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Golf guide • Portugal • Lisbon Region

Golf in Ericeira: surf at dawn, three courses in the hinterland

Ericeira is a former fishing village on the Atlantic coast, 35 kilometres north-west of Lisbon, designated a World Surfing Reserve in 2011. It has no golf of its own: three 18-hole courses lie 35 to 40 minutes' drive away, CampoReal (Donald Steel) in the hills of Torres Vedras, Belas Clube de Campo facing the Sintra hills and Penha Longa's Atlantic Course (Robert Trent Jones Jr.). Golfers come to sleep by the ocean and play inland, ideally from March to October.

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White houses trimmed in blue, cobbled lanes running down to the Praia dos Pescadores, cliffs battered by the swell: Ericeira has kept the look of the port it once was, one of the busiest in the country in the 19th century, before it lived from fishing and then from surfing. It was from this very beach that King Manuel II sailed into exile on 5 October 1910, the day after the republican revolution.

Let us be clear about the golf: there is no course in Ericeira itself. The three 18-hole courses that matter lie 35 to 40 minutes' drive away, each in a different direction. CampoReal, to the north-east, plays through the wooded hills of the Serra do Socorro and Serra da Archeira; Belas and Penha Longa, to the south, frame the Sintra hills. Three different landscapes, and the option of never driving the same road twice.

The stay soon finds its rhythm: a mid-morning tee time, back as the light turns the cliffs golden, grilled fish for dinner facing the sea. Lisbon is three quarters of an hour away, Mafra Palace a quarter of an hour, and it never feels like a resort: on weekdays Ericeira remains a lived-in town, where surfers in wetsuits pass fishermen on the harbour.

The courses

Green guarded by bunkers and a pond, rolling fairway among cork oaks, pines and eucalyptus

Dolce CampoReal Lisboa

  • Architect: Donald Steel
  • 18 holes
  • Par 72

Designed by Donald Steel, this par 72 plays at the heart of the CampoReal estate, near Turcifal, in a protected landscape of hills and wooded valleys at the foot of the Serra do Socorro and Serra da Archeira. It is a course of contours: frequent changes in elevation, a few blind shots, water on the opening holes and around the 9th, a short par 4. It has hosted the Ladies European Tour, with the Portuguese Ladies Open in 2010 and 2011. The neighbouring resort lets you stay on site, making it the natural base for a trip that is more golf than beach. Worth booking: a buggy to spare your legs.

Official website

Belas Clube de Campo

  • Architect: William "Rocky" Roquemore
  • 18 holes
  • Par 72

Designed by the American William "Rocky" Roquemore, Belas is a 6,109-metre par-72 championship course, laid out across hills and valleys with the Sintra hills as a backdrop. The club, founded in 1998, claims some of the best greens in the Lisbon region, often multi-tiered. The wind plays a real part: several short par 4s play into it towards raised greens, and the 9th runs alongside a long lake on the right. A demanding but readable course, best played after a first day to warm up.

Signature hole. The shortest hole on the course, a par 3 played from an elevated tee, usually downwind, to a green guarded by sand and water: choosing the club is never simple.

Official website

Penha Longa Atlantic Championship Course

  • Architect: Robert Trent Jones Jr.
  • Opened 1992
  • 18 holes

Opened in 1992 in the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, the Atlantic Championship Course is the work of Robert Trent Jones Jr., who made the most of every fold in the hills. Two years after opening, it hosted the Portuguese Open. The views stretch to Cascais, Estoril and the ocean, and the estate is also home to a former monastery and a flatter nine-hole course, the Monastery Course, opened in 1995. It is the most spectacular of the three, and the one that demands the most accuracy off the tee.

Official website

Where to stay

Immerso Hotel

Ericeira's first five-star hotel, born of a family's attachment to the town and to surfing, Immerso fills a valley at Santo Isidoro, to the north, between pines and ocean: a pool heated all year, a spa, sunrise yoga. Ask for a suite, with its balcony and swing seat facing the sea, rather than a Nature room on the garden side. The free shuttle goes into town at 10 am and back at 4.30 pm: for dinner, book a taxi.

