It's not the Taj Mahal, but the palatial Anantara Marbella Resort, in the province of Malaga in southern Spain, has an equally touching love story. While Mughal emperor Shah Jahan commissioned his 17th-century architectural masterpiece in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, the Marbella resort was built in the 1990s by local millionaire and hotelier Ricardo Arranz as an homage to his wife's royal lineage.
Arranz married Alicia Padierna de Villapadierna Klein, who is of Spanish nobility, in 1992. Together, the couple decided to build an opulent getaway in the mountain village of Benahavis near the resort town of Marbella, known for its beautiful beaches and golf courses.
Completed in 2003, Anantara Villa Padierna Palace Benahavis Marbella Resort, as it is officially known, is now one of the most luxurious destinations in the Costa del Sol, Spain’s southern Mediterranean coast. Meant to resemble a Tuscan palace, its Italian inspirations are everywhere – from the perfectly coned cypress trees and many sculptures that dot the property, to the 400-seater Roman amphitheatre and immaculate gardens spread across its expansive grounds.
Located in the so-called “golf valley” of Marbella, the resort is flanked by three 18-hole golf courses, with most of its 125 pet-friendly rooms and suites offering sweeping views of perfectly manicured greens.
It has hosted celebrities and statesmen, from Spain's former prime ministers Felipe Gonzalez and Jose Maria Aznar to Jennifer Lopez and Michelle Obama, who was a friend of Alicia Padierna, who died in 2018 after a battle with cancer. One of the nine private villas is named Villa Obama, after the former US first lady.
The National checks in to find out if this royal getaway lives up to its title.
The welcome
Our arrival at Anantara Marbella Resort is preceded by scenic 50-minute drive from Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport, with winding roads that dip and twist as we enter Benahavis. We are greeted by the resort's concierge, who quickly sorts out our luggage, leaving us free to admire the striking lobby. At the centre of the space is a massive multi-tiered flower arrangement that leads your eyes up the resort's four floors to the glass roof. Natural light and the smell of the blooms fill the lobby, and beyond the display are twin staircases that sweep up to the first floor.
Check-in is fuss-free and we're done in minutes before being guided to a tiny lift to the room.
The neighbourhood
Surrounded by rolling hills, Anantara Marbella Resort is isolated enough from the bustle of touristy Marbella, but is only a 20-minute drive from Puerto Banus, a luxury marina dotted with high-end shopping malls, restaurants and bars. The resort's inland location means it's not attached to a beach, but a free, 10-minute shuttle will take guests to the By the Sea Beach Club.
Guests can take part in many activities around Marbella, from flamenco dancing to wine-tasting, but a trip to the historic cliffside city of Ronda is a must. The birthplace of Abbas Ibn Firnas, the Muslim poet, physician and inventor, it also a city where Ernest Hemingway spent many summers and wrote. The ashes of Orson Welles, considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, are also buried there.
Anantara Marbella Resort has links with La Almazara, an organic olive oil farm and factory in Ronda, which offers daily experiential tours for an additional cost. Guests can also visit Reservatauro Ronda, a 200-hectare breeding farm for bulls and Andalusian horses set in a Unesco Biosphere Reserve, where biodiversity is maintained and human activity must be sustainable. Owned by former champion bullfighter Rafael Tejada, the reserve gives visitors a chance to get close to the animals and learn about them in a natural environment.
The room
I am checked into a junior suite with a “green view”, a 42-square-metre room that encompasses a small living area with plush furnishing, Persian carpets and chandeliers, as well as a desk and a king-size bed. The marble-heavy en-suite bathroom features a giant tub as the centrepiece with an enclosed rain shower area in one corner and a door leading to the toilet in the other.
The suite is stocked with all the amenities you'd need, including a coffee machine and tea accessories. Both the suite and attached bathroom have huge windows that open on to one of the lush golf courses and the beautiful mountains beyond.
The service
As a luxury brand, it's hard to fault the service at Anantara, whether it's in Sri Lanka or Amsterdam. In Marbella too, there's plenty of Spanish warmth to bask in, with staff quick on their feet and attentive, especially during the busy breakfast service.
