How to Plan a Golf Trip to Turkey

Start with Belek, your base

The single biggest thing to understand about golf in Turkey is that it is concentrated, overwhelmingly, in Belek, a purpose built resort strip on the Mediterranean coast east of Antalya. Around fifteen courses sit within a short drive of each other here, threaded between umbrella pine forest and a long sandy beach, alongside a wall of large all inclusive five star hotels. Choose your resort, and the golf comes to you. There is a little golf elsewhere, near Bodrum on the Aegean and around Istanbul, but for a dedicated trip Belek is the answer, and the rest of this guide assumes it.

The marquee courses

Lead with the two best. The Montgomerie Maxx Royal, designed by Colin Montgomerie, is wide, generous and beautifully kept, a buggy ride from the beach and the model of the relaxed luxury Belek does so well. Carya, the work of Thomson, Perrett and Lobb, is the region's most distinctive course, a slice of Surrey heathland transplanted to the Med, all purple heather and silver birch, and crucially fully floodlit, so you can tee off at dusk and play deep into a warm evening.

The supporting cast

Around those two sits a deep field. The PGA Sultan and the shorter Pasha course at Antalya Golf Club are long standing tournament venues; the Nick Faldo designed course at Cornelia is a stern, strategic test; and the layouts at Regnum Carya, Gloria, with its Old, New and Verde nines, Sueno and Kaya Palazzo round out a week with ease. The courses are close enough that a planner can string four to six quality rounds together with almost no driving, which is a large part of Belek's appeal.

Timing, booking and the logistics

Time the season to taste. Spring, roughly March to early June, and autumn, September to November, are the prime months, with comfortable temperatures of around 18 to 28 Celsius, the courses in fine condition and the resorts busy. High summer, June to August, is genuinely hot, often above 35 Celsius, so golfers play early in the morning or take advantage of Carya's floodlit evening rounds, with rates easing in the heat. Winter is mild, quiet and the best value, and Belek stays playable when much of Europe is closed. For the best balance of weather and conditioning, aim for April, May or October.

Book the marquee courses first. The best tee times at the Montgomerie, Carya and the tournament venues go quickly in the spring and autumn peaks, so fix those, then build the rest of the week around them. Most golfers stay on an all inclusive basis, and the resort you choose often shapes the golf, with bundled rounds, easy shuttle access to partner courses and the buggy and beach lifestyle that defines the destination. Pin the resort and the headline rounds, and the rest of the week falls into place.

For getting there, almost everyone flies into Antalya airport, around 35 to 45 minutes by road from the Belek strip, with direct seasonal flights from much of Europe. A private transfer or resort shuttle has you on the first tee the same day. Once you are based in Belek you barely need to drive, as the courses cluster within a few minutes of the hotels, which is exactly why it makes such an easy, low stress golf week.