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Country guide • Europe

Golf in France

27destinations

83courses

France has a long golfing history: Pau Golf Club, founded in 1856, is the oldest club in continental Europe, and Biarritz has been playing beside the ocean since 1888. The country offers a wide variety of landscapes: the Basque Country and Béarn, the Riviera around Cannes and Nice, Provence from Avignon to Marseille, the links of Granville in Normandy and Le Touquet on the Opal Coast, the Quiberon peninsula in Brittany, the historic clubs of the Île-de-France around Paris and Versailles, as well as Alsace, Champagne, Corsica and Lake Annecy.

On the Riviera and in the Basque Country, golf is played all year round, with spring and autumn especially pleasant. Brittany, Normandy and the north are best from spring to autumn, ideally from May to September, when the days are long. We put together tailor-made trips, often by car or train: reserved tee times, characterful hotels, and tables chosen to round off the day with the wines of the region.

Our golf destinations in France

Hillside green above a turquoise lake beneath limestone cliffs, a village and chalets on the shore, late-afternoon light

Annecy

Annecy, in Haute-Savoie, 45 minutes from Geneva airport, offers three hillside courses: the Golf du Lac d'Annecy, designed by Cecil Blandford at Talloires within the Roc de Chère nature reserve; the Chamois at Golf des Alpes in Giez, at the far end of the lake; and the Sacconay at Esery, facing Mont Blanc. Golfers come for precision golf between lake and mountains, and for one of the highest concentrations of Michelin-starred restaurants in France. The best season runs from May to October.

Rolling fairway lined with oaks, fields of sunflowers and wheat on the hills, snow-capped peaks on the horizon at dusk

Gers, Occitanie

Auch

Auch, capital of the Gers about an hour and a quarter from Toulouse airport, is played first and foremost at Auch-Embats, a very hilly eighteen-hole course laid out across five small valleys five minutes from the centre, complemented by the Fleurance nine-hole and, for a longer day, the course at Eauze. Golfers come for golf without crowds, for the World Heritage-listed Cathédrale Sainte-Marie and for Gascon cooking, from foie gras to armagnac. The best seasons are April to June and September to October.

Flat fairway lined with rows of cypresses, a reed-fringed pond in the foreground and a limestone mountain on the horizon

Provence (Vaucluse)

Avignon

Avignon, in the Vaucluse, offers three 18-hole courses: Golf Grand Avignon at Vedène and UGolf Châteaublanc at Morières-lès-Avignon, both a quarter of an hour from the centre, and the Domaine de Manville, below Les Baux-de-Provence, forty minutes away. Golfers come to pair a morning tee time with an evening in the city of the popes, ideally from April to June and in September and October.

Winding fairway between tall dunes covered in marram grass and wind-bent pines, the sea in the background

Hauts-de-France (Somme)

Bay of Somme

The Bay of Somme, on the Picardy coast, brings together two 18-hole courses within half an hour of Le Crotoy: Belle Dune, laid out by Jean-Manuel Rossi in the Marquenterre dunes at Fort-Mahon-Plage, and Les Cygnes at Nampont-Saint-Martin, set around a 15th-century fortified manor on the banks of the Authie. The links of La Mer at Le Touquet, three quarters of an hour away, completes the trip. Golfers come from May to September for the golf, the seals and restaurants built on the bay's produce.

Clifftop green facing a rough ocean, maritime pines in the foreground and a white lighthouse on a headland

Biarritz

Biarritz, on the French Basque coast, brings together four 18-hole courses within twenty minutes of one another: Le Phare, founded in 1888 and one of the oldest on the Continent, Tom Simpson's Chiberta links at Anglet, and the hilly courses of Arcangues and Makila facing the Pyrenees. Golfers come to alternate between the ocean and the hinterland, Biarritz and Bayonne, ideally from April to June and in September and October.

