Make your base: Marbella
Travel dates: March
Flight: British Airways from Tampa to Málaga via London Heathrow
Hotels: Puente Romano Beach Resort
What I Loved
I’ve spent the last two spring breaks in Spain with my family. Florida’s mid-March break is the perfect time, weather-wise, to be in Andalusia (Goldilocks-style — the temperatures are just right). And while summer is balmy in these parts, it’s also when the social season is in full swing. We made the Costa del Sol enclave of Marbella our base for a week, exploring the nearby seaside city of Málaga, along the Mediterranean coast and the surrounding area.
Puente Romano Beach Resort, set along the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean, completely blew me away with its decadence and culinary offerings. Named after an onsite Roman Bridge that dates to the 1st century, the resort’s hotel rooms, villas, eight clay tennis courts and 20 restaurants sprawl across 13 acres that feel like a lush botanical garden, flowering with some 400 species of plants from five continents.
A true day-into-night resort, Puente Romano has gorgeous pools overlooking the beachfront and a casual restaurant, Chiringuito, with incredible paella and Andalusian specialties for lunch. Under the cover of darkness, the resort turns into a dining and entertainment hotbed for visitors to the nightclub (Coya), Nobu restaurant, salsa dancing at El Pimpi’s (native son Antonio Banderas’ famed restaurant) and much more.
Start your morning bathed in golden Mediterranean light with a scenic pedal along Marbella’s Golden Mile, a waterfront promenade that unfurls for over three palm-shaded miles along the coast. And don’t miss a day trip to nearby Málaga, Southern Spain’s current “it” city where a lively lunch of grilled razor clams and sardines downed with copious cups of the local Sherry, is a must at the buzzing Mercado Central de Atarazanas.
When you’re ready to retreat back to the resort, Puente Romano’s Six Senses Spa has a hydrotherapy circuit, sauna and cold plunge for relaxing before the evening festivities kick into gear again.
Next time…
The Puente Romano experience is so decadent it’s easy to get lulled into the routine of never leaving the resort’s pampered grounds. But the property also offers incredible off-site excursions within the region, including trips to the windsurfing hot spot of Tarifa to go horseback riding on the beach and into the surrounding Sierra Blanca for guided bike rides through the olive and eucalyptus groves. On my next trip, I’ll venture even further afield and cruise across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to visit the fascinating souks of Tangiers, where an imposing kasbah awaits along the wild coast of Northern Morocco.
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