Puerto Banús
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| Puerto Banús | |
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| — Town and marina — | |
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 Puerto Banús
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Puerto Banús
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| Coordinates: 36°29′15″N 4°57′09″W / 36.4875°N 4.9525°WCoordinates: 36°29′15″N 4°57′09″W / 36.4875°N 4.9525°W | |
| Country |  Spain |
| Autonomous community |  Andalusia |
| Province | Málaga |
| Comarca | Costa del Sol Occidental |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor-council |
| • Body | Ayuntamiento de Marbella |
| • Mayor | María Ángeles Muñoz Uriol (PP) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
Puerto José Banús, more commonly known as Puerto Banús is a marina located in the area of Nueva Andalucía, to the southwest of Marbella, Spain on the Costa del Sol. It was built in May 1970 by José Banús, a local property developer, as a luxury marina and shopping complex. It has since become one of the largest entertainment centres in the Costa del Sol, with 5 million annual visitors.[1][2][3] Developed around a coastal village in the Mediterranean architectural style, Puerto Banús contains expensive shopping malls, restaurants and barsaround the marina.[4] Three kilometres inland is the Aloha Golf Club in the urban suburb of Nueva Andalucía, known as the Golf valley, where British and Scandinavians reside in large numbers.[3]
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[edit] History
The architect Noldi Schreck, who participated in the design and construction of Beverly Hills, was visited in 1966 by Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe to ask him to work on the Hotel Marbella Club. Schreck's first job was to meet José Banús (a close friend of Francisco Franco), and convince him that Puerto Banús was not a suitable place to build huge skyscrapers that would house thousands of wealthy families.[5] He proposed a sophisticated Andalusian village and marina, the first port made by a single architect. José Banús became the largest developer of residential tourism complexes on the Costa del Sol. The port took his name and he became famous with the epithet "the regime’s builder."[3]
The lavish opening of the complex in May 1970 was attended by, amongst others, the Aga Khan, film director Roman Polanski, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Dr. Christiaan Barnard (pioneer of the heart transplant), and Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco. A young Julio Iglesias was hired to sing for the guests for the sum of 125,000 pesetas.[3] Three hundred waiters from Seville served 22 kilos of beluga caviar to 1700 guests.
In 2011, it was reported that one of the largest-scale developments in Marbella's history was to take place with a 400 million euro investment into La Bajadilla, east of Marbella, by Qatari Sheikh Abdullah Ben Nasser Al-Thani which included 200 metres (660 ft) quay for cruise liners, a five-star hotel on the marina, as well as bars, restaurants, shops and supermarkets to compete with Puerto Banús.[6]
[edit] Geography and climate
Puerto Banús is located on the Costa del Sol of southeast Spain, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) southwest of Marbella, 64 kilometres (40 mi) southwest of Malaga and 782 kilometres (486 mi) south of Madrid.[7] The climate of the area is protected in its northern part by the Coast Mountain Range of Cordillera Penibética. It enjoys a microclimate that produces a mean annual temperature of 18 °C (64 °F).
The Malaga Airport is 60 kilometres (37 mi) away. There is a good network of roads and transport services connecting Puerto Banús with adjacent towns and suburbs.[3]
[edit] The complex
According to the Municipality of Marbella, Puerto Banus is visited annually by nearly 5 million people.[8] Visitors to the port tend to be mostly tourists from northern Europe (especially United Kingdom) and Arabs (especially Kuwait and Saudi Arabia), along with Spanish tourists. The focal point of Puerto Banus is the marina. It has berths for 915 boats, including those of the King of Saudi Arabia and several of the world's wealthiest individuals. Behind the harbour lie streets filled with bars, boutiques and nightclubs. The marina has slips for boats and ships from 8–50 metres (26–160 ft).[3] Its surface area is 15 hectares (37 acres), and its depth ranges from 3–6 metres (9.8–20 ft) within the marina, with 7.5 metres (25 ft) at its entrance. There is beach on each side of the marina. Boats can also be hired here. Many of the yachts moored within can enjoy an unobstructed view of La Concha mountain, one of the coast's landmarks.
[edit] Shopping
Its streets are lined with expensive luxury boutiques like Christian Dior, Gucci, Bvlgari, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, and others. One stretch is known as "The Golden Mile".[9] Sammer Gallery displays contemporary art work.[10] Apart from the chain of restaurants, boutiques, in the heart of the Antonio Banderas Square is one of the largest El Corte Ingles department stores in Spain, including the up-scale hypermarket, Hipercor. [11]
[edit] Hotels
Several of the local hotels are listed in The Leading Hotels of the World, such as the Hotel Puente Romano and Hotel Marbella Club.[12] Hotel Marbella Club was established in 1954, a very expensive hotel which has been cited as perhaps the finest hotel on the Costa del Sol.[10] The Marbella Club with 84 deluxe rooms as of 2006 "consists of numerous whitewashed Andalusian-style buildings, bungalows, and suites tucked away in the midst of sub-tropical gardens, a beach club, and a lovely outdoor patio restaurant".[13] Other notable hotels include Hotel Meliá Marbella Dinamar, Hotel PYR Marbella, Plaza Suites Puerto Banús or the Gran Hotel Gvadalpin Banús. Real estates as prestigious as Theresa Bernabé or Kristina Szekely sell apartments and villas for up to 30 million euros in Puerto Banús.