Green beside a pond in heather heathland, oaks and maritime pines in late-afternoon light

Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Bordeaux

Within half an hour of the centre, Bordeaux offers two heathland courses among the best in France, Châteaux (Bill Coore, 1989) and Vignes (Rod Whitman, 1991), at the Cabot Bordeaux resort in Le Pian-Médoc, as well as the Pessac course among the pines. Golfers come to combine golf with the vineyards of the Médoc and Pessac-Léognan and a UNESCO-listed city, from April to June and in September and October.

Green lined with umbrella pines and eucalyptus beside a lagoon, green mountains at sunrise and maquis in the foreground

Borgo

Borgo, on the Marana plain twenty minutes south of Bastia, is home to Borgo Golf Club, the oldest course in Corsica: nine flat, tree-lined holes, opened in 1987 ten minutes from the airport. Golfers come for relaxed holiday golf, Cap Corse and the Biguglia lagoon, keeping two nights for Spérone, the island's great 18-hole course, nearly three hours to the south near Bonifacio. April to June and September to October are the best months.

Fairway lined with umbrella pines and cypresses on a hillside, villas with tiled roofs and a blue bay with a wooded island

Cannes

Within half an hour of the Croisette, Cannes brings together four eighteen-hole courses: the Old Course at Mandelieu, founded in 1891 by Grand Duke Michael of Russia; Cannes-Mougins, laid out by Harry Colt and long host to a European Tour open; Robert von Hagge's Royal Mougins; and Robert Trent Jones Jr.'s Saint Donat, on the outskirts of Grasse. Golfers come to play all year round beneath the umbrella pines and to dine on the Croisette; spring and autumn are the best seasons.

Fairway lined with birches and pines in autumn, a rounded wooded volcano behind under an evening sky

Clermont-Ferrand

Clermont-Ferrand, in the heart of the Auvergne, is played first and foremost at the Golf des Volcans, an 18-hole par 72 by Lucien Roux at Orcines, at the foot of the Puy de Dôme, which hosted the Challenge Tour's Open des Volcans from 1992 to 2007. The Royat-Charade nine-hole and the Val d'Auzon compact course round out a short trip that combines upland golf, the UNESCO-listed Chaîne des Puys and fine dining. The season runs from May to October.

Links green among marram-covered dunes, a yellow flag, a wide beach and calm sea at sunset

Granville

Granville, on the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula, is home to the Golf de Granville, one of the few true links in France: Le Links, an 18-hole par 72 designed by Harry Colt in the dunes of Bréville-sur-Mer, complemented by the nine-hole Les Dunes. With the Coutainville course half an hour to the north, it makes for a short seaside golf trip, between seafood, a fortified upper town and the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel. The season runs from April to October.

Long curving sandy beach with blue-and-white striped tents, white villas and maritime pines in the distance

Loire-Atlantique

La Baule

La Baule, a seaside resort in Loire-Atlantique an hour from Nantes, is the gateway to a three- to five-day golf break: the two eighteen-hole courses of Golf International Barrière, Lucien Barrière and Diane Barrière, eight kilometres from the beach, Henry Cotton's course at La Bretesche and the rolling layout at Savenay. Golfers come to play in the forest and on the edge of the Brière, then dine facing the Atlantic, ideally from April to June and in September and October.

Cobbled street lined with red-brick and carved-stone Flemish Baroque façades, a café terrace at sunset

Hauts-de-France

Lille

Lille, capital of French Flanders an hour from Paris by TGV, makes for a short golf-and-city break: the Hawtree course at Bondues, Brigode in the former grounds of a château, Le Sart, founded in 1910, and Vert Parc in the Weppes countryside, all within thirty minutes of the centre. Golfers come for wooded, technical courses, then for Old Lille, its museums and its estaminets, from April to September.

