Vale do Lobo's Ocean Course carries the pedigree of few others in the Algarve: it was shaped by Sir Henry Cotton, a three-time Open Champion and the first professional golfer ever knighted for his service to the game. Two of his original nine-hole layouts, opened in 1968 and 1972, were finally combined into today's eighteen in 1995, completing a vision he never got to see finished.
The course builds gradually, its fairways undulating past a protected nature reserve before easing down toward the Atlantic. Everything sharpens on the closing stretch. The 11th and 14th, both testing par 4s, deliver some of the finest views in the region, and the par-3 15th plays right along the beach, close enough to hear the sea over your backswing. It is a round that rewards shot-shaping over brute force, exactly the kind of test Cotton favoured, and one that guests consistently rate among their Algarve favourites.
Facilities include a full driving range, a resident academy, and a clubhouse restaurant well placed for a post-round drink with a view. The Ocean Course sits alongside its sister course, the Royal, giving golfers a natural two-round pairing without leaving the resort. For anyone chasing that classic Algarve postcard, holes along the water, sea breeze in play, Cotton's design still delivers it.

Golf at Vale do Lobo began in 1965, when Sir Henry Cotton was brought in to lay out the resort's first course, part of Trusthouse Forte and Costain's plan to build Portugal's first purpose-designed luxury resort. Two nine-hole loops opened in 1968 and 1972, and eventually became today's Ocean course. The Royal course as it stands opened in 1997, American architect Rocky Roquemore's reworking of Cotton's original drawings.
It's a par-72 layout of around 6,059 metres, rolling through pines and lakes, with some steep climbs on the back nine and a couple of doglegs. Water shows up on both nines, mostly visible from the tee. The 9th plays to a green that's almost an island. But the signature hole is the 16th, inherited from Cotton's original 1968 routing: a par-3 played along the coastal cliffs, often named among the most photographed holes in Europe.
The buggy is recommended here, and the resort backs it up with a driving range, an academy staffed by resident professionals, a clubhouse restaurant and snack bar, locker room and pro shop. Book a round on the course that gave the Algarve its most famous photograph, and pair it with its sibling, the Ocean course, next door.

Laguna is Joseph Lee's design for Vilamoura, opened in 1990 on reclaimed marshland as part of the original 27-hole Vilamoura III complex. When the Millennium course was carved out of that same site in 2000, Laguna settled into the 18 holes it plays today, laid out over low-lying coastal ground in the heart of the resort.
It's the odd one out among Vilamoura's courses: few trees, open ground, and a links feel across several holes. Par 72, 6,121 metres from the white tees, with lakes shaping play on eleven of them; those same lakes double as a habitat for otters, terrapins and migrating birds, and sit close to the Vilamoura Environment Nature Park. Add 79 bunkers and a wind that rarely lets up on this exposed site, and accuracy matters more than length. The 9th is the signature hole.
The clubhouse is shared with the neighbouring Millennium course, and the resort adds a driving range, academy, restaurant and snack bar, locker room and pro shop. Book a round at the Vilamoura course built to play differently from the rest.

Millennium sits at the heart of Vilamoura's golf cluster, a short run from the marina and within easy reach of the resort's hotels. Opened in 2000, the course pairs a refurbished nine from the old Laguna layout with a newly built nine cut through umbrella pine woodland — a blend that gives the round two distinct characters rather than one.
The front nine, holes three to seven especially, plays tight and wooded, asking for accuracy off the tee where the pines close in. From there the course opens out, flatter and more exposed to the Algarve breeze, before water comes into play again on the closing holes. The par-3 6th is the hole most golfers remember: a lake guarding the left of the green, a deep bunker on the right, and not much margin for a loose shot. It's a course built for variety and for company — sociable enough for a mixed-ability fourball, sharp enough to punish carelessness on the closing stretch.
Facilities are shared with the neighbouring Laguna course, including a driving range, putting green, and a resident academy for anyone looking to sharpen up beforehand. The clubhouse restaurant and bar make an easy stop before or after the round, and a complimentary shuttle runs from a selection of Vilamoura hotels. For golfers splitting a week across the region's courses, Millennium is a relaxed, well-paced day out.

