacent to the hotel, in a complex with their own pool and parking.
For dining, you can choose from six restaurants. Restaurant Bahia serves a large buffet breakfast in the morning and classic Mediterranean dishes in the evening, Sol y Sombre is the pool restaurant and is the perfect spot for a healthy light lunch, Los Naranjos has a beautiful outdoor terrace where guests can enjoy modern European cuisine, Ombu is the hotel's newest restaurant serving beautiful Thai dishes and for that evening drink, La Terrasse is the hotel's piano bar that also serves light snacks. There is also the Beach Club at the Don Carlos, serving International cuisine right on the beach front.
Their spa offers all the treatments for you to make the most of your beauty, feel good or simply relax. And their pools, tropical gardens and access to the exclusive Nikki Beach Marbella make the Don Carlos Hotel the complete package.

The Kempinski Bahia Hotel is a quality hotel set right on the beach that lives up to the high standards the rest of the Kempinski Hotel and Resorts chain has earned.
The hotel itself, located within 45,000sqm of lavish gardens, is modern and displays quality art throughout. Each of the 148 rooms have a private balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
Within the grounds, there are four pools; three outdoor - one heated - and one of the indoor. There is also a high-quality spa with everything you could need including saunas, indoor pool, 26 treatment rooms and an Arabian steam room for mud treatments. Their fitness and beauty centre, tennis court and all kinds of water sports that run directly off the beach ensure you are continually entertained.
When you get hungry, there are four restaurants to choose from. El Mirardor is open for breakfast and special events, La Brisa serves Italian cuisine and features a terrace for al fresco dining and live music, Spanish, Asian and Arabic speciality restaurant Aliminar and La Cabaña del Mar Beach Club.

Hotels here in Marbella don't have to be huge resorts to be considered luxurious, with the boutique hotel style showing how you can experience splendour on a more personal scale.
The Sunny Dom Boutique Hotel offers complete exclusivity on the beach front of Elviria. With only five rooms, you can relax in the comfort of a private modern villa, while you are waited on hand and foot. Each room is decorated in its own individual style, one with a private sauna and another with its own spacious terrace looking out over the Mediterranean Sea and as far as Gibraltar and Morocco. 
This child-free residence offers great little personal touches that are lost in large resorts, including a pillow menu and tailored incense aromas for each room.
Each stay includes a continental breakfast, and for lunch and dinner, its location lends itself perfectly to a range of dining options nearby.
This is excellent personal service at an affordable rate.