Plenty of Carbs in Marbs
19 September 2018
When the lovely team at Mason Rose invited wefindvenues for a weekend trip to the Puente Romano Resort Marbella, I jumped at the opportunity. Sun, sea and the ‘Marb’s lifestyle – right up my street!
An afternoon departure from Gatwick Airport was made much more enjoyable by flying Club Europe – British Airways have recently launched a route to Gibraltar which is ideally located for the resort. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, we were re-routed to Malaga airport due to its longer runway, but a short 30-minute transfer meant we arrived at the resort in time for dinner.
On Sunday morning we enjoyed an extensive and relaxing breakfast buffet at leisure before a site visit of the hotel. I didn’t realise quite how vast the resort is, however, everything is within walking distance and will only take you a couple of minutes to walk from one end to the other. The hotel is primarily built for incentive groups and lends itself extremely well to this. For those groups that do want to incorporate a meeting, there is a great function space that can accommodate up to 600 guests for events such as car launches and gala dinners. I was not expecting the Puente Romano Resort to be as green as it is! You really feel like you are in a tropical destination and it is truly beautiful to walk around.
The resort saw the addition of the NOBU Hotel earlier this year, which currently offers 49 decadent bedrooms. It is very different in style to the rest of the resort, but perfect for high-end groups if you want to offer VIP’s something different. We were lucky enough to view some of the resort’s luxury villas, which have up to four bedrooms with kitchen, private pool & a jacuzzi. I would have happily moved in!
We had worked up quite an appetite after touring the resort but luckily we were treated to a delicious lunch in El Chiringuito, one of the hotel’s outlets on the beach. We tried the squid ink risotto which left us with rather black mouths!
After lunch, we were transported up into the Spanish mountains to the old town of Rhonda. The scenery was breath-taking and despite us being treated to Spain’s yearly rainfall, we enjoyed a short but informative walking tour of the town’s Bull Ring – the oldest in the world! We were then driven to a gorgeous winery in the mountains with incredible views to enjoy a glass (or two!) of wine.
After a quick freshen up back at the hotel, we all met up again to enjoy dinner. I was lucky enough to be dining at the NOBU restaurant within the resort that night. The food was impeccable as always & it was a lovely way to enjoy our final evening.
My Monday morning saw me waking up to 26 degrees of sunshine (apologies to my colleagues sat in the office) and a gorgeous view of the sea from my bedroom. Luckily the weather had dramatically changed & we could finally experience the warm weather Spain is famed for.
Our last day was spent cycling down the Marbella promenade into the Old Town, on electric bikes! Why I’d not bothered trying one of these before I don’t know – you genuinely don’t need to put in any legwork! It was a great way to see the town and an even better way to make the most of the sunshine. The Old Town is so picturesque with white buildings, fresh flower, and beautiful shops and restaurants – nothing like I imagined it to be!
After a leisurely cycle back to the hotel, we enjoyed yet another scrumptious lunch with some of the freshest fish I have ever eaten, before heading to the airport to fly back to the UK.
The perception of Marbella is hugely changing and I cannot recommend it enough for incentive groups. Puente Romano captures the Marbella beauty and culture so well and they have created such a memorable and luxurious resort for guests to enjoy.
A huge thank you to Mason Rose for having us for the weekend and also to British Airways for hosting the flights.
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