The MAR AZUL Resort is an exclusive, luxurious and peaceful oasis in a prime South-facing beach-side location next to the Kempinski Hotel Estepona & Laguna Village, with panoramic views over the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlas mountains on the African Coast.
MAR AZUL is comprised of only 72 ultra-luxurious apartments arranged in a 'V'-shape, facing South, and designed so that each apartment is provided with both their fair share of the Sun, but also the intimate privacy that one may expect from a private villa.
The open end of the 'V' is purely beach & sea ! Within the 'V' is a totally unique area of exuberant & colourful tropical gardens, and within that lies an inner world of spectacular sculptured swimming pools, flowing canals, fountains, cascading waterfalls, a giant overflowing bowl, sunken deck-chairs, jacuzzi beds, and romantic thatched cabanas with lovely comfortable armchairs & settees.
At the sharp end of the "V" is the Mar Azul Aparthotel with an indoor health & leisure centre providing a heated pool, fully equipped gym, spa, Jacuzzi, sauna, solarium, steam-rooms, thermal baths, beauty salon and sports injury treatment centre offering massage, osteopathy, reflexology, chiropractics & acupuncture.
I paid my first of four stage-payment for my off-plan purchase of my apartment on Mar Azul in September 2003, and the last in March 2006. Building work was completed on the last of the blocks in 2008, and peace and quiet returned to this wonderful location. Mar Azul is now a stunningly beautiful and relaxing haven where the blue water of our infinity pool apparently merges with the even bluer water of the Mediterranean as if it was always meant to.
Most of the Mar Azul apartments are privately owned, and only some of those owners choose to make them available for holiday rental.
Being able to walk to Cruisos Beach Bar, Laguna Village, and The Kempinski Hotel Estepona is a big advantage, but it is also only a 30 minutes walk to the start of the characterful Estepona promenade, and there is a choice of routes. The easiest is along by the side of the main A-7, and every time I visit, that route improves.
We used to have to walk right next to that road as far as the A-7 roundabout, but now you can walk away from the road most of the way, in front of the newly built complexes. The walk from the A-7 roundabout to Estepona Carrefour Supermarket roundabout is pleasant enough as you're in the shade of trees bordering the attractive boulevard. Then at the Carrefour roundabout you turn leftand down some steps following signs to an Italian Restaurant to the start of the promenade near the "La Buena Vida". Apart from those steps, this route is child-buggy friendly.
Walking along the beach is another option, which is very pleasant but a little harder ! The surface of the sand varies, and some of the coastline is stony. Occasionally in the Winter, passage along the beach is disrupted due to high tide. Not suitable for buggies !
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The third option is an interesting mixture of beach-walking, but also involving some very pleasant detours through lovely gardens & parkland. It's about a 35 minute walk and starts on MAR AZUL'S own promenade. Yes, we have our own, it's just that it doesn't quite join up with anyone else's ! Walk to the right, in the Estepona direction, to the end of our promenade, and take the steps down to the beach. After 4 or 5 minutes a stream can be seen on your right, after which you can gain access to a wooden promenade, probably the nicest wooden promenade you've ever seen ! This takes you along by the beach in front of the new and then an older complex. (This promenade does actually stretch back very close to MAR AZUL, but you can't access it at that end at the time of writing)
All good things come to an end, but stick on the promenades, ignoring private signs (these refer to the gardens on the right I think) until reaching a complex through which an extension to the promenade has not been provided. You come to a brick wall and a massive cactus. You can at that point cut up through pathways to the main road close to the main roundabout mentioned earlier. But you don't need to ! For the more adventurous, back to the beach for another 10 minutes, in which time you'll pass houses as close as you can imagine to the Sea !
Just past another stream, come off the beach onto big broken concrete slabs, into a low-budget park with terraced contours supported by railway sleepers ! Keep as close as you can to the Sea, and at the end of the park you'll find a wooden walkway well above the level of the beach. If you're fed up of beach-walking, head inland and you'll come out near the Carrefour roundabout mentioned earlier. But if you're the determined type, follow that wooden walkway.
Careful now. Two choices. Well 3 actually. The third is to continue on the same contour when the wooden walkway ends, but I advise against this. The path deteriorates and actually gets very iffy. It's just not worth the trouble. You need to get back down to the beach, and this is the point at which the Sea can be higher than the beach ! So before you decide on one of the 2 sensible options, look over the top of the walkway to see how close the Sea is, or how high it is. If it's too close or too high, head back along the walkway, and inland from the park. If you reckon your footwear (perhaps that should be feetwear but it doesn't sound right) is/are up to it, descend the steps half way along the walkway !
Another 8 minutes on the beach will bring you to the beginning of the Estepona Promenade at the "La Buena Vida" Bar, for a cold beer, but to reach it don't be tempted to climb the brick steps up, instead go a little further to the steps with rocks on either side.
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If you have a child in a buggy, and a hire-car, then your best plan may be to drive into Estepona, and park in the massive underground car-park UNDER the promenade. You can get a lift up from there, and you're straight onto the magnificent promenade. It's sprinkled all the way to the marina with bars, restaurants, childrens playgrounds, wrinkleys playgrounds, fountains, pools, shelters & seats. A delight for all ages !
It's about a further 30 minute walk to Estepona Marina, but if you've got kids it might take 2 hours because they'll keep wanting to stop ! If you let them on the beautiful beach, well supplied with showers and sun-shelters, it may take all day ! But isn't that what holidays are all about ?
Estepona Marina is well worth a visit, but don't expect rows of chic boutiques alternating with ice-cream parlours and trendy bars like at Puerto Banus. Here you have a good selection of reasonably priced cafes, restaurants and tapas bars overlooking a good selection of small to medium-sized boats. From here you can hire a choice of boats with a skipper. One that I can recommend will take 6 people or a great day out, for about 550 Euros. (This includes drinks & snacks, but not fuel) You could go dolphin-spotting to Gibraltar, or spend an hour or two at Nikki Beach and pretend to be a millionaire (if your not already), or just relax in the Sun with a spot of snorkeling. Telephone Louise on 0031651614492 or 0031651259093 or email her at ruitercl@euronet.nl
So, Estepona's Marina isn't as chic as Pueto Banus, but there's room for a Sunday Market here, and a big surprise round the next corner !
Carry on walking out of the Marina, through a car-park, and through an area we call "no-mans-land". We call it that because it's a prime tract of coastal ammenity ground but it's as if no-one's prepared to admit owning it.
And just beyond.....there it is.....the jewel in the crown....."Horse-shoe Beach" ! The nicest beach on the coast, and great for kids as it's sheltered, the Sea is shallow and the sand fine. Two good beach-bars provide good-value food & drinks, relaxing background music, loungers & umbrellas. Just perfect.
For photographs of Mar Azul and holiday rental opportunities visit www.marazul-resort.com