GOLFING GETAWAYS: Month-long golf break in Madeira will cure winter blues

Holidays

Michael Graham
October 4, 2019

Madeira is the perfect place to head to avoid the winter blues – and it has some amazing long-stay packages for golfers who feel frost should be limited to the outside of a beer glass.

Two Funchal hotels, the Dorisol Mimosa Hotel, and Dorisol Florasol Hotel, are offering 28-night stays – with unlimited golf at both Palheiro Golf and Santo da Serra – from just €61pppn.

The four-week breaks, available from October 1, 2019, until April 30, 2020, are available on a room-only basis, with both hotels – located centrally in Madeira’s capital – providing a complimentary shuttle service to both golf courses.

The Dorisol Mimosa Hotel enjoys privileged views over Funchal Bay, and is within walking distance of both the seaside promenade and the city centre. It has an indoor pool with health club, sauna and Jacuzzi; a gym; spa; tennis court; games room; and a terrace bar and Europa restaurant – shared with two other hotels in the Dorisol complex.

Golfers will stay in the recently renovated studio apartments, containing a fully equipped kitchenette; cable TV; free wifi; bathroom with bath or shower; and a private balcony. The cost is €1,699 per person, based on two sharing.

The Dorisol Florasol Hotel is located just a 20-minute walk from Funchal city centre, close to the promenade, with great views over the ocean. Nearby are restaurants, bars, supermarkets and all the facilities one requires for a perfect self-catering break.

Accommodation is provided in recently renovated one-bedroom apartments, with a fully equipped kitchenette; cable TV; bathroom with shower and bath; and a private balcony. The four-week break costs €2,035 per person, based on two sharing, with a daily €6.50 breakfast supplement.

The par-72, 6,656-yard (6,086m) course at Palheiro Golf – designed by Cabell Robinson – is situated within the magnificent Palheiro Estate, which is more than 200 years old. At nearly 1,640ft above sea level, the location enjoys dramatic views of Madeira’s mountainous skyline and the ocean, as well as – nestling below, just 10 minutes away – the island’s capital, Funchal.

Hotel Mimosa Medeira gold holidays

The original course at Santo da Serra, dating from 1937, was redesigned in 1991 by Robert Trent Jones Snr, who created a new and spectacular 27-hole complex. The third and fourth holes of the Machico course are regarded as the signature holes, sitting atop cliffs more than 2,200ft above sea level, providing views of the bay of Machico, where Portuguese navigators first landed in 1419.

Madeira, also known as ‘the islands of eternal spring’, has a population of only 260,000. On the same latitude as Morocco, the Atlantic archipelago has a sub-tropical climate, a rich volcanic soil and a unique eco-system. It is one of the only places in the planet where banana trees grow next to vineyards.

It was named Europe’s ‘leading island destination’ in the 2019 World Travel Awards, for the fourth successive year, and has been nominated for the title of ‘world’s best emerging golf destination’ in the 2019 World Golf Awards.

In 1999 the archipelago was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site and five areas have been declared nature reserves. The Madeira Nature Reserve covers a substantial two-thirds of the main island, where development is prohibited.

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