Marbella
Spain
A whitewashed old town under the Sierra Blanca, a long seafront promenade, and Puerto Banús for the yachts and the bills
Photo by Silviya Nenova on Unsplash
Photos by Simon Hermans, Milan Trninic, Robert Kovacevic and Ramon Albiol on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Spain
April to June, and September to October — high summer is full, loud and expensive
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 110mm in Dec
Where it is
36.51°N, 4.88°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A long weekend- Stay in or near the old town rather than on the Golden Mile
- Walk the promenade to Puerto Banús and get the bus back
- Eat espetos at a chiringuito with the fire in a boat on the sand
- Walk up La Concha from Juanar for the view to Africa on a clear day
- Come in May or September, when the sea is warm and the rooms are half the price
Marbella travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Spain
Very expensiveCards are taken everywhere, beach clubs and chiringuitos included. Check a bill in Puerto Banús before you hand the card over. Refuse the conversion when a terminal offers to charge you in your own currency.
ATMs & cards
Use the bank machines — CaixaBank, BBVA, Santander, Unicaja. The Costa del Sol has more independent machines than anywhere else in Spain, and Puerto Banús and the seafront are full of them.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- the independent machines in Puerto Banús and along the seafront
Use these instead
- CaixaBank
- BBVA
- Santander
- Unicaja
The Costa del Sol has more independent machines than anywhere else in Spain, and they push conversion hard.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Spain
SafeSafe for visitors, with one specific pattern: expensive watches are snatched in and around Puerto Banús, and bills there can be padded. Leave the watch at home and read the bill. Otherwise the usual on the beach — bags left on the sand do not stay there — and taxis rather than driving after a night in the port.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Puerto Banús at night — watch snatching is a known pattern, drinks are steep and bills get padded; read the bill, leave the watch
- the beach — bags left on the sand while everyone swims are the commonest loss on this coast
- The A-7 coast road, fast, busy and full of junctions; take a taxi after an evening out
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Spain visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Spain
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date (MMR, tetanus, polio)
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodThe best value is in the old town and on the beach, not in the port: espetos of sardines grilled over a fire in a chiringuito, and tapas in the lanes round the Plaza de los Naranjos. Puerto Banús charges for the view of the boats. Dinner is at ten and nothing in the old town fills before then.
Travel tipsNightlife
Two different evenings: tapas and terraces in the old town, and Puerto Banús, where the clubs, the cars and the prices are all for being seen.
- Puerto Banús — the clubs and bars round the marina, and the late night
- Plaza de los Naranjos — and the old-town lanes, for the earlier and cheaper half
- the Paseo Marítimo — beach bars along the promenade in summer
Closing: Old-town bars around 02:00; the clubs in Puerto Banús run to dawn in high summer and are much quieter in winter.
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- CabifyWorks here
- FREE NOWWorks here
- Against a taxi
- About level with a metered taxi, and where a city sets a flat airport fare the taxi usually wins.
Several cities cap private-hire licences hard, so at peak the app may simply have nothing to send.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Madrid — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Spain, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Spanish
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-thyas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse mePerdónper-DON
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
Religion
Catholic
Nominally Catholic and deeply secular in practice. Churches are working buildings as well as sights, and Semana Santa is taken seriously even by people who never attend Mass.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Eat late — lunch from 14:00, dinner rarely before 21:00
- Greet with two cheek kisses, right cheek first, between women or a man and a woman
- Stand at the bar to drink; it is cheaper than sitting and more sociable
- Say buenos días on entering a small shop, and adiós on leaving
Don't
- Do not expect anything to be open between 14:00 and 17:00 outside the big cities
- Do not order sangria in a serious restaurant — it is a tourist drink; ask for tinto de verano
- Do not tip heavily; rounding up or a euro or two is normal
- In Barcelona, do not assume Catalan and Spanish are interchangeable — the distinction matters to people
Where to stay in Marbella
No Holistay rentals in Marbella yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Marbella on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Málaga–Costa del Sol AGP
50 minfrom the airport· 39 km as the crow flies
Direct bus to Marbella, about 50 min.
Also worth pricing: Gibraltar GIB — about an hour, and only a few routes, mostly from Britain.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
