Same price, minutes apart, but Laguna and Pinhal couldn't be more different once you're on them — one is open and water-laced, the other classic pine-lined parkland. Here's how Vilamoura's other pair compares.
Vilamoura has five golf courses, and after the Old Course and the Millennium, Laguna and Pinhal are the pair most golfers end up choosing between. They sit minutes apart, cost the same to play, and couldn't look more different once you're actually on them.
The exception and the pedigree
Pinhal has the longer history: Frank Pennink laid it out in 1976 as the second course ever built in Vilamoura, after the Old Course, and Robert Trent Jones Sr. partly redesigned it in 1985. Laguna came later, in 1990, designed by Joseph Lee as a deliberate change of pace from Vilamoura's tree-lined norm — open, exposed, and built around water rather than pines.
Laguna: open, exposed, water everywhere
At 6,121 metres par 72, Laguna breaks the Vilamoura mould with few trees and a links-like feel — the wind is a constant factor here in a way it isn't on the pine-sheltered courses nearby. Eleven of the eighteen holes border its numerous lakes, and 79 bunkers demand precision rather than raw distance. It's a genuinely different test if you've already played the more classic Algarve parkland layouts.
Pinhal: classic pine-lined parkland
Pinhal plays 6,353 metres par 72 through the umbrella pines that define most of Vilamoura, with elevation changes keeping the round interesting from hole to hole. It's the quieter, more traditional option of the resort's five courses, and popular with golfers who return to Vilamoura year after year and know the course well enough to use the local knowledge it rewards.
Which one should you play?
If you want a proper change of scenery from tree-lined Algarve golf — more wind, more water, a links-adjacent feel — play Laguna. If you'd rather the classic pine-framed round with genuine Vilamoura pedigree, play Pinhal. Both cost the same, from €123, so it really comes down to which kind of test you're after. Since they're a short drive apart, most golfers staying in Vilamoura for more than a few days play both.
Want the numbers side by side instead? Open the course comparator to see Laguna and Pinhal's price, par, handicap limits and facilities pulled straight from our live course data.
