Best Golf Holidays – Top 10 overseas golf holiday destinations.
By Lewis Remington, Golf Holidays Direct sales director.
Having spent over fifteen years working in the golf holiday industry, I have been fortunate enough to have played in many countries across the world. Not only visiting venues first hand and obtaining my own personal experience, I have booked tens of thousands of golf holidays for hundreds of thousands of golfers throughout my career and hear valued feedback from them. This gives me an open and transparent view which I can then pass onto my sales team and more importantly clients in search for their next golf holiday. Below are my top 10 golf holiday resorts across Europe which I recommend to any golfer to consider for their next golf holiday.
1. Amendoeira Golf Resort Golf Holiday
This resort in Portugal was voted Europe’s best golf holiday venue in 2017 at the world golf awards and if you have been to the resort, you will understand why. The venue is made up from high end 5* apartments located around the golf courses. There is a constant shuttle bus running around the resort that helps transport you from the clubhouse to the golf courses. The two golf courses on site are the Faldo and O Connor, which are simply fantastic, I have never heard a bad review for either golf course. Another huge plus with this venue is that they offer free buggies, which really can save you quite a lot of money during your golf holiday. The breakfast is top class, offering a large selection of cold and warm food, the clubhouse is fantastic value for money with the average price, from a large large selection at around 12 Euros per meal. Amendoeira also offers free range balls on their award-winning driving range which is also a nice saving when hitting balls every day, there is a floodlit par 3 golf course available, which I highly recommend playing also. If you are looking for a high-end golf resort which offers fantastic value for money for the more serious golfers, I would recommend selecting this venue for your next golf holiday.
2. Salgados Palm Village Resort Golf Holiday
The Salgados Palm Village is located in The Algarve and is a luxurious All-Inclusive golf venue that offers just simply amazing value for money, most people cannot believe how little they have paid upon returning from their golf holiday. The hotel offers nonrestrictive food and all drink types including soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, cocktails and spirits, there are many restaurants and bars to choose from. When booking this golf holiday package, you are entitled to breakfast, lunch, dinner, a rolling all day buffet with hot and cold snacks, leaving you with almost no need to take any spending money on this particular golf holiday.
The bedrooms are high end and spacious, also very modern. Each golf booking will see you be put into a suite.
Booking a golf holiday to Palm Village offers unlimited over three fantastic golf courses, Salgados, Alamos and Morgado which recently has held the Portuguese Open for the European Tour. The hotel offers free shuttles to the two golf courses that are not on site, Morgado and Alamos. If you are looking for a golf holiday that offers extremely good value for money, then thisall-inclusive golf holiday package should be on the top of your list.
3. Gloria Golf Resort Golf Holiday
The Gloria Golf Resort in Turkey, Belek in my personal opinion is the best golf holiday venue in the country. The hotel offers a fantastic all-inclusive package with all types of premium drinks included, seven restaurants which two are buffet and five are Al a carte dining. This golf holiday venue has three golf courses on site which are of the highest standard and maintained immaculately all year round. The Gloria New golf course is the main favorite with our clients during a golf holiday in Gloria, it has hosted several European Challenge Tour events and many world Amateur golf events. The Gloria Old Course has hosted over 20 PGA tour events and is a narrow, tough course with high lined trees on each hole.
The Gloria complex its self is made up of three hotels in total, The Gloria Serenity which is the most expensive building to stay in during your golf holiday. Then the Gloria Golf resort followed by The Gloria Verde resort which is ideal if you are looking for a budget golf holiday to Turkey. To Summarize if you are looking at Belek for your next golf holiday destination then the Gloria Golf Resort & Spa would be ideal, it ticks all the boxes you need including amazing accommodation, superb food and drinks and two great golf courses onsite, along with it being affordable, so you will not break the bank booking this golf holiday.
4. Monte Rei Golf Resort Golf Holiday
Monte Rei is my personal favorite golf course in Europe and each time I travel for a golf holiday to Portugal myself I try to include this on the itinerary. The golf course is ranked number one in Portugal and if you have played Monte Rei before on a golf holiday you will understand why.
As you arrive to the golf course and drive in the car park, the hospitality starts immediately, you are welcomed out the car by a member of staff who are expecting you for your tee time and welcome you by name, they take your golf clubs from your car, clean them for you and add them onto your golf buggy. You are taken to the pro shop to check in and then taken to the locker rooms.
Once you are ready to play, the buggy rep will ask you if you want to practice your putting or go to the pro shop, they will then see you off the first tee and welcome you on the 18th green and present to you an engraved bag tag with your name on it. I do highly advice if you get the opportunity to play Monte Rei during a golf holiday to do so.
