Marbella plays host to a wide cross section of visitors, including the rich and famous. This town established the area as a destination for the international jet set, beginning in the 1950s. Twice a day the west side echoes with the amplified call to prayer from the shining white mosque built by Saudi King Fahd, and many of Marbella's estates belong to Gulf oil millionaires. The pedestrianised casco antiguo is partially walled and set back from the ocean. Its centre is the lively Plaza Naranjos. Shops quietly hawk fine jewellery, haute couture and impulse luxury items, but it's as much fun to simply to wander the narrow streets, coming across such delights as the little chapel of San Juan de Dios.

A 16th-century convent hospital houses the excellent Museo del Grabado Contemporaneo, with a permanent collection that includes prints by Picasso, Miro and Dali as well as a steady exhibition program. The Museo Bonsai, just above the casco antiguo, has a charming collection of miniature trees. The fine old Alameda serves as a garden-square for Marbella's downtown. The marble-paved pedestrian Avenida Atlantica connects it to the remodelled Paseo Maritimo, really the golden promenade of the entire Costa del Sol.

The best combination of fine sand and amenities in central Marbella is at Playa de Venus, east of the yacht marina, where the 400 slips hold some vessels as big as a small Spanish village. Marbella is a name to conjure with in these parts, so surrounding municipalities have readily allied themselves with the resort to the point where seemingly separate communities, like the chic port-resort of Puerto Banus and the sprawling luxury developments of Nueva Andalucia, lie within Marbella's bounds. Even San Pedro de Alcantara has recently been swallowed in Marbella's tidal wave. The so-called Golden Mile of Marbella consists of the 5km stretch west of the main town toward Puerto Banus, where the Marbella Club, brainchild of the Prince of Liechtenstein, pioneered the jet-set scene in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Up on the N340, the high speed road from Malaga to Estepona, the Marbella interchange leads to La Canada a glitzy shopping mall with designer boutiques, chain stores and in-house multi-screen cinemas, featuring its own food-court where you can rest your legs and your wallet and watch the frantic shopping. It also has the largest local branch of Leroy Merlin the DIY superstore and many other attractions.