Few courses in the Algarve have been through a transformation like this one. Built originally by Arnold Palmer and home to the Portugal Masters every year from 2007 to 2022, the course was stripped back to bare ground in 2023 and rebuilt from scratch by Ernie Els and his design team, a reported €17 million investment that makes this Europe's first Els Club and the Algarve's first private members' course.
Els reversed the entire back-nine routing, so nothing about the old championship rhythm carries over. New green complexes and sand-capped fairways have replaced the Palmer-era layout hole for hole. The par-5 11th is the one Els's own team points to as the round's centrepiece: water down the left off the tee, a stream tight against the green, and a genuine risk-reward decision on the second shot. It plays every bit as sharp as its pedigree suggests, and the PGA Tour Champions has already picked it to host the inaugural Portugal Invitational in 2026.
Access here works differently to the rest of Vilamoura. The Els Club is a private members' course, and non-members can only play through a stay-and-play package at the adjacent Victoria Golf Resort & Spa, with a minimum three-night stay. It's a different kind of booking, but for golfers planning a longer Algarve trip, it's a rare chance to play a tour-standard course built by one of the game's great champions.

Pinhal golf course sits in Vilamoura, on Rua da Torre D'Água, the second course built in the resort after Frank Pennink laid it out in 1976. Robert Trent Jones reworked the layout in 1985, adding doglegs and length without touching its parkland character. Fifty years on, it's still regarded as one of the Algarve's classic tests.
Umbrella and Atlantic pines line almost every fairway, closing in tight enough that a stray drive rarely finds a clean recovery. Doglegs run through much of the round, and water comes into play on the 4th, 5th, 8th and 14th. The 13th, a long par five, carries the course's signature hole status, and the back nine adds the layout's sharpest undulation.
Off the course, Pinhal keeps things simple: a driving range, resident academy, putting green, and a clubhouse restaurant that looks out over the practice area. It's a traditional course built on consistency, and regulars return to it year after year, some after decades away. Book your round with Tee Times, and see what's kept Pinhal among Vilamoura's favourites.

The South Course is William F. Mitchell's original design for Quinta do Lago, part of the 27 holes he laid out in 1974 that also gave the resort's North Course its first nine. It's the estate's founding layout, set among umbrella pines beside the Ria Formosa Natural Park, and it hosted the Portuguese Open eight times between 1976 and 2001, Colin Montgomerie among the winners with a course-record 63 in 1989.
It's a par-72 of around 6,500 metres, run as two anti-clockwise loops: the front nine rewards a draw, the back nine a fade. Elevated tees, rolling fairways, and doglegs, three of them sharp, keep the tee shot honest throughout. Water shows up mostly on the back nine, though the 3rd is worth minding early, a risk-reward par-4 with a lake down the left. The signature hole is the 15th, a long par-3 played entirely over water with the Atlantic in view beyond it.
The buggy isn't essential here, and the resort adds a driving range, an academy, a clubhouse restaurant and snack bar, locker room and pro shop. Book a round at the course European Tour pros still call their favourite in the Algarve, and the one every other Quinta do Lago layout is measured against.

The North course at Quinta do Lago wears its history well. Laid out originally in 1974 and expanded through the late 1980s, it was reborn in 2014 after a €9.6 million rebuild led by architect Beau Welling and former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley, one of the most thorough renovations any Algarve course has seen. The result plays every bit as sharp as that investment suggests.
The layout runs anti-clockwise through corridors of umbrella pines, and it rewards a golfer who can shape the ball right to left. Sandy, natural terrain and spring wildflowers give it a wilder character than its manicured neighbours, while the bunkering, rebuilt from scratch in the renovation, is some of the most exacting in the region. The par-4 12th is the hole most golfers remember: a lake runs the length of the fairway and reaches almost to the green, forcing a long, precise iron into a well-guarded target. Water returns to close out the round on the 18th, so there is little room to relax at either end.
Facilities include a full driving range, a resident academy, and a clubhouse restaurant overlooking the course. The North pairs naturally with its more famous sibling, the South, for golfers looking to sample both sides of Quinta do Lago's reputation in one trip. For anyone who enjoys a course that plays as good as it looks, this is one of the region's genuine tests.

