Monte Rei Rebuilt: The Algarve’s Number One Returns on 14 September

Five months closed. Every green rebuilt. What comes back is not quite the course that shut in April.

The Monte Rei North Golf Course, the eastern Algarve’s flagship, has been off the map since 13 April. It reopens on 14 September. Five months is a long absence for a top ranked Jack Nicklaus Signature design, and the work carried out in that window, goes considerably beyond seasonal maintenance.

Monte Rei main resort

What Actually Changed

This was not a cosmetic tidy-up. The greens have been reconstructed, along with their collars and surrounds. Bunkers have been renovated. Cart paths and access roads have been refurbished. That list covers the surfaces a golfer interacts with on every hole of the round, which is why the closure ran to five months rather than five weeks.

Monte Rei main resort

The Work You Will Not See

Monte Rei framed the project carefully when it announced the closure in February, describing improvements designed to enhance the course while “remaining true to the character, values and playing experience envisioned by Jack Nicklaus.” The intention is restoration of quality, not redesign. Golfers returning in September should expect the same course, playing better.

The more consequential part of the project sits underground. The irrigation system and pumping station have both been modernised, and water efficiency was named as a central focus of the intervention from the outset.

The timing is not accidental. Algarve golf courses collectively use around 15 cubic hectometres of water a year, and the region has spent the past eighteen months building the infrastructure to supply a growing share of that from treated reused water rather than boreholes and dams. A five-month closure is the only realistic opportunity a course of this standing gets to rebuild its irrigation from the ground up. Monte Rei took it.

Eighteen Signature Holes

The North Course opened in 2007 and remains the only Jack Nicklaus Signature course in Portugal. It runs to 7,181 yards from the tournament tees, plays to a par of 72, and brings water into play on eleven holes. The setting does much of the work — the foothills of the Serra do Caldeirão behind, the Atlantic visible to the south, cork oak and pine throughout.

Monte Rei course map

Nicklaus himself visited in 2019 and put the design philosophy more plainly than any brochure has managed since: “You didn’t hire me to design a signature hole, you wanted me to design 18 signature holes, and that’s what we tried to do.”

Reopening Into the Best Month of the Year

September is a shrewd date to come back. October is the single busiest month for golf in the Algarve — 179,000 rounds played across the region, ahead of April on 162,000 and March on 153,000, from a record annual total of 1.46 million. The North Course reopens with a fortnight to settle before that window opens.

Dining to match the elite golfing experience

The rest of the resort never closed. The villas, the spa, the pool and the restaurants have operated throughout, including Vistas Rui Silvestre, which first took a Michelin star in 2019. Guests who booked Monte Rei this summer for everything except the golf have not been short of reasons to stay.

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Autumn in the eastern Algarve is quieter than the Golden Triangle, warmer than most people expect, and — from mid-September — back to full strength. Browse our Algarve golf holidays and see what the eastern end of the coast is holding.


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Tee Times Golf Holidays Nominated for Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator 2026

Tee Times Golf Holidays has once again been nominated for the prestigious Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator 2026 award at the World Golf Awards, one of the most respected and recognised accolades in the international golf tourism industry.

A Record of Recognition

This nomination marks another important milestone in a journey that has seen Tee Times establish itself as one of the leading names in golf travel. Over the years, the company has received multiple World Golf Awards distinctions, including Portugal’s Best Inbound Golf Tour Operator, Portugal’s Best Outbound Golf Tour Operator, and Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator, reflecting its long-standing commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction.

From Vilamoura to the Wider World

Founded in Vilamoura in 1993, Tee Times Golf Holidays has grown alongside the Algarve’s rise as one of Europe’s premier golf destinations. What began as a small local business has evolved into an internationally recognised golf tour operator, helping thousands of golfers enjoy unforgettable golf experiences every year.

Portugal, Spain and Beyond

Today, Tee Times offers one of the most comprehensive golf holiday portfolios in the market, with programmes available throughout Portugal and Spain, from the Algarve, Lisbon and Porto to the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Madrid, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. In addition, the company has expanded its offering to include a selection of renowned international golf destinations, giving clients access to some of the finest golf courses and resorts around the world.

