If you are travelling on by coach, the coach car parks are right outside the exit from customs and taxis are very close. Whatever transport you choose, its about an hour to Marbella, and another 50 minutes or so to Sotogrande. During the daytime and definitely in the Summer, the 340 links with the N7, a toll motorway built for the Ryder Cup to cut out some of the traffic problems that can happen on the 340 because it really does run all the way along the coast and therefore right through virtually every resort. Use the N7 but make sure you have a map (you don t get one in a hire car) of you are driving yourself.

Busy times are the rush hour with local traffic, which does include an ever growing ex-pat community. If you haven t been here before, this really is a very popular place to holiday and to live, and the building hasn t stopped. The latter creates a problem because this isn t lots of little villages or towns which are easily identifiable - there are more signs than you can imagine and finding your villa, apartment or small hotel can be a real problem.

Get a detailed map and if you can get a grid reference, do so. One of the best ways of pinpointing where you are is by finding out how close you are staying to a golf course - the signage for your sport is always pretty good. If you are travelling later at night, you don t have to follow the N7 and using the 340 keeps you much closer to the action and finding where you are going to stay.