Laranjal golf course is Jorge Santana da Silva's design for Quinta do Lago, the third course to open at the resort, arriving in 2009. It's routed through what was once an orange grove in the Ludo Valley, a couple of kilometres from the main estate, and takes its name from laranja, Portuguese for orange. In 2011 it was voted best golf course at the Portuguese Travel Awards.
The layout runs against type: five par-5s, eight par-4s and five par-3s, for a par 72 stretching to around 6,480 metres. The ground is flat, with no severe slopes, and easy to walk. Tree cover here is lighter than at Quinta do Lago's other two courses, with orange trees, cork oaks and umbrella pines set more for character than containment. Water spreads across both nines and gathers on the back, where the 16th, a par-5, plays as the signature hole, with several lakes putting a premium on placement over power.
The clubhouse holds a restaurant and snack bar, and there's a driving range and academy with resident professionals, along with a pro shop. Buggies come fitted with GPS, though there's no locker room on site. Book a round at the newest of Quinta do Lago's three courses, and one with a character all its own.

San Lourenco Golf is a par 72 course located in Quinta do Lago and is considered one of the best and most beautiful golf courses in Europe. The fact that this is an award-winning course is no coincidence. Bordering with the breathtaking Ria Formosa Natural Park, some of its holes are blessed with what can only be described as exquisite beauty, complemented with salt water lakes. If the first holes present no major surprise or challenges, after the 3rd, closer to the estuary, San Lourenco starts to reveal itself. After the 5th hole, a par-3 and the course's shortest, you're introduced to a dolgleg, stroke 1 sixth hole where your main challenge will be to avoid the dense shrub, so make sure you get your distances just right. As you get to the 7th, life is by no chance made easier but you still get the bonus of the outstanding views from this elevated tee before you have to focus on how to get around that green almost entirely surrounded by water. On the back nine, the 12th is the most challenging hole on San Lorenzo, featuring a deep chasm along the left of a very narrow fairway. Holes 13th to 16th also face the ocean with the latter proving to be the most demanding par-3, featuring a whole 180 m carry to a shallow green. Seventeenth is, again, extremely beautiful but still falls short of the beauty that awaits you on the last hole. It is a great finale and one that will remain in your memory as it has an excellence that is renowned worlwide. It is, without a doubt, a course for special occasions, that will provide you with unforgetably beautiful moments. Of course such a unique course had to have unique requirements concerning the booking of your green fees and that is only possible if you are a guest at the 5 star Dona Filipa Hotel nearby or by contacting Tee Times who will make the required arrangements to book what will be one of the most special games of golf you will ever play in your life.

Salgados is Pedro Vasconcelos's design, laid out with American architect Robert Muir Graves and opened in September 1994 within the wetlands of the Salgados Lagoon Nature Reserve, near Albufeira. A substantial renovation followed in 2012 under landscape architect Álvaro Mano, and the course has been freshened again more recently, including a new island green at the 12th.
It's a flat, links-style par 72 of around 6,100 metres, where water does most of the defending, in play on the majority of holes rather than literally every one. The signature pairing is the 6th, a par-5, and the reworked 12th, a par-3 played to that new island green. Palm trees line the fairways in place of the pines found elsewhere in the Algarve, and the wind off the coast is a constant factor on this exposed, open site. The flat ground means the buggy is optional rather than essential.
The clubhouse has a restaurant and bar, and the resort adds a driving range, resident professionals, locker room and pro shop. Book a round at the course built into a wetland reserve, and one regularly singled out as some of the best value golf in the Algarve.

The Old Course is Frank Pennink's original design for Vilamoura, laid out in 1969 as one of the first courses built in the resort. Martin Hawtree remodelled it in 1996, keeping Pennink's routing intact while bringing the course up to modern standards. Set in the heart of Vilamoura, twenty minutes from Faro airport, it's known across the Algarve as the Grande Dame of the region's golf courses, and hosted the Portuguese Open in 1979.
It's pure parkland golf, routed through mature umbrella pines that do most of the defending. Fairways roll gently, with a few steeper slopes, and doglegs come mainly on the back nine. Water only enters the equation once, on the 4th, the course's signature hole: a par-3 that asks for a precise tee shot up and over a large pine, to a green guarded by water on the far side. The buggy here is optional rather than essential.
The clubhouse has been rebuilt in recent years, with a British-style restaurant and snack bar, and the driving range now runs on TrackMan technology, with an on-site academy staffed by resident professionals. Locker rooms and a pro shop round things out. Book a round at one of Vilamoura's original courses, and one of the Algarve's most storied.

