Playa Andaluza & Marbella resort Updates

We recently finish week-long stays at each of the Costa del Sol resorts.

What else to say except wow! This Autumn turned out to be an exceptional season in terms of the weather which remained bright, clear, and summery warm. It was the best weather we've encountered this time of year as there were no showers or cloudy days which can typify this October transitional period down here.

Both resorts were mostly full with guests taking advantage of the great weather. Marbella resort of course looks spectacular. We see that the Chill Bar area astride the pool was tweaked again with another small expansion which keeps this area a great kick back location to read a book or enjoy a drink or a snack. My wife and I are beach people who head up the beach each day, returning to the resort mid-afternoon where Chill Bar became a regular hang out. They serve a nice ceasar salad here with anchovies as well as beef skewers and a nice shrimp appetizer to name a few.

We're underwhelmed by the grill near the pool. The picnic table seating is fine, but the food was mostly uninspiring, especially a bean salad served in a bamboo basket lined with paper. Your salad dressing mositens the paper and soon the taste is more about the paper than anything else as the paper disinitegrates & the dressing drips through the basket. But hey, none of this diminishes the good time we have at the resort.

As I mention in an earlier post, the sea has swept away a lot of sand along the entire beach in this Marbella resort area. The resort beach hamacas are still OK, but the hi tide does lap up to the front row of chairs if the wind and current are brisk that day. Up the beach walking past Tony's chiringuito ( just beyond the Don Carolos "Nikki" beach ) the situation is not so good as the hi tide reaches the sand dunes for the first 200 meters up the beach. A couple of days it was tricky walking past the rock wall at the chiringuito as the waves were heavy and wet. Like all beach things, sand moves in cycles and we're simply in a "taking" cycle rather than an adding cycle.

Playa Andaluza's beach remains wide and intact because the local currents here have a different effect. The Playa resort is at full capacity but you would never know this by how quiet and mostly sedate the pools are. Then again folks are on the move here going to town or into the moutains whilst also enjoying the resort proper. This September /October gold season has demand which exceeds availible inventory. Playa is pondering going to wifi Internect connectivity and this should happen relatively soon ( Marbella is already wireless ).

We ourselves eschew an airport car rental & we arrange an airport limo via the resort both ways ( it's our 16th visit in 8 years so we tend to relax around the resort & use a taxi for trips to town ). The two resorts can get decent car rental rates with delivery and return at the resort or to the airport if one wishes.

It was a great two weeks spent taking in the sun and the beach during the day and enjoying the resort's restaurants or venturing out for dinner. Of course we calibrate our appetites 100% to the Spanish way by eating after 9PM ( nice excuse to do a late afternoon tapa snack ).

I've added a few photos to both my Marbella and the Playa Andaluza resort photo galleries. I also add photos to the "Vela Azul" gallery located inside of the Playa gallery as well as a couple of beach photos in the "Battle of the Beaches" gallery which shows the latest beach conditions near Marbella resort. The link is via the Marriott resort link below.

Barry

Glad you had such a great time and thanks for sharing the photos.

I recently got an exchange to Playa Andaluza for early October 2012.

Does anyone have the email address and phone numbers for Playa Andaluza and Marbella? If I wanted to arrange transport from Malaga to the resort, or reserve a rental car through the resort, how would I do that? Also, what's the easiest way to put in a room request?

That's two of us - my wife and I will be there Oct 12 to 19 next year. We wanted Marbella but the more I read the more I felt that Playa Andaluza would be good too, so when the exchange was offered I accepted it.

We've got Oct 5-12, so you'll get our room when we check out. Will try to leave it nice and clean for you.

I'm still working on how we will plan our time. We're going to visit Madrid first, then fly on to Malaga for the timeshare week.

This will be our first visit to the Costa del Sol. Not horribly far away is Sevilla, Cordoba, and Granada. But it might be simply too much running around to take day trips to all 3 of those places during a 1 week timeshare stay. And there's Morocco to consider as well. So we might opt to stay a few days after our Playa week and take a hotel in or near one or more of those cities so that we can visit southern Spain in a more leisurely fashion.

We're looking at London, Paris, train through Madrid to Malaga, drive to Costa del Sol. You're right about there being too many trips to take once there - so many guide books talk about 2 days in Seville, Cordoba, and Granada. I am intrigued by the ferry to Tangiers - just to be able to say I've been in Africa.

nspils said:

I am intrigued by the ferry to Tangiers - just to be able to say I've been in Africa.

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Look at the Morocco Forum at TripAdvisor.

I've read a number of TUG posts that say that the organized (resort) tours were disappointing.

On TripAdvisor, you will find names of individuals/companies who offer private tours of Morocco and comments. Athough I've not been to Morocco, on past trips we've starting arranging our own private tours to certain areas and this has worked well for us.

I've saved some of the info I gleaned from TripAdvisor. If you wish, PM me and I can email you what I found.

I'm still deciding whether we'll attempt Morocco or not. I do think it would be a fairly long day, but it would be very different.

Looks like Marriott will be pretty full with Tuggers that week. My wife and I exchanged into Playa de Andaluza Oct 6-12, 2012. My wife works very hard to research and plan all our trips (almost a full time job)


She is working on Christmas in Cancun (Royal Mayan) and Spring Break at Marriott Canyon Villas (1st visit as owners) We are happy to have a discussion about day trips to take from the timeshare. I have read the reviews and restaurant recommendations on TUG and on Trip adviser.

Any favorite day trips or restaurants from other readers appreciated.

4Reliefnow is a play on the old airline advertisements for Florida tourism: "I need it bad!" was the slogan I think.

I'm still deciding whether we'll attempt Morocco or not. I do think it would be a fairly long day, but it would be very different.

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When we stayed in Mijas, we went to Morocco for the day, and are so glad we did. We arranged a private tour with a guide recommended by Rick Steves, and talked with several others who arranged private guides through TripAdvisor recommendations. A day will whet your appetite for more. We will definitely go back, and hopefully spend a few nights - there is simply too much to see and do. The ancient city, fascinating markets, gardens, gorgeous coast...definitely worth a trip!

My tip is this, while the internationally reknowned cities may appeal (and are good), the real do not miss expereince in the area is Ronda - less touristy, and a living museum of 1000's of years in the region including the incredible Arab baths. Great museums and art galleries, and inexpensive.

And for dining, Benehavis is a do not miss, all the great chefs train there and it is affordable.

Also, Malaga is often overlooked, but with roman ruins, renaissance and baroque architecture, moorish, and one of the world's greatest collections of Picasso's (he was born there), I highly recommend it.