Algarve, Portugal · Portugal · Jack Nicklaus
Monte Rei Golf & Country Club
James Kinloch
Golf Travel Specialist · played this course
Monte Rei is the best course in Portugal. I've said this for years and nothing has changed my mind. Jack Nicklaus's only Iberian design sits near Vila Real de Santo António on the Spanish border — ninety minutes from Faro, which puts most Algarve-based golfers off making the drive. Their loss.
The course plays through and over cork oak and carob trees on rolling terrain that produces elevation changes you simply don't find on the flat coastal layouts. Every hole feels like it was placed where it had to be, not where the designer wanted it. That's the Nicklaus signature — a naturalness that takes extraordinary engineering to achieve.
The membership is small, the tee sheet is uncrowded, and the condition is flawless. Green fee at £245 is the highest on the Algarve coast. It's justified without question.
Signature hole
Par-4 10th, 438 yards, dogleg right
"The tee shot plays from elevation over a valley of cork oaks. The second shot requires a precise number to a green that falls away left. I've never made birdie here. I've never stopped trying."
Designer
Jack Nicklaus
Par
72
Yardage
6,760
Green fee
from £245
Best for
Best time to go
October to May. Summer is manageable but the drive from Faro in August heat requires commitment.
Play Monte
James can arrange tee times, transfers, and accommodation around this course. One call is all it takes.
Enquire about this trip WhatsApp JamesAt a glance
Explore the destination
Golf in Algarve, PortugalMore courses in Algarve, Portugal
Quinta do Lago South
★★★★★I've played Quinta do Lago South forty-odd times and it still gets me on the back nine. Holes 15 through 18 with the Ria Formosa estuary behind you — that closing stretch is as good as anything in continental Europe, and I'm not inclined to argue with anyone who says otherwise.
San Lorenzo Golf Club
★★★★★San Lorenzo appears on every European top-20 list that matters, and it earns every placement. The Joe Lee design from 1988 sits in the Quinta do Lago estate on the edge of the Ria Formosa lagoon, and the par-3 6th over the water is the most photographed hole in Portugal — which doesn't make it less beautiful, just harder to concentrate on.
Vilamoura Old Course
★★★★The Old Course at Vilamoura opened in 1969 and remains the most atmospheric course on the Algarve. The umbrella pines are now fifty years old, and playing through them on a warm October morning — the light filtering through, pine needles underfoot, complete silence between holes — is an experience that newer courses can't replicate regardless of budget.