Looking for inspiration after travelling to the same golf destinations year after year? Then be prepared to be blown away.

There’s a new kid on the block – and it is nothing short of epic.

While my colleague Jack Lumb recently travelled to Lisbon and was seriously impressed with the golf offering just to the south of Portugal’s capital, I venture further south to experience the delights and amazing golf offerings of Comporta on a trip with Scottish golf tour operators GolfKings.

If you haven’t already heard of Comporta, you soon will. Around 90 minutes by road from Lisbon and set at the base of the Troia Peninsula below the Sado River estuary on the pristine coast of the Alentejo region, it is a small community located in a laid-back area of stunning beaches, sleepy villages, rice paddy fields and pine forests. And now golf.

Three new courses, all of them top-notch, have opened since 2023, among them Sergio Garcia’s first design, while Robert Trent Jones Senior’s coastal classic Troia, just 15 minutes’ drive awa,y is undergoing major investment under the new ownership and management of fast-growing sports and hospitality group Details.

Accommodation in Comporta

Home for the first three nights is the Pestana Comporta Village Residences, a new complex on the edge of Comporta village. It comprises 75 villas sleeping up to six adults, each with its own plunge pool, garden and outside dining and living areas.

I’m in a standard villa that has three en-suite bedrooms and a communal open-plan lounge with comfy sofas, a large TV, a kitchenette and a dining room. The bed is comfortable, and storage space is basic, comprising an open closet and shelving. For most guests, this would be adequate for a short stay.

As the villas are aimed at self-catering guests or those who prefer to dine out, there is no restaurant. A charcuterie board on the dining table on arrival makes for a very pleasant welcome, however. The only central facilities in the complex are a check-in area and a small gym. But the main village is just a short walk away and has restaurants and bars.

We enjoy a wonderful dinner one evening in the village at the Cavalarica restaurant, converted from old stables with tables set in individual stalls.

On the way there, we stop off for a drink under the stars at the RoofTop Bar. It is part of the AlmaLusa Comporta boutique hotel, another stay option in the village.

Alternative accommodation possibilities include three hotels at Troia Resort, adjacent to Troia Golf and also managed by Details, as well as the Crowne Plaza Costa Caprica, closer to Lisbon, where we stay on our final night, so that we can play the nearby PGA Aroeira 1 and 2 courses.

The Comporta area

The coast is just five minutes from Comporta village for couples or families who want to enjoy the miles of unspoilt sandy beaches. There are also plenty of other things to do in the area when not playing golf.

We take a two-hour boat trip into the Sado estuary from Troia Marina to go dolphin spotting, and we are soon rewarded with the sight of several bottlenose dolphins cruising in our bow waves and then swimming past repeatedly when the skipper slows the engine. The trip also gives us close-up views of the impressive Santiago do Outao Fort, mountains and beaches across the estuary.

History lovers can visit the Troia Peninsula’s extensive Roman ruins, once the largest fish-salting centre in the Roman Empire. It is open for self-guided visits from June to September. Just outside Comporta village, a rice museum documents the history of the region and its rice-growing industry.

This part of the Alentejo coast is a natural paradise, with more than 150 bird species recorded as well as over 200 types of plants and numerous mammal, reptile and amphibian species. We spot flocks of storks and many storks nesting on telegraph poles while driving past the rice paddies en route to golf each day.
On another evening, we head to the hills of Grandola, half an hour further south to the family-owned A Serenada winery, where we enjoy tastings of some of their delicious wines overlooking the vineyards at sundown, followed by a dinner featuring local specialities. Besides the winery, A Seranada offers eight rooms for guests to stay on-site as well as wine-making workshops and vineyard tours.

Heading north to go to PGA Aroeira and the Crowne Plaza, we take the car ferry from Troia across the Sado to Setubal – a pleasant alternative to the long motorway journey skirting the estuary. Having visited the Algarve and other parts of Portugal on many previous occasions, I am enthralled by Comporta, Troia and the surrounding area, and could happily spend a lot more time there. Being so close to Lisbon, you could also easily combine it with a few days in the city to unwind and soak in the unhurried atmosphere.

Golf in Comporta

Terras da Comporta is the flagship venue in the area, hosting two exceptional golf courses, both with their own unique style and character.