Fairway lined with poplars and oaks in autumn colours, a wide river below and a green with a red flag

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Lyon

Lyon makes for a short, gourmet golf trip: half an hour from the centre, the Golf Club de Lyon has two 18-hole courses, Hugues Lambert's Les Sangliers beside the Rhône and Fred Hawtree's Les Brocards in the woods, both former hosts of the French Open. The Chassieu course rounds out the choice on the edge of the city. Golfers come as much for the food as for the golf, from April to June and in September and October.

Fairway winding through a valley between Aleppo pines, olive trees and dry-stone walls, a white limestone cliff behind

Marseille

Marseille lends itself to a short break of golf and sea: La Bastide de la Salette, a hilly 18 holes by Michel Gayon, is played in the hills of the 11th arrondissement, and the Golf Club d'Aix-Marseille, the oldest club in the Bouches-du-Rhône, lays out its tree-lined fairways at Les Milles, half an hour away. Golfers come to play in the morning, then for the calanques, the Vieux-Port and a great restaurant, ideally from March to June and from September to November.

Rolling fairway between flowering garrigue and limestone rocks, umbrella pines and bluish hills at sunset

Occitanie (Hérault)

Montpellier

Montpellier offers three 18-hole courses within thirty minutes of the centre: Fontcaude, laid out in the garrigue at Juvignac; Massane at Baillargues, designed by Ronald Fream; and Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s Les Flamants Roses at La Grande-Motte, on the Mediterranean shore. Golfers come for golf in the morning and the old town in the evening, ideally from March to June and from September to November.

Rolling fairway lined with tall cedars, a stream and wooden footbridge in front of the green, a stone manor in the distance

Pays de la Loire (Loire-Atlantique)

Nantes

Nantes brings together three 18-hole courses within forty minutes of the centre: the Golf Club de Nantes at Vigneux-de-Bretagne, designed by Frank Pennink around the Château du Buron; Nantes-Erdre, north of the city; and the Île d'Or, set on an island in the Loire. Golfers come for quiet parkland golf, a lively city of art and the wines of Muscadet, ideally from April to October.

Mountain fairway sloping down between umbrella pines and limestone rocks, the Mediterranean coast below at sunset

Nice

Nice is a city base for playing three very different courses within 45 minutes: the Monte-Carlo Golf Club, laid out in 1911 at 850 metres on Mont Agel; the historic Biot course, opened in 1930; and Cabell Robinson's Grande Bastide below Grasse. Golfers come to combine a morning round with an evening in Vieux-Nice, from March to June and from September to November.

Rolling fairway on the edge of an autumn forest, a lone oak and a mist-veiled pond at daybreak

Paris

Paris pairs with three 18-hole courses 35 to 50 minutes from the centre: the Golf de l'Isle Adam, designed by Ronald Fream in the Oise valley; Les Chênes at Lys Chantilly, a 1929 Tom Simpson layout; and Bussy-Guermantes to the east, reachable by RER. Golfers come to play in the morning and enjoy the city in the evening, ideally from April to October.

Fairway lined with old oaks along a river with pebbled banks, snow-capped peaks in the distance

Pau

Pau, capital of the Béarn at the foot of the Pyrenees, is home to Pau Golf Club, founded in 1856 by British holidaymakers: it is the oldest course in continental Europe, a technical par 69 beside the gave. A quarter of an hour away, Bluegreen Pau-Artiguelouve, designed by Jean Garaïalde, offers a second, more spacious eighteen holes. Golfers come for golfing history, the view of the mountains and Béarn cooking, ideally in spring and autumn.

Green beside a lagoon fringed with reeds and umbrella pines, a snow-capped massif on the horizon

Roussillon, Pyrénées-Orientales

Perpignan

Perpignan, capital of Catalan Roussillon, is played first and foremost at Saint-Cyprien, twenty minutes away: 27 holes opened in 1976, including the eighteen-hole Étang-Canigou, a par 73 on the edge of the Étang de Canet, facing the Canigou. For a day at altitude, the Domaine de Falgos offers a par 70 at 1,100 metres, about 1 hr 15 away by road. Golfers come for the winter sun, the Mediterranean and Catalan cooking, from autumn to spring.