Quinta da Ria sits inside the Ria Formosa Natural Park, on a stretch of the eastern Algarve where no villa or apartment block is allowed to interrupt the view. It is a rare thing in this region: a course with nothing around it but wetland, olive trees, and the sea. Designed by Rocky Roquemore and opened in 2002, it rewards patience over power, and the courses's own guests will tell you it's worth the drive east.
Five lakes work their way through the round, most notably guarding the 10th green, and the back nine edges close enough to the Atlantic that the sea breeze becomes a permanent playing partner. The par-3 17th is the hole most golfers remember: its green sits beside a small island that doubles as a bird sanctuary, a genuinely rare sight mid-round. Thick rough and flat, deceptively tricky bunkers punish anything sprayed off line, and the wind means club selection here is never quite as simple as the scorecard suggests.
Facilities include a driving range, a resident academy, and a clubhouse restaurant serving Portuguese food with a view back over the course. Quinta da Ria pairs naturally with its sister course, Quinta de Cima, next door, for golfers looking to spend a full trip on this quieter side of the Algarve. For anyone tired of playing the same handful of famous names, this is the detour worth making.

Monte Rei Golf Course is Jack Nicklaus's only design in Portugal, and the first of his Signature courses to reach the country when it opened in 2007. The North Course sits in the eastern Algarve, in the foothills of the Serra do Caldeirão, with mountains behind and the Atlantic in view to the south, on a 1,000-acre estate near Tavira. It held Portugal's number one ranking for close to fifteen years, a run few layouts anywhere can match.
Water comes into play on eleven of the eighteen holes, and the routing keeps each one in its own corridor, so there's rarely a view of another group's game. It's a par-72 layout of eight par-4s, five par-3s and five par-5s, running to over 6,500 metres from the championship tees, with doglegs on several holes and tees set high enough to catch the wind. The 13th is the signature hole: a downhill par-4 from an elevated tee, its green pinched between a lake and a run of sand. The 18th closes matters with a 550-yard par-5, the lake shadowing the approach and, for the longest hitters, still tempting a run at the green in two.
The buggy is included in the green fee, useful across terrain that rolls more than it lets on, and the practice facilities stretch to a full driving range and an on-site academy with resident professionals. A clubhouse restaurant and snack bar, locker rooms and pro shop round out the day. Book a round at Monte Rei and see why it's held its place among Portugal's finest for the better part of two decades.

Quinta da Ria sits inside the Ria Formosa Natural Park, on a stretch of the eastern Algarve where no villa or apartment block is allowed to interrupt the view. It is a rare thing in this region: a course with nothing around it but wetland, olive trees, and the sea. Designed by Rocky Roquemore and opened in 2002, it rewards patience over power, and the courses's own guests will tell you it's worth the drive east.
Five lakes work their way through the round, most notably guarding the 10th green, and the back nine edges close enough to the Atlantic that the sea breeze becomes a permanent playing partner. The par-3 17th is the hole most golfers remember: its green sits beside a small island that doubles as a bird sanctuary, a genuinely rare sight mid-round. Thick rough and flat, deceptively tricky bunkers punish anything sprayed off line, and the wind means club selection here is never quite as simple as the scorecard suggests.
Facilities include a driving range, a resident academy, and a clubhouse restaurant serving Portuguese food with a view back over the course. Quinta da Ria pairs naturally with its sister course, Quinta de Cima, next door, for golfers looking to spend a full trip on this quieter side of the Algarve. For anyone tired of playing the same handful of famous names, this is the detour worth making.

Tucked into a quiet valley between Portimão and the Monchique foothills, Morgado feels like a different side of the Algarve altogether — inland, unhurried, and away from the coastal crowds. It earned its stripes the hard way: three consecutive years, 2017 to 2019, as host of the Open de Portugal, a run few Algarve courses can match.
The front nine opens generously, wide fairways that invite a confident tee shot, but the deep, Scottish-style bunkers around the greens have a way of catching anything loose. Settle into a rhythm here, because the back nine changes the conversation entirely — the ground rises, the valley channels the wind, and every club selection starts to matter. Save something for the finish: the 18th plays from an elevated tee down to a bunker-framed fairway, the clubhouse waiting in the distance, and it's the kind of hole that makes the whole round worth the walk.
This is a course built to reward good decisions rather than raw power, and it plays fair across a wide range of handicaps — part of why it keeps pulling golfers back. Facilities are shared with the neighbouring Álamos course, including a well-regarded academy, full driving range, and a resident pro shop, with the clubhouse restaurant a welcome stop once the round is done. For anyone tired of queuing behind the big coastal names, Morgado is the quieter, sharper alternative.

