The Best Golf Courses to Play in Vilamoura

The popular Victoria Course at Vilamoura in Portugal closed for a complete and expensive rebuild in 2024 to reopen as The Els Club, a private members-only club, in the summer of 2025.

Yet the highly popular destination in the central Algarve still has so much to regular holiday golfers with upgrades to the remaining four courses going on with more to come.

New investor Arrow Global and its management company DETAILS who have taken over the Dom Pedro operations are determined to enhance all of their courses in the area, with one almost completed.

The Old Course

The most famous and sought-after of the Vilamoura courses has stood the test of time well since its inauguration in 1969.

Its revamp and upgrading in the hands of DETAILS was virtually completed towards the end of 2024 making it even better than ever, cementing its place as the best of the four courses in the town that are open to the general golfing public.

The original Frank Pennink layout, modified by Martin Hawtree, is unchanged while greens and fairways have received a full maintenance upgrade. Bunkers have redefined lips and slopes and the sand replaced to improve overall quality.

Tee boxes have been seeded with Bermuda grass, re-levelled, and are in top condition to match the rest of the playing area.

The statuesque umbrella pines that grace the fairways have been crown lifted allowing more sunlight to reach the fairways and to enable easier recovery from the rough.

It has now got a very smart clubhouse too, styled in a traditional manner to match the heritage of the venue.

Anybody who has played there will know it’s such a lovely course from the off with a variety of testing holes, now in pristine condition. 

Pinhal

Another Frank Pennink design from the 1970s that underwent a make over by Robert Trent Jones in the 1980s is regarded as one of the trickiest in the region due to some tight pine-lined fairways. Accuracy off the tee is the order of the day to shoot a good score here.

I’d rate this as the second best in Vilamoura behind the Old Course and it is definitely one to play. It was in very good condition when we played it in November 2024, only 10 days after a substantial downpour.

This is a course to watch - DETAILS, which has acquired all of the Dom Pedro courses in Vilamoura, rate it as one of high potential so it would be of no surprise to see some substantial investment in the future.

Millennium

Sharing the same clubhouse as Laguna, this is a course of two halves, On the opening nine, holes 3-7 resemble Pinhal, showing maturity and tree lined fairways. Many of the rest appear to be part of a different course being open and rather dull, and the explanation lies in its development history.

The course opened as the name suggests, in 2000, but was made up of nine from the 27 hole Laguna course, built in 1990, and nine new ones.

The difference is most obvious when you reach the 8th tee where a wide, flat fairway stands before you with not a tree in sight.

Despite its hybrid nature the course plays well and its easy to see why it features in the play list of so many travelling golfers who visit the Algarve every year.

Laguna

Cheek and jowl to the Millennium is the Laguna course which opened in 1990. Unlike its near neighbours it’s wide open with very few trees offering a contrast to the typical Algarvian layout. There is plenty of water though, and when the wind blows it’s wise to take plenty of balls as some of the carries, though reasonably short on paper, play much longer than the card, including the fearsome 3rd, 4th, 5th and 12th.

Most people regard this as the warm up course in Vilamoura. It’s not the greatest to be sure and the conditioning on tees and greens can leave a little to be desired. The back nine is the nicer, more interesting, while overall Laguna is by no means a push over, so don’t blame the course conditions if you don’t score well.

Off Course

Vilamoura has become a legend for groups of golfers coming from all over Europe so it’s of no surprise that there are plenty of hotels such as the popular Hilton and Tivoli Marina and lots of bars and restaurants. The area around the marina is the hotspot, where variety and plenty of activity entices those looking for a good night out.

Getting There

There are plenty of year-round three-hour direct flights from the UK from multiple airports to Faro International, about 30 minutes drive from Vilamoura.

Verdict

Vilamoura has been a value-for-money hotspot since its inception in the 1980s. With four courses in very close proximity and a wealth of others in easy striking distance, it has rightly stamped its name on the map of must visit destinations. It remains to be seen where its future lies in the wake of mega investment by Arrow Global.

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