Granite arch pounded by the swell beneath a cliff covered in heather and flowering gorse, golden light

Quiberon

The Quiberon peninsula, in the Morbihan, lends itself to a golf and thalassotherapy break: Saint-Laurent at Ploemel, 27 holes among oaks and pines half an hour's drive away, and Baden, beside the Auray river, three-quarters of an hour away, with Rhuys-Kerver facing the ocean for a longer day out. Golfers come to play in the morning, have a massage in the afternoon and dine on fish, from April to October.

Parkland fairway bordered by vines in autumn colours and a chalk bank, a village with a slate spire in the distance

Reims

Reims, the capital of champagne forty-five minutes from Paris by TGV, lends itself to a short golf break: Golf de Reims, founded in 1928 around a château at Gueux, a dozen kilometres to the west, and Golf de Champagne, designed by Jean-Claude Cornillot near Dormans. Golfers come to pair two parkland courses with the coronation cathedral, the chalk cellars of the great houses and Michelin-starred tables. The season runs from April to October.

Green beyond a reed-fringed pond, tall oaks in autumn foliage under an overcast sky

Rennes

Rennes brings together three eighteen-hole courses a quarter of an hour from the centre: the Domaine de Cicé-Blossac at Bruz, designed by Macauley & Quenouille among lakes and the Vilaine, La Freslonnière at Le Rheu, a woodland layout in the grounds of a château, and the Armor at Bluegreen Rennes Saint-Jacques, the largest golf complex in Brittany. Golfers come for a short break that mixes parkland golf, an old town and Michelin-starred tables, from April to October.

Fairway between stone pines and garrigue, a lake in front of the tee and a long pale limestone ridge on the horizon in late light

Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône)

Salon-de-Provence

Salon-de-Provence, between the Alpilles, the Crau plain and the Étang de Berre, is the base for three eighteen-hole courses: Pont Royal at Mallemort, the only layout by Severiano Ballesteros in France, twenty-five minutes away, Golf Ouest Provence Miramas twenty minutes away, and Château l'Arc, facing the Sainte-Victoire, three-quarters of an hour away. Golfers come for golf among pines and garrigue, a town on a human scale and serious tables, ideally in spring and autumn.

Shaded tee facing a reed-fringed pond, poplars and oaks in autumn colours, a wooded hill in the distance

Strasbourg

Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace on the left bank of the Rhine, brings together three courses within twenty-five minutes of the centre: Robert von Hagge's Kempferhof at Plobsheim, the 27 holes of Golf Club de Strasbourg at Illkirch, the oldest club in Alsace, and La Wantzenau to the north. Golfers come for wooded, water-laced plain golf, a UNESCO-listed city and Alsatian cooking. The best season runs from April to October.

Tee and green on an oak-lined hillside, a river below and a pink-brick city on the plain, mountains in the distance

Toulouse

Toulouse offers three eighteen-hole courses within forty minutes of the Capitole: Golf Club de Toulouse, founded in 1950 on the hillsides of Vieille-Toulouse above the Garonne, La Ramée, laid out by Hawtree in an oak wood at Tournefeuille, and Palmola, hilly and wooded, at Buzet-sur-Tarn. Golfers come to combine golf with a great city of pink brick, ideally from April to June and in September and October.

Striped parkland fairway lined with tall oaks in autumn colours and cedars, morning mist over the woods

Versailles

Versailles, some twenty kilometres west of Paris, is surrounded by three courses that have shaped the history of French golf: La Vallée at La Boulie, laid out by Willie Park Jr. in 1901 and the first host of the French Open, the Albatros at Le Golf National, stage of the 2018 Ryder Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games, and Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, designed by Fred Hawtree. Golfers come to play in the morning and enjoy the château in the afternoon, from April to October.