Built on Partnership and Trust

Over more than three decades, Tee Times has built strong relationships with golf courses, hotels and tourism partners, earning a reputation for expertise, reliability and exceptional service. The company currently handles around 120,000 rounds of golf annually, a reflection of both the scale of its operation and the trust placed in it by golfers worldwide.

The nomination for Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator 2026 is a recognition not only of the work and dedication of the Tee Times team, but also of the confidence shown by the thousands of clients who choose the company to organise their golf holidays year after year.

How to Cast Your Vote

Voting for the World Golf Awards 2026 is now open and is available to both industry professionals and golf travellers.

If you have travelled with Tee Times Golf Holidays, booked a golf holiday through our team, or simply followed our journey over the years, we would be delighted to receive your support.

Vote for Tee Times Golf Holidays as Europe’s Best Golf Tour Operator 2026

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Vote for Tee Times Golf Holidays as Europe's Best Golf Tour Operator 2026 at the World Golf Awards

Every vote is a recognition of more than 30 years of dedication to golf tourism, the trust of our clients, and the strong partnerships we have built along the way. Your support can help us continue to strengthen Tee Times Golf Holidays’ position among Europe’s leading golf tour operators.

Thank you for your trust and support.

Portugal’s Golf Course Rankings Shake Up

The “King” has been toppled after 15 years. A new course is at the top.

Top100GolfCourses.com has published its 2026 update to Portugal’s Top 50, and it is being called the most volatile edition in the list’s history, with only four courses holding on to their previous position. That is a lot of movement for a country with around eighty-six eighteen-hole courses spread across five regions.

For anyone planning a golf trip to Portugal this year, it is also useful reading: a top spot is not permanent, and neither is a top-ten place secure. At the summit, a course that only opened in 2023 has done something no course outside the Algarve has managed since 2008: taken the national number one spot. (Top100GolfCourses.com)

A New Name at the Top

Fairway through dune land at Dunas Terras da Comporta golf course near Lisbon

Dunas Terras da Comporta, an hour south of Lisbon on the edge of the Sado Estuary, now sits at number one in Portugal. Designed by David McLay Kidd through natural dune land, it has collected a run of international honours since opening in 2023, and this latest placing confirms it as more than a passing trend. It is the first time since 2008 that a course from the Lisbon & Central region has led the national ranking. Five minutes away, the Torre course, designed by Sergio García, gives the estate a second layout worth building a trip around. Play Dunas Terras da Comporta and the case for both makes itself.

Monte Rei Steps Aside

Monte Rei North golf course in the Eastern Algarve

For fifteen years, Monte Rei North held the number one position in Portugal without serious challenge. That run ends this year. The Jack Nicklaus Signature design near Tavira in the eastern Algarve now sits at number two, still firmly inside the country’s elite, still one of the more complete tests of golf on the Iberian Peninsula. Set among cork oak and pine, the course rewards accuracy over power, and its practice facilities are as complete as its ranking suggests. Fifteen years at the top is not a run many courses anywhere in the world can claim, and second place on a list this competitive is no demotion. It is simply Portuguese golf catching up with itself.

Quinta do Lago South Returns to the Podium

Monte Rei North golf course in the Eastern Algarve

Quinta do Lago South climbed three places to number three, reclaiming a podium finish and reasserting its position as the Algarve’s leading traditional resort course. Set within the Ria Formosa Natural Park, it pairs golf with one of the region’s more distinctive landscapes, saltwater marshland giving way to fairways rather than the other way around. The course has long been the benchmark against which newer Algarve designs are measured, and this year’s ranking makes that case with numbers rather than reputation alone.

Rankings shift from year to year, this year more than most, with six courses entering the Top 25 for the first time. What doesn’t shift is why golfers keep returning to Portugal: more than three hundred days of sunshine in the Algarve, a growing case for Lisbon & Central, and courses across both regions built for a repeat visit, not a single tick on a list. Browse our Algarve golf holidays and see the courses behind the numbers.


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