Marbella is a town on the south coast of Spain, on the Mediterranean, on the stretch of coast called the Costa del Sol. It is a port, but what most people mean when they say Marbella is a holiday town — and not a cheap one. Over the last few decades it has become a place of beaches, yachts, golf, night life, and quite a lot of money. Film stars and rich families go there; so do ordinary tourists who want that sunshine. If someone in Britain says they are off to Marbella, they often mean a package holiday in the Spanish sun, though the town itself has a glossier name than some of the neighbouring resorts. The Spanish way of saying it is closer to “mar-BAY-ya” (the ll sounds like y), not “mar-BELL-a”.