The scene
Marbella is a golfer's paradise and there are plenty of options, whether you're a pro or an amateur. During our stay, the resort was filled with lines of golf carts zipping around each day. Although not part of Anantara, the Villa Padierna Racquet Club is within the property, with 15 padel courts, two tennis courts and two croquet courts, only 50 metres from the beach.
The 2,000-square-metre Anantara Spa features Roman baths, a hammam and saunas, as well as landscaped gardens to wind down in. Here, you can enjoy treatments and fitness activities, get nutrition advice and take part in aqua therapies. There's also a temperature-controlled indoor pool with massage jets, as well as a plunge pool and an aromatic relaxation area.
The Anantara Marbella Resort is sometimes described as a “museum hotel” because it houses more than 1,200 paintings and sculptures. The private collection of Arranz and his late wife includes European portraits, mainly from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the majority by Spanish artists.
The food
Besides the beach club, there are eight restaurants to choose from at Anantara Marbella Resort. La Loggia, where we ate our breakfasts, serves Malagan fare for lunch and Italian for dinner. La Veranda is a more formal dining spot, featuring classic local dishes with modern twists dreamt up by the resort's head chef, Jose Carlos Delgado Serrano.
As a nod to Marbella's Arab lineage, and for Anantara's many Middle Eastern guests, there's Ola Beirut, which serves Lebanese cuisine but with a Spanish touch. For pre-dinner catchups or afternoon tea, there's the sophisticated Eddy's Bar. Hole 55 is perfect for breakfast or snacks and desserts, La Pergola in the pool garden for light lunches and Irene's Health Kitchen within the spa for healthy fare and detox drinks.
There's also an outpost of 99 Sushi Bar & Restaurant. The Japanese fusion eaterie's Abu Dhabi branch earned a Michelin star in 2023.
Designer Dining by Anantara, a bespoke dining experience at all their resorts around the world, is available upon request. For our visit, Anantara Marbella Resort put together a dining experience inspired by Pablo Picasso's favourite dishes. It is set in one of the resort's private dining rooms, decorated in shades of blue, from flowers to tableware – the Malaga-born artist's favourite colour.
We are served ajoblanco, a chilled white soup made with almonds, and atun encebollado, or tuna cooked in an onion stew. Picasso preferred a specific part of the fish close to the neck, the chef tells us, as he regales us with stories of the artist's taste in food and wine. Between courses, a flamenco dancer entertains us.
Highs and lows
The weather in Marbella, even during the so-called off season in February, is perfect for outdoor activities. Golfers are spoilt for choice within the resort.
That proves a sour point for me when I am woken up at 7am on the morning after we land by a lawnmower preparing the grass for a group of golfers. Having slept with my windows open (always a joy after living in the Gulf for years) the hum of the mower and chatter of the golfers only a few metres away ensures it is time to get up.
The insider tip
Anantara properties are known for their spas, and the one at Anantara Marbella Resort is among the biggest I've seen. Make sure you make time to check out all their offerings, even if you're not getting a treatment. Puerto Banus is excellent for shopping, and if you're a fan of Spanish fashion and lifestyle brand Zara, it's much cheaper here than anywhere else.
The bottom line
Pricing is dependent on the dates and the season, with deluxe rooms starting at approximately €395 (Dh1,594) per night. Check-in is from 3pm and check-out is at noon.
This review was conducted at the invitation of the resort and reflects standards during this time. Services may change in the future
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre, six-cylinder
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 395bhp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: from Dh321,200
On sale: now
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
WRESTLING HIGHLIGHTS
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Quick facts on cancer
- Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases
- About one in five men and one in six women will develop cancer in their lifetime
- By 2040, global cancer cases are on track to reach 30 million
- 70 per cent of cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries
- This rate is expected to increase to 75 per cent by 2030
- At least one third of common cancers are preventable
- Genetic mutations play a role in 5 per cent to 10 per cent of cancers
- Up to 3.7 million lives could be saved annually by implementing the right health
strategies
- The total annual economic cost of cancer is $1.16 trillion
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
