Póvoa de Varzim · Porto e Norte
Estela
Photos courtesy of Tivoli Estela, for exclusive use on this page.
The same hole never plays the same two days running, because this course's defence isn't its bunkers: it's the north wind. This is a true links, like the ones in Scotland, laid out by Duarte Sotto-Mayor in 1987 over three kilometres of Atlantic dunes, right against the sea and without a single tree to cut the wind. On paper it's a par 72 of 6,029 metres from the white tees, with gentle undulations, water in play and two lakes. The number is misleading: it demands precise drives and tight approaches, and punishes anyone who mistakes a links for a short course. In Portugal there's barely anything like it outside the Silver Coast. It's in Póvoa de Varzim, a seaside town with a fishing heritage and a stop on the Portuguese Coastal Way. The lodge is two minutes' walk from the first tee, and Porto — with its wineries and its river — three-quarters of an hour away.
The best in the north, and almost nobody sells it. Top 100 Golf Courses ranks it the number one course in the Porto & Norte region and number 11 in Portugal. And yet it's outside almost every golf catalogue, because the north doesn't sell. We do.
Where it's played
Would rather play it from another hotel, or in another combination? Tell us and we'll put together a firm-priced proposal.