
Bordering two heavyweights of Costa del Sol tourism (Marbella and Estepona), stands the municipality of Benahavís, a golf destination with its own personality and many arguments to occupy a place of honor.
Benahavís has become the second town in Spain (only surpassed by Marbella) with the largest number of golf courses. This Malaga municipality, small in population (just over 3.000 inhabitants by right, almost half of them foreigners) and large in extension (145 square kilometers), has 12 courses – 216 holes in total – distributed among 8 clubs: Villa Padierna (54 holes: Flamingos, Alferini and Tramores), La Quinta (27), La Zagaleta (36: La Zagaleta and Los Barrancos), Atalaya (36: Old and New, although this club only has a small part in the municipality), Marbella Club (18), Monte Mayor (18 and momentarily closed), Los Arqueros (18) and El Higueral (9). To these must be added the Municipal Golf Academy, located next to the town center and annexed to the four-star Gran Hotel Benahavís, which has a splendid driving range, complemented by a large bunker, approach area and putting green.
The quality of its golf courses is indisputable, and among the renowned designers who have left their mark on Benahavís golf courses are Severiano Ballesteros (Los Arqueros), Manuel Piñero (La Quinta) and Dave Thomas (Marbella Club Golf Resort).
In the sports field, it is worth mentioning the celebration of important international tournaments, both amateur and professional, in this Costa del Sol municipality. For example, since 2009, La Quinta has hosted the Benahavís Senior Masters, part of the European Senior Circuit, which attracts famous players over 50 years of age to this municipality. Last year, the Ladies European Tour’s Open de España Femenino was played on this course. The previous edition of this same tournament of the Ladies European Tour was played at Villa Padierna Golf Club. This well-known resort, which includes the luxurious hotel where Michelle Obama and one of her daughters spent a few days of vacation, also hosted for several years the final tournament of the European Senior Tour, The Daily Telegraph European Seniors Match Play Championship.
This beautiful mountain municipality, whose pretty town center of white houses is located just 7 kilometers from the coast, is also known as the Dining Room of the Costa del Sol.
Those who enjoy good food will surely enjoy the well-known gastronomic tradition of Benahavís. And is that here you eat in very few places, for its exquisite and varied cuisine, as well as its wide range of restaurants and bars.
The gastronomic tradition of Benahavís has been recognized since the 70’s and is based on its traditional cuisine based on pork and game products, later introducing international cuisine.
The most typical dish in Benahavís is the seasoned pork tenderloin, along with lamb, venison, rabbit, partridge and suckling pig.
Benahavís also has a renowned hotel school, the Escuela Hispanoárabe de Dieta Mediterránea.
The golf courses also have clubhouses with international cuisine.
In the restaurants of the village you can taste the typical dishes of Benahavís and also delicacies from the sea, due to its proximity to the coast. In addition the visitor will enjoy a pleasant tapas in the bars and bodeguitas that abound in Benahavís.
The village retains some features of its Moorish origin in the style of the white villages, which contrasts with the colorful mountains that surround it. As monuments of interest include the Castle of Montemayor and an ancient palace of the sixteenth century.
The name of the town
The first news of the town date back to the Arab domination, where the origin of the town is located, which arose under the protection of the Castle of Montemayor (Hins Mont Mayur) before the tenth century, when the territory belonged to the Banu Habis family. The sons of the Abyssinian, according to some, or sons of Habis, according to others, differentiate the origin of the present name of the village. From the fortress the village grew under its protection.
The Western Costa del Sol has in the municipality of Benahavís one of its most mountainous areas, as these lands extend along the foothills of the Serranía and are crossed by three rivers that form as many valleys, so that the landscape is rich in diversity and offers some truly admirable places.
Despite being an inland town, its proximity to the coast has necessarily made it a participant in the development that has occurred on the coast, which is why, although the urban center retains all the typical white villages, around it – especially to the south – have emerged large urbanizations and, along with them, magnificent golf courses, with the particularity that 70 percent of the area of this municipality has been classified as ‘Complejo Serrano de Interés Ambiental’, a designation that preserves all that land from excessive urban development.
The Guadaiza, Guadalmina and Guadalmedina rivers meander through the large expanses of forest, where pines, holm oaks and cork oaks predominate. Their valleys have historically been used as routes of penetration to the Serranía de Ronda, routes that were undoubtedly used – there is evidence of this in different places not far from the village – from the Phoenicians to the Arabs, which is why these lands have had a notable strategic value since ancient times.
The first urban center, however, is configured in the Arab period, apparently at the end of the eleventh century and in the shadow of the Castle of Montemayor, a fortress that keeps all the history of this town, from the clashes between the Muslims themselves to those of the latter with the Christians, and much later was also the scene of the struggle between Spanish and French when the Napoleonic invasion in the early nineteenth century.
The castle and the town passed into the hands of the Christians when in 1485 the Catholic Monarchs took Marbella and its surroundings, which included Benahavís and the village of Daidín. All this territory was given to the Count of Cifuentes in 1492, in payment for the services he had rendered to the crown of Castile, and it was not until 1572 when, with the acquiescence of Philip II, Benahavís became independent of Marbella.
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