Sotogrande is an exclusive residential area as well as being one of the most luxurious sports and residential developments in Europe. It is located in the municipality of San Roque in Southern Spain and covers 2,500 hectares. It offers some amazing and unique sports amenities, because in just one area you will find the international Santa Maria Polo Club; golf courses which include the Valderrama (which played host to the Volvo Masters and 1997 Ryder Cup Tournaments) and the Real Club which was designed by Robert Trent Jones � both of which are rated amongst the top five places to play in Europe. Sotogrande has some beautiful sandy beaches, horse riding and tennis clubs, a marina with jet skiing facilities, its own sailing club and some top restaurants and bars lining the water�s edge.

Because of its strict planning regulations there will never be high-rise developments in Sotogrande, and because it offers 300 days of sunshine a year the sports remain active all year round.

Sotogrande is just thirty minute drive from the chic and stylish resorts of Marbella and Puerto Banus on the Costa del Sol. It has excellent motorway links to Malaga, Jerez, Cadiz and Seville. If you are flying into Spain then Gibraltar Airport is just 15 minutes away or you can land at Malaga which offers a wider choice of airlines and is just a 45 minute drive away along a fast stretch of motorway.

Because Sotogrande is close to the Straits of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean it offers a wide choice of beach activities and superb water sports, with the international windsurfing championships being held annually at nearby Tarifa. The sandy beaches stretch for over 23km with their Mediterranean inlets and coves and have won prestigious European Blue Flag Awards.

The development of Sotogrande began in 1964 when the American Joseph McMicking saw its enormous potential and carried out some clever landscaping, planting avenue upon avenue of palm trees and hiding the services infrastructure underground. The result is that it now offers the peace and tranquility of a rural area with easy access to nearby towns, cities and bustle of the Costa del Sol. It is now unrecognizable to what it was in the 1970s when there were just a few country homes scattered around and hardly anyone living there. In fact the name Sotogrande originates from the name of one of the five farms which were originally purchased to start development work.