Course: Torre Course
Opened October 2025 | Architect: Sergio Garcia
Location: Terras da Comporta, Lisbon, Portugal
Yardage/Par: 7,200 yds / Par 72
Difficulty: Challenging for low-handicap golfers; enjoyable from forward tees
Best for: Golfers seeking dramatic scenery and a remote bucket-list experience
Key strengths: Incredible views, rugged terrain, strategic routing
Considerations: Remote location; heat in summer; lots of sand and heavy bunkering

The second course to be created at Terras da Comporta, Torre, is Sergio’s first foray into golf design in Europe. Everything about it is big, from the gargantuan practice area where pyramids of Torre logo golf balls are set up next to every bay of the driving range as well as by the putting and chipping greens, to the sculpted bunkers and huge swathes of waste sand and scrub areas that frame every hole, accentuated by the gentle undulations of the course.

Everything, that is, except for the greens, which are relatively small compared with the wide fairways, notably so on the par-4 4th. They are also well-guarded by humps and bunkers.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. We are playing Torre just after its official opening and we are among no more than a couple of dozen golfers teeing off here today. This is golf of the gods! The course is so new it doesn’t yet have its own clubhouse. After a security check at the gate, you are welcomed by staff at the temporary pro shop and given a personalised water bottle before getting in your buggies.

The opening few holes are friendly tasters of what’s to come. Very enjoyable, provided you keep your ball out of the waste areas!

The par 3 holes are a delight, and all the greens roll true and pacey enough to get the feel for them early into the round, very nice considering how new the course is.

It’s as you approach the turn that Torre really comes into its own, though. Your drive from the elevated tee on the par-5 9th needs to be high enough to clear a lone, squat pine in the middle of the fairway. Go either side, and you risk running into bunkers that line the entire hole, the left-hand ones guarded by another pine.

For me, the par-5 11th is Torre’s standout hole. A double-dogleg, all you can see from the tee is oceans of sand interspersed with seemingly narrow strips of fairway. The long hitters in our group have a blast on the hole, while I’m happy to escape with a double bogey off my 23 handicap.

A dogleg left, the 15th is another beauty of a par 5, daring you to take on the huge waste area that eats into the fairway down the left to avoid going into the lurking bunkers on the right.

The final hole, a long par 4, sweeps to the right around yet more waste sand to the uphill green, from which you get a grandstand view of the other back nine holes.

Named World’s Best New Course in the 2025 World Golf Awards, Torre presents challenges that continually make you think about your line and club selection. However, it is very fair and is a joy to play.

Dunas was the original Terras da Comporta golf course and has already received multiple awards and recognition as one of Europe’s best new designs

Course: Dunas Course
Opened May 2023 | Architect: David McLay Kidd
Location: Terras da Comporta, Lisbon, Portugal
Yardage/Par: 7,260 yds / Par 72
Difficulty: Highly playable for all handicap golfers; multiple tee options available
Best for: Golfers seeking dramatic scenery and a remote bucket-list experience
Key strengths: Incredible views, rugged terrain, strategic bunkering
Considerations: Remote location; heat in summer; lots of sand and heavy bunkering

The beautiful, wood-clad Dunas clubhouse sets the scene for an even more spectacular round of golf. The omens are good even before we have breakfast there, the sun rising up behind pine trees to bathe a driving range equally as impressive as its newer sibling’s in golden tones.

Designed by noted Scottish architect David McLay-Kidd and opened in 2023, Dunas was also honoured at the 2025 World Golf Awards, being named the Best Course in Europe.

After walking off the 18th green, I would go further and say it is one of the finest courses in the world, perhaps even in my top 5 – and I have played many of the best in both hemispheres.

From the outset, Dunas is an amazing golf course. Following a more rollercoaster terrain than Torres, it is just as expansive and is also awash with bunkers and waste sand areas, but it has a completely different feel. If anything, it reminds me of another of McLay-Kidd’s creations I have played – Mammoth Dunes in Wisconsin. Fairways are tighter and are hemmed in more by mature trees; some shots are blind, and greens are larger. After the skinny fairway on the par-4 opening hole, edged all down the left by waste sand, the par-5 2nd doglegs left around another huge waste area to a sliver of a landing area with more sand behind.

The par-4 5th is a right dogleg, forcing you left to avoid an encroaching, deep bunker and tall pines if you can’t land beyond it. Then the entertaining short par-3 6th presents you with what appears to be a sand tidal wave jutting into the hole directly in front of the green that’s imperative to avoid.

By the time you reach the downhill par-4 7th, the toughest hole on the course, you’re mesmerised by the astonishing views Dunas continues to serve up. Don’t let your guard down, though, and make sure you don’t send your approach shot too long, as there is sand all round the back of the green. The great holes keep coming, the pick of them around the turn being the par-4 9th and 11th holes, respectively the third-hardest and second-hardest on Dunas, with both requiring precision shots to keep out of sand.

