Puerto José Banús, more commonly known as Puerto Banús is a marina in Marbella, Spain on the Costa del Sol. It was built in 1970 by José Banús, a local property developer, as a luxury marina and shopping complex for the jet-set and the super rich.
The lavish opening of the complex in May 1970 was attended by, amongst others, the Aga Khan, film director Roman Polanski, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Dr. Christian Barnard (pioneer of the heart transplant), and Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco. A youthful Julio Iglesias was contracted to sing for the guests for the enormous sum of 125,000 pesetas. An army of 300 waiters from Seville served 50 pounds of beluga caviar to the 1,700 guests.
The focal point of Puerto Banus is the marina. It has berths for 915 boats, including those of the King of Saudi Arabia and several of the world's wealthiest individuals. Behind the harbour lie streets filled with bars, boutiques and nightclubs.
The marina has slips for boats and ships from 8 to 50 meters. Its surface area is 15 hectares, and its depth ranges from 3 to 6 meters within the marina, with 7.5 meters at its entrance. There is beach on each side of the marina. Many of the yachts moored within can enjoy an unobstructed view of La Concha mountain, one of the coast's landmarks.
José Banús himself was a developer with real estate holdings all along the coast. He was an intimate of Francisco Franco's and was called el constructor del régimen ("the regime's builder").
A three-ton statue of a rhinoceros by Salvador Dalí was placed in Puerto Banús in 2004. Officially known as Rinoceronte vestido con puntillas ("Rhinoceros dressed in lace"), Dalí created the sculpture in 1956 following the filming of his surrealist movie La aventura prodigiosa de la encajera y el rinoceronte ("The prodigious adventure of the lacemaker and the rhinoceros") in 1954.
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler
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