Salgados Golf Club

Lagoons, a sea breeze and a new island green.

Salgados lies on flat land behind Praia da Galé, west of Albufeira, with the Salgados Lagoon nature reserve on one side. It is a water course rather than a cliff-and-view course: lagoons and channels sit beside many holes, and a breeze usually blows in from the beach. Troon has run the golf since 2023 for owner Highgate Portugal, and a €3.2 million renovation in the winter of 2024 to 2025 refreshed the course and added a new island-green par 3. Three Marriott-branded resorts stand on the estate, and a clear 2026 rate card makes budgeting simple.

Salgados Golf Club green fees and tee times.

Book online through the club’s Golfmanager tee sheet, by phone on +351 289 583 030, or by email to bookings@salgadosgolf.com. You do not need to stay at one of the estate’s hotels to play. The club sets maximum handicaps of 28 for men and 36 for women. Its published policies ask for closed shoes, because the course is irrigated with recycled water, and clothing of the standard expected at upscale venues; T-shirts, gym, lounge or beach wear and worn-out clothes mean a change before you start. Players are expected to keep up with the group ahead, and staff decisions are final. Stay-and-play packages with the three hotels are built online with instant confirmation, and members of Troon Golf Rewards earn points on their rounds.

The round, in perspective.

Portuguese architect Pedro Vasconcelos designed Salgados, which opened in 1994 as an 18-hole par 72. The ground is level and the greens are fairly flat, so the test comes from water and wind rather than slopes. Lagoons and drainage channels flank many fairways, and the prevailing breeze off the Atlantic changes the club you need from hole to hole. The renovation ran from November 2024 to February 2025. It installed a Rain Bird irrigation system on all 18 holes, refreshed every bunker, levelled and returfed every tee and built a new par 3 to an island green, now the course’s signature hole. The work won World’s Best Golf Course Renovation at the 2025 World Golf Awards. Course ratings run from 70.0 to 73.0 depending on the tee, with slopes between 114 and 123.

Know before you go.

Handicap

Men 28, women 36

Shoes

Closed shoes required (recycled-water irrigation)

Dress

No T-shirts, gym, lounge or beach wear

Buggies

€50 for 18 holes, €40 for 9

Club hire

Callaway set €50 with a sleeve of balls

Make the trip work.

Salgados is level enough to walk, and a pull trolley costs €6 for 18 holes. Nine holes suit an arrival afternoon, at €60 in low season and €115 at the peak. The listed practice facilities are a short-game area with putting and chipping greens. For a wet day, the clubhouse has an indoor simulator lounge that plays full 18-hole rounds of famous courses, and John Wood, the teaching professional, gives individual and group lessons. Couples should look at the two-player rates with a shared buggy, from €197 in low season. The club hosts an event on the EDGA tour for golfers with disabilities from 15 to 17 November 2026, so check availability that week.

Faro airport is roughly 40 km east, about 40 minutes by car on the A22 motorway or the coast road towards Albufeira. The club’s address is Rua do Golfe, 8200-424 Guia, on the flat ground between Guia and the beach. Albufeira’s old town is a short drive east, and the beach at Salgados is about five minutes from the clubhouse.

Where it is.

Nearby: 1. Amendoeira Golf Resort: Faldo Course (6 km) · 2. Pestana Carvoeiro: Vale da Pinta & Gramacho (15 km) · 3. The Old Course, Vilamoura (19 km) · 4. Pestana Vila Sol (21 km) · 5. Vale do Lobo (24 km) · 6. Quinta do Lago (28 km) · Compare all The Algarve tee times

Somewhere to settle in.

Three Marriott-branded hotels stand on the estate and work with the golf club as partner hotels. The Algarve Marriott Salgados Golf Resort & Spa sits between the beach and the lagoon. Marriott Residences Salgados Resort offers apartments, which suit families and groups who want a kitchen. The Westin Salgados Beach Resort is the third option. All three can be combined with tee times in a stay-and-play package built on the golf club’s website. For more choice and lower prices, look in Albufeira, a short drive east, or the small town of Guia, just inland.

Make a trip of it.

The Faldo course at Amendoeira, in the hills behind Armação de Pêra, is a short drive west and makes a hilly contrast to Salgados. Pestana’s Vale da Pinta and Gramacho near Carvoeiro are about half an hour west, and Vila Sol and the Old Course at Vilamoura are about the same distance east. Off the course, the lagoon’s boardwalks are good for spotting flamingos, boats from Albufeira marina run to the Benagil sea cave, and Quinta dos Vales winery in Estômbar offers tastings about 30 minutes away.

Find your season.

The rate card shows when demand peaks: March to May and September to October are high season, while January, July, August and December are cheapest. July and August fall into the cheapest band, so a summer trip is the budget option. In winter, Salgados points out that Portugal shares the UK’s time zone and that Faro is about three hours’ flying from many western European cities, which makes a long weekend practical. Prices are valid until 31 December 2026.