Costa Navarino: Top 100 Golf Resorts in the World
Quick Facts
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Number of Rooms
1111 -
Amenities
Four hotels / 40 dining venues / 10 pools / clay- and grass-court tennis / four fitness centers / 3 spas / hiking trails / water park / beaches -
Number of courses
4 -
Course designers
Dunes Course (Bernhard Langer/European Golf Design), Bay Course (Robert Trent Jones Jr.), Hills Course (José María Olazábal), International Olympic Academy Golf Course (José María Olazábal)
Resort Overview
When the architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. thinks of Greece’s Costa Navarino, similarly sprawling and golf-rich resorts like Pebble, Pinehurst and Bandon spring to mind. What springs to mind for the Greeks? Perhaps … “Golf?” Remarkably, there are less than a dozen 18-hole courses in the entire country — that’s how little footing the sport has gained on Greece’s famously rocky terrain. So it’s beyond unexpected that Costa Navarino has, in the past few years, rocketed to the top of the list of Continental Europe’s finest golf resorts. Set in the Peloponnese region of the country, three hours west of Athens by car, the seaside resort is nirvana for both golfers and hedonists. Four world-class courses are routed around, above and alongside four first-class hotels: the family-friendly Westin; the hipster, adults-preferred W; the romantically posh Romanos; and the even more posh (and pricey) Mandarin Oriental. The Greeks may not know much about golf, but they’re scratch players at hospitality. Among the things at Costa Navarino that are abundant: outdoor dining of every imaginable variety; atmosphere; sun-worshipping Europeans; infused gin and tonics; vistas; warm breezes; trance-y Euro beats—and all the golf you can handle.
Highlights
One of its courses is nestled against the Ionian Sea, another rises above historic Navarino Bay, and its two newest tracks — courtesy of José María Olazábal — are gorgeously set in the mountains of the Peloponnese.
You’ve heard it called the day’s most important meal? At Costa Navarino, it’s the day’s most mind-boggling meal — buffets of such extravagance you’ll reconsider your morning tee times.
Not The Color of Money kind. An unusually large number of the resort’s guest rooms either back up to a shared, step-in lounging pool or have private outdoor pools of their own.
3 things to know
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Best time to go
Temperatures in famously steamy Greece are their friendliest in the spring and fall. That’s when the courses here are bustling and — bonus — the resort itself is free of intense summer crowds. -
Best non-golf amenity
Costa Navarino’s diversions are so vast there’s no real need to wander off property, but waiting not far beyond its gates is historic Greece: the stunning ruins at Ancient Messene, the centuries-old port city of Pylos, the castle at Methoni and, if you’re feeling ambitious, Olympia, the birthplace of the Games, which is two hours north by car. -
Insider Tip
A free shuttle service moves resort guests from hotel to hotel and course to course. That means you can (and absolutely should) settle in at, say, the whispery and luxe Romanos, then slip into the W at night to take in its waterfront dining and — how should we put this? — eye-catching clientele.