Benahavís still looks every bit the whitewashed Andalusian village, set back between the hills and the coast. Narrow streets, lime-washed façades, the restaurants that made its name — nothing about it suggests what lies only minutes away in any direction. Golf grew up around the village rather than the other way round. Today, some of the Costa del Sol’s finest courses begin only minutes from its streets.
One Landscape, Several Ways to Play
No single course explains Benahavís. Its character comes from the range of courses surrounding it.
Los Arqueros, Severiano Ballesteros’s first design on the Costa del Sol, works with the natural slopes of the land to make you think through every shot. La Quinta takes a different approach entirely: three nine-hole courses that combine into different configurations, built for those staying long enough to play more than once.
Close by, Marbella Club Golf Resort, designed by Dave Thomas, carries the game into the mountains, where the quiet and the views over the Mediterranean are as much a part of the round as the golf itself. Villa Padierna brings three more courses, each with its own character: Flamingos, host to professional tournaments; Alferini, longer and more demanding; and Tramores, built for the short game, practice and a quicker round.
Beyond them, El Higueral suits a morning of golf without giving up the rest of the day, while Atalaya’s two courses stretch across the boundary between neighbouring Estepona and Benahavís itself, widening the options further.
A Trip That Isn’t Built Around One Course
Most golf trips build themselves around a single course. Benahavís works differently. Here, the choice gets made fresh each morning — something more demanding one day, an easier round or just nine holes the next, with the afternoon left for something else. Everything sits close enough that changing courses never means losing half a day to the road.
The choice becomes part of the holiday rather than something decided months before it begins.
Back in Benahavís
Back in the village, golf gives way to lunch — quiet streets, full restaurant tables, and a reputation for food that predates golf as one of Benahavís’s main draws by decades. From there the day carries on through the village’s restaurants, a walk around the old town, or a route along the Guadalmina river, with Marbella, Puerto Banús and the Mediterranean only minutes away, should the day call for something beyond the village.
One Village, Many Rounds
After a few days, it’s difficult to remember the trip as a single round. What stays with you is the variety of courses, and the habit of returning each evening to the same village before setting off in a different direction the following morning.