Palmares Golf Course climbs the hillside above the Bay of Lagos, on the Algarve's western coast, with Meia Praia beach and the Atlantic below. Frank Pennink laid out the original course in 1975. Robert Trent Jones Jr. reworked it in 2010, and it's since been ranked 26th in Golf World's Top 100 in Europe. That pedigree, matched with the setting, makes Palmares one to build a trip around.
Twenty-seven holes split into three nine-hole loops, Alvor, Lagos and Praia, playable in any order. Alvor climbs through pine-lined parkland with real elevation change. Lagos folds two lakes into its par three third and its par five sixth. Praia turns properly links, running through dune country with the Atlantic wind doing most of the defending. The 14th carries the course's signature hole status, and no two rounds at Palmares play quite the same.
The clubhouse looks out over the Alvor Estuary and the bay, with a restaurant, pro shop, locker rooms and a resident academy on site. Buggies are worth booking, given the terrain. Guests return to Palmares year after year, drawn back as much by the variety as the views. Book your round with Tee Times, and see why.

Seve Ballesteros only put his name on a handful of courses, and Quinta do Vale, set in a natural valley above the Guadiana River with Spain visible across the water, is one of his most distinctive. The layout itself tells you as much: six par 3s, six par 4s, and six par 5s, a deliberately unconventional structure that keeps the round from ever settling into a rhythm.
Water is the story on the front nine, coming into play on most of the opening holes and demanding real discipline off the tee, especially with the coastal breeze that tends to pick up as the round goes on. The back nine moves into more sheltered, undulating ground, giving some relief before the closing stretch asks for one more decision. This is a course built on options rather than a single correct line, true to Seve's own game: every hole rewards the golfer willing to take on a risk, while still leaving a safer route for anyone playing it smart. Bring a few spare balls for the water, and treat a calm day here as a gift.
Facilities include a driving range, a resident academy, and a clubhouse restaurant with sweeping views back over the valley and river. Quinta do Vale pairs naturally with the other east Algarve courses nearby for a golfer looking to build a full trip around this quieter, less-crowded corner of the region.

Boavista is UK architect Howard Swan's 2002 design for Lagos, built with the aim of looking as though it had always been part of the land. It runs in two sections: a Resort stretch (1st to 3rd, 13th to 18th) and a Country stretch between (4th to 12th), climbing from sub-tropical planting near the clubhouse to sweeping views over the Bay of Lagos and the Serra de Monchique.
It's a par-71 of around 6,150 metres. The outward nine rises to a high 9th tee; the inward nine drops into a valley of lakes and bridges. The 6th, the Cliff Hole, plays across a natural ravine, and the 7th, generally reckoned the signature hole, offers the course's best view of the Atlantic and the Monchique hills. Water returns in earnest at the 14th, a long hole nicknamed the Lake, and the round closes at a small replica of St Andrews' Swilken Bridge. Wind is a constant factor throughout.
The buggy is close to essential here given the terrain, and the resort adds a driving range, academy, clubhouse restaurant and snack bar, and pro shop, though there's no locker room on site. Book a round at the course built to feel like it was never built at all.

Isla Canela Golf course is situated within a Nature Reserve where the river Guadiana empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Its beautiful location and the mild climate of the region make it an ideal destination for golfing all year around. The golf course, designed by Juan Catarineu, is successfully integrated into existing flat terrain and is very comfortable to walk. Wide fairways run between natural dunes and many trees - oranges, olives, eucalyptuses and palms- have been introduced not only to enhance the location but, by their position, to provide natural hazards. At first sight it looks like an easy golf course, but it has its hidden difficulties.

