Five-star One MICHELIN Key Old town, Marbella
La Fonda Heritage Hotel
Three sixteenth-century buildings on a small square of the old town, with a restaurant under a glass roof in the covered patio.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- One Key
- Opened
- As a Relais & Châteaux hotel, 2023
- From the airport
- About 45 minutes from Málaga, our estimate
The hotel
A church, a school and a house on one square.
The hotel joins three buildings on the Plaza del Santo Cristo. Over the centuries they served as a private house, a church and a school. When the builders dug down, they found the altar and nave of the sixteenth-century Church of San Sebastián, and beneath them walls from the Nasrid period of the thirteenth century. The old columns and arches were kept.
In the 1960s the decorators Jaime Parlade and Duarte Pinto Coelho turned the buildings into a hotel, and in the late 1980s its kitchen won the first Michelin star in Marbella. After restoration it reopened in 2023 as the first Relais & Châteaux house in Andalusia, with rooms around the courtyards and a bar on the roof.
- The patios Breakfast is served in a green courtyard, and dinner in a covered patio under a glass roof.
- On the roof A cocktail bar above the old town in summer, pouring Spanish wines.
- Dinner in a church One of the dining rooms stands in the excavated sixteenth-century Church of San Sebastián.
Rooms & suites
Each room different, all of them bright.
The rooms look over Andalusian courtyards or the square. Bathrooms have metro tiles and marble showers; some rooms add a bathtub, a terrace or a balcony.
- Rooms Courtyard and square rooms Some have balconies over the Plaza del Santo Cristo, others terraces above the rooftops.
- Suites Heritage, Loft and Junior suites The larger rooms of the house.
Dining
Three places to eat and drink.
Spaces as described by the MICHELIN Guide and the hotel. Shown for information.
- The restaurant Mediterranean In a covered patio under a glass roof
- Los Patios de La Fonda Breakfast and brunch In the green courtyard
- Rooftop bar Cocktails and Spanish wines Open in summer
Recognition
Distinctions.
- One MICHELIN Key Current selection
- Relais & Châteaux The first member in Andalusia
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 3 pm, check-out by noon.
- Pets Accepted, for a fee.
Getting there
Flying to Marbella.
Málaga airport is about 50 kilometres east, roughly 45 minutes by car, our estimate. Private jets land at the same airport and use its general aviation terminal.
- Madrid 0 h 55
- Geneva 2 h 10
- Paris 2 h 15
- London 2 h 35
- Dubai 7 h 55 long-range jet
Questions
What guests ask first.
- Does La Fonda Heritage Hotel have a MICHELIN Key?
- Yes, one Key in the current MICHELIN Guide selection.
- Can I bring my dog to La Fonda?
- Yes. Pets are accepted for a fee.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Marbella?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Marbella, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Marbella
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Marbella Club Hotel Opened in 1954 by Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe: the hotel the Golden Mile grew around.
- Puente Romano Marbella A village of low white buildings in subtropical gardens, named for the Roman bridge in its grounds.
- Nobu Hotel Marbella For adults only, around the plaza of Puente Romano and its restaurants.
- Hotel Don Pepe Gran Meliá A beachfront resort at the town end of the Golden Mile, with gardens down to the sand.
- El Fuerte Marbella On the seafront below the old town, raised to five stars after its 2022 to 2023 renovation.
- Kimpton Los Monteros East of the town among the pines, reopened under the Kimpton name in 2025.
- Boho Club Low bungalows in landscaped grounds on the inland side of the Golden Mile.
- Don Carlos Marbella In gardens behind the dunes and the beach, reopened in 2025 after a three-year renovation.
- Gran Hotel Guadalpín Banús On the beach, within walking distance of the marina.
-
Finca Cortesín Sixty-seven suites beside an 18-hole course laid out by Cabell B. Robinson, a mile inland from the sea.
- Anantara Villa Padierna Palace Benahavís Marbella Resort Built like a Tuscan villa among three golf courses, with a Roman-style amphitheatre and more than 1,200 works of art.
-
La Zambra Resort The old Byblos hotel of 1986, restored around courtyards and stone fountains, with three pools and four restaurants.
- Grand Hotel Las Dunas, Autograph Collection Fifty-one rooms on the beach, the Serena Spa and the Casa Calma restaurants.
- The Westin La Quinta Golf Resort & Spa In the valley the coast calls the Valley of Golf: 170 rooms by three nine-hole courses designed by Manuel Piñero.
- Elba Estepona Gran Hotel & Thalasso Spa Built around a thalassotherapy centre on the seafront at the edge of Estepona.
- Senator Banús Spa Hotel Recommended for adults, in a building whose lines borrow from a cruise liner, with its own spa.
- ME Marbella Directly on the beach, with tacos at La Neta in the gardens and the Oasis Pool Club open from midday until sunset.
- Hacienda del Mar Meliá Collection A new opening between Estepona and Marbella, with a kids' club and the Neguri beach club.
- Vincci Selección Estrella del Mar Its beach club stands on the sand, and El Mercado de Baraka cooks over the coals at night.
Staying at La Fonda Heritage Hotel?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Marbella, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.