The ultimate off season guide to golf near Faro

There are many advantages of planning a golf trip to the Algarve in off season (December, January or February). Just summing up a few: the golf courses are generally quite empty, the green fee prices are good, the hotels are competitively priced, the weather is still pretty nice (14 - 18 degrees Celsius) and the flights to Faro Airport are also still affordable. 

Although the weather was pretty nice when we visited (17 degrees and sunny), the wind can make it still quite chilly. So, layer up so that you can adapt to the differences in temperature. We noticed a lot of golfers start early - around 9.00 o'clock. In January there are also often quite some tournaments going on (to fill up the course) and these also will start early. So if you want to avoid the 'crowds', then either start around 8.30 (first tee time) or after noon. 

Starting around 13.00 or 14.00 o'clock might be the best option as the temperatures are significantly higher at that time then in the morning and the courses are also less busy. If you start after 14.00 o'clock you might not be able to finish your round as it gets dark around 18.00 - 18.30. After 14.00 o'clock twilight rates are often available, so if price is important to you, you could search for these discounted rates. On Leading Courses they should be easy to spot!

In January and February the Oxalis pes-caprae or the Bermuda buttercup flowers (clovers with yellow flowers, see picture below) in the Algarve and it brings swathes of vibrant yellow. The bees love it, but we didn't really appreciate it. If you hit your ball into these flowers - which have taken over much of the rough and areas next to the green and fairways - consider your ball lost. Don't expect to find your ball unless you step on it. So, bring some extra balls just in case and if your are not on the fairway, just hit a provisional ball. During the spring and summer these flowers will dry out and disappear. 

As it is low season, most courses will not have a catering buggy driving around. The only club which did operate a catering buggy was Monte Rei. So make sure to pack your sandwiches - or ask for them before your round in the clubhouse - and bring some extra water (or any other beverage of your liking). 

Although the sun might not be very strong, make sure to use sun cream with a high factor. During the winter your skin has not received much sunlight, so you will get a sunburn quite easily. Another top tip is to bring lip balm with SPF. Your lips will dry out quickly due to the low humidity in the winter and the sunshine. 

To save some money we left on an early morning flight from Eindhoven Airport (Netherlands) to Faro. We arrived pretty early in Faro, but remember that Portugal is in a different time zone (1 hour earlier) for most European countries. For golfers from the United Kingdom there is no issue, as they are in the same timezone as Portugal. We didn't bring our own clubs, but used ClubsToHire. Expect to pay 75 euro per week, which is often cheaper than paying for odd-size baggage. As many European airports are struggling with baggage handling this might be a good idea. ClubsToHire has an office at Faro Airport and picking up your rental clubs is easy and efficient. It's a great way to try new clubs - they have a good assortment of well-known brands - and you can even choose your preferred putter. And yes, they also have left-handed clubs! 

The first golf club we played was Monte Rei Golf & Country Club. This club has been ranked number 1 for years on the Leading Courses Golfers Choice Rankings in Portugal. It's a 50 minute drive from the airport to Monte Rei. Monte Rei is located a bit inland. The reception is always excellent here and it was nice to meet old acquaintances here. After warming up with some very good driving range balls (Callaway), we were off! We had a lovely round here and we were almost the only ones on the course. There was still a catering buggy driving around which saved our day. We didn't have anything to eat since we woke up at 03.00 in the morning. 

If you are interested in our reviews, just surf to the review of Leonard or mine of Monte Rei. We were happy to see that Monte Rei and its surroundings recovered nicely from the wildfires here in August 2021. Back then the Academy Café was severely damaged as well as the immediate areas surrounding the course. We were told that the second, South course now also has all permits, so we will definitely return when (probably in 2024) that course is opening up! 

After our round we were pretty knackered - we had been up since 03.00 that morning - so we headed directly to our hotel in Praia Verde. We stayed at Octant · Praia Verde hotel, which is a very nice boutique hotel, with a great breakfast area. The hotel is surrounded by a leafy pine grove overlooking the sea. We stayed in a suite, which was really nice and we would definitely recommend the hotel. It's a great location when you want to play Quinta do Vale, Quinta da Ria and Cima, Monte Rei, Castro Marim, Benamor and Isla Canela Links or Isla Canela Old just across the border. Except for Monte Rei all courses are very reasonably priced and the value for money in this area is much better than in the Western part of the Algarve. 

The hotel has a very nice restaurant. But it you want to experience a nice local restaurant, head to O Infante. The food here is great, with some really traditional Portuguese food!

From our hotel in Praia Verder it's just a 15-minute drive to Quinta do Vale. This course is now managed by Discovery Hotel Management (just like Quinta da Ria and Cima) and they also own the hotel where we stayed. Quinta do Vale has had a rough decade, but the course is in much better shape than it ever was. It's a challenging Ballesteros design, but fun and the course gets easier on the back nine. If you are interested in our reviews, just surf to the review of Leonard or mine of Quinta do Vale. This course has a good price-quality ratio and can be booked online at Leading Courses. 

The clubhouse has majestic views across the course, the Guadiana river and even to Spain. The Guadiana river is the natural border between Portugal and Spain. You can almost see the next course we will be playing today just across the river: Isla Canela Links. Formerly this course was known as Valle Guadiana Links and before that as Costa Esuri Golf Club. 

