Nueva Andalucía · Nueva Andalucía
Iron, sugar and golf: how Nueva Andalucía was made, the back story
The back story
About Iron, sugar and golf: how Nueva Andalucía was made, the back story
Long before the golf courses, the land between the Río Verde and the Guadaiza held a blast furnace, a sugar-cane colony and two reservoirs. Then, in 1964, José Banús gave it a new name.
Iron before gold
Nueva Andalucía is one of the five districts of Marbella, stretching from the Río Verde in the east to the Guadaiza in the west, and from the sea up to Benahavís and the Concepción reservoir. Its history is surprisingly industrial. From 1831 to 1862 the El Ángel ironworks operated here, part of the Altos Hornos de Marbella, the first civilian blast furnaces in 19th-century Spain.
A sugar colony
In 1881 a group of Málaga businessmen founded the El Ángel farming colony to grow sugar cane, on 633 hectares bought from the estate of Tomás Domínguez Artola, the same family that owned the Cortijo de Miraflores. In 1883 they built two reservoirs to irrigate the fields: the Old El Ángel reservoir and the New one, known today as the Lago de las Tortugas.
The name Nueva Andalucía comes from the development José Banús launched in 1964.
Nueva Andalucía
In 1964 José Banús launched a large tourist development here and called it Nueva Andalucía, after the colonial governorates of the same name in the Americas. Villas and apartments in traditional Andalusian style rose between the golf courses, and Banús’s company commissioned Robert Trent Jones to design Las Brisas and Los Naranjos. Puerto Banús followed in 1970.
The district today
Today Nueva Andalucía takes in Puerto Banús and Aloha, and the neighbourhoods of La Campana and El Ángel. Its golf valley holds Los Naranjos, Las Brisas, Aloha and La Quinta, and its residential streets hide restaurants, pool clubs and the quiet Lago de las Tortugas.
Our advice: base yourself here for golf, and walk down to Puerto Banús for the evenings.
Why it's on our list
- Ironworks and sugar
- José Banús’s 1964 project
- The golf valley
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Iron, sugar and golf: how Nueva Andalucía was made, the back story before you go.