Dolce by Wyndham CampoReal Lisboa

The CampoReal resort, near Turcifal in the Torres Vedras wine country, is the one place to sleep beside Donald Steel's course: 151 rooms and suites, plus apartments and villas. Beware: the Premium Golf View room looks onto the inner courtyard; to see the fairways, ask for a suite, and for a group, a four-bedroom villa with its own pool. Ericeira is 35 to 40 minutes away.

Contemporary hotel with ochre walls, a wooden pergola and a long pool facing the ocean at sunset

Where to dine

EMME

Immerso's restaurant follows the menu of consulting chef Alexandre Silva, a champion of Portuguese producers and of cooking over fire. Nearly four dishes in five come from the sea, most of it landed between Ericeira and Nazaré: Berlengas sea bass, red shrimp, ray, sea urchins, with vegetables from the house's organic garden. Book a table on the veranda for sunset; the dining room is open to non-residents.

Mar d'Areia

A few steps from Praia dos Pescadores, Mar d'Areia began in 1959 as a tavern where grandmother Natalina grilled the fish the fishermen brought in; two Egídios, father and son, run it today. There is no meat: sardines, sea bream, sea bass, turbot or cuttlefish, whatever the sea has given, go over the charcoal and come with potatoes boiled in their skins. Start with the pataniscas and the clams à Bulhão Pato, ask what came in that morning, and note that it is closed on Mondays.

Beyond golf

The World Surfing Reserve

Since 2011, the Ericeira coastline has been designated a World Surfing Reserve. Ribeira d'Ilhas, north of town, regularly hosts rounds of international competitions; Coxos, further on, is a reef break for experienced surfers only. Even without a board, a clifftop walk at sunset, watching the sets roll in, is well worth it, and local schools offer beginners' lessons.

Mafra National Palace

A quarter of an hour away, the palace-convent of Mafra was built from 1717 for King João V and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. Its library holds more than 36,000 leather-bound volumes, and its two towers house 92 bells, the largest historic set of carillons in the world. The Tapada, the former royal hunting reserve, can be explored on foot.

Lisbon and Sintra

Lisbon is about three quarters of an hour by road, Sintra half an hour: a day off golf is enough for the romantic palaces of the Sintra hills or the old quarters of the capital. You can also combine them with a round at Penha Longa or Belas, both on the way.

Surfer on a long peeling wave at the foot of ochre cliffs, seen from a coastal path

When to go

The Atlantic climate makes golf possible almost all year round, but the best period runs from March to October. Spring is mild and green, autumn bright and quieter. Summer stays pleasant by the ocean, where the north wind cools the afternoons, but it is hotter on the inland courses and the town fills up in July and August. Winter is mild, wetter and windy.

Getting there

Lisbon airport (LIS) is about 45 kilometres away, some forty minutes by road on the A8 and A21 motorways. A car is essential: the three courses are 35 to 40 minutes from Ericeira, in different directions. Immerso can arrange a private transfer from the airport.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a golf course in Ericeira?

No, not in the town itself. Three 18-hole courses lie 35 to 40 minutes' drive away: CampoReal near Turcifal, Belas Clube de Campo and Penha Longa's Atlantic Course, near Sintra.

What is the best golf course near Ericeira?

Penha Longa's Atlantic Championship Course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and opened in 1992, is the most spectacular; it hosted the Portuguese Open in 1994. CampoReal, a Donald Steel design, is the hilliest.

When is the best time to play golf in Ericeira?

From March to October. Spring and autumn are the most pleasant; summer is mild by the ocean but hotter inland, and winter is wetter.

How long is the drive from Lisbon airport to Ericeira?

Around forty minutes by car for about 45 kilometres. A hire car or private transfer is necessary, as the courses are spread out.

Can you combine Ericeira with the golf courses of Óbidos?

Yes, but they are not next door: Bom Sucesso and Praia d'El Rey, near Óbidos, are more than an hour's drive away. Better to spend a few nights there.

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