The Best Golf Courses in Eastern Algarve

There is a stretch of the Algarve, east of Faro and edging towards the Spanish border, that feels like a secret kept among those who know. The salt pans glint at Tavira, the orange groves run inland, and the golf — when you find it — is some of the most rewarding in all of Portugal, played in a calm the busier west has long forgotten.

This is country built for the unhurried golfer. A morning round at a championship layout, lunch in a whitewashed town that never hurried for anyone, an afternoon by the water. We have spent years building trips around this quiet corner, and the courses below are the ones we return to time and again — each with its own character, its own test, its own reason to love it.

If there is one course that defines golf in the Eastern Algarve, it is Monte Rei Golf & Country Club. Set in a private valley near Tavira, it is consistently rated Portugal’s number one — and from the first tee you understand why. The conditioning is flawless, the routing generous yet exacting, and the sense of arrival quietly grand without ever tipping into the showy.

This is a course that rewards thought as much as power. Each hole sits in its own landscape, framed by hills and cork oak, so you play in something close to solitude. It will test the accomplished golfer and flatter the improving one — and the service, from the practice ground to the halfway house, is the equal of anywhere in Europe. For many of our clients, Monte Rei alone is reason enough to come east.

What turns the Eastern Algarve from a single great course into a proper golf holiday is the company Monte Rei keeps. Quinta da Ria & Cima Golf Club, near Tavira, gives you two contrasting layouts on one estate — Ria running gently down towards the Ria Formosa lagoon with sea views and birdlife, Cima rising into rolling, more strategic country inland. Played back to back, they make a satisfying, varied day.

A short distance away, Quinta do Vale offers a more dramatic, sculpted test through the hills of the Eastern Algarve, while Castro Marim Golf and Country Club brings open, links-influenced golf and long views towards the Guadiana and Spain beyond. Together these courses give a tailor-made trip its rhythm — no two rounds alike, none more than a comfortable drive apart.

Every good golfing region needs a course you simply enjoy playing, and in the Eastern Algarve that is Benamor Golf Club near Tavira. Set among olive groves and rolling countryside, it is the most relaxed of the area’s courses — friendly, scenic and genuinely fun, with a front nine that runs through open farmland and a back nine that climbs into prettier, more undulating terrain.

Benamor is the round we often build in as a gentle opener or a final-day pleasure: less demanding than Monte Rei, but full of character and quietly clever in places. It is also a reminder of what makes this corner of the Algarve special — golf played at an unhurried pace, in beautiful surroundings, with the sense that you have the place largely to yourself.

The courses are only half the trip; where you rest matters just as much. Tavira makes an elegant base, and we choose hotels to suit the mood you are after. In town, AP Maria Nova Lounge offers a polished, adults-focused stay with rooftop views, while Vila Gale Tavira sits handy for the old quarter and the river. Towards the coast, AP Cabanas Beach & Nature Hotel pairs golf with the long sandbar beaches of the Ria Formosa.

For those who prefer something more intimate, Praia Verde Boutique Hotel at Castro Marim is set among umbrella pines above a quiet beach — a refined retreat within easy reach of Monte Rei and Castro Marim Golf and Country Club. Whichever you choose, every detail of the trip — tee times, transfers, the order of your rounds — is arranged around you.