Falling In Love With Marbella

After visiting Marbella for a day last year, I thought about how great it would be to spend more time in the city because there is so much to do. So for the last two weeks, I've been sunbathing, exploring, and celebrating the end of my degree. Below, I've picked a few places we managed to explore which may inspire you to give Marbella a go next time you're planning a holiday!

Marbella Old Town

Marbella has a great selection of beaches for you to sunbathe to your heart's content. You can hire pedal boats or have a go at some water sports and I loved the selection of bars and restaurants on offer as you walk along the beach. Quite a few destinations I've visited have not had a lot of variety in where to go for a drink, but close to Marbella's old town, there is a square full of bars that are always bustling with locals at the weekend.

Marbella's old town is, of course, beautiful and a perfect place to grab some lunch and browse the cute shops. With pretty shop displays, and fountains to snap photos of, every corner of the old town is picture-perfect.

Puerto Banus

One of the most high-end resort destinations of this coastline is Puerto Banus. A luxury shopping complex can be found in town, as well as a marina full of yachts and boats. Even though staying in Puerto Banus would be an expensive holiday, to say the least, it was cool looking around and imagining I could walk into the designer shops and buy all the gorgeous clothes.

From where we were staying, we walked for about an hour across the coastline to reach Puerto Banus and then got the ferry back, which runs regularly every hour. It was lovely being able to walk across the bay, seeing all the small beaches and resorts.

Fuengirola

We got a bus to Fuengirola when it was cloudy and we didn't fancy going to the beach. Fuengirola is very touristy and although it lacks some of that Spanish charm that other coastal towns in the area offer, it still has big beaches, bustling restaurants, and the Parque del Castillo to explore.

Gibraltar

I've been wanting to visit Gibraltar for years and wasn't disappointed when we got the opportunity to go! It's quite expensive, as you have to pay for access to all the sites but it's definitely worth it if you want to see adorable monkeys and cool caves. There's so much to explore in Gibraltar that you ideally need a full day to see everything, so sadly there were a few areas we didn't have time to visit. If you want to visit make sure to factor in traveling through border control and parking etc.

The main street in Gibraltar is full of shops and restaurants, and it feels as if you're walking through an English city high street except the weather is so much nicer!

You can get a cable car to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar or a taxi up, but we wanted to have the freedom to walk around on our own, so chose the cable car.

The nature reserve gives you access to see the cute monkeys - they're hard to miss sitting on walls and coming after everyone's food. St Michael's Cave is a 10-minute activity that enables you to look around the wonderful caves and it's amazing that concerts can be performed there too!

Gibraltar also has a lot of history to delve into, with a Moorish castle and WW2 bunkers available to look at as you make your way down from the top of the rock. Gibraltar was definitely the highlight of the holiday and I would recommend it to anyone in the area.