Marriott’s Marbella Beach Resort

Stayed at Marriott’s Marbella Beach Resort in January 2016.

Marbella would not be my first choice of cities to stay at in Spain, but my mother-in-law had a timeshare week that she was not using and so my husband, sister, and I were able to stay in a two bedroom villa at this resort for free. Marbella is only a two hour drive from Granada and Ronda and less than three hours from Sevilla so we were able to make several day trips during our six day stay.

The Marbella Beach Resort is located directly on the beach, but you’ll need a rental car to access any of the restaurants and boutiques in town. Many amenities are provided on the resort including onsite dining, a fitness center, outdoor pools, heated indoor pools, and a jacuzzi and sauna. We didn’t spend too much time at the resort during our stay, but we did make use of the indoor heated pool, jacuzzi, and sauna. We also dined at Charlie’s Resto Bar at the resort on the one night we were too tired to drive into Marbella. The food was pretty good for hotel food.

Positives:
Our two-bedroom/two-bathroom villa was very spacious. We made breakfast each morning in the kitchen and enjoyed great views from our balcony. The Nespresso machine in the kitchen was greatly appreciated and the resort charged an extremely fair price for the Nespresso pods. We were able to pack light suitcases since we had a washer and dryer in our villa. (Tip: The resort provides laundry detergent for two loads. Pack extra as I did if you plan on washing several loads.)

(Minor) Negatives:
The villa was nicely decorated, but it lacked character. It would be nice to see the rooms decorated with more of a Spanish flair. Our bed in the master bedroom was really uncomfortable and our backs were killing us by the end of our stay. I didn’t notice that the mattress sloped down until our fourth night at the hotel. Be prepared to get pressured to take a timeshare tour. I told the timeshare rep, Janina Ferlin, prior to our trip that we had no interest, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer and called our villa every day.

Despite the few negatives, our stay was nice and this is a great resort if you are looking to vacation on the beach in Marbella.