Puerto Banus was built in May 1970 by José Banús, a local property developer, as a luxury marina and shopping complex. And, as we were staying in the area, we decided to check it out – depsite our reservations. And, my goodness, it was EVERYTHING we expected it to be. And more. It was totally over the top and ridiculously hideous, attracting everything that we dislike. The actual town is mostly pretty – but it’s around the harbour that it is just gross. The displays of wealth are totally over the top and everything just seemed designed to be flashy and to impress the kind of people who’d be impressed by flashy shows of extravagence. It was truly, truly awful. From the designer menswear boutique called “Billionaire”, to Jimmy Choo & D&G, to the tosser who screeched around the harbour, repeatedly, in a vile red sports car. Whilst it may well have been his, I do hope he was the kind of idiot who rented it out for a short timeframe for stupid amounts of money. I suspect it – and dearly hope – it was the latter. I still remember this ridiculous show pony, who is still presumably behaving like an A-grade idiot. The harbour is awful – rows and rows of super expensive yachts, sometimes dispensing the people on board. And strangely enough, often glamorous (plastic) young women and much older, highly unattractive men. Maybe they were their fathers, but I don’t think so…
Anyway, we beat a hasty retreat from the harbour and headed away from the throngs of people who just wanted to be seen. I’ve never disliked a place quite as much, and so glad that I can have a whale of a time, in places that are authentic, rough around the edges, unpolished and visited by more real, authentic people. Anyway, I’ve done it, can tick it off my list, and NEVER return.
But, just a short walk away from the super yachts and super rich, we found the real Puerto Banus. And the real people. Families walking together. People of all shapes and sizes. People who seemed to be very happy to be with friends and family, rather than preening like peacocks. From this part of the beach, we could still see the playground of the rich – but we were so relieved to be back in amongst “normal” people…
So, there you go. An awful place, which we will always avoid in the future. Definitely not for us…