The world's best golf resorts: No.6 - Quinta do Lago, Algarve, Portugal

The course: From the mid-1970s onwards, Quinta do Lago’s South Course hosted eight Portuguese Open Championships. With pleasing elevation changes, plenty of water and fast greens, the 7,108-yard set-up meanders through umbrella pines and is a particularly scenic and stern test of golf. The North course, also 35 years old, has more undulating greens but equally perfect conditioning. The Laranjal course has just opened, is flatter and friendlier than its two neighbours, but will in time become a classic. The three together make this Portugal’s premier golf resort. There are a dozen other good courses within a 15-minute drive.

The location: 20 minutes from Faro airport, the 2,000 acres of Quinta do Lago border the Atlantic and Ria Formosa National Park. Sometimes called ‘the Beverly Hills’ of the Algarve, it’s the most aristocratic of the area's luxury golf developments, the others being Vale do Lobo and Vilamoura. Planning is tightly controlled making for a spotless environment. The new Monte da Quinta hotel, the Quinta Shopping centre, bars along the two-mile shoreline and a host of good restaurants ensure families and golf widows are well catered for.

Get your own 'club' house at: Quinta Properties in association with Savills are selling the Keys, the best and possibly last new development in QdL for a while. A refreshing change from Mediterranean pastiche other Algarve golf property offers, the ultra-modern design is more South Beach than Algarve. Running alongside the 12th fairway on the North course, a mix of garden apartments, penthouses and villas feature pools on the roof and all the latest electronic gismos. Quinta da Lago Real Estate has a variety of re-sale properties from €750,000 to €5 million.

Celebrity members: Jimmy Tarbuck, Chris Evans, Alan Shearer and Michael Owen are regulars, with Madonna and the Beckhams occasionally dropping in.

 Read more about the other Primelocation.com Top 20 Best Golf Resorts.