Finca Cortesin: Marbella can wait

As is well known, there is no shortage of places on the Costa del Sol where one can be seen and seen. After all, Marbella is not far away. Finca Cortesin takes a different approach.

Situated near the white mountain village of Casares, nestled between the hills of Andalusia and the Mediterranean, it looks, at first glance, like the very spacious country house of a rather enviable Spanish family. Whitewashed walls, arcades, courtyards and fountains. In between, palm trees and olive trees.

Except that this supposedly old estate isn’t old at all.

Portuguese interior designer and antiques collector Duarte Pinto Coelho has imbued the finca with antiques and period materials. Even an old stone floor from a Portuguese monastery has found a new home here. Later, the Spanish designer Lorenzo Castillo designed further areas of the house.

This is, of course, another way to acquire a sense of the past.

The result works surprisingly well. The architecture is modelled on the classic Andalusian cortijo. Courtyards form the centre of the house, with 67 spacious suites arranged around them.

Above all, however: plenty of peace and quiet.

Warm. Cold. Reset.

The spa, too, offers plenty of reasons to do nothing. As well as a 25-metre saltwater pool, there are various thermal areas – and a snow cabin at minus twelve degrees.

In fact, you can easily fill your days at Finca Cortesin to the brim. Golf, padel, tennis, swimming, dining or a trip to nearby Casares with its white houses and narrow alleyways.

You might just as well wander through the courtyards, linger somewhere in the garden and realise that the day works out rather well even without any grand plans.

                                          And Marbella?

                                                                  Can wait.