Rioja Alta

Few regions in Spain balance wine and golf quite like La Rioja, and Rioja Alta Golf Club sits at the heart of that overlap — literally carved into the vineyards and high plateau landscape surrounding the village of Cirueña, a small hilltop settlement in the interior of the region. The course opened in the early 2000s as part of an ambitious development that brought a resort and residential community to this elevated terrain, riding the wave of Spain's golf boom. At roughly 900 meters above sea level, the air is thin and dry, summers are warm, and the views across the Najerilla valley and the distant Sierra de la Demanda mountains are striking at nearly every turn.

The design makes intelligent use of the plateau's natural contours, with wide fairways that open up to exposed, wind-sensitive approaches. It plays as a genuine challenge when the Riojan breeze picks up, which it frequently does at altitude.

Beyond the course itself, the location is the story. You are playing golf surrounded by some of the most celebrated wine country in Europe — Rioja Reserva country — with the medieval town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada just minutes away and the broader pilgrimage route of the Camino de Santiago passing through this stretch of La Rioja.