There are quite a lot of golf courses in this area, so getting from Quinta do Vale to Isla Canela in Spain is just a 12 minute drive. You will need to cross the Ponte Internacional do Guadiana, a nice suspension bridge which you can see from both Quinta do Vale and Isla Canela Links. 

The first thing which you will notice when arriving at Isla Canela Links is an unfinished hotel. It's a remnant of the initial ambitions of this area before the real estate crisis hit. The current owner of this course has just as high ambitions, but they are taking their time to bring this course back to life. In 2023 they will be hosting a few high profile tournaments, including a 2nd stage Qualifying School event for the DP World Tour, so other golfers will definitely benefit from this. The greens, the fairways are already pretty nice, the layout is good but now the tee boxes need to be tackled. We really enjoyed this fun and playable course. Check our Leonard's and my review to get an in-depth impression of this course. The green fee price is very attractive and this course is bookable on Leading Courses. 

After playing two courses we headed to Ayamonte for dinner, a lovely authentic Spanish village along the Guadiana river. Ayamonte has an old medieval quarter in the central district of the town, with many very narrow streets and historical buildings. When you have the chance, head over here and watch the fisherman fish for tuna and sardines. Or just have a meal or some tapas in the old city. 

On our last day in the Eastern part of the Algarve we headed to Quinta da Ria Resort, which is home to two very nice golf courses: Quinta da Ria, a scenic course offering amazing views across the ocean and Quinta da Cima, a very good and challenging golf course. Most golfers have a slight preference for the Ria course - probably because of the scenic holes, but the Cima course in our opinion is also a must-play course. Read how Leonard (Ria and Cima) and I (review of both Ria/Cima combined) experienced both courses! 

After playing both the Quinta da Ria (9 holes) and the Quinta da Cima course (18 holes) with Mike, a Canadian guy who was added to our flight, we headed to Vilamoura, our next stop. 

After playing both the Quinta da Ria (9 holes) and the Quinta da Cima course (18 holes) with Mike, a Canadian guy who was added to our flight, we headed to Vilamoura, our next stop.

Vilamoura is a modern and sophisticated holiday destination situated on one of the finest beaches of the central Algarve. Vilamoura was built in the 1980s as a hotspot for golf, and today it boasts many different golf courses, along with outstanding tourist facilities. The focal point of Vilamoura is the marina complex, with fine dining restaurants and chic bars that overlook a harbour filled with million-dollar yachts. Vilamoura is unlike any other Portuguese town; gone is the traditional-charm, replaced with many hotels to accommodate the many tourists who frequent the marina. Vilamoura has a picturesque coastline of sandy beaches.

On our second leg of the trip we stayed at Dom Pedro Vilamoura, a hotel really geared towards golfers. When we were here - the last week of January - the hotel was fully booked due to two golf tournaments. If you stay at Dom Pedro, make sure to check their packages. Dom Pedro owns 5 golf courses in the Vilamoura area, all quite different. Their bestsellers are the Dom Pedro Victoria course and Dom Pedro Old Course, but the other courses are definitely worth a visit. 

If you are staying in Vilamoura, then make sure to have dinner at Restaurante Azeitona (Av. Tivoli), which serves real traditional Portuguese meals. The owner, Sergio, is a very charismatic and friendly guy. The food, the staff and the owner made this an evening to remember. 

Designed by golfing legend, Arnold Palmer, this championship course covers a huge area, approximately 90 hectares. It features an exceptional driving range and a putting green of almost 2,500 m2. All of this has made the course the obvious venue of choice for many international tournaments. It has served as the host venue to the Portugal Masters on every occasion since 2007 which we fully understand. The maintenance is really good, the course is challenging and the course is operated very professionally. This is a must play course when you are staying in or around Vilamoura. Both Leonard and I were impressed, so make sure to read Leo's and my review of the Victoria course. 

Opened in the year 2000 this is a more open course that its neighbours, although holes 3-7 wind between pine trees. We only played the front nine, so the loop between the pine trees and we really like it. This course should not be overlooked when visiting the area and can act as a nice warm up course before you play Pinhal or The Old Course! The latter two courses mainly are (pine) tree-lined courses. We are definitely going to return to play the rest of the Dom Pedro courses! Check my review of Millenium and Leonard's review!

The round at Millenium concluded are short break to Portugal. We played 100 holes in 4 days (we played one hole twice at Quinta da Cima, you can mix up holes 8 and 12 as the tee boxes are quite close together), we played at high-end courses (Monte Rei and Dom Pedro Victoria), upcoming courses (Quinta do Vale and Isla Canela) and some surprisingly good courses (Quinta da Ria/Cima and Millenium). All in all we had a blast! Our tip top is to escape the winter in January/February, book your trip to Portugal in that period as it is still low season and enjoy fairly empty fairways, decent green fee prices and reasonably priced hotels. When we were here (23rd - 27th of January) we only had sunny skies and 15 degrees. In our opinion, perfect golfing conditions!

Book your tee times in the Algarve online now, suck up some well-deserved vitamin D, beat the crowds before the high-season start and make sure to secure the best tee times available!