Beaches in Marbella
Best beaches in Marbella, Guadalmina and Puerto Banus

Marbella Beaches

Marbella is one of those municipalities on the Costa del Sol that receives visitors all year round, although it’s even more popular during the summer. Its proximity to Puerto Banus, Estepona and Malaga make it a highly recommendable destination for anyone who is planning a holiday in the south of Spain.

If you decide to visit Marbella or its beaches, it’s definitely recommendable to hire a car in Malaga. Although Marbella has a good public transport service, the amount of time it can take you to reach Marbella from the centre of Malaga can be excessive, specially during the hot summer months.

Here below is a list of the main beaches in Marbella:

Guadalmina beach

The Guadalmina beach is situated in one of the most luxurious places on the Costa del Sol. This beach, surronded by the Guadalmina golf course, offers the visitor the possibility to relax or going for a refreshing swim in the sea after a good session of their favourite sport.

The Guadalmina beach is situated very near San Pedro de Alcantara and is protected by archaeological excavations where they have found remains that date back to the 3rd century.

This beach offers all kinds of water sports and 2 clubs that are located right on the beach, as well as several beach bars where one can sit down, relax and cool off with a cold dink.

The beach has showers, public toilets, rubbish bins, sunbeds to hire, bay watch, first aid services, etc..

Lindavista

Lindavista beach is located at the entrance of San Pedro de Alcantara and can be reached by following the road to Cadiz. It’s a typical Mediterranean beach with golden sand. It has showers, public toilets and jetski rental.

San Pedro de Alcantara

This beach is situated in San Pedro, next to Marbella and Puerto Banus, and has a promenade with ‘chiringuitos’ (beach bars). It’s an urban beach that also has a children’s playground, so it’s ideal for a day on the beach with the whole family.

In high season, the San Pedro beach has a medium-high occupation.

Cortijo Blanco (white country house)

It’s a very popular beach amongst the locals, with volcanic sand formed by the Guadaiza river, very near the beach. The water is clean and the town of San Pedro is within walking distance.

To get to the Cortijo Blanco beach, we must pass Puerto Banus, the beach is located opposite the hotel with the same name.

Nueva Andalucia

On the Mediterranean motorway, head towards Marbella and once you leave the centre of the city, take the turnoff to Puerto Banus, which is clearly indicated, head down towards the beach and park the car in the port or in the surrounding areas.

The beach is situated to the west of Puerto Banus, in a cove that protects it from the wind. It’s made up of typical Mediterranean golden sand with shops and restaurants nearby.

Rio Verde / Puerto Banus beach

This beach is situated in the area under the same name, with emblematic spots nearby such as the Mosque, Oasis and Puente Romano (Roman bridge).

It’s a popular beach for water sports, with fine typical Mediterranean golden sand. It has showers, rubbish bins, sunbeds to hire, watchtowers and first aid services.

El Ancon beach

To get to El Ancon beach in Marbella, you must take the Marbella turnoff. El Ancon beach is an extension of Rio Verde, and is very popular during the summer season in particular as it attracts many tourists that enjoy its views and its beach, as well as the area’s typical gastronomy.

The quality of the sand on this beach, as well as its palm trees and pine trees, are just some of its best attractions as it preserves its natural essence. It has all the necessary services for a beach.

Nagueles

To get to Nagueles beach we must take the Marbella turnoff towards Algeciras until we reach the roundabout opposite the Hotel Marbella Club or the Puente Romano, where we’ll do a U-turn.

This beach has public showers and toilets, rubbish bins, sunbeds with sunshades to hire, first aid, amongst other services like jetski and kayak rentals for those who want to enjoy activities in the sea.

Nagueles beach has plenty of vegetation and is situated exactly in between the Hotel Marbella Club and the Puente Romano. If the quality of the beaches was valued with stars like the hotels, we could easily say that the Nagueles beach is a 5-star beach.

Fontanilla

Right in the centre of Marbella we´ll find an 800-metre long beach known as Fontanilla, between the Constitution park and the seafront promenade’s lighthouse. Its sand may not be the best, but it’s located right in the centre of Marbella, which is a great advantage...and many people must think the same as it’s a very busy beach during the high season.

The beach has all the services we would expect, as well green shady areas.

El Faro

Right by the Constitution square, where it’s recommended to leave the car and continue walking. This 300-metre beach is also very near Marbella, which is why in summer it’s normally packed.

This beach, with fine golden sand, has all kinds of necessary services, as well as a children’s playground and beach bars.

Venus beach

This beach is situated near the Alameda park. With numerous palm trees and the port to one side, it’s well-known to be a family beach.

Venus beach has all the necessary services, like showers, sunbeds to hire, children’s playground and beach bars all along the promenade.

Cable beach

This is one of the most famous beaches in Marbella. In summer, they organise concerts at night and they have clubs and entertainment almost every night.

There are showers, sunbeds, palm trees and beach bars where one can sit down to eat and drink, amongst other services.

Funny beach

Leaving Marbella behind on the way to Malaga, we’ll find this beach on the right. It has parking, although it’s generally pretty full.

Funny beach is about 3 kilometres long, with fine natural sand. It’s surrounded by bushes and trees, and has an amusement park with karting, videogames, trampolines, etc.. It has two beach bars where one can hire jetskis, canoes and sunbeds.

This beach is also ideal for the little ones, although the price of the minikart goes up to about 20 euros for only an 8 minute spin...it’s actually cheaper to hire a car in Malaga, which is why we recommend to enjoy other attractions, specially if your budget is tight.

Rio Real (Royal River) / Los Monteros

Near the Costa del Sol hospital on the way towards Malaga, taking the turnoff indicated as El Alicate beach, we’ll reach this beach, one of the most visited in Marbella. It extends along approximately 2 kilometres and offers excellent services.

Some of the services we’ll find on this beach are: beach bars, sunbeds to hire, jetskis to hire and a large parking area. If you prefer to come by bus, there’s a bus stop about 200 metres away.

Cabo Pino / Artola beach

Cabo Pino is quite a well-known beach and it’s the closest nudist beach to Marbella.

This beach extends along the natural area of Dunas de Artola, so we’ll also enjoy a natural landscape.

Real de Zaragoza

This is one of the largest beaches in Marbella, with around 2 kilometres of fine golden sand, almost always full of young people that want to spend a great day on the beach.

Here we’ll find the famous beach club, Nikki Beach, as well as all the services we would expect from a beach like showers, and jetskis, pedalos and sunbeds to hire.

This beach is situated by the Hotel Don Carlos in Marbella.

La Vibora (the viper)

With only 650 metres of length, it’s quite a busy beach during the summer, where we’ll be able to practice a few water sports.

La Vibora beach has all the necessary services and beach bars where one can eat or have a drink. This beach is situated next to the river with the same name, in Marbella.

Las Chapas

To get to Las Chapas by car, you must follow the N-340 towards Marbella until you see the Las Chapas signpost and turn off.

Las Chapas is situated on the outskirts of Marbella. It’s a 3-kilometre beach with fine sand, ideal for those who enjoy a lovely stroll along the seashore. It has all the necessary services, which is what we would expect from a great beach like Las Chapas.

Las Cañas

Las Cañas beach is situated turning off at Marbella from the N-340. It’s not the busiest beach and it has fine sand and crystal clear water, ideal for those who enjoy snorkelling.

This beach has all the services, as well as beach bars, one of them very near the hotel Don Carlos and another one on the opposite side of the river ‘Siete Revueltas’.