Pinhal Vilamoura 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.

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.

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.

The Old Course Vilamoura 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.

Millennium Vilamoura 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 Vilamoura 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 one 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.