Hotel of the Week: This Celebrated Hideaway in Spain Adds a Spectacular New Garden

As part of the anniversary celebration, Marbella Club introduced Ana María, a 12-acre plot once home to the famed von Bismarck family, now open as a lush botanical sanctuary. The expansion also adds a new Loewe boutique, a pool, a restaurant, and padel courts to the dreamy property, which already offers 114 guest rooms and 17 private villas, wellness programing, fine dining, and a thalasso spa.

Available only to guests, finca Ana María’s 10 gardens are crafted to further the oasis’s deep-rooted immersion in nature, and were designed to evolve over time, with 300 fruit and vegetable varieties, a heritage tomato garden, and other lush plots ripe for exploration. Various spaces cater to a plethora of interests, like the Cabinet de Curiosités and acacia maze, which welcome those looking for botanical education, while the adults-only pool, padel courts and surrounding games area, yoga deck, and full schedule of wellness programming appeal to more active pursuits. Epicureans can sample some of the more than 100 varieties of tomatoes grown on site, or enjoy a healthy locavore meal with ingredients plucked from the finca’s mandala shaped garden. Vintage greenhouses, bougainvillea-covered pergolas, and secluded landscape nooks offer scenic settings for private events.

Guests visiting the Marbella Club have a number of accommodation options to choose from, the most luxurious being the multitude of private residences, including the spectacular grand villas, each with their own private garden and swimming pool. The heavenly beachfront Villa del Mar includes six bedrooms and nine baths, a private sauna and Turkish bath, cinema room, and fully-equipped kitchen, enveloped in an art-filled palatial structure dotted with glorious hand-painted ceramics.

Those looking to sample the culinary excellence of the region have myriad dining options, from the casual El Patio, where cozy bistro tables are immersed in the intoxicating fragrance of the surrounding jasmine vines, to the sun-soaked Beach Club or the elegant Grill, serving traditional fare like chateaubriand, grilled sea bass, and suckling lamb shoulder amongst twinkling candlelight and vintage silver. Be sure to save room for a nightcap in the bohemian bar Rudi’s, where tapas and champagne are presented alongside live music and other convivial activities, or a decadent wine tasting in the secluded La Bodega.

Designed to tantalize both the body and soul, Marbella Club lures contemporary jetsetters looking to experience the best of resort-style travel, while its bucolic setting demonstrates why this section of Spain has attracted the most discerning and glamorous explorers for decades. Brush up on your golf game, sail the Mediterranean, shop the latest in luxury labels, venture out to explore the birthplace of Picasso, or do absolutely nothing and just recharge—the choice is here for the taking.

See more images below. A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Winter Issue in the section The Artful Life. Subscribe to the magazine.