Puerto Banús
Puerto José Banús, more commonly known as Puerto Banús is a marina near Marbella, Spain on the Costa del Sol. It was built in 1970 by José Banús, a local property developer, as a luxury marina and shopping complex for the jet-set and the super rich.
Opening
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. Christian Barnard (pioneer of the heart transplant), and Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco. A youthful Julio Iglesias was contracted to sing for the guests for the enormous sum of 125,000 pesetas. An army of 300 waiters from Seville served 50 pounds of Beluga caviar to the 1,700 guests.
The Complex
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 and nightclubs and behind this the main square, featuring a vast El Corte Inglés department store.
The marina has 915 slips for boats and ships from 8 to 50 meters. Its surface area is 15 hectares, and its depth ranges from 3 to 6 meters within the marina, with 7.5 meters at its entrance. There is beach on each side of the marina. Many of the yachts moored within can enjoy an unobstructed view of La Concha mountain, one of the coast's landmarks.
José Banús himself was a developer with real estate holdings all along the coast. He was an intimate of Francisco Franco's and was called el constructor del régimen ("the regime's builder").
Present Day
The days of the jet-set glamour have largely disappeared as the rich and famous have found new playgrounds where their exclusivity and privacy are more easily protected. Today visitors to 'The Port' (as it is known by locals) tend to be tourists from northern Europe (especially UK and Germany) as well as holiday-making Spaniards.
A three-ton statue of a rhinoceros by Salvador Dalí was placed in Puerto Banús in 2004. Officially known as Rinoceronte vestido con puntillas, Dalí created the sculpture in 1956 following the filming of his surrealist movie La aventura prodigiosa de la encajera y el rinoceronte in 1954.
