We first visited Benahavis in 2013, when the twins were just six months old.
Prior to that we’d mostly been on long haul holidays, with the odd trip to Spain/Portugal every so often. To be honest, we weren’t massive fans on these places. Then we found Benahavis…
Benahavis is in the Marbella region of the Costa Del Sol. A little village set in the mountains, about 15 minutes from the glam resort of Puerto Banus. Simon’s boss had recommended it and as we didn’t want to travel too far, with baby twins in tow, we thought we’d give it a try.
Since our first visit in 2013 we’ve been back every year! It has stolen our hearts and one day, we’d love to hopefully own our own little piece of Benahavis.
We’ve travelled quite a lot, so people often ask us why we always go back to Benahavis. It’s one of those places that unless you’ve been and experienced it, words just don’t seem to do it justice! Here’s my attempt at a little list of reasons why we love it so much:
- It’s very traditional and not commercialised at all, but due to the large number of of ex-pats living there, you can still order food and drinks with minimal knowledge of spanish!
- It’s so pretty – the mountain backdrop is hard to beat
- The food is amazing – it’s often referred to as the gastro capital of Spain
- The locals are great with kids
- It’s small enough that you start to get to know the locals so you get a sense of the culture
- It’s close to Puerto Banus for shopping/people watching
- It’s close to lots of beaches (although you do need to drive to get there)
Every year we’ve opted to stay in a townhouse on a modern complex called El Casar, which is a 10 minute walk into the centre of the village. We have a shared pool and it works perfectly with the kids as they can have their own bedrooms and we’re not all crammed into one room. Plus, as a family of five, we struggle to find hotels that can accommodate us all in one room (very annoying and expensive!).
I also feel that staying in a villa or townhouse gives you a taste of what it would be like to live there. We also love visiting the supermarkets and buying supplies.
We normally go for two weeks, and my parents usually come and stay with us for the second week. That was the plan for this year, but unfortunately my Dad ending up in hospital with an infection (he’s fine now), so my Mum came out on her own.
As per previous years, we did lots of relaxing by the pool, spent a bit of time wandering around the fancy shops in Puerto Banus, went to the beach and went to the beautiful rock pools, which seem to get more popular every year. We also ate lots of delicious food and drank lots of (strong) cocktails!
We met up with some friends who were staying down the road. They also have three children, so we were extremely outnumbered! We had a fantastic evening though.
In the second week, one of my best friends and her little boy, joined us for a few nights, which was good fun. We love introducing Benahavis to others as it’s such a lovely place.
We found that this year was the easiest year since we’ve started visiting. With the twins being that little bit older and more independent, we didn’t have to constantly be stressing about them near the pool and they could handle staying out a little bit later in the evening. For the most part, they were all really well behaved, so it was less stressful than in previous years. We both actually had a bit of time to relax!
Here are some pics and a little video from our trip:
J xx