Lisbon Golf Holidays Review

For those of you who are interested, some feedback from my recent trip to Lisbon along with some photos, sorry if it’s so long, any questions just ask!

We grabbed a taxi from outside Lisbon airport which took us directly to Cascais past Benfica and Sporting Lisbon stadiums.  Approximately 30 minutes by taxi and only cost 45€ between 4 people with luggage and golf clubs. 

Cascais is a good little town, plenty of bars and restaurants to pick and choose from (Casa Velha centrally located, good value). Train station that connects directly with Lisbon is in the centre of town, only takes 30 minutes and costs 4€ for a return ticket.  We didn’t think there was a great deal to do in Lisbon but was worth visiting for a day, the castle overlooking the city is meant to be worth visiting but I can’t confirm that as we only made it as far as the pub outside!  The views were pretty good anyway!

Vila Gale Cascais is located next to Villa Italia further along round from the Marina.  Only an 8/10 minute walk at the most along the sea front.  The Vila Gale is a large hotel, like the Baia not the most attractive on the outside but serves the purpose none the less.

For our Lisbon golf holidays we stayed at the Villa Italia for three nights, phenomenal hotel, 5* luxury through and through, facilities are superb and quality cannot be faulted.  The rooms are spacious and modern, sea view rooms are worth the extra money and most of the rooms have large balconies overlooking the bar terrace, pool and sea front.  Whilst there is a road that runs along the front of the hotel you are unaware that it is there.  4 restaurants, several bars, pool, games room, fitness room and amazing spa facilities.  Not really applicable to us but they have 16 meeting rooms which can hold up to 500 people.  Not one of us had a bad word about the place even with the beers at 8€ a pint, you can’t be too surprised considering the surroundings of the hotel.

On our second day we played golf at Quinta Da Marinha, took a taxi from the hotel which was approximately 10 minutes away, cost about 20€ between 4 people per journey.  Good holiday golf, course was in great condition and had some good holes.  The best hole by far was the 14th which is a very difficult par 3. Huge hotel complex on site, good facilities, club house was a little disappointing and a little out of the way pushed behind the driving range.  Friendly staff though and we were given a good welcome.  Good warm up course to start on for the week and better for average handicaps.  No buggy bar available and only a vending machine at the 10th hole, bit strange considering they could have coined it in selling drinks to 6 thirsty golfers.

We then stayed at Penha Longa for 4 nights, approximately 15 minutes inland from Cascais, stunning location in the hills, extremely windy on the day of arrival but it did die down for the remaining days.  Huge resort with exceptional service.  The hotel is modern and everything you would expect from a 5* resort.  Indoor and outdoor pools, Jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, plunge pool, spa facilities, fitness room, cinema room (with free popcorn and sweets), high end shops, the list is endless.  Three restaurants, 2* Michelin chef, several bars, plenty of activities arranged through the hotel, karting, wine tasting, tours around the resort, something different each day.  At first I didn’t think that this hotel could match the likes of Vila Italia in Cascais but it soon became the preferred option.  The only drawback was that you couldn’t walk into town but when splitting a taxi between 4 people it was easy to get into town on a couple of the nights.  The town of Sintra was only 5 minutes away and provided some good value local cuisine.

We played at Oitavos Dunes golf course, outstanding course, beautiful location and design, reminded me a lot of Belle Dune in France for those of you who have played it. Sandy terrain winding in and out of pine trees, we foolishly played it off the whites in a howling wind only to be told by the director afterwards that even the pro’s in the Portuguese Open don’t play off the whites!

Played Penha Longha the following day, which is another superb golf course.  I can understand why people find it hard to choose between the two courses.  Different in style, Penha Longha winds through the hills of the odd 120 hectares that they own, tree lined course and very hilly in places.  Beautiful course, every hole a good challenge and scenery is stunning.  The course also overlooks Estoril race track.  If the wind was blowing like we had seen on previous days the course would have been a nightmare.  It was however the hottest day, we teed off at 08.30 and by the 12th I was almost dying in 38 degree heat.  You can see why August is low season for golf and why the courses are empty in the middle of the day!  No one but the English were crazy enough to play, the golf courses were completely empty!

Also visited Vila Bicuda at the Quinta Da Marinha site where we had friends staying, big self contained complex, spacious villas, they had a 3 bedroom villa which was modern and included private patio area and access to the swimming pool close by.  The site has a supermarket, laundry facilities and a great Italian restaurant.  They were able to accommodate 30 people at one sitting, managed to serve us quickly and the menu was great value for money.

Overall good location, felt that it was probably suited better for slightly older groups, doesn’t offer quite the same as the likes of Vilamoura for young groups of lads but still plenty to do for any age range and good options for an alternative holiday to the typical Algarve and Costa del sol trips.

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

For more Lisbon Golf Reviews visit our golf reviews section.

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