How to Play Quinta do Lago: Tee Times and Access

The short answer

You play Quinta do Lago as a visitor, by booking a tee time directly with the resort or through a golf tour operator. There is no membership barrier and no ballot: all three courses, the South, the North and Laranjal, are daily fee courses, and the only real catch is demand and price. Indicative 2026 green fees start from around €178 a round, with the headline South Course at roughly €185 in the spring and autumn peak, and the North and Laranjal a little less. Resort guests and golfers on stay and play packages pay less and get priority on the tee sheet, so most play it as part of a stay.

The South Course is the round to build a visit around, a William Mitchell design from 1974 that has hosted the Portuguese Open eight times and is famous for its long par 3 fifteenth across a lake. If you have time for more than one round, add the North, fully redesigned and reopened in 2014, or Laranjal, set in a former orange grove a couple of kilometres east in the Ludo valley. All figures here are indicative and verified in June 2026, so always confirm current fees and availability directly with the resort before booking.

How to book, step by step

Start by fixing your dates and deciding how many rounds you want at Quinta do Lago, because the best value for most golfers is a stay and play package that bundles rounds across the resort's courses with nights on site. Packages secure the preferential guest green fee and priority on the tee sheet, which matters in the busy spring and autumn windows when the prime morning times go first. If you only want a single round as a visiting day golfer, book as far ahead as you can, especially for the South Course at weekends and in peak season.

Quinta do Lago sits in the Golden Triangle, the cluster of golf around Quinta do Lago, Vale do Lobo and Vilamoura, about twenty minutes from Faro airport, so it pairs naturally with the neighbouring courses. The adjoining San Lorenzo, consistently rated among the finest in Portugal, is the obvious add for a connoisseur's day, and the trip scales up easily into a long weekend or a week taking in the wider Algarve. A hire car makes the short hops simple.

When to go, and which course to play

The Algarve golf season runs year round, but the sweet spots are spring, from March to May, and autumn, from September to November, when the weather is warm and settled and the courses are in peak condition. The mild winter is excellent value and very popular with visiting golfers escaping the northern cold, while high summer is hot, so book early tee times. Whenever you come, give the South Course the central slot: a par 72 of around 6,500 metres routed through umbrella pines and lakes above the Ria Formosa, it is the historic championship test and the one most worth your money.

If you are playing more than once, the North, redesigned and reopened in 2014, is a strong, modern complement, and Laranjal, in its quiet former orange grove, is a gentler, beautifully conditioned round that many visitors come to prefer. Play the South for the history, add one of the others for variety, and you have the heart of a Golden Triangle golf trip.