After the longest hole, the 557-metre par-5 12th, with its dipping fairway and sloped green, the downhill 13th is another par 4 and is possibly my favourite. It begs you to drive long, which sadly I can’t, while adding a pot bunker just in front of the green to the left-hand waste area just for good measure.

But, I also enjoy the short par-4 14th and risk-reward par-5 15th that play in opposite directions and are separated by more waste sand and scrub. The par-4 18th is a fitting way to end the round, featuring a large waste area that cuts deeply into the fairway twice with trees and scrub to the right.

We all step of the green feeling bruised from the test but thoroughly exhilarated.

Course: Pinheirinho
Opened May 2023 | Architect: Jorge Santana da Silva
Location: Terras da Comporta, Lisbon, Portugal
Yardage/Par: 7,140 yds / Par 72
Difficulty: Demanding course with numerous water hazards; multiple tee options available; large, undulating greens
Best for: Golfers looking for a varied challenge on a tour of the area
Key strengths: Natural terrain, strategic bunkering and water hazards
Considerations: This is a highly exclusive golf course requiring an invitation only

Close to the Torre and Dunas layouts, Pinheirinho is a hidden gem of a course. So hidden, we were the only golfers playing it the entire day!
Originally due to open in 2012, the financial crisis put it on hold for over a decade. The course forms part of a residential development but is surrounded by nature, with the 220-acre site carved out of a pine forest close to the coast.

While on not such a grand scale as its near neighbours at Terras da Comporta, the design also makes extensive use of waste sand and scrub areas, with abundant heather, along with plenty of water. That mainly comes into play on the back nine, although the raised green on the par-4 1st hole juts into a small lake, while the stroke-index-one, par-5 4th hole ends with a shot back over the same lake to a water-side green. Bunkers on the course are more manicured and smaller than at the other two courses, but no less strategically placed. Greens are large and undulating, the long, narrow green on the par-4 10th hole coming after you negotiate the double fairway that’s split by another lake.

Other standout holes are the island-green 17th and the par-4 18th, which ends with a green at right-angles to the fairway reached by an approach over a lake.

The course is playable by invitation only or through selected tour operators.

Other golf courses close to Comporta

Troia Golf is a 45-year-old RTJ design tucked near the tip of the Troia Peninsula. It is showing its age, but is due for a major revamp in the near future by the new owner, Details.

In the meantime, despite being ragged around the edges in places, it is certainly worth playing, particularly if you catch the ferry to Setubal from the nearby terminal straight after your round, as we do after playing the back nine.

A mix of links and parkland golf, the course has narrow fairways lined by mature trees with small greens. Several holes on both nines play to greens next to beachside scrubland with views to the headland across the Sado estuary. My favourite holes are the par-4 12th, par-5 14th, par-4 16th and short par-3 17th.

Closer to Lisbon, we also play both the PGA National’s Aroeira 1 and 2 courses.

They have been reviewed by Jack Lumb, which you can read in full here, so I won’t go into detail about them here. Suffice to say, they are both excellent courses to add to a stay in Comporta along with Troia, giving six courses within a short drive of each other south of Portugal’s capital.

Accommodation and property development

Terras da Comporta has been owned by real estate company Vanguard Properties since 2018, when it took over the stalled development that had been in the making since 2008.

Its aim has been to create the most sustainable golf resort in Europe, and the project includes a residential development with carbon-neutral houses, the Torre clubhouse and two five-star hotels.

Pinheirinho is also due to get its own hotel, the luxury Six Senses Spa Comporta, offering 70 rooms and several dining venues in an eco-friendly development. It is due to open in 2028.

The plans for Troia Resort include significant investment in the golf course, accommodation and lifestyle amenities. Like Troia, the PGA Aroeira courses are part of the stable managed by Details and are getting major investment pumped into the complex. Following work to upgrade Aroeira 2, a similar scheme is ongoing for its sister course, together with a planned hotel and enhanced leisure facilities.

Peter’s verdict on Comporta as a golf destination

It is increasingly rare to find new golf destinations close to the UK in an area that has not already been discovered by the masses. And rarer still to witness the birth of one offering such quality, hand in hand with environmentally-friendly ideals. I strongly suggest you make plans to visit the Comporta area soon. Before everyone else does.

Peter travelled to Comporta with golf holidays specialist GolfKings: www.golfkings.co.uk