San Pedro de Alcántara is the town you will actually use from Urb. El Paraíso. It is the closest real centre: supermarket, pedestrian park, church square and beach. Puerto Banús and Marbella Old Town are outings. San Pedro is the ordinary day.
This guide covers the drive, where to leave the car, the Boulevard, the beach, the old square, and the shops.
How long is the drive from El Paraíso?
From the urbanization to the Boulevard in central San Pedro is about 8 km. A routing check in clear traffic comes out at roughly 11 minutes. Allow 10 to 15 minutes, and more when the A-7 queues on summer weekends.
Leave the urbanization on the local roads down to the coast, join the A-7 (Autovía del Mediterráneo) and head east toward San Pedro and Marbella. For the Boulevard, the last stretch comes off the autovía onto Avenida de Burgos and Avenida de la Coruña, then Avenida Luis Braille, which runs beside the park. If you want the old church square instead, take the San Pedro and Ronda exit (the A-397) and follow Avenida Oriental in toward Plaza de la Iglesia.
If you are collecting a hire car at the airport, the first drive is in our Málaga Airport to El Paraíso guide. For the car itself, see car rental in Benahavís.
Parking by the Boulevard and the beach
Two car parks still show up on a live source:
- APK2 Marqués del Duero, entrance on Avenida del Marqués del Duero. The operator places it about 100 metres from the Boulevard and about 150 metres from the old centre, near the church. Open 24 hours, headroom 2.10 m, with a lift. The operator currently lists 5.45 euros for one hour and a daily maximum of 29.95 euros, and says the price on the board in the car park is the one that counts.
- El Piyayo (also written El Pillayo), on Calle Ángel Carmona. The municipal tourism site lists this as a free outdoor car park with 102 spaces, including 3 for people with reduced mobility. It suits the park and the old square better than a drop-off on the sand.
For the beach, do not rely on a named seafront garage. An Andalusian accessible-tourism file for Playa de San Pedro de Alcántara, last evaluated in November 2016, records an unattended car park with more than 100 spaces, some of them accessible. That count is old. On a summer weekend, park in town and walk down, or come early.
Is there a bus?
Not a useful one from the apartment. Avanza line L-33 runs between San Pedro and Benahavís village, calling at Guadalmina and the Benahavís junction, but only twice a day each way (a morning trip and a mid-afternoon trip). It does not serve Urb. El Paraíso. A car is the practical way in.
A walk on the Boulevard
The Bulevar de San Pedro is a pedestrian park on the line of the old coast road, after that road was buried. It opened on 12 December 2014. The municipal registry places it between Avenida Luis Braille and Avenida Norberto Goizueta Díaz.
At the opening, local press described a park of 55,000 square metres: six children's play areas, an amphitheatre with room for 800 people, nearly a kilometre of bike lane, about 4,000 square metres of shallow water, and a footbridge over a traffic roundabout that joins the two halves of the park. Cafes and small shops face the avenues on either side.
The Thursday street market is not on the Boulevard. The municipal tourism page lists the San Pedro mercadillo on Thursdays from 09:00 to 14:00, on Calle Jorge Guillén. Market pitches do move, so check that address in the week you go.
The beach and the promenade
Walk south from the park and you reach the town beach, Playa de San Pedro de Alcántara, and its paseo marítimo. A walking route from Plaza de la Iglesia to the sand is about 1.7 km. At an easy pace that is around 20 minutes, and less if you start from the southern end of the Boulevard. The park does not run all the way to the water. The last part is ordinary streets, then the promenade.
A regional access guide calls it an urban beach: wide promenade, dark sand mixed with gravel, moderate waves, and beach restaurants. Lifeguards and showers are seasonal.
Is it a Blue Flag beach?
Yes, under the name ADEAC actually uses. The 2026 list of awarded Spanish beaches includes, under Marbella, San Pedro de Alcántara (Guadalmina). That is the current flag for this stretch. Guadalmina is the neighbouring beach just to the west, and the award uses that combined name. Look for the flag on the San Pedro and Guadalmina sands, not a separate flag for every cove between them.