Vila Sol has genuine championship pedigree. Donald Steel designed the original two loops in 1991, and within two years the course had hosted the Portuguese Open twice, first won by Ronan Rafferty, then David Gilford. A third loop, the Prestige, was added in 2000, and since 2004 the course has hosted the annual Sir Bobby Robson Celebrity Golf Classic, drawing footballing names back to Vilamoura year after year.
The course winds through a genuine pine forest rather than a landscaped approximation of one, and Steel built it without reshaping the land more than it needed. That restraint shows: narrow, tree-lined fairways demand accuracy over power from the very first hole, and the opening stretch is widely considered the toughest test on the course. The par-3 7th on the Prime loop is the hole most golfers remember, a downhill tee shot played back over water to a green that punishes anything over-clubbed. With three distinct nines to mix and match, no two visits play quite the same, and the variety keeps regulars coming back to find a new favourite combination.
Facilities include a full driving range, a resident academy, and a clubhouse restaurant with views over the 18th. Vila Sol sits at the heart of Vilamoura, making it an easy addition to a wider trip. For golfers who want proven championship pedigree without leaving the resort, this is one of the region's genuine originals.

Castro Marim sits right on the border, with the Guadiana river and Spain visible from its higher ground and the Atlantic glinting to the south. Terry Murray laid out the original Atlantic and Guadiana nines in 2001; a third, the Grouse, followed a few years later, giving the resort three genuinely different nine-hole loops and two ways to build an eighteen.
The Atlantic and Guadiana wind through mature pine, tight and demanding of accuracy, with elevated tees and dogleg fairways carved into the hillside. The Grouse opens things up considerably, rolling over higher ground with wide inland views and fewer trees to hide behind. Two holes on the Atlantic stand out for very different reasons: the par-5 4th, a sharply doglegging hole with a lake and elevated green that's been singled out in international golf writing, and the par-5 9th, which runs downhill all the way to the sea. Keep an eye out beyond the fairways too, this is genuine wildlife country, with wild boar, partridge, and even the occasional Iberian lynx spotted on the Grouse in the early morning.
Facilities include a driving range, a resident academy, and a clubhouse restaurant with a terrace looking back over the course. The greens here are consistently the best-praised part of the round; the wider infrastructure shows some age, so this suits golfers who value variety, views, and a quiet, unhurried atmosphere over polished modern conditioning. For a genuinely different corner of the Algarve, right at its eastern edge, Castro Marim is worth the drive.

Benamor golf course carries one of the more unusual stories in Algarve golf. Sir Henry Cotton, the three-time Open champion who later shaped Vale do Lobo's Ocean course, was invited to design it in 1986, drawn to the site by an old church that still stands beside the clubhouse today. Cotton died before construction began, and it was architect Howard Swan who carried his original vision through to completion, opening the course in 2000 as the first ever built east of the Algarve.
The result is a gentler test than its neighbours, and that's very much the point. Two nines, both starting and finishing near the clubhouse, roll through olive, carob, and fig trees with the Serra do Caldeirão to the north and the Atlantic to the south. The front nine plays short and forgiving; the back nine tightens up and asks for more precision, particularly around the 13th, where a rivulet crosses the fairway. The old church reappears on the approach to the 18th, a quiet, memorable way to finish. This isn't a course built to punish. It's built to be enjoyed, and regulars come back precisely because a round here rarely feels crowded or rushed.
Facilities include a driving range, a resident academy, and a relaxed clubhouse restaurant with a genuine local, members'-club feel rather than a corporate one. For golfers based in Tavira who want a scenic, unhurried round without the crowds of the bigger-name courses, Benamor is exactly that.

Pinheiros Altos Golf Course offers something almost no other course in the Algarve can: three distinct nines, so no two rounds ever look quite the same. The original Pines and Olives nines opened in 1992 under American architect Ronald Fream; a third, the Corks, was added in 2007 by Portuguese architect Jorge Santana da Silva, working the same Ria Formosa parkland into a genuinely different test.
Each nine has its own personality. The Pines runs through sandy, pine-lined terrain in classic Algarve style. The Olives opens out, flatter and dotted with lakes that force real decisions off the tee, and it's home to the course's most famous hole: a par-3 island green, one of the most talked-about holes in the region, requiring a precise, positive strike over water with nowhere to bail out. The Corks, the newest of the three, weaves through mature trees with a distinct character of its own. Whichever combination you draw, this is a course built on smart club selection and accuracy over raw length, bordering a natural park alive with birdlife most golfers only half-notice until the third or fourth hole.
The staff and clubhouse consistently draw praise, friendly, attentive, and genuinely helpful in getting golfers on and off in good time. Facilities include a full driving range, a resident academy, and a restaurant with views over the course. For golfers staying in the Quinta do Lago area who want variety without leaving the estate, Pinheiros Altos is worth returning to more than once, if only to see which two nines you draw next time.

