As you drive along the N340 coast road, past Estepona, heading towards Puerto Sotogrande, the first thing you tend to notice is that you are starting to leave behind the large urbanizations that have been a constant companion ever since departing Malaga airport and that they are now being replaced by smaller ones, or open tracks of completely undeveloped costal land.

Within minutes you are crossing the Rio Manilva, more of a name than a river and driving towards San Luis de Sabinillas, which until a few years ago before the A7 toll road had been constructed most people traveled through on their way to Gibraltar for duty free cigarettes and alcohol without giving it a second glance.

However, today that has all changed with the town going through a metamorphism to transform itself into a thriving community with all the amenities on hand to satisfy both local and visitor alike.
To compliment the town a wide promenade, awash with bars and restaurants now runs along the entire width of beach area.

A few hundred meters further along the coast lies Puerto de la Duquesa, a small but cosmopolitan marina with palm trees to sit under to escape the sunshine whilst you feed the hundreds of fish that gather around the beautiful boats at their moorings. The infrastructure includes trendy bars and restaurants to suit all pockets and tastes, as well as a clearing bank, gymnasium and a hairdressing salon amongst other things.

At Castillo de la Duquesa extensive excavations took place during the late nineteen eighties uncovering what is thought to be part of the remains of an early Roman fishing village

A few minutes further still, down the coast and you find yourself at Punta Chullera, a wonderful undiscovered headland where only exclusive villas can be observed and no high rise building of any type is allowed to diminish your view.
You can wander along an almost deserted beach, except in high season and weekends, when the locals, from as far a field as Malaga, converge on this truly idyllic location.

You can sit and admire both the fishing boats proceeding with their daily catch, always with an escort of seagulls, just in case any fish `fall over the side´ and the pleasure craft that seem to converge on the area from both Duquesa and Sotogrande Marinas as from other ports along the coast. Further out to sea you can observe the large cruise ships and cargo vessels heading towards Gibraltar and the straits.

In the Spring and Autumn you stand a great chance of spotting a school of dolphins as they make their way up or down the coast.

Any true lover of golf will already be familiar with the spectacular courses that are situated within a few minutes of Manilva, including the magnificent Club de Golf Valderrama, home of the Volvo Masters and the first golf course outside of the UK or USA to host the Ryder Cup. Other, not so famous, but non the less enjoyable courses to play, also abound, including Club de Golf Sotogrande, The San Roque Club and La Duquesa Golf with its views towards the marina.

Gibraltar is only a matter of minutes away and now that both the Spanish and Gibraltarian Governments have started to make headway with the proposed sharing of the airport, it will not be long before the low cost airlines start to fly in, with the first planned for April of this year. When this happens, it will make Manilva even more accessible and a place to visit for the short weekend break visitor.

This will add to the areas popularity and desirability and make it the place to visit in the years to come and for most, to settle down in.