Golf in Alcaidesa, Spain
I’ve just returned from a long weekend package holiday with 3 friends, golfing in Alcaidesa, Spain. Alcaidesa is a purpose built village just 15 minutes drive from Gibraltar and about 90 minutes from Malaga on the Southern tip of Spain and boasts two excellent, but very tough, golf courses.
We flew into Gibraltar airport with Easyjet from London Gatwick on the Friday, returning Monday, and stayed at the Hotel Quercus in Alcaidesa – a small but very comfortable and friendly modern hotel. Although it’s only a €20 cab ride from Gib airport, I’d definately recommend a hire car for several reasons. Firstly, although the Quercus website says it’s only 100m from the golf course, it’s actually about 2km from the clubhouse! Secondly, there are no taxis in Alcaidesa itself and they have to be called in from La Linea (on the Gib border) or San Roque which is about 5-6km away. Also, Alcaidesa itself has very little – a pharmacy and a restaurant/bar about 100m from the hotel and that’s it, so you need a car to go anywhere else.
The two golf courses are excellent but hard – very hard! And you definately will not want to walk either of them as they are hilly with often long (uphill!) walks between tees. The Heathland course we found the hardest as the wind was strong and the course gets very tight (we played in late-April). It’s a very well kept course and is only a year old (2009) so it plays well, but lacks maturity. The greens were excellent and some of the holes a real challenge. On one Par 3 we played drivers into the green 170 yards away and all fell short. Bear in mind our handicaps are between 11 and 18, but still!
The Links course was my favourite. Windy of course, but well laid out so that you are playing in all 4 directions which means you are not constantly battling the wind. Some very scenic holes on this course – in fact it was far more scenic than any other links course I have played. The club house is very modern and architecturally impressive. The golf cost us about €65 a round without buggies which were $35 each for the day. Check their website for deals though although you may be able to find a golfing package holiday which is better value – for example, if you go to the Quercus website, they too offer packages which meant we got 3 nights accommodation with (a basic) breakfast and two rounds of golf for €220 a head.
Flying with Easyjet was easy, especially coming back as Gib airport is small. We got stung on baggage – assumed that a golf bag would count as “hold” baggage but it doesn’t – an extra €50 was required! The option was flying with BA but only one flight a day and not (for us) at a particularly convenient time. Monarch fly to Gib airport too, but not from gatwick as far as I could tell. I would recommend flying to Gibraltar over Malaga unless you are intending staying in the busier resorts of Porto Buenus or Malaga itself. They are over an hour’s drive from Alcaidesa mind you, although there are so many courses locally that others might be better options if you stay there.
For the more outgoing “party” people, Alcaidesa isn’t a good choice to be honest – there is nothing to do there – but if you are more there for the golf and quieter nights drinking on your balcony then it’s perfect. And the Quercus with it’s modern rooms, nice big balconies, decent restaurant and friendly staff is definately recommended.