Costa Del Sol for Christmas 2018
My wife finally decided on Puerto Banús in Costa Del Sol, as it would be warmer, and we could relax and chill out. We flew from Southend to Malaga, a flying time of 2 hours and 55 minutes. Our flight was full, I guess everyone had the same idea as us to go away for Christmas.
When we arrived at Malaga airport, we had a transfer booked with Holiday Taxis, which took us to our hotel. Journey time with our transfers was around 50 minutes as we had to drop another couple off at their hotel along the way. We passed some lovely towns and scenery on the way to the hotel.
We stayed at Gran Hotel Guadalpin Banús for three nights in a junior suite. We were given a free room upgrade to sea view, which was nice. The room was spacious with its own mini kitchenette and lounge area. Our room was ready when we arrived at noon, which was nice as we had got up very early for the flight. We had a few hours’ sleep before we took a look around our hotel, and then ventured into town which took 15 minutes walking along the promenade on the beachfront.
Along the promenade we saw lots of people walking their dogs and jogging. It seems a popular route. We finally arrived into town where we saw a mini Christmas market and lots of shops including designer shops like Louis Vuitton etc. We realised that this destination is for the wealthy people, as we saw lots of nice yachts and top range cars. Having seen this lifestyle, we thought that eating out would cost an arm and leg in the restaurants, but we were surprised by the prices as they were very reasonable. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to sample the local restaurants as we were booked on a half board basis at the hotel. We had decided on half board basis, as we weren’t sure that restaurants would be open over Christmas period. In the past we have been to some cities where shops, restaurants etc are closed so we were amazed to see everything opened like a normal day in this town.
The food at our hotel was okay. We had a choice of an la carte Italian restaurant or set menu at another restaurant within the hotel complex. We preferred the a la carte Italian menu option. The food was very filling in the evenings, so I decided to walk it off one evening by walking along the promenade from the hotel. Breakfast was a buffet with a choice of hot and cold dishes. We found it to be very busy at breakfast, with limited spaces to eat. The quality of food and drinks could have been improved, in our opinion, especially as a five-star hotel.
We saw a few families at this hotel. The hotel didn’t do any special entertainment over Christmas period, but they did offer us a gala Christmas Eve and day at additional cost. We decided against it as we didn’t understand the menu as it was in Spanish. It suited us that there was no entertainment as we came for a relaxing break. The hotel has a nice spa and a lovely outdoor swimming pool. The weather was glorious around 24c and a bit chilly in the evening where a jacket or coat was required. Most days we went into town to see what was happening and to see if we would bump into anyone famous!
We had been to this part of the region before but for work, so it was nice just to come to relax this time. We decided if we ever come back, we would like to go to Gibraltar for the day which isn’t far away. I have never been to Gibraltar but my wife many years ago. Puerto Banús was handy to stay in, as not far away from Marbella which is a much bigger town, about 13 minutes’ drive depending on traffic.
Our three-night break went very quickly. We had a transfer back to the airport. We had an evening flight back home which was packed again. We flew with EasyJet on this trip. This destination is very busy June-September and very popular with couples and families.