Gramacho Golf Course has a trick up its sleeve that no other course in the Algarve can quite match: eighteen fairways, but twenty-seven greens. Play it once and you've seen one version of the course. Play it again and the whole character can shift, hole by hole. Designed in 1991 by Ronald Fream working alongside former World No. 1 Nick Price, it has gone on to host European Seniors Tour qualifying and the Ladies Portuguese Open more than once, proper championship pedigree hiding inside a course that's genuinely playable across a wide range of handicaps.
Boulder outcrops, dry-stone walls, and centuries-old carob trees give the round a rooted, unhurried feel, while lakes and bunkers are placed to reward good decisions rather than punish for the sake of it. The greens are the course's calling card: fast, well-contoured, and consistently the part guests remember most. The round builds to a genuinely memorable finish, a par-5 18th played back toward the clubhouse terrace, water guarding the approach, with the whole gallery of the terrace watching your last swing of the day.
Facilities include a full driving range, a resident academy, and a clubhouse restaurant right on the 18th green. Gramacho sits alongside its sister course, Vale da Pinta, making the two an easy pairing for anyone spending a few days in the Carvoeiro area. For golfers who like to return to the same course and never quite play the same round twice, this is exactly that kind of course.

Every championship course in the Algarve owes something to Penina. In 1966, Sir Henry Cotton transformed a stretch of rice paddies into the region's first 18-hole course, planting hundreds of thousands of trees to shape the parkland corridors that still frame every hole today. He considered it his masterpiece, and the Portuguese Open agreed, returning here ten times over the following decades.
The course plays flat but never easy. Streams and water hazards, adapted from the original rice-paddy drainage, cross the fairways throughout, and Cotton's raised, subtly sloped greens punish anything hit carelessly. The par-5 5th sets the tone early: a genuine risk-reward hole, tempting with an eagle if you carry the water and out-of-bounds, punishing if you don't quite make it. The par-3 13th is the hole most golfers remember long after they've left, a tee shot played over water to a green that has swallowed thousands of balls over the decades. This is a course built on accuracy and course management rather than power, exactly as Cotton designed it.
Penina's history and visionary design are the draw here, not modern polish. The greens are consistently well-regarded, but the wider course shows its age, and golfers who prioritise pristine, manicured conditioning may find newer Algarve courses a better fit. For anyone who wants to play where championship golf in the Algarve actually began, on a layout still shaped by the hand of a three-time Open champion, Penina remains genuinely worth the round.

Located in the Portimão area of the Algarve, Ferragudo Golf Course is the newest golfing addition to the region and is part of the renowned Pestana Group, Portugal's largest hotel and tourism group. This attractive parkland course blends naturally into the beautiful Algarve landscape, offering golfers a challenging and enjoyable experience. Its unique and highly interesting layout provides a remarkable variety of holes, ensuring that every round is different and memorable. Ferragudo Golf Course is a Par 73, measuring: 5,841 metres from the White Tees 5,227 metres from the Yellow Tees 4,594 metres from the Red Tees One of the course's most distinctive features is the presence of several historic ruins scattered throughout the property. Among them, an old chapel stands out as a true landmark. Located at the intersection of four holes — the 9th, 10th, 12th and 13th — it creates a unique focal point rarely found on a golf course. Plans have been announced to restore the chapel and potentially transform it into a halfway house and golfers' refreshment stop. Unlike many modern resort courses, Ferragudo Golf Course relies on its strategic design rather than water hazards to test players. Water comes into play only on the finishing hole, the 18th, a Par 5 and Stroke Index 6, where a lake guards the approach to the green and adds excitement to the final challenge of the round. The course promises plenty of shot-making opportunities thanks to its imaginative routing, varied hole designs and thoughtful integration with the surrounding landscape. Combined with the tranquillity of its natural setting, Ferragudo Golf Course offers an authentic Algarve golfing experience that appeals to players of all abilities. Whether you are visiting the Algarve for a golf holiday or looking for a new course to discover, Ferragudo Golf Course is set to become one of the region's most intriguing golfing destinations.