Benahavís

Benahavis is a Spanish mountain village between Marbella, Estepona, and Ronda, 7 km from the coast. Renowned for its restaurants, it is often called the dining room of the Costa del Sol.

It holds 9 of the 60 golf courses in the Costa del Sol; that number is expected to increase to 15 in the next decade.

On the southern face of La Serrania de Ronda mountain range, Benahavis is one of the most mountainous villages on the western Costa del Sol, near the resort beaches as well as the spectacular mountains of the Serrania de Ronda. Its terrain is traversed by the Guadalmina, Guadaiza and Guadalmansa Rivers. Places of great natural and historic interest are to be found within its boundaries, such as El Cerro del Duque, Daidin and the Montemayor Castle.

The town itself is surrounded by natural parkland and still has a modicum of a secluded, cozy feel. La Zagaleta, an exclusive gated residential estate and country club overlooking the village, is within its municipal boundaries. It contributes to Benahavis' status as the richest municipality per capita in Andalucía.

In recent years there has been extended development of the village and the surrounding area with many hundreds of dwellings being built, not only reducing the proportion of local inhabitants but also despoiling some of the beautiful landscapes in the mountains and approaches to the village.

During the late 1990s, the Junta de Andalucia constructed a dam on the site of an old marble quarry, and now for much of the year the once ever-flowing Río Guadalmina is merely a dried-up riverbed.

At the end of the 11th century, Benahavis was founded by Arabs. The village was intimately involved with Andalusia's Arabic past, and particularly with Marbella, the municipal district to which it belonged until it was granted the so-called "Carta Puebla" by Philip II in 1572. Montemayor Castle, built prior to the founding of Benahavis, played an important role in disputes between successive Arab rulers in Andalusia, because of its strategic position. It was disputed for many years by the various military factions of the time. Its prominent location overlooking the coast, with up to a hundred kilometres of seaboard visible in clear weather, and even the African coast, was extremely useful at a time when piracy and invasion were commonplace. The town takes its name from Havis, an 11th-century Moorish prince who reigned in Montemayor Castle. The name Benahavis is derived from the Arabic "Bin al Havis", meaning "son of Havis".

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Wikipedia