The Algarve is well known for its golf, and the Dom Pedro Resort in Vilamoura should be one of the first places you take a look at…
You can’t go wrong with the Dom Pedro Resort. You could go for a week and you would not get bored of playing the golf courses on offer.
That’s because there are five 18-hole offerings. To make it even better, all five offer something different, with tree-lined fairways, water hazards, waste areas and plenty more to differentiate the courses.
Add in an incredible choice of accommodation, being close to the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean and the year-round good weather, and why would you not choose a golf holiday in Vilamoura?
Despite it all being crammed into three days, here’s why I would love to go back and spend a week at the Dom Pedro Resort…
NINETY Golf Holes
There are plenty of golfing resorts around the world that feature multiple courses. In fact, there are plenty of those on the NCG Top 100s: European Resorts list for example.
Quinta do Lago, Gloria and Arabella are among those with three courses. Costa Navarino has four. The Dom Pedro Resort goes even further, with five 18-hole golf courses, equating to an incredible 90 holes of golf.
Not only are there five courses, but they are all slightly different as well. The Laguna Course is the one that separates itself from the rest in terms of its look and feel.
As you would expect with the name, ‘Laguna’, the course features plenty of water hazards. In fact, 11 of the 18 holes feature a penalty area of some sort. This makes for some incredible golf, though, with par 3s over water, short par 4s where you have to decide whether to lay up or go for the green, and par 5s where the water dissects the fairways.
Advertisement
The Laguna was my favourite of the courses we played during our short stay in Vilamoura, but that could be to do with the fact that I was struggling to find the middle of the club face with my driver. The open expanses did allow for that to be punished slightly less than the other layouts.
However, I am not putting down any of the other layouts, as they were all pristine. The Millennium Course plays out of the same clubhouse as the Laguna, and the two courses intertwine somewhat through their layouts.
The Millennium, named thanks to its opening in the year 2000, is the newest course on the property. It is a great mix of what you will see across the other courses on the resort, with a run of holes on the front nine playing narrow thanks to the umbrella pines. The back nine opens out, more like the Laguna Course, and there is also water to be avoided as well.
The Pinhal Course was the first we played, on the Monday afternoon after landing making it to the Algarve. It was the second course designed and constructed at Dom Pedro, after the Old, with Frank Pennink the man behind it.
Trees, trees, trees. That’s the name of the game at the Pinhal and making sure you avoid them at all costs. There are plenty of them, but they add to the beauty of the layout, and it was one I very much enjoyed testing myself on.
Then, there’s the Old Course.
The drive to the Old Course is slightly different. It has its own clubhouse, and its own slice of land that is not attached to the other layouts of the resort.
That makes it that little bit more special. Then, you get on the practice putting green and don’t realise they’re running at around 12 on the stimpmeter, so your first putt flies ten feet past. You know you’re in for a great test of golf!
The Old Course provides those little touches. A pyramid of balls on the range, a starter on the first tee, and something else you can even add in to your package. You can choose (for a small fee) to have a professional photographer take some snaps of you while you’re on the first tee. So make sure you hide the nerves away like I had to as the first of our group teeing off.
Thankfully, I hit the fairway, made par down 1 and I was away! The Old Course was a delight, and all four of these layouts could be walked, but for the most part, you would choose to add a buggy into your stay.
The Victoria Course was arguably the most famous of the lot. The 18-hole layout played host to the Portugal Masters on the DP World Tour for 16 consecutive seasons, holding the tournament from 2007 to 2022.
There were some big names that took the title, including Lee Westwood, Shane Lowry, Padraig Harrington, and Thomas Pieters.
Now, though, the Victoria Course has been closed since the back end of 2023 and completely dug up. An extensive renovation is taking place, with the new course set to be opened in early 2025.
Add that to the four courses that the resort has – the Laguna, Millennium, Pinhal and Old – and Dom Pedro will soon return to 90 holes of golf once more.
The Region
Not only is the Dom Pedro Resort gifted with its glorious array of golf courses, but the location of the resort is also part of your trip.
Advertisement
It is basically a beach resort, while there are also plenty of little fishing villages that you can explore in the evenings.
We did exactly that on the first night, going for a wander as the sun set over the horizon. It was a beautiful walk, and the marina is just a ten-minute walk from the Dom Pedro Vilamoura.
The Dom Pedro Vilamoura is one of several accommodation options run by the Dom Pedro Resort, and it is the one we stayed in. The rooms are clean, crisp and a lovely place to rest your head in between rounds of golf. Add in a great buffet dinner, along with a wide array of foods on offer for breakfast, and you’ve got a solid hotel!
There is also the Marina Hotel, which is more of a boutique hotel, while the Portobello is an aparthotel. Depending on what type of accommodation you are after, the Dom Pedro Resort has plenty to cater to your needs.
It also helps as a Brit that there are several flights per day to Faro Airport. On the day I left Faro to return to Manchester, I counted no fewer than 22 flights back to the United Kingdom.
And let’s face it, throughout the darker and dingier months, who wouldn’t want to take a short flight to the south coast of Portugal to play some golf?
The Costs
As with all resorts, there are a range of prices when it comes to both golf and accommodation, as well as packages that include both.
Dom Pedro Packages
The Dom Pedro Experience offers golfers package deals for accommodation and tee times. Golfers can choose to stay in any of the three offerings – Dom Pedro Vilamoura, Dom Pedro Marina and Dom Pedro Portobelo – and receive free transfers from their hotel to the golf course for whenever they play.
Advertisement
There are two types of packages, the Premium and Regular. The Regular Dome Pedro Package includes golf on the Laguna, Millennium and Pinhal Courses. The Premium Package adds in the Old Course (which is the most expensive of the four courses currently in use).
The price of a 4 night, 4 round Regular Package ranges from €165 to €255 per person, per night, depending on which accommodation and at what time of year you choose to go.
That moves up to a price range of €220 to €310 for the Premium Package, which includes golf on the Old Course.
Green Fees
Golfers can also choose to just pay the rack rate for green fees. Unsurprisingly, it is more expensive to take on the Old Course.
A standard round on the Old Course will cost almost €200 in the high season, with that coming down to €175 (mid) and €150 (low). The Laguna, Millennium and Pinhal Courses are the same price, with rounds costing €135, €121 and €98 depending on the season.
These prices are lower if you play in ‘Twilight’ hours, and the price of each individual round will also decrease if you purchase a green fee package. The more rounds you play in a week, the price comes down slightly.
Final Thoughts
This was my first trip to Vilamoura, and I will certainly make sure it is not my last.
As I said at the very start, you would find it very difficult to get bored of playing golf at Dom Pedro, thanks to the wide range of golf courses on offer.
The Laguna offers wide spaces and plenty of water hazards, while the Pinhal and Millennium Courses have those glorious umbrella pines lining the fairways. Then there’s the Old Course… What an experience it was to play there.
Admittedly, I was disheartened by the fact that I was unable to play the Victoria Course, as I would have loved to have tested myself on a track that the pros have played on the DP World Tour.
Advertisement
However, surely what is coming soon will be bigger and better… It must be, right? That, if you needed any more reason to go, makes a trip to Vilamoura the perfect golfing destination for 2025. And it is certainly a place I want to visit again and again.
- CHECK OUT: The Dom Pedro Resort website
Have you been lucky enough to play at the Dom Pedro Resort? Do you fancy a golf trip to Vilamoura? Let us know with a post on X, formerly Twitter!