[edit] Restaurants and bars
The area contains a variety of restaurants ranging from Chinese, Japanese, Persian and Italian to major fast food companies. Notable restaurants include Antonio serving seafood and international cuisine, Cipriano, Dalli's Pasta Factory, Los Bandidos, Picasso pizzeria and the newer Dani Garcia’s La Moraga and the Hard Rock Café.[2][3] Notable nightspots include Vanity, Olivia Valere, La Meridiana and China White (formerly Dreamers), a night club which accommodates up to 1400 people.[10] Olivia Valere, established in 1981, is a night club located along the "Golden Mile", housed in a Moorish-style replica of the Alhambra and the Mezquita and accommodates over 1000 people.[10][14] The Buddha Beach Bar and the Ocean Club on the beach are popular during the daytime, especially with British celebrities.
The Boulevard de la Fama de Puerto Banús was created to pay tribute to individuals who have promoted Marbella nationally or internationally through their professional work.
[edit] Culture
A three-ton statue of a rhinoceros by Salvador Dalí was placed in Puerto Banús in 2004. Officially known as Rinoceronte vestido con puntillas ("Rhinoceros dressed in lace"), Dalí created the sculpture in 1956 following the filming of his surrealist movie La aventura prodigiosa de la encajera y el rinoceronte ("The prodigious adventure of the lacemaker and the rhinoceros") in 1954.[3][11] Another impressive statue sculpted in bronze and copper by the Georgian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli is that of "La Victoria", which stands tall at 26 metres (85 ft) height over a granite pedestal. Unveiled in 1994, it was a gift from the Mayor of Moscow.[3][11]
[edit] References
- ^ "Los Banús que nunca pisaron el puerto" (in Spanish). El Mundo. http://www.elmundo.es/suplementos/magazine/2008/456/1213719417.html. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ a b Porter, Darwin; Prince, Danforth (3 April 2009). Frommer's Seville, Granada & the Best of Andalusia. Frommer's. p. 306. ISBN 9780470399002. http://books.google.com/books?id=qz-TWaAunWoC&pg=PA306. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Puerto Banús and Nueva Andalucía". Essential Magazine. http://www.essentialmagazine.com/marbella-and-the-costa-area/guide/nueva-andalucia-puerto-banus. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ Darwin Porter; Danforth Prince (9 November 2010). Frommer's Spain 2011. Frommer's. pp. 353–. ISBN 9780470614358. http://books.google.com/books?id=-vBhE8gy93AC&pg=PT353. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ "Noldi Schreck, el arquitecto que ideó Puerto Banús" (in Spanish). El Pais. 3 March 2009. http://www.elpais.com/articulo/Necrologicas/Noldi/Schreck/arquitecto/ideo/Puerto/Banus/elpepinec/20090303elpepinec_1/Tes. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
- ^ "Marbella invests £350 million to create 'second Puerto Banus". The Daily Mail. 19 May 2011. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1388673/Puerto-Banus-Celebrity-magnet-Marbella-create-second-glitzy-marina.html. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ King, Mona (2000). Essential Costa del Sol. AA Publishing. ISBN 9780749523718. http://books.google.com/books?id=xEy9I0A6UWkC. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ "Número de visitantes 5 millones" (in Spanish). Adn.es. 19 November 2007. http://www.adn.es/local/malaga/20071119/NWS-0272-Puerto-Banus-millones-visitas.html. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ Ronka, Melinda (30 December 2004). Forty Day Trips from Rota: Easy Adventures in Southern Spain. iUniverse. p. 95. ISBN 9780595341290. http://books.google.com/books?id=xtZt7qtOU1sC&pg=PA95. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ a b c d Head, Jeremy (15 March 2011). Frommer's Seville, Granada and the Best of Andalusia. John Wiley and Sons. p. 295. ISBN 9780470974315. http://books.google.com/books?id=_8Wy8Q8qJyUC&pg=PT295. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ a b c "Puerto Banus – The Place". Lovebonus.com. http://www.lovebanus.com/puerto-banus/the-place/. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ "Luxury Hotels Of The World". The Leading Hotels of the World. 2009. http://www.lhw.com/searchresults.aspx?countryid=69&mode=map. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ Stern, Steven B. (1 May 2006). Stern's Guide to the Greatest Resorts of the World. Stern's Travel Guides, Ltd.. p. 412. ISBN 9780977860807. http://books.google.com/books?id=OfRhN11wyq4C&pg=PA412. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ "A Successful History". Olivia Valere. http://www.oliviavalere.com/index_eng.html. Retrieved 30 May 3022.
[edit] External links
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