Oliva Nova sits on Spain's Costa Blanca, between the resort towns of Gandía and Dénia, where Mediterranean warmth keeps the course playable through every season. Seve Ballesteros designed and built it in 1995, and three decades on it remains one of the most played courses on this stretch of coast, drawing golfers back for the quality of his design as much as the setting itself.

Water defines the round here. Ten lakes thread through fifteen of the eighteen holes, and only the 2nd, 13th and 14th escape them entirely. The course rewards a thinking game over a long one: wide, gently undulating fairways make it comfortable to walk, while sea breezes off the Mediterranean shift the strategy hole to hole. The 6th, a par 3 known locally as Seve's Revenge, is the one every golfer remembers, its raised green guarded by water and a well-placed bunker. The closing stretch at 13, 14 and 15 asks the sharpest questions of the round.

A full practice academy, driving range and locker room sit alongside the course, with an on-site resort built around it for golfers who want to make a stay of it. Book Oliva Nova for a round that tests strategy over strength, in one of the Costa Blanca's most established settings.