Cabopino area guide: small... but perfectly formed
The beach resort and pint-sized port of Cabopino is located on the eastern shoulder of Marbella, and boasts a reputation for exclusivity and style. It is not hard to see why: protected by rich woodland and backed by golf courses and emerald green hills, the setting could hardly be more perfect. A small but elegant marina boasts a fine selection of yachts and a couple of lovely restaurants and bars, while the huge beach is certainly one of the finest found anywhere on the Costa del Sol.
A popular nudist beach neighbours the main beach, which has lent Cabopino a more bohemian image than many of its coastal competitors – so there is an assumption that Cabopino is more laid-back, more open, and more welcoming to all.
Cabopino is actually one of the most perfect expat resort areas, for the following reasons. It boasts a number of nearby new-build developments that are close to the beach, close to the main coastal highway and close to Marbella. The presence of these affordable, high quality dwellings has attracted a sizeable community of British, Irish and other northern European expats, which in turn has created a distinct sense of community as evidenced by the charming bars and restaurants that have opened over the years.
For families, the beautiful beach is a huge plus point. This is no ordinary stretch of sand – the beach at Cabopino stretches for several kilometres and is extremely wide, allowing for all manner of safe beach activity, centred mostly around sunbathing and sandcastle building, but also taking in volleyball, football, frisbee and other ball games. The surf is soft and pleasant, and there are also a couple of affordable and perennially popular beach restaurants found there too, specialising in some of the freshest seafood dishes you will find anywhere on the coast.
Then there's the port. Its small size is due to the naturally sheltered harbour in which it sits, and so the larger yachts cannot moor there. Still, size isn't everything – those boats that do call Cabopino home generally drip with understated style, while the fabulous Italian restaurant that sits perched on the edge of the harbour and overlooking the Mediterranean is elegance personified. Alongside such sumptuousness sits a British-style pub, a pizzeria, an ice-cream parlour and a classic Spanish restaurant; everything, in fact, that any Spanish resort worth its salt should have.
Pre-midday in Cabopino is a great time. In summer the heat has yet to broil, making the resort something of an open-air gym for its health-conscious inhabitants. Surfers ride the waves of the Med down on the beach; joggers clamber over the large, undulating dunes; and there appears to be a disproportionate number of speed walkers around, hips wiggling in that mildly comical fashion as they check their watches and wonder when it's time to stop. However, the busiest bees on a typical sunny morning in Cabopino are undoubtedly the waiters. Zipping in and out of their respective restaurants, cafés and juice bars, Cabopino's army of service staff ensure their customers are kept happily fed and watered all morning long.
While the beach is central to much of life in Cabopino, from the harbour, fishing trips and dolphin-watching excursions are popular with holidaymakers, and the Cabopino Golf course enjoys a dramatic location at the rear of the resort. The plaza is pretty if diminutive, kind of like Cabopino itself, and there are only a couple of small shops and boutiques to browse. For everything else, one needs to travel the few kilometres into Marbella.
Differing from many of its neighbours along the coast, Cabopino doesn't really have a central strip of bars or pubs. While there are several welcoming bars on the port, 'Britain in the Sun' places are noticeable by their absence, largely due to the resort's classier reputation – evenings out in Cabopino centre around fine dining, which is something that it does very well.
Additionally, the few lively Spanish bars on the plaza have the occasional flamenco evening and, this being Spain, the locals are all night owls, so there's plenty of buzz and vibrancy around the resort once the sun goes down.