Long Stay Golf Vacation in the Almería Region of Spain

This is the second part of our blog series discussing our multi-month golf stay in Southern Spain. This details our month spent in the Costa de Almería region of Andalucía, our accomodation experience at Mar de Pulpi, and golf at Aquilon Golf, Desert Springs and Lorca Golf.

For the second month of our two month long stay golf trip to Spain (mid November thru mid December) we stayed at the absolutely lovely Mar de Pulpi. This urbanización is located on the sea a short distance outside of San Juan de los Terreros. A fantastic location with wonderful facilities, immaculate grounds, and very nice modern apartments/villas. Additionally, two of the three golf courses in the area on our golf package were superb and very well conditioned - the nicest we have played thus far in Spain or Portugal on this type of long-stay package. The resort is nicely situated as well for limitless exploring of nearby national parks, historical sites and charming cities.

A quick disclaimer that this post will likely be enjoyed by our golfer friends a bit more than non-golfers but there is some interesting information for all.

Our Review of our 4 Week Long Stay with Golf (ratings out of 5 stars)

Overall Experience **** 1/2

Accommodation ****1/2

Golf Courses ****

Location ***** Close to numerous historic sites, activities, major cities - lots to see and do!

Value ****1/2

In our previous blog we outline what a long stay package is about and what to expect so I won’t repeat here - check it out if you haven’t already!

We are by no means experts in the vast array of agencies that facilitate long term rental and golf packages but here is who we have used for our first two years of long stay golf packages in both Spain and Portugal: www.golfatm.com. We have had a good experience dealing with them. We used them for booking this stay, however, it is possible to book directly with Mar de Pulpi as well for both long and short stays with a variety of golf and non-golf related packages (biking is also huge in this area given its naturally wonderful coastal mountain terrain and excellent roads).

For this second month of our golf trip we selected GolfATM’’s Option B “Stay 4 Weeks & Play 18 Rounds of Golf” package which includes:

Stay 4 weeks in 2 bedroom apartment in Mar de Pulpí Pueblo Mediterráneo
Play 18 Green fees / person in 3 courses: 7 in Aguilón Golf, 7 in Lorca Golf & 4 in Desert Springs Golf
Different types of apartments to chose from: Standard Apartment with balcony, Solarium Apartment with roof top terrace & BBQ or Beach side Apartment with Balcony or Garden with Sea view.
Free exterior parking
Free WIFI

For our stay we chose the Solarium Apartment with roof top terrace, the cost was 1335 €/person including all taxes and fees, for the two of us it totalled 2670 €. Unlike our previous month, there were no additional per round golf fees making this a very good value in our opinion!

Golfing adds a large portion to the overall expense so if golf isn’t your thing, accommodation only rentals are an option for approximately 1000-1500 € per month. There are also many luxury modern houses/villas available in neighbouring towns if you have a higher budget.

An Honest Review of our Accommodations

Our stay at Mar de Pulpi was absolutely wonderful.The grounds and facilities were excellent with very well maintained gorgeous gardens and courtyards. Each block of condos has a pool within the courtyard plus there is a large heated pool (rare in Spain) on the ocean front which was very nice considering we were there in the fall. The whole complex was exceptionally maintained.

It is a great location to act as a home base in order to explore the region. Situated directly on the ocean and near the lovely small town of San Juan de los Terreros there are lots of good restaurants close by including within the development or a short walk or drive. Our favourites were Chirinquito Mar De Pulpi, Bar Restaurante la Entravista, and for higher end try the lovely Pecado a short drive away in the port city of Águilas.

Our Apartment

We chose the two bedroom Solarium Apartment with roof top terrace & BBQ. Our unit was tastefully decorated with nice furniture, a great kitchen with full stove and refrigerator, comfortable beds, and an outstanding rooftop terrace as well as second balcony off the main living area. The unit was very well stocked with all the conveniences for everyday living including in unit laundry. Each unit is privately owned so keep in mind decor and furnishings will differ.