The golf course is a Jack Nicklaus design and is in immaculate condition all year round, it is a tough challenging course with incredible view. The accommodation is made up of high-end luxury 5* apartments, the venue is not cheap, but it is highly elite and should be considered if you are looking for a bucket list golf venue for your next golf holiday.
5. Sueno Golf Resort Golf Holiday
The Sueno Golf Resort is ideal for a person searching for a cheap golf holiday to Turkey, the resort is one of the best value golf resorts in Belek. You can realistically expect to pay £800 for flights, 7 nights all-inclusive and 4 rounds of golf. The all-inclusive is of good quality which includes unlimited food and soft and alcoholic drinks. There are two fantastic golf courses on site, which are the Pines and Dunes golf courses, both are always in immaculate condition & I would seriously recommend booking the Sueno golf resort if your are looking for a budget golf holiday to Turleyl.
6. La Manga Los Lomas Golf Holiday
La Manga Golf Resort is perfect for a golf holiday if you are looking for a venue where a variety of golf courses are on site. At La Manga they have three amazing courses, The South, West and North. All three courses are to championship standard and are just a short walk away from your accommodation. At La Manga the complex is made up of a 5* hotel and 1 – 3-bedroom townhouses, when staying in the townhouse you also get breakfast included in the 5*hotel.
Not only is La Manga popular for golf holidays due to its fantastic array of high-end golf courses, the complex also boasts onsite, football pitches, tennis courts, swimming pools and spas and over ten bars and restaurants for you to choose from. It is also noted that many professional football teams and even England themselves often go to La Manga to take advantage of their football training facilities and for a spot of golf. The resort itself is based in Murcia which can see you find very good value for money flights which fly from all major airports daily. I strongly believe that if you are choosing to travel to Murcia on a golf holiday then La Manga is the best option.
7. Daytona / Sawgrass Golf Tour Golf Holiday
This is my favorite all time golf holiday. It is a realistically good value package to play one of the worlds very best golf courses, the TPC Stadium Course at Sawgrass. The reason this is good value is because for 5 nights of the trip you will fly into Orlando airport and travel to Daytona Beach which is famous for nightlife and has some amazing golf courses all within 15 minutes, including the LPGA Legends golf course which has held PGA Tour Events. Then for the remaining two nights you will travel for one hour to the Marriott Sawgrass where you will stay for two nights and play one round on the famous Stadium Course. Throughout this golf holiday buggies are included, flights, Car hire, 7 nights’ accommodation and 4 rounds in total for around £1200, which of course is fantastic value for money and a very popular package we have put together for serious golfers looking for a once in a life time golf holiday.
8. Mar Menor Golf Resort Golf Holiday
Mar Menor golf resort is ideal if you are looking for a cheap golf holiday. The complex is located in Murcia and made up of luxury apartments that are located around the Mar Menor Golf Course.
The resort offers unlimited golf at Mar Menor but also at four other golf courses that the resort manages. The other golf courses are all located just 15 minutes away and there is a free shuttle to them. If you do book Mar Menor for your next golf holiday you can be confident in the quality of golf that you are going to receive as all five golf courses under the Mar Menor management are designed by Jack Nicklaus.
Although staying in the apartments you will receive breakfast in the onsite 5* hotel which is a cold and hot buffet of very good quality. Golf Holidays to Mar Menor start at approximately £129 per person which includes 3 nights, 2 rounds of golf with breakfast, this must be booked in groups of 4 and they also offer 1 in 8 go free. I personally do not think there is a better value for money golf holiday available anywhere in Europe.
The Vale Do Lobo resort in the Algarve is a firm favorite for golfers all across Europe when travelling to Portugal on their next golf holiday. The complex is made up of modern, large apartments and villas that are located around the two onsite courses. The golf courses themselves are the Ocean course and the Royal golf course, they are both ranked in golf monthly’s top ten golf courses in Portugal, so that should give you an ideal of the standard.
Vale Do Lobo itself is one of the nicest upkept areas of Portugal and the town itself has a very nice square of 5* restaurants and pubs. It is quite often that people who travel to Vilamoura for a golf holiday will include playing one of the Vale Do Lobo golf courses on their golf holiday itinerary. The golf courses are located around 15 minutes away from Vilamoura and when booking a green fee, the Vale Do Lobo resort will offer you a free transfer to and from your hotel. In my opinion, if you are travelling to Vilamoura for your next golf holiday, then playing one of the Vale Do Lobo golf courses should certainly be on one of your to do lists.
If you are looking at a week away for serious golfers, playing good on site golf courses, whilst having nice 5* accommodation then staying and playing at Vale Do Lobo is the right choice for the golf break.
