Camiral Golf & Wellness: Paradise Regained

In Paradise Lost, Milton describes the Garden of Eden as a place where the trees rose to an “insuperable height of loftiest shade, cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm”, composing “a woody theatre of stateliest view”. Visiting Camiral Golf & Wellness, you could say that this literary paradise has become reality in the province of Girona.

The seventeenth-century English poet almost certainly never visited the Costa Brava, but when he imagined what paradise lost would look like, he seems to have been picturing a setting very similar to the one created by the designers of the golf course that will host the Ryder Cup in 2031.

According to John Milton, the Garden of Eden was a place of pleasing contours, crystal-clear waters and sacred vegetation, bathed in a