Algarve Golf Guide

The Algarve: Portugal's Sun-Soaked Answer to the Costa del Golf

Sir Henry Cotton won three Open Championships, retired to Portugal's southern coast in the 1960s, and decided he was bored. So he laid out the first 18-hole course in the region at Penina in 1966, accidentally launching what would become one of the great golf destinations in the world. The Algarve has not slowed down since. Roughly 40 courses now stretch along 200 kilometers of Atlantic coastline, and the World Golf Awards have named Portugal the best golf destination on the planet more times than any other country.

This is the 100-mile strip running from the Spanish border west to Cape St. Vincent, where the continent of Europe finally runs out of land. Faro Airport sits roughly in the middle, which means you can land, grab a rental car, and be on a first tee inside an hour. Quinta do Lago and Vale do Lobo anchor the central Algarve with their famous estates and the legendary par 3 over the cliff at Vale do Lobo Royal. Vilamoura just up the coast offers five Dom Pedro courses including the Frank Pennink Old Course and the Victoria, which has hosted the Portugal Masters since 2007. Monte Rei sits out east, a Jack Nicklaus signature design that consistently gets called the best course in the country. Palmares, Espiche, and the new Ombria layout round out the west.

The weather behaves itself nearly year-round. The food is shockingly good and shockingly cheap. The wine is criminally underrated, the seafood is fresh off the boat, and the pace of life slows down the second you order a coffee.