The Costa del Sol has no shortage of places to stay. Finding one that stays with you is a different matter.
The approach to La Zambra already tells you something is different. The road climbs through the Mijas hills — white walls catching the late light, the Sierra sitting heavy behind the property, and the fairways of Los Lagos laid out below like someone planned the whole view deliberately. They probably did.
La Zambra was the Byblos hotel in a previous life. In the eighties and nineties it was the kind of address that required no explanation — European royalty, celebrities, and Julio Iglesias arriving by helicopter with the casual confidence of a man who considers that a normal Tuesday.
The hotel closed in 2010. It reopened as part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, and whoever oversaw the restoration understood what was worth keeping. The blue tiles are still there. So are the whitewashed Andalusian walls and the courtyard patios that make you slow down without quite deciding to.
My room looked directly over Los Lagos. A welcome note on the desk — the kind of small gesture that costs almost nothing and lands better than most things that cost a great deal.
Two Robert Trent Jones courses sit alongside the hotel, reachable by buggy from the door. Los Lagos is the more open of the two — wide fairways, lake hazards threading through several holes, a layout that rewards clean ball-striking without being punishing. Los Olivos is a different conversation entirely: tighter lines, more demanding approach angles, greens that require genuine thought rather than optimism. Twelve further courses sit within fifteen minutes of the hotel.
Dinner at Picador most evenings — genuinely delicious Andalusian cooking, executed with real conviction. Breakfast at Palmito is more generous than any round of golf strictly requires, which I chose to treat as preparation rather than excess. The spa is the largest on the Costa del Sol and earns that distinction quietly.
Málaga airport is twenty-five minutes away. Marbella is close enough to visit without it becoming the point of the trip. Mijas village, just up the hill, is the quietest corner of a coastline that is not always quiet.
La Zambra is not the kind of property that needs to compete for attention. The golf is excellent. The hotel earns its place alongside it. For anyone who takes this game seriously, that combination is rarer than it should be.
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La Zambra is bookable through Tee Times, with green fees, packages, and transfers all taken care of. Browse our golf holidays in Costa del Sol or go straight to the La Zambra resort page to put a special holiday together.
The awards came quickly and have not stopped. Dunas was named World’s Best New Golf Course and Europe’s Best New Golf Course at the 2023 World Golf Awards. In 2024, it collected three more — World’s Best Golf Course, Europe’s Best Golf Course, and Europe’s Best Eco-Friendly Golf Facility. It retained the Europe’s Best Golf Course title in 2025. It holds the number one ranking in Portugal on Top100GolfCourses.com and sits at number six in Continental Europe on the same list.
Together, Dunas and Torre make Terras da Comporta a genuine 36-hole destination — two courses of Continental European Top 100 calibre, side by side, an hour from Lisbon. That combination did not exist two years ago.
The signature hole is the 18th, where the green sits on an island and the round ends exactly as it should: with something at stake.
The second course, designed by Donald Steel, occupies more uneven terrain with more water in play and is generally the tougher of the two. Aroeira is now part of the PGA portfolio — under new ownership that has invested considerably in both course conditions and service standards. Between them, the two courses offer enough variety to fill several days without moving your bags — and they are in better shape than ever.
It earns its reputation quietly. The golfers who have played it tend to take care of the rest.
Like Aroeira, the course has since come under the PGA umbrella, with new ownership investing significantly in playing conditions and the wider visitor experience. The ferry crossing adds ten minutes and a considerable amount of anticipation.