Plaza de la Iglesia and the old colony
The old centre is small. It is what remains of the agricultural colony started in the 1860s by Manuel Gutiérrez de la Concha, the first Marqués del Duero. The parish church of San Pedro de Alcántara stands on the west side of Plaza de la Iglesia. It opened for worship on 22 August 1869, when the settlement was still a few streets and this square. The nearby sugar mill did not start until May 1871.
The front is a colonial type: a triple portico of round arches, a tower over the entrance, and a short flight of steps up from the square. The church was burned in 1936, restored by the diocesan architect Enrique Atencia, reopened in 1943, and made a parish on 1 January 1944. The parish says the church stays open morning and afternoon every day. Office hours on the parish site are shorter, so check if you need the desk rather than the building.
Part of the square was planted as a garden in 1950. The heritage inventory for the old colony identifies Villa de San Luis, on the square, as the local council office (the tenencia de alcaldía). One loop of the square and the church front is enough, then back to the Boulevard.
Shops: this is where you buy food
There is a Mercadona in San Pedro, in the Fuentenueva neighbourhood on the north side of town, not on the Boulevard. A current business listing places it at Fuente Nueva, with its own parking, open 09:00 to 22:00 from Monday to Saturday and closed on Sunday. The store moved within Fuentenueva in 2019. Hours change, so check the Mercadona app on the day.
That is the contrast with Puerto Banús. San Pedro is the supermarket, the Thursday market, a coffee and the beach. Banús is the marina outing. Yachts and the evening are in our Puerto Banús from El Paraíso guide.
If you would rather eat back toward the apartment, use the restaurants in Benahavís and around El Paraíso guide.
Roman baths and the old basilica
Two sites sit west of the town beach. Both are real, both are a short stop, and the published hours do not fully agree. Check before you go.
Termas Romanas de las Bóvedas
This 2nd century bath building in Urbanización Guadalmina has an octagonal central room and seven vaulted chambers. The municipal tourism page lists free entry and Saturday and Sunday visits from 09:00 to 11:00, at Calle 6. In May 2026 local press reported new hours of Thursday to Sunday and most public holidays, same morning times, free for small groups. The tourism page had not caught up when we checked. Phone Centro Cultural Rosa Verde on 952 76 87 67 if the day matters.
Basílica paleocristiana de Vega del Mar
About 500 metres west of the baths, in Urbanización Linda Vista Baja by the A-7 at km 171. A 5th century church with two apses and a baptismal pool for immersion. Tourism pages list Saturday and Sunday from 11:15 to 13:00, by arrangement. The May 2026 report said Thursday to Sunday and most holidays, 11:15 to 14:00. Confirm on the day.
San Pedro, Puerto Banús or Marbella Old Town
Pick one outing. Do not try to fold all three into one afternoon.
- San Pedro for the ordinary town: the Boulevard, the beach, the church square and the supermarket. It is the closest of the three.
- Puerto Banús for the marina evening. It is the next place east. The detail is in the Puerto Banús guide.
- Marbella Old Town for the white lanes and a tapas lunch. It is further along the A-7, about 20 to 25 minutes from El Paraíso in normal traffic. That walk is in the Marbella Old Town guide.
A free morning can go to golf instead. See golf near El Paraíso.
A simple plan
- Drive down in the morning and park at El Piyayo or at APK2 Marqués del Duero.
- Coffee beside the Boulevard, then a loop of Plaza de la Iglesia.
- Walk down to the promenade if the weather is good. Allow about 20 minutes from the square.
- Mercadona on the way home if you need food, or the Thursday market if you are here in the morning.
- Back to El Paraíso for the pool. Save Banús or the Old Town for another day.
Booking your stay
El Paraíso is a quiet base in Benahavís, with San Pedro a short drive east and the rest of the coast beyond it. If you are planning the trip, check dates and book on our homepage, or find the apartment on Airbnb.
Written by Mex Smits
