Gallery
Photos courtesy of Penina Hotel & Golf Resort · JJW Hotels, for exclusive use on this page.
Penina Hotel & Golf Resort 5★ · Alvor · Algarve
On 31 December you play golf in the morning. In the Algarve, at the end of December, the average temperature hovers around seventeen degrees, and the course is right at the hotel's door, so there's no need to choose between the holidays and the golf: both happen the same day. By eight you're having dinner, at midnight there are fireworks in the garden, and the next day you're back out on the course. You play the Sir Henry Cotton Championship, which Cotton built in 1966 over former rice paddies and which has hosted the Portuguese Open ten times, more than any other course in the country. And the Resort Course, shorter, for the day your legs ask for a truce. With an advantage no other resort in the catalogue has: the same-day second round is free, so the rounds listed below are the floor, not the ceiling. And the holidays are laid on by the house, without leaving the hotel: a whole turkey carved tableside on Christmas Day, oysters on ice and lobster at the New Year's Eve buffet, a toast and fireworks in the garden at midnight, a DJ party until half past two, and a brunch on 1 January running until four in the afternoon. Around it, Alvor is still a fishing village with a working harbour.
Gallery
Photos courtesy of Penina Hotel & Golf Resort · JJW Hotels, for exclusive use on this page.
from €850
Just right, in just the right place: arrive on the 30th, play on the morning of the 31st, dine in style, toast with the fireworks, and on the 1st have breakfast without watching the clock. Two more rounds around it, and home again. The shortest way to start the year playing.
from €1,430
The quiet week of the two. Seven rounds, the Christmas Eve dinner and the Christmas lunch with the carved turkey at the table, and the 26th, 27th and 28th with nobody around, the whole course to yourself. For those who want Christmas without New Year's Eve.
from €1,495
Seven rounds with the turn of the year in the middle: a cocktail in the Blue Lounge, a gala dinner with drinks included, fireworks in the garden at midnight and a DJ until half past two. On 1 January you sleep in, eat at the brunch until four, and on the 2nd you're back on the course. It's the whole fiche in one week.
from €2,170
Both weeks back to back, with all four festive meals included — Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the New Year's Eve gala and the New Year's brunch — and eight rounds spread out unhurriedly. It's leaving the northern winter for two weeks and coming home with the year already under way. And per day, it works out cheaper than any of the other three.
Per person in a Mountain View double room, bed and breakfast · winter season rate · festive meals and winery experiences included according to the stay.
Fifteen minutes away, between Silves and Lagoa, the family behind Morgado do Quintão has worked the same estate since 1810: vines, olives and almonds, with a thousand-year-old olive tree among the vines and a long table set beneath it. No tasting room, no counter; you taste where it's grown. And since the tasting is at four in the afternoon, it doesn't cost anyone a hole. Included in the price of all four stays.
The holidays are the skeleton, not the whole trip. On top of them we build whatever you want to experience, booked and quoted firm: Alvor and its fishing harbour, the boardwalks over the estuary and three and a half kilometres of beach; Portimão, Lagos and the Sagres coast; the resort's own spa, with a 10% discount for our travellers; and, at the winery, what doesn't fit into an afternoon — the cooking class with Morgado's chef, which starts by choosing produce at Silves market, or oysters with sparkling wine at sunset. 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 €850 per person
Depending on the stay chosen: from €850 (New Year's Eve Bridge, 3 nights), from €1,430 (Cotton's Christmas, 7 nights), from €1,495 (Cotton's New Year's Eve, 7 nights), or from €2,170 (The Full Holidays, 14 nights). Per person in a double room, winter season rate.
Handicap mandatory, 28 for men and 36 for women, checking in 30 minutes before the tee time. Festive meals have limited capacity and are booked with the stay: these are the busiest dates of the year and aren't guaranteed at the last minute. On the fourteen-night stays, tee times run from 07:30–08:30 or from 13:00 onward. The winery tasting is confirmed with Morgado when the booking closes. The hotel does not allow outside food or drink, and does not admit pets.
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.
Request this experience
Prefer to write directly? info@ophirtravel.com