Activity Highlights from our Stay

Don’t miss the world’s largest Geode which is a 5 minute drive from Mar de Pulpi. Well worth the entrance fee but be sure to book well in advance as the number of visitors per day is extremely limited:

Another worthwhile excursion includes the Tabernas desert, which is located about 20 miles north of Almería It is an impressive desert landscape that has often been used to film Hollywood Westerns and War movies. It is the only real inland desert in Europe with over 3000 hours of sunshine per year. We used Malcaminos for a half day 4x4 tour which was very good.

A visit to the city of Almería is a definite must do. The Alcazaba of Almería is one of the most impressive medieval fortresses in Spain.The city also features a great number of restaurants. We ate at Tony Garcia Especial Gastronómico and would definitely recommend for a higher end meal.

We also thoroughly enjoyed our visit to a small premium olive oil farm Oleo Almanzora - a gourmet extra virgin olive oil that is amongst the highest quality available. We had a very informative tour and tasting conducted by one of the family members.

The Real Low Down on the Courses Included in the Package

Aquilon Golf - Par 70

Yardage: Falcon (White) - 6298 yards - 71.4/131, Partridge (Yellow) - 5658 yards - 67.6/123, Sparrow (Blue) 4925 yards - 64.5/113, Red Lory (Red), 4535 yards - 67.2/121(women’s)

Rating out of 5 stars:

Overall Condition ****1/2

Greens *****

Tees *****

Fairways ****

Bunkers ****

Design ****1/2

Overall Golf Experience ****1/2

Aquilon Golf is a stunning golf course at the base of the mountain range overlooking the sea. The course was in absolutely superb condition (best we have played on our packages to date). A challenging layout with tricky greens and fairways because of the mountain slopes. Tees, fairways, bunkers and greens were all in excellent shape. There was a nice variety of holes utilizing natural topology with a surprising amount of water and ravines coming into play. A thoroughly enjoyable golf course - very highly recommended!

Desert Springs - Par 72

Yardage: White - 6161 yards 72/130, Yellow - 5526 yards 69.9/129, Red - 5131 yards 71.8-/128 (women’s)

Rating out of 5 stars:

Overall Condition ****

Greens ****

Tees ****

Fairways ***1/2

Bunkers ***1/2

Design ***1/2

Overall Golf Experience ****

Desert Springs was another superbly conditioned golf course with an extremely difficult layout. Home of a European Tour qualifying event, this course features a desert theme with very narrow fairways and generous greens. Accuracy off the tee is invaluable here as any stray shot - even minor will end up off the fairway in the arid, rocky and extremely hard desert landscape. A nice design once you get used to playing for accuracy off the tee. If you are having a day where your slice or hook is acting up this course will feel like torture and I’m sure more than a few would-be European Tour pros would agree! Greens, Tees, and Fairways were all in excellent condition. The American desert theme background was interesting (perhaps a little overdone), but the golf is very good quality, highly recommended. It was our second favourite package course to date in Spain and Portugal.

Lorca Golf - Par 71

Yardage: White - 6138 yards 70/133, Yellow - 5705 yards - 68/129, Blue 5224 yards - 65/115, Red, 4743 yards - 68.1/124 (women’s)

Unfortunately when we played Lorca it was in extremely poor condition. A lack of water combined with COVID closures which would seem to have had an impact on their financial situation has severely affected what would otherwise be a decent layout and golf experience. Tees and fairways had almost no green grass and everything was hard pan (concrete like). Balls would roll out an extra 50-75 yards in some cases due to the extremely hard fairways which made staying on the fairway and club selection very difficult. Because of the rock hard fairways approach shots were almost impossible without out finding some nearby rare live grass and tipping the ball up. The exception, and perhaps the course’s saving grace, were the greens and the lovely mountain scenery. The greens were the only areas that have been watered and were in fairly decent condition. Although green fees are much cheaper here, we unfortunately can’t recommend the course in the condition it was in when we played it. Rating out of 5 stars:

Overall Condition *

Greens ***

Tees *

Fairways *

Bunkers *

Design ***1/2

Overall Golf Experience **

For a detailed photo journal of our two month golf tour check out Spain - Murcia, Almería and Surrounding Area in our Adventure Galleries section of our website. In the album you can view specific details on each photo by selecting the individual photo and advancing from there.