In 1971, the developer André Jordan bought a 550-hectare estate of umbrella pines between Almancil and the lagoon, owned by the same family for more than three centuries. Within three years he had the lake dug, a wooden footbridge thrown across to the beach and 27 holes laid out by the American William Mitchell. Half a century later, Quinta do Lago remains an estate of discreet villas, pine woods and fairways, where the Ria Formosa comes right up to the edge of the greens.
Golf is the reason the place exists. Three courses belong to the estate, the South, the North and the Laranjal, and a fourth, San Lorenzo, slips in at its western end, along the lagoon. All are laid out on sandy, rolling ground, lined with pines, ponds and pale bunkers; the sea breeze complicates matters more often than length. Four courses a few minutes from one another: you can change layout every day without spending more than ten minutes in the car.
Away from golf, life is divided between the beach, at the end of the footbridge, and the paths of the Ria Formosa, where you come across egrets and flamingos. Faro, with its old town and ramparts, is twenty-five minutes' drive away: enough to devote half a rest day to the historic centre, or to stay inland, at the palace of Estoi, for those who prefer old stone to villas.
