This Andalusian Tourist Board masterminded development at the heart of Spain’s southern coastline constitutes something of a blueprint for holiday resorts of the future. Costa Ballena was founded almost ten years ago on a four million square metre tranche of land between the ancient fishing villages of Chipiona and Rota.
Displaying proud Royal roots the land once belonged to members of the Spanish Royal Family - manzanilla barons Orleans-Borbón - who remained involved in the development throughout. In fact the matriarch of the family, Doña Beatriz de Orleans-Borbón, is current president of the golf club. Today the resort declares itself to be one of the most advanced tourist resorts in Europe and this is largely based on its social and environmental awareness.
Chris Mercer, Director of real estate company Mercers based in nearby Jerez explains, “The planning of Costa Ballena was extremely strict and up to the present day only 25% of the project is occupied by buildings. The rest is given over to open space in the shape of parks, orchards, lakes, beaches and golf courses – of which there are 36 holes in total. Construction is restricted to three storeys, has to be over 300 metres from the shoreline and a revolutionary pneumatic refuse collection system reduces the presence of heavy vehicles and nasty odours throughout the community. Costa Ballena’s architects have managed to blend a respect for the past with a keenness to embrace the future and the result is quite outstanding. We wondered why the foreign investor hadn’t fallen for Costa Ballena before, but it seems that native Spaniards snapped-up the entire development from the plans and kept it their little secret. Only today with resales emerging have other buyers been able to take a slice of the magic.”
Costa Ballena even has a quaint tale behind its name. Back in the days when animals spoke to humans (oh yes they did) a group of sailors returning from a voyage across the seven seas spotted a whale (‘ballena’) off the coast of Cádiz emitting a jet of misty air from its blowhole. The whale explained that he had spent his life searching for a land where the seasons were mild, the sun warm, with golden beaches, clear rivers and rolling fertile plains. Knowing that he’d at last found his idyll the whale decided he was tired and passed away on the sand in the company of a beautiful sunset. Legend told and Costa Ballena named.
At the heart of sherry country, Costa Ballena borders more than 6.5km of unspoilt wedding white beach lapped by clear waters and dotted with lively toe-in-sand chiringuito beach bars.
The resort itself is gated and has every conceivable facility from four star hotels through to Spas and shops through to restaurants. Sporting amenities range from relatively sedentary cycle tracks and swimming pools through to energetic tennis courts, windsurfing schools and horse-riding centres.
Twice Masters winner José Maria Olazabal’s championship golf course is a true highlight of Costa Ballena. Opened in 1995, many of the 27-holes run spectacularly close to the Atlantic and its many water hazards and tricky bunkers provide a real golfing challenge. Meanwhile the 9-hole par three is a perfect complement to the on-site golf school. Stepping outside of Costa Ballena, the traditional towns of Rota, Chipiona, Sanlucar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa Maria festooned with monuments, fiestas and gastric delights whilst Jerez (30 mins) Seville (1.5 hours) and Gibraltar (1.5 hours) are all served by low-cost airlines direct from the UK.
Costa Ballena has not remained immune from Spain’s ‘new lower prices’ and can now offer discounts of up to 40% from the peak prices of three years ago. Now is without doubt the best time to buy in Spain’s model holiday resort.
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