Lisbon Golf Holiday Review

We arrived at Lisbon Airport around 10.30pm, and got a transfer to Cascais, takes 30 mins. Stayed at the Grande Real Villa Italia 5* Hotel for our first night. Very smart hotel, ideal for golfers looking for a five-star golf holiday some rooms offer a sea view and are fantastic. The hotel is right next door to Vila Gale Cascais which is a great four-star hotel. These hotels are only 10 minute walk to centre of Cascais, with only Hotel Baia being in the actual centre.

The next morning we drove to Oitavos Dunes Golf Club, which is only 7 mins from Cascais. This course is rated 88 in the World according to Golf Magazine. The layout is a mixture of tree-lined holes early and late on, and very linksy holes for the majority of the round. The wind plays a massive role in the difficulty of the course, and we played it on a seriously windy day!

After the golf, we got transferred to Hotel Sana Malhoa, a 4* hotel, 10 min drive from the centre of Lisbon. This is a Tower Hotel, ideal for an airport stop-off if golfers arrive late and don’t want a long drive on the evening they arrive. Taxi to Docas costs €8. This is a popular nightspot with decent bars open until very late and a few restaurants.

The following morning we went to Montado Golf Resort, it takes about 50 mins to get there from Lisbon. It’s 10 mins from Setubal (Portugal’s 5th largest city) but the resort is situated in the middle of nowhere. It’s a very compact resort, the 1st tee is 1 min walk from the hotel and the hotel has a decent bar and restaurant overlooking the golf course. Not the biggest hotel, around 70 rooms, and the golf course is a decent resort course. Plenty of water and the sort of course that would be suitable for an inexperienced golfer, but also provides a decent test for lower handicappers too. Greens were excellent. Good fun final hole, 180 par 3 to an Island Green.

From Montado, we were transferred to Sesimbra, which is a stunning fishing town. 3 hotels in the town, Hotel do Mar, Sana Sesimbra and Sesimbra Hotel and Spa. Hotel do Mar is one of the more established hotels but the views are stunning and it is good value for golfers, fine for a group of lads but perhaps not perfect for couples, which I would recommend the other two hotels for. Sana is very tidy hotel, no one will have any complaints but Sesimbra Hotel and Spa has the wow factor. It has a totally unique design which simulates being on a cruise liner.

We went to Aroeira the next morning, not easy to find and it took our driver 75 mins to get there, should be a 40 min journey. On entering the resort, there is decent signposting, for golfers checking in before 6pm they go to the Clubhouse at Aroeira I, after that time they can pick up their keys from the office at the entrance to the resort. We played Aroeira I and were really impressed by how good it was. Very tight tree-lined course with plenty of water. Note that if you play Aroeira II, you still have to check-in at Aroeira I and they are 3 min drive apart. Aroeira II is meant to be more Americanised and harder but looks similar layout with tree-lined fairways. The apartments are very basic but you wouldn’t have any complaints. There are 30 apartments available for rent, only 3 of them are within walking distance to the golf courses and strip (which included 2 restaurants, 1 bar and a mini supermarket). The other apartments are up to a 5 minute drive away, so car hire is recommended.

From Aroeira we drove to Costa da Caparica (10 mins) via the Melia Capuchos Resort. This is a hotel perched at the top of the hill overlooking Costa da Caparica which is another classic Portuguese coastal town, this one being a hot spot for surfers. The Melia Capuchos has a 9 hole par 29 on site which would be ideal for beginners. We stayed at the Hotel Costa da Caparica which is ideally situated overlooking the beach in the centre of town. There are plenty of bars and restaurants in this town, great value hotel and for golfers looking to be close to Lisbon, this is only 20 mins away so easy to get cabs into Lisbon for nightlife (€20). For clients staying at Aroeira, they could easily cab it into Costa da Caparica for some nightlife.
We went out on our final evening in Setubal which has some really good fish restaurants and plenty of bars which stay open until very late.

For more information on Lisbon Golf Holidays simply call 0800 043 6644 or visit www.yourgolftravel.com.