Best Time of Year to Book a Golf Holiday in Europe

"We'll book it in January." We say this every October. We book it in March and the flights have gone up forty quid.

Timing a golf trip is two separate questions: when to travel, and when to book. They have different answers, and mixing them up is the most common way societies end up either in the wrong destination at the wrong time of year, or paying over the odds for something they could have had for less.

When to travel — by destination

Portugal and Spain: April-May and September-October. The summer months are genuinely uncomfortable — 35 degrees on an exposed fairway with no shade is not golf, it's survival. September is the Algarve at its best: still warm, courses emptier, prices lower. If you can only do summer, go early morning tee times and accept you'll be done by 1pm.

Morocco: March-April or October-November. Avoid July and August entirely — Marrakech in August is not designed for human activity of any kind, let alone sport.

Ireland and Scotland: May-September. You can play year-round but you're taking your chances with the weather outside those months. May is consistently underrated — long evenings, relatively dry, fewer tourists. September is often the best month on a links course anywhere.

UAE and Dubai: November to March only. April onwards is too hot to play. The winter season is excellent — warm enough, good courses, competitive package pricing as the operators compete for European visitors.

When to book

For a spring trip: book flights in October or November the year before. For an autumn trip: book in March or April. The sweet spot for European short-haul is roughly five to seven months out — before the algorithms notice demand picking up but late enough that schedules are confirmed. Booking the hotel two to four months out is usually fine; unlike flights, hotel rates don't always go up with proximity to the date and occasionally go down if occupancy is soft.

The one exception is peak July and August, where everything should be booked as early as possible because popular resort hotels and marquee courses genuinely do sell out.