Marriott is the top of the line when it comes to timeshares, and this is right up there with the best of them. Additionally this is a full resort - if you come for fun in the sun in season, you never have to leave the property.

We were here off season. We had a one bedroom unit. The unit consisted of a master bedroom with a king size bed. Linens, bedding, and pillows were first rate. The room was short on storage capacity - there were two night tables and a large piece which housed a flat-screen TV, but only had 2 small drawers for storage. There was also a closet. We were able to make do. The TV is fairly low and difficult to see from the bed.

The living room contained a pull-out sofa which could sleep an additional 2 people. There were also 2 chairs, a coffee table, a second flat-screen TV, and a DVD player. The DVD player was able to play my DVDs I brought with me from the US. Note that if you have visions of plugging an iPad or other device into the TV this will not work, as the European TVs use an SCARP connector.

The dining area had a dining table and four chairs. There was also a piece of furniture which could be used for storage. The unit has a full kitchen - full size fridge, oven with a range top, microwave, dishwasher, toaster, coffee maker, and utensils. Figuring out some of the European controls was kind of tricky. There is also a laundry room with a washer and dryer. Both of these have very small capacity. It takes 2 hours to do a load in the washer, and then another 2 hours to dry it.

The unit has a very large balcony with a large table and chairs. The birds were singing right outside the balcony. OMG!!!!

There is a parking garage under the unit. I don't know who laid that out, but there are pillars throughout the garage. You could barely drive a small car through some of the pillars.

Free WiFi is available throughout the unit.

This is a full resort, with numerous swimming facilities, sports facilities. The main pool is large, replete with pool slides and other implements. There are two separate adult outdoor pools. There is a kiddie pool outdoors, and a toddler pool. There are two indoor pools. There are numerous saunas - both cold and hot water. There is a steam room and a fitness center. There is a basketball court, a bacci ball court, croquet court. There are kiddie climbing apartuses. And all of this is not to mention the beach and Mediterranean at the end of the property. They also have some kind of tie in with a golf course, but I didn't use that.

The location is great for touring. From here you can do day trips to: Marbella, Malaga, Gibraltar*, Seville*, Ronda*, Cordoba*, Grenada* (Alhambra), Cadiz, and Tangiers. If this is your first trip, try to get to the starred destinations above. Seville and Cordoba are kind of far (2 1/2 hours each way), but worth the trip. There are organized trips available from the concierge (for a charge). The concierge also has directions to these places which actually work. Make sure you get them before going to any of these places.

There are 3 restaurants on the property. Additionally there are two restaurants adjacent to the property. We only ate at one of these - Cristina's. The food was very good and the prices were reasonable.

If you want to do your own cooking or eat in your unit (who can eat three meals a day out?), there is a Marketplace store on premises which sells basic groceries. There are 2 groceries located right on the other side of the highway (A7). One is a full supermarket called SuperSol. The other is a smaller market but is open 24/7, including Sundays (when everything else in Spain closes up), and is called OpenCor. But it you really want to go nuts, drive the 10km to the Canada shopping center which has a huge supermarket/WalMart type store. The fish there was to die for. Also, there is a Court D'Anglais on the other side of Marbella in the town called Puerto Banus. This has a full supermarket (HiperCor), and is something like a Niemann Marcus.

DO NOT USE GOOGLE MAPS for directions in Spain. At best they are confusing; at worst they are just wrong. If you drive in Spain you'll understand why this is so. To get to the resort, take the A7 to exit 192/Elvira, which is about 10km EAST of Marbella. (The resort is not in Marbella.) When you exit look for the little Marriott signs and follow them to the resort. This will take you through a warren of round-abouts (which the Spanish love) and little streets. It is very difficult to describe this, but once you get the hang of it it's very simple.

There is an ATM machine at the entrance to the property.

Great trip! Great sights! Great resort!