Vilamoura remains Europe’s most popular golf holiday destination. The vibrant marina that Vilamoura has to offer is perfect for groups of guys on a golf holiday. Dozens of top-quality restaurants and bars just meters from the marina’s hotels along with a casino for those guys that fancy a bet makes it easy to understand while so many groups of men enjoy travelling to Vilamoura year on year for their society’s golf holiday.
Now onto the golf, the real highlight of Vilamoura, there are over 20 golf courses within a five-mile radius including the most popular golf course which is nearly on everyone’s golf holiday itinerary and that being The Old course, which has held dozens of top pro ranked tournaments over the years. Other high-end golf courses are the Victoria Golf course, Vila Sol, Vale Do Lobo and if you are really looking for the very best, you could take the 40-minute transfer to Monte Rei which is voted the number one golf course in the Algarve and should be included on any serious golfer’s holiday plans that is looking for bucket list golf. I would also like to mention, that I would rate a Vilamoura Golf Break higher in my top 10 golf holiday list, however, I do personally believe over the years many of the local courses prices have increased so much, it can see you paying over 150 Euros for a round of golf, although they are top quality courses, There is much better value for money golf holidays in Portugal and Spain.
I have above below what I strongly believe are the ten top golf holiday destinations across Europe, with one worldwide venue included, being a two-stop golf holiday, Orlando and Sawgrass Tour in Florida. I hope you find this golf holiday blog useful and please feel free to get in touch with me directly at GolfHolidaysDirect.com if you would like some advice on your next golf break. My personal email contact is lewis@golfholidaysdirect.com and I always welcome hearing from clients on search for their next golf holiday.
Play Spain’s Number one golf course on your next golf holiday. The PGA Catalunya Resort named the best golf course in Spain.
Golf Holidays to Southern Spain are always on high agenda when choosing your next golf break & The PGA Catalunya resort in Girona is fastly becoming one of the most popular golf holiday destinations in Spain.
The Stadium Course at the PGA Cataunya Golf Resort has been voted the number one golf course in Spain to play. The PGA Catalunya resort is an ideal location for your next golf holiday, the complex is made up of a 5* hotel, luxury apartments and two amazing golf courses on site. Flights are very good price as you need to fly into Girona which is not an overly popular route, you can find prices for flights as little as £60 per person.
Stadium Course:
This spectacular and imposing course has been consistently ranked among the best ten golf courses in Europe since it was opened in 1999 and was recently voted #77 in the world, #3 in continental Europe and #1 in Spain. As the venue for numerous PGA European Circuit tournaments, it is also routinely singled out for praise from the professional playing fraternity. It is easy to see why the PGA Catalunya Resort is fastly becoming a popular golf holiday destination to travel to for golf in Spain.
Be warned, however the beauty of the course can distract from the many dangers waiting to do serious damage to your scorecard. It makes no concessions with its trees pressing onto fairways, strategically placed bunkers and the lakes that come into play on no fewer than seven of the toughest holes.
This is a quality that keeps players returning time and again to test themselves. It is rare to find so many memorable holes on one course and despite the many ups and downs, tees are elevated and very few fairways are uphill. The stunning dogleg of hole 6 is one of them and it demands nothing less than a driver and total commitment.
Tour Course
Slightly easier Challenge compared to the Stadium Course but still a very high ranked course and if part of your golf holiday itinerary you will not be disappointed.
Dominated by pine trees and lakes, the course is shorter and a little less difficult to play than the Stadium Course, yet the Ángel Gallardo and Neil Coles design ensures that it remains a challenge for every level of player.
Most of the holes feature wide fairways and strategically placed bunkers, which can be forgiving of a less than perfect shot. Another feature sure to focus the mind is that it seems you are never far from a water hazard.
Interesting facts about the PGA Catalunya resort
PGA Golf Catalunya is strategically located 50 minutes from Barcelona and 15 minutes from Girona, less than 2 hours away from major European capitals with daily flights to Barcelona and Girona, the resort has become one of the fastest growing golf holiday destinations in recent years.
Year of opening
1999/ 2005
Designer
Àngel Gallardo · Neil Coles
TOURNAMENTS
- 1999 - Sarazen World Open
- 2000 - Peugeot Spanish Open
- 2000 - European Seniors Qualifying School
- 2001 - European Seniors Tour Championship
- 2002, 2005, 2006 y 2007 - Euopean Tour Pre Qualifying School
- 2009 - Spanish Open
Other top ranked golf courses in Spain to consider for golf holidays are
Sotogrande, La Reserva, Finca Cortesin, Valderrama, Son Gual, Las Colinas, San Roque Old.
If you would like some advice on your next golf holiday feel free to contact us on 01462488370. Not only do Golf Holidays Direct specialize in golf holidays to Spain but cover the whole of the world. Golf Holidays Direct work with over 2500 venues in 23 different countries.