The Els Club Vilamoura is a private 18-hole championship club on Caminho da Fonte do Ulme, Vilamoura (8125-507 Quarteira), in Loulé municipality. It sits on the old Victoria Golf Course footprint, the Arnold Palmer layout that hosted the Portugal Masters for years, and reopened as an Els Club in July 2025 after a full redesign by Ernie Els Design.
Read this before you plan a round: membership here runs on invitation and proposal, not a walk-up booking. This is not the old public Dom Pedro tee sheet. A limited visitor path sometimes exists through partner hotels (historically a Victoria hotel stay route), but always confirm the current guest policy with the club or your hotel before you build a trip around it.
Who should play
Members, their guests, and anyone who has already got hotel or club access confirmed in writing. If you’re the kind of golfer who wants a serious modern championship test and doesn’t blink at private-club rates, this is worth chasing down. If your group is comparing Vilamoura courses and wondering where this one sits, think of it as a step above Laguna, Millennium, and the Old Course on exclusivity alone.
Skip it if you need a walk-up resort tee time, if nobody in the group has access, or if you’d rather put the green-fee budget toward Quinta do Lago or Vale do Lobo courses you can just book through a normal desk.
Course card
Published scorecards for The Els Club list an 18-hole, par 72 layout with five par 3s, eight par 4s, and five par 5s (front nine 36 / back nine 36). Tee sets stretch from shorter day tees to a long championship tip:
- Black: about 7,335 yards (championship tips)
- White: about 6,718 yards (roughly 6,560 m on some metre cards)
- Gold: about 6,265 yards
- Blue: about 5,781 yards
- Red: about 5,085 yards
That mix leans more par-3 and par-5 heavy than a classic championship card, so expect more risk-reward long holes and more pressure on your short game than a straightforward run of fours. Water and strategic hazards are part of the Els redesign story; confirm yardages and stroke indexes on the day card at the pro shop, since renovations like this tend to tweak details over time.
Allow a full 4 to 4.5 hours plus a warm-up. Wind still matters on this stretch of coast even when the fairways look generous from the tee.
Facilities and the week around it
Beyond the fairways, members have the clubhouse, a retail boutique, concierge, and 261 Bar & Restaurant for food and drink after the round. Vilamoura marina, Quarteira seafront, and the rest of the Vilamoura golf courses sit minutes away by car, which helps if your group splits between people with access here and friends playing Old Course, Millennium, or Laguna.
Tournament note: the club has been linked with a PGA Tour Champions / Portugal Invitational-style event window in 2026. Interesting if you follow tour golf, irrelevant if you only care about your own Tuesday tee time.
Practical tips
Email or phone the club before you book non-refundable flights around a round. If your access is via a hotel package, get the tee-time confirmation in writing. Hire a car or use a resort transfer – public transport to this area is poor. Morning slots usually beat afternoon wind and heat.
Wider planning: Golf in the Algarve, golf trip planning, and where to stay in Vilamoura.
Worth it?
Yes when you already have a path onto the tee sheet and you want a modern Els championship experience on the old Victoria land. No as a speculative “we will just turn up” Vilamoura round – book Pinhal, Laguna, or the Old Course instead.