Since opening in 1982 the Benalmádena Leisure Port has become one of the principal tourist resorts not just of this municipality but of the entire Costa del Sol.

The port complex is made up of man-made islands of original architectural design. It includes all the services to be expected of a first-class leisure port, as well as an enormously attractive commercial and residential district that mixes together luxury dwellings, restaurant establishments with international cuisine and traditional dishes from every corner of the world (without neglecting the delicious local native cuisine), cocktail bars, party rooms, numerous seaside terraces and fashionable shops where the visitor can find an extremely vast offer of articles of all types, and all this against a backdrop of the sea and beautiful vessels lying at anchor at the jetties. Its distinctive architecture mixes Indian, Arabic and Andalusian and the result is a pleasant aesthetic surprise.

For its special characteristics and its full catalogue of services this port installation on several occasions has been awarded with the distinction of “Best Marina in the World”. This distinction is affirmed each year by the several million visitors who come to enjoy the facilities and the carefree and colourful environment.

At the present time the Benalmádena Leisure Port has 1,000 berths, a capacity that will be doubled when the enlargement work begins that was recently officially authorised. A few port facility measurements may explain why this enclave is considered one of the best in all the Mediterranean. The area of sheltered water is greater than 106,000 square metres and the area devoted to service zones, gardens and parking areas comes to 164,000 square metres. The width of the mouth at the entrance (100 metres) and its depth allow large yachts to enter.

This marina is also located in the most tourism-oriented area of the municipality of Benalmádena, so the various supplementary infrastructures (hotels, golf courses, beaches, shopping centres, a casino, amusement park, etc.) are just a short distance from the port complex, which also has a boatyard, diving school, sailing school and boating centre.

The Benalmádena Leisure Port is perfectly connected to the Costa del Sol by the Mediterranean Expressway (AP-7; N-340). The commuter rail line (Cercanías), with its station in Arroyo de la Miel, links the area with Fuengirola, Torremolinos and the city of Málaga. The distance from the railroad to the leisure port is great enough to make it advisable to travel that distance by vehicle.