Don Carlos Marbella

28 square metres (310 sq ft). The entry category and the most numerous, with 71 of them. King or twin beds, a marble bathroom and the full suite of in-room comforts, looking over the gardens or the resort. No terrace. Connecting rooms available.

34 square metres (366 sq ft) plus a furnished terrace. King or twin beds, a little more space to spread out, and a private terrace for the first coffee of the day. Connecting rooms available.

34 square metres (366 sq ft) plus terrace. The same generous footprint, elevated, with a wide panorama across the gardens to the mountains behind Marbella. Connecting rooms available.

34 square metres (366 sq ft) plus terrace. Front-facing, with the Mediterranean filling the terrace doors. The best-value sea view at the resort and, with 51 of them, the most widely available. Connecting rooms available.

40 square metres (431 sq ft) plus terrace. Noticeably larger, with a seating area, a marble bathroom with separate bath and rainshower, and a furnished terrace over the gardens.

40 square metres (431 sq ft) plus terrace. The Deluxe layout turned to face the water, with only eight in the hotel.

36 square metres (388 sq ft) plus terrace. An open-plan suite with a defined sitting area alongside the king or twin bedding, a marble bathroom with double vanity, and a furnished terrace. Connecting rooms available, which makes a pair of these an efficient family arrangement.

 36 square metres (388 sq ft) plus terrace. The same suite with an uninterrupted Mediterranean outlook. Connecting rooms available.

68 to 88 square metres (732 to 947 sq ft) plus terrace. A separate bedroom and living room finished in warm timber and stone, a large marble bathroom, and a deep furnished terrace. Set apart from the main building in the calmest corner of the estate.

88 square metres (947 sq ft) plus terrace. The largest of the Oasis suites, angled to the sea, with a terrace built for sunsets. Two only.

69 square metres (743 sq ft) plus terrace. A one-of-a-kind suite with its own private pool and sun terrace directly outside the living room.

80 square metres (861 sq ft) plus terrace. The single best suite in the Oasis: a private pool, a canopied daybed and the Mediterranean beyond it. One only.

70 square metres (753 sq ft) plus a 14-square-metre terrace. Top floor, with a separate bedroom, a generous living and dining room, a marble bathroom with walk-in rainshower, and a terrace taking in the gardens, the coastline and the sierra behind. Two only. Connecting rooms available.

121 square metres (1,302 sq ft) plus a 28-square-metre terrace. The finest accommodation at Don Carlos and, for a golf group of four or a family taking a week, the one to ask about first. Two bedrooms each with an en-suite marble bathroom, one with a freestanding tub set against a picture window; a full dining room seating eight; a kitchen; a dressing room; and a wraparound terrace above the treeline with the sea in front of it. One only. Connecting rooms available

up to 112 square metres (1,206 sq ft) plus terrace. Twenty-four self-contained residences with full kitchens, separate living and dining rooms, and their own garden pool. Hotel service and every resort facility still apply, but with the independence of an apartment, the natural choice for a golf party sharing, or a family that would rather not eat out every night.

Twenty-seven courses inside thirty minutes, from the two in Elviria you can reach before the coffee cools to the championship layouts of the Golf Valley. Don Carlos has no course of its own, and for a golfer that is the point: you are not committed to one set of eighteen holes for a week. Your Elegant Golf Resorts concierge builds the schedule, books every tee time and arranges the transfers before you leave home. Full course detail below.

The first centre in Spain outside Mallorca to teach the official methodology of the Rafa Nadal Academy. Seven clay courts and two padel courts sit among the tropical gardens facing the sea, fitted with Wingfield System tracking technology, with champion-level coaching available to guests. Whether or not you play, it is worth watching.

Seven restaurants and bars, two of them beach clubs on the sand, running from a 700-square-metre garden dining room to a chiringuito with its feet almost in the pool. No two are alike, and across a week that is the point: buffet breakfast under the orange trees, a barefoot lunch at the pool, Italian aperitivo at six and a DJ on the beach if the mood takes you.

Sixteen hundred square metres given entirely to recovery. The water circuit runs through hot and cold plunge pools, a contrast pool and a sequence of immersive showers; there is a dry sauna at 80°C, a steam bath at 40°C, an aroma cabin and a solarium terrace for afterwards. Treatments are built in collaboration with Natura Bissé and Alqvimia, blending noble ingredients with technologies such as Indiba and LPG. After thirty-six holes in two days, book the personalised massage.

Don Carlos Kids welcomes children aged 4 to 12 into a properly considered programme: sports, gardening, science experiments, outdoor adventures and indoor play areas – supervised, and open year-round. Older children get the Wild Ocean pool, the slides and the balance park; a babysitting service covers the evenings. Which is to say: a golf week here does not have to be a solo trip.

Santa María Golf & Country Club – Elviria. 18 holes, par 70. Roughly five minutes from the hotel, which makes it the natural choice for an arrival-day round. The course traces the contours of two valleys with streams and lakes throughout, and there is a lake and waterfall alongside the 11th green. The clubhouse is a restored 18th-century cortijo.

Greenlife Golf Club – Elviria Hills. 9 holes, par 3. Five minutes away, with a strong practice facility attached. Ideal for a short-game hour before dinner or a gentle introduction for a non-golfing partner. El Lago, the restaurant here, held a Michelin star.

Santa Clara Golf Marbella – 18 holes, par 71, 5,922 metres / 6,480 yards. Designed by Enrique Canales Busquet and opened in 2001, five to eight minutes from the hotel. Largely flat and generous off the tee, so a good scoring card, with views running to the sea, the mountains, and on a clear day Gibraltar and the Moroccan coast.

Cabopino Golf Marbella – 18 holes, par 71. Ten minutes east along the N-340 beside Cabopino marina. Designed by Juan Ligues Creus, it is short but tight in places, framed by pine and with sea views from the higher holes. The 14th, at 456 metres, is the long one.

Higuerón Marbella Golf Resort (formerly Marbella Golf & Country Club): 18 holes, par 72, 6,000 metres. A Robert Trent Jones Sr design ten minutes from the door, with wide fairways and greens that reward strategy over power.