There are few resorts or vacation complexes in the world like La Manga Club. In its 560 hectares, all its facilities are spread out: a five-star hotel, La Manga Club Príncipe Felipe, the luxury apartment complex Las Lomas Village and one of its main attractions: 450 hectares of sports facilities, including three golf courses, each with 18 holes, eight soccer fields, 28 tennis courts (including 20 clay courts, four hard courts and four artificial grass courts, as well as two paddle tennis courts and one squash court) and eight soccer fields, where you can also play cricket and rugby.
There are also a host of leisure facilities, such as the 2,000-square-meter La Manga Club Spa, which features Jacuzzis, saunas, steam rooms, therapeutic showers and a relaxation area, as well as a large gymnasium, a fitness room and a 25-meter indoor swimming pool. In its 13 treatment rooms and luxury suites, guests can receive a wide variety of relaxing, rejuvenating and beauty treatments, some of which are very exclusive – such as the Natura Bissé facials – using the most advanced and effective techniques.
The resort has more than 20 restaurants and bars, some of them inside the two hotels and others located in different parts of the complex. Without leaving La Manga Club you can take a tour of traditional cuisines from around the world, from sophisticated Asian gastronomy, to traditional Italian pasta, to colorful Mexican food or spicy Indian cuisine…
Prestigious awards
These credentials have earned both the La Manga Club Príncipe Felipe hotel and the resort some of the most prestigious awards in the tourism and hospitality industry, including Best Golf Resort in Spain and Best Golf Resort in Europe on several occasions, awarded by the World Travel Awards.
What undoubtedly distinguishes La Manga Club from other resorts in Spain is its complete sports offer.
Three golf courses
The complex has three 18-hole golf courses, two of them designed by Robert Dean Putman (Californian professional of great worldwide prestige), a lighted driving range and a Golf Academy, one of the best in Europe, which provides group or individual classes for all levels, from beginners to the most advanced players. In addition, it has the latest technological advances to improve the technique of its students.
Long history
It all began in January 1972 when a Californian golfer named Gregory Peters, owner of several shoe companies in Elche, saw a place between Cartagena and La Manga, in the region of Murcia, and did not think twice about it. He acquired the land of that wasteland called Atamaría from the humble people who at that time were in charge of plowing those lands and got down to work to build what is today one of the best sports and leisure complexes in the whole of the Levant.
Peters’ idea was to build a golf course? A golf course? And what is that? The local people, we are talking about 1972, had never heard of a sport played on grass in which you had to put a ball in a hole using different clubs… but they got to work and in less than 11 months the course was planted, with the fairways fully defined, and the palm trees, more than 3,000, fully rooted.
This was only the beginning, because if you do the math, 43 years have passed since that October.
This great visionary, founder of La Manga Club, who had great names on his list of personal friends, put the renowned golfer Gary Player as the first director of golf, followed by Manuel Ballesteros, Seve’s brother, and Victor Garcia, Sergio Garcia’s father. The rest was almost a piece of cake.
The golf courses were joined by more facilities, a hotel, apartments, a soccer center, 28 tennis courts, and once again Peters once again counted on one of the greats for the management of the Tennis Center: Manolo Santana.
La Manga Club grew in size and reputation in the 80’s and 90’s, thanks to the great golf, tennis and later soccer tournaments that have been played in these facilities.
Curiosities
Among the curiosities of this prestigious resort are the following:
– In the inaugural golf tournament held on October 22, 1972, more than 2 million pesetas in prizes were awarded.
– In 1972 the “International Maritime Cup” or “Celebrity Pro Am” was played, among which played legends such as Sean Connery, Manuel Santana, or the son of Charles Chaplin among multimillionaires of the time or Tony Jackin, creator of Daniel the Menace.
– Tournaments such as the Davis Cup and Fed Cup have been played at the La Manga Club Tennis Center.
– In the residential Los Miradores de La Manga Club was filmed a part of the movie Dracula where Christopher Lee appears as the main actor. Part of the hotel staff acted as extras.
– Teams such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dormund, Galatasaray SK, Ajax Amsterdam, Liverpool FC, Spain National Team, England National Team, Clesea FC, Newcastle United, RSC Anderlecht, 1899 Hoffenheim, VfB Stuttgart, Lokomotiv Moscow, Rubin Cazan, FC Zenit, New York Red Bulls, Seattle Sounders, South Korea National Team, etc… have played in the 8 soccer fields of La Manga Club.
– Among many, the main personalities that have passed through La Manga Club are John Malkovich, Salma Hayeck, Matt Damon, Gloria Stefan, Alejandro Sanz, Sir Cliff Richard, Robbie Williams, Simpe Minds, Jamiroquai, Oliver Khan, Emilio, Javier & Arancha Sánchez Vicario, Alex Corretja, Albert Costa, Feliciano López, Sergi Bruguera, Carlos Moya, Jose María Olazábal, Jack Nickaus, H.H.M.M. The King and Queen of Spain, the King of Malaysia…
– La Manga Club holds 2 Guinness World Records, for 2 feats that took place on the golf courses.
– Personalities such as Formula 1 world champion Nigel Mansell, soccer coaches Gordon Strachan or Kenny Dalglish or Gordon Strachan have a villa at La Manga Club.
Four decades after its inauguration, La Manga Club, with its 560 hectares, almost 6 square kilometers of extension, continues to be a model of tourism and is one of the most imitated resorts in terms of sports complexes.
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