Restaurants in Marbella

Our list ranks 67 Marbella restaurants by traveller rating, with Restaurante Samna, El Txoco de Luis Salinero: Restaurante en Puerto Banús and The Garden by La Rosa among the top. It mixes traditional Andalusian tapas and seafood with the newer international and fine-dining kitchens, so you can sort by the kind of meal you want.

For the popular and fine-dining spots, yes — especially dinner from Thursday to Sunday and right through July and August. Casual tapas bars and chiringuitos mostly take walk-ins, though you may wait for a terrace table at peak times. Lunch is generally easier to get into than dinner.

On Spanish time: lunch from about 2pm to 4pm — the main meal and best-value menú del día — and dinner from 8:30pm onward, later still in summer. Kitchens between roughly 4pm and 8pm are quiet or closed, so plan a few tapas to bridge the gap.

Away from the busiest tourist terraces — in the old town's side streets and the working marisquerías near the port. The tell-tale signs are a Spanish-only menu, a crowd at unusual hours and the day's catch on a chalkboard. Those kitchens reward the short walk off the main drag.

It spans the range. A weekday menú del día runs €12–€18; tapas with drinks, €20–€30 a head; the marina and Michelin tables, considerably more. You eat very well on a modest budget if you favour lunch menus and family-run places over the seafront's premium addresses.