Penina Golf & Resort

Few courses in Portugal carry the historical weight of Penina. Designed by Sir Henry Cotton — a 3-time Open Championship winner who fell so in love with the Algarve that he made it his home — Penina opened in 1966 as the first purpose-built championship course in Portugal, essentially launching the country's golf tourism industry. Cotton famously had the flat rice paddies drained and planted some 360,000 trees to create the landscape the course now inhabits, a remarkable act of construction that gave the layout its distinctive parkland character in a region better known for clifftop links terrain.

The course rewards patience and precision over raw power. Water features heavily, the mature trees frame tight corridors, and the greens have a subtlety that punishes anything but committed, well-read putting. It plays long and demands a full bag.

Portimão sits near the western end of the Algarve, a working port city with a less manicured feel than neighboring Vilamoura or Lagos — and Penina, set just inland from the coast, suits that honest character well.