Algarve

Portugal's golf is concentrated in one strip of the south coast, and almost all of it sits within an hour of Faro airport. That compactness is the Algarve's real advantage: four distinct clusters, and you can reach any of them from any of the others without losing a morning to the car.

Vilamoura holds six courses inside a single resort, twenty minutes from the airport, and is probably the easiest golf week in Europe to organise. East of it sits the Golden Triangle — Quinta do Lago, Vale do Lobo and San Lorenzo — the ground most golfers picture when they think of Portugal: umbrella pines, salt-marsh lagoons and conditioning that sets the regional benchmark. Further east again, Monte Rei stands alone about fifty minutes out and is rated the best course in the country. West towards Lagos, Palmares and Espiche give you cliffs, the Atlantic and noticeably lower green fees.

The ground is sandy under pine, so it drains and the ball runs, but the Algarve is not flat — several of the best-known holes fall away towards the sea and a buggy is standard on the western courses. What sets the region apart is consistency. You can play six rounds here and not have a poor one, which is not true of everywhere that sells six rounds.

Two honest points. It is expensive: the Golden Triangle carries some of the highest green fees in continental Europe, and the best tee times go to the resorts' own guests before they reach anyone else, so a spring week here is booked months rather than weeks ahead. And it is not the winter answer — the Algarve is mild from November to February but genuinely wetter than the Mediterranean, and a wet week on the Atlantic is a wet week. Come in March to May or September to October and it is as good as golf travel gets.