Ask a British golfer to name a Spanish golf resort and the answers come quickly: Sotogrande, Costa del Sol, maybe Mallorca. They all deserve their dignity. But there’s a stretch of Spanish coastline where most UK players fly straight to the usual suspects, and it’s one of the most rewarding places in the country to swing a club. It is called Costa Cálida, and it is located in the region of Murcia, in the southeast of Spain.
For years this has been golf’s best-kept secret in Spain, and there’s something funny about that. Golf in Murcia is not a new adventure. The region has more than twenty-one courses, is supported by the regional government and its golf federation, and attracts approximately 165,000 golfers annually, whose visits generate approximately two million overnight stays throughout the region. This is a serious golf course that never shouts about it like its neighbors do.
Twenty-one courses and counting, no two rounds are the same
What sets Costa Cálida apart is not just the number of courses but their diversity. Within the compact environment you can play a different layout every day for a week and never feel repetitive. One circuit may pass through a desert landscape with mountains as a backdrop; the next one may sit almost along the shore, the Mediterranean shining through the holes. The region markets itself, appropriately, as more than twenty-one courses, each with its own unique characteristics, and the focus means you spend your time playing rather than driving between resorts.
That unity is more important than it sounds. At many golf courses the courses are spread out, and a week can involve long transfers that take up a day. Here, classes, hotels, the beach and the airport are all within a short distance of each other.
A climate built for golf
There’s a reason that professionals and package tourists have long loved this part of Spain, and it’s written in the area. Costa Cálida enjoys more than 300 days of sunshine per year, comfortably above the European average. The word itself is translated as “warm coast”, and the region depends on it. For a golfer accustomed to the vagaries of the British forecast, the reliability alone is worth the flight.
Beyond the green
A golf trip is rarely just about the golf, and that’s where Murcia quietly thrives. This region is a real gastronomic area, it draws the produce of the huerta fertile market gardens that are often called the vegetable garden of Europe and the fresh fish of the Mar Menor lagoon. The signature dish, caldero del Mar Menor, is a rice and fish dish cooked in the iron pot that gives it its name, and is worth ordering at least once. Wash it down with local wine and drink in three protected traditional churches: Jumilla, Bullas and Yecla, all within the region.
The culture runs deep, too. The Roman theater of Cartagena is one of the most beautiful in Spain, discovered in recent decades and beautifully restored. The city of Murcia is fortified by a cathedral that has watched over it for centuries. And the Mar Menor, Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon, offers warm, shallow waters and a string of beaches just minutes from the main roads. It’s perfectly possible to play a tough round in the morning and spend the afternoon somewhere where you feel like you’re not there.
Where can you support yourself?
Accommodations range from resorts with their own tours on the doorstep, to boutique hotels tucked into old towns and grand buildings overlooking the sea. Whether you’re traveling as a couple, a fourball or a full golfing community, there’s a base to suit the trip, and prices often compare favorably with Spain’s most established golf resorts.
A destination worth detouring to
None of this is a well-kept secret for golfers in the region. A study conducted by the University of Murcia revealed how much this sport has become embedded in the local economy, sustaining hotels, restaurants and jobs, and the region has invested in the right way. What’s been missing is just awareness among golfers who don’t really deserve it.
If you want to see the full picture in one place, courses, offers, packages that include a round and a room, Empire of Golf brings together the entire golf offering of the region in one place. For the UK golfer looking for somewhere new, somewhere warm and uncrowded, a quiet corner of Spain may not stay quiet for long. Better get it now.
