Barceló Montecastillo Golf 5★ · Jerez de la Frontera
The 18th hole plays from forty metres above the fairway. From up there you see the whole green, ringed by water, and you also see exactly what's going to happen if the shot comes up short. Jack Nicklaus drew it, it opened in 1991, and six years later it picked up the baton from Valderrama: five straight Volvo Masters, from 1997 to 2001. Lee Westwood won the first one. You sleep up above, in a nineteenth-century castle overlooking the course. The resort has been a training base for the Spanish national team, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United, and it shows in what surrounds it: five practice grounds and a golf academy within the estate. And down below, a ten-minute drive downhill, is Jerez. Not as a one-off day trip: as part of the journey. Here you play in the morning, taste wine in the mid-afternoon, and dine without rushing.
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Photos courtesy of Barceló Montecastillo, for exclusive use on this page.
from €425
Three nights at a five-star, two rounds on the Nicklaus course and an afternoon among oak casks. It's the gateway into the Cádiz catalogue and the one that best explains what this house is about: play in the morning, taste at four, and by eight you're having dinner in Jerez.
from €660
By the third round you start knowing where not to leave the ball, and the 18th stops being frightening. Four rounds and a day without golf, and that day is filled by Tradición: the winery, the paintings and the old wines, without watching the clock.
from €875
The stay-at-home week: five rounds on the same course, with two free days in between. One is filled by Tradición. And on an ordinary afternoon, once you've already played, down to Sanlúcar: La Gitana opens at seven, you walk among barrels and candles and taste the manzanilla drawn straight from the cask. The second free day is yours to choose.
Per person in a Superior double room, bed and breakfast · winter season · visit, picture gallery and tasting at Bodegas Tradición.
In Jerez there's a house that doesn't bottle anything young: only VOS and VORS of thirty years and up, aged without a single machine and labelled by hand inside the winery itself. It's called Tradición, and among the casks it holds two things no other winery has: a collection of Spanish painting from the 14th to the 19th century — Zurbarán, Velázquez, El Greco, Goya, Sorolla — and the oldest surviving archive of Jerez wine, with documents from 1650. You visit in a small group, without crossing paths with anyone else. Included in the price of all three stays.
These three stays are the skeleton, not the whole trip. On top of them we build whatever you want to experience, booked and quoted firm: a table at the restaurants of Jerez and El Puerto de Santa María; spa and hydrotherapy circuit at the hotel itself; the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, the race circuit, Cádiz forty minutes away, Sanlúcar half an hour and Seville; and, at the winery, what doesn't fit into a normal visit: Tradición's private visit with the 1650 archive, La Gitana's tasting of wines over sixty years old, or its Noche en Rama — seven courses, seven paired wines and live music inside the cathedral winery, on select dates with very limited places. Tell us who's travelling and what they feel like. Designing your bespoke trip costs nothing: the initial proposal and one revision. From the third version onward, finalising the itinerary costs €100, fully deducted from your trip's price if you book it with us.
From €425 per person
Depending on the stay chosen: from €425 (Jerez, 3 nights), from €660 (Nicklaus, 5 nights), or from €875 (Castle Week, 7 nights). Per person in a double room, bed and breakfast, winter season.
Maximum handicap 28 for men and 36 for women, with certificate. The club requires a buggy on tee times before 11am, except from 22 November to 25 February, which is the window of these prices. The winery closes bookings in advance and is reserved together with the stay. Tradición receives groups of up to ten or twelve people, never mixed with other visitors; from twelve players onward the group is split into two consecutive sessions. La Gitana's night visit is held Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 19:00, in English on Wednesdays; the day is fixed when tee times are confirmed.
A 30% deposit is due on confirmation, non-refundable, with the rest due 45 days before arrival. Cancellation fees: 30% up to 45 days out, 50% from 45 to 31 days, and 100% from 30 days out, for no-shows or early departures. Cancelling within 14 days of booking, with more than 60 days still to go before arrival, refunds everything paid, deposit included. We recommend taking out cancellation insurance. Full conditions at ophirtravel.com/politicas_condiciones/condiciones.
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