Oporto Golf

Portugal Shines in Time Out’s Top 10 Most Beautiful Places in the World

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Portugal has a habit of turning up on lists like this. This time, it is Time Out doing the honours — and the Douro Valley has landed in the top five of the world’s most beautiful places.

The List

The magazine’s ranking of 51 destinations was assembled by an international network of travel editors and writers. Each place was selected for its scenic beauty, cultural distinctiveness, and visual impact. The Douro Valley came in at number four, sitting alongside entries from Spain, Indonesia, the United States, and England. Not bad company. (Idealista)

Vale de Oura Vinyards

Why the Douro

The region combines terraced vineyards, a winding river, and historic hillside villages into a composition that is genuinely difficult to rival. The terraces alone — hand-carved into steep mountainsides over centuries — create a visual drama that shifts with every season. At harvest time, the whole valley turns gold.

The Alto Douro Wine Region has held UNESCO World Heritage status since 2001, recognised as a living cultural landscape. That designation matters. This is a place shaped by human hands, yet it never feels anything less than wild.

The Golf

The Douro Valley does not have courses carved into its slopes — the terrain has other ideas — but it sits at the centre of one of Portugal’s most rewarding golfing regions. Porto is the natural base, less than two hours from the valley, and the courses clustered around the city are well worth the journey in their own right.

Oporto Golf Course Seafront

Oporto Golf Club is the oldest in Portugal, established in 1890 by British residents who clearly had their priorities in order. It is a links-influenced course set close to the sea at Espinho, with small, fast greens and a wind that rarely takes a day off. Estela Golf Club, a few kilometres to the north, is cut from similar cloth — a traditional seaside layout with narrow fairways, elevated greens, and the kind of conditions that reward ball-striking over heroics.

For something altogether different, Vidago Palace Golf sits around an hour and a half east of Porto, deep in the Trás-os-Montes hills. Originally designed by Mackenzie Ross in 1936 and rebuilt to USGA specification, it is one of the most characterful courses in the country — a parkland layout set within a grand spa estate, and the sort of place that earns a second visit.

Vidago Golf Course Autumn

A Douro break, then, is not simply a wine trip with a round attached. It is a genuine golf destination with a landscape that happens to be ranked among the four most beautiful on the planet.

Browse our Oporto golf holidays and find the right combination of courses, hotel, and valley time.

Portugal — Still Making Headlines

Rio de Oura Waterfront

The Douro’s recognition is not an isolated moment. At the 2025 World Travel Awards, Madeira was named Europe’s Best Island Destination, Porto took Europe’s Best City Destination, and Lisbon claimed Europe’s Best City Break Destination. Portugal, it seems, is not planning to leave the front page any time soon. (Turismo de Portugal)

For golfers yet to explore the country as a whole, the full range of Portugal golf holidays covers everything from the Algarve south coast to the Atlantic-facing links of the north.

The Douro is beautiful. The golf is excellent. The two rarely need much further convincing.

Portugal Golf Holidays – Porto Airport among the world’s best airports

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Porto Airport. Porto Airport among the best in the world

Porto Airport keeps winning awards

As determined by traveller feedback, Airports Council International has renewed its “excellence” service distinction. The lone Portuguese airport on the list is Porto’s, also known as Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport.

After finishing 2022 as one of Europe’s best airports according to an analysis by AirHelp, this year’s spring brings a new and similar distinction: the one of “airport excellence” in the ASQ Awards, given annually by the Airports Council International (ACI).

Porto Airport thus remains on the ACI list of the best in Europe among those that receive 5 to 15 million passengers per year.

According to the ACI, “the top airports in terms of customer experience throughout the world are recognised” on the ACI gold list of Quality of Service at Airports (ASQ).

The distinctions, ACI explains, are decided by surveys carried out with passengers at airports. It is information that comes directly from travellers, who rate their experience at the airport on the same days they had flights in various criteria.

There are approximately 30 criteria, including accessibility, ease of movement within the airport, check-in, shops or catering.

According to the ACI, more than 465,000 enquiries were carried out in 2022, and 75 airports were recognised for their excellence. Five of these join the Roll of Excellence, an elite group to which Porto already belongs, for remaining at the top for 10 years.

In a statement, ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, managed by Vinci Airports, welcomed the renewal of the award in what is, they underline, “the world reference for the quality of airport service”.

Nicolas Notebaert, President of Vinci Airports, adds: “We are very delighted to have taken on the challenge of getting passengers back to our airports promptly and effectively”.

Book your golf holidays in Porto with Tee Times Golf Agency and play on some of the best golf courses in Portugal.

You can also read other posts about Portugal Golf Holidays:
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Portugal Golf – Golf generated record revenues in Portugal in 2022

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Vale do Lobo Royal Golf Course. Golf generates record revenues in Portugal.

Green fees generated record revenues in Portugal last year

In counter cycle with the peaks in tourism demand, golf is preparing for its first high season of year, which starts in March and lasts until May. With the great revenues obtained in 2022 following the interregnum imposed by the pandemic, there is reason for confidence.

Revenues from golf in Portugal hit a record high of 154 million euros in 2022, a 6 percent rise from 2019, the last year before the pandemic, thanks to a total of 3 million rounds played. However, the actual effect of the sport on the Portuguese economy is expected to be far greater.

“The 154 million euros are only from green fees, not from any additional purchases made while at the golf course. rental of buggies, provision of meals, and teaching of related skills are only a few examples of the many businesses revolving around this sport”, says Frederico Brion Sanches, board member of the National Council of the Golf Industry (CNIG).

Foreign tourists are the main ones responsible for record revenues in the country, representing 80 percent of the rounds played last year. It is in the Algarve that the international market assumes greater weight (92 percent) with the British and Irish in the majority, followed by the Scandinavians and France.

“Playing four or five times throughout a week in Portugal is the norm for visitors from other countries. Non-Portuguese players are responsible for a significantly greater number of rounds compared to their Portuguese counterparts”, as Brion Sanches puts it.

Portugal has made the first step in establishing itself as a golf destination, and the country’s worldwide accolades enable it to compete with its key competitors, like Spain or Italy.

In 2019, for the sixth year in a row, Portugal has been named Europe’s Best Golf Destination by the World Golf Awards, and it has also been chosen as Europe’s Best Golf Destination by the World Travel Awards five times.

Frederico Brion Sanches thinks the industry has a lot to develop, but he cautions that more flights, more destinations, better air connections, and more convenient schedules are all essential, and defends an air bridge between Lisbon and the Algarve.

The lack of human resources, transversal to all areas of tourism, is another of the challenges pointed out by Brion Sanches, along with sustainability.

“Last but not least, we should expand our efforts to promote Portugal as a golf holiday destination. We are talking about more marketing campaigns and the constant promotion of Portugal as a golf destination”, he concludes.

Book your golf holidays in Portugal with Tee Times Golf Agency and enjoy some of the best golf courses in Europe.

You can also read other posts about Golf in Portugal:
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