There are thousands of photos, memories, days and, above all, nights that recall the vacations of celebrities in marbella. It is something habitual. It doesn’t matter what sector they were in or their global importance: since the 1960s, the town of Malaga has attracted the most striking people from all over the world. From Formula 1 drivers like Graham Hill, James Hunt or Nikki Lauda; to the cream of the world show like Walt Disney, Lola Flores, Rafael Alberti. Almost anyone from entertainment, sports, the aristocracy or the cinema that is chosen passed through Marbella. But there is a hotel that has been recently remodeled that in its first steps had people as different as waltdisney either lola flowers. These are some of the most special photos in the album of the El Fuerte hotel, a building with a lot of history that began as an anti-pirate fort five centuries ago to become a recreation place for celebrities.
The Fort of San Luis is the old building on which the hotel was built in 1957. More than a building, the ruins of the old fort. After centuries guarding the city, when the troops of Napoleon They left the town, blew up the building. It was later rebuilt and was used for industrial use and, already in the 20th century, as a mansion. But it was in 1957 when a man from Estepe decided to land in the tourism business, which was something very shallow at that time on the Costa del Sol. Jose Luque Manzano He had an oil mill and a chocolate factory in the Sevillian town of Estepa and he knew how to see the proximity of the tourist boom in Marbella. He prepared the building with 33 rooms and the first elevator in a building of these characteristics and, in July 1957, half a thousand diners participated in the opening dinner of the El Fuerte hotel. What came after was a success. The establishment received such famous personalities as waltdisney, who stayed in 1958 at the hotel. “Pedro Guerrero, at that time the hotel’s bellman, had the task of walking the dog on the beach Pluto. He still remembers the “succulent tips” that the cartoonist gave him for the task,” explains the hotel on its website about the Disney stay.
Afternoon and evening parties in the hotel gardens with piano, aristocrats, actresses. The hotel soon became a center of high-profile vacation activity and as the Costa del Sol grew, people who lived at the highest point of the pyramid of fame at the time, such as Lola Flores, also passed through El Fuerte. One more piece in the gear of celebrities and high-flyers of that time in Marbella. The 80s arrived and the hotel continued to be a reference. With the death of his founder, his family took over the establishment and undertook a remodeling in 1984. At that time, El Fuerte also had famous visitors such as the Cadiz poet Raphael Albertoamong many other familiar faces of that decade.
Now, new remodeling works have been undertaken on this historic hotel, which today is practically in the center of Marbella. These expansion works yielded the remains of a necropolis from three or four centuries ago, something that drew attention to the extensive past of the area and of the defensive fort itself and that led to the activation of protocols to preserve the Saint Louis Fort, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest. The hotel moves forward prepared for the 21st century and has adapted to these times with an extensive catalog of amenities and services. As if the best times were yet to come.