This was our fourth trip with Your Golf Travel but the first to Portugal and in January that has to be a risk in terms of weather, but more of that later. As always YGT were brilliant with a great offer and top service from Richard.
We arrived in Faro late evening, picked up the car and set off for Albufeira. Some 30 minutes later we were there and finding our hotel (CS Sao Rafael Suite Hotel) was simply a matter of staying on the main drag and following the signs. This is a spacious contemporary hotel in every respect, with a simple layout that works. Once you check in you pop the car down into the underground car park where golf lockers are provided and plenty of space to sort the clubs; great touch!
The rooms are large, modern and comfortable with spacious balconies, mega wardrobes and a shower to die for. Open lounge and bar and then down to a cheeky little restaurant where the food is spot on. The main dining room is set up to serve big numbers later in the year, but was perfect for our breakfast with a large and varied buffet style. Tried to see what else they could have offered us aside from kippers! For golfers, this is the perfect hotel with attentive staff. Night life is a few miles away and this is the only drawback.
Our first course was Morgado and took us around 30 minutes of relaxed driving to reach. This is a developing resort course in the foothills and after a night of heavy rain, the long road in was thick in red silted mud. Once at the clubhouse it was obvious that given another couple of months the resort will be quite special. The course was a good opener with more bunkers than was really needed. As these are presently under repair, the back nine (which is normally the front nine) was mainly GUR. Over a beer and their unreal cake on the patio, we gave the course 5/10.
Next was Alamos which is the sister course to Morgado and at 6,200 off the whites, we thought we were in for a day of pitch and putt. Wow were we surprised. You open up with one of the best par 5’s I have seen and it gets steadily better and more demanding. We knew the greens were big but that was nothing compared to the pin placements which were tough in the extreme. We and others agreed that the green keeper was not a golfer, rather a comedian. But great little course and highly recommended. Again the obligatory beers and we all agreed 8/10 was very fair.
Our last round was on Salgados which is just down the road from the hotel. This is a great course set in a nature reserve and with 14 lakes, it’s a thinking man’s course. With plenty of doglegs around the lakes you can’t boom this one and if you get to the greens, then be prepared for a high stimp reading; really fast and very true. Although clear blue skies, there was a good breeze and this added to the challenge. The clubhouse is superb and the bar facilities excellent with great snack food. No doubt about it, this is the course to finish any trip on and we marked it 9/10 with only ongoing repairs costing it the perfect score.
So we had perfect weather, a great hotel and good golf with an average score of 30 points per player. Thank you as always YGT!
For more information on Algarve golf holidays simply visit www.yourgolftravel.com or call 0800 043 6644.
I totally agree with this review, the CS Hotel is excellent and the three courses linked to it provide a great challenge for the holiday. I’ve been here twice before and hope to go back soon.
Went to Sao Rafael in August last year and was very impressed. First visit to this part of the Algarve following many years in Vilamoura. Would recommend it to anyone (groups and couples alike).