A week on the Costa del Sol

The coast rewards a slow itinerary. Begin in Marbella's old town, where mornings belong to the market and the afternoon to shade.

Move inland for a day. The mountain villages behind the coast are twenty minutes away and thirty years apart, and the valley restaurants are where local families eat on Sundays.

Give the water two days rather than one. A single day charter is always too short; a second morning at anchor is what people remember.

End in Sotogrande, where the pace drops again: pine shade, long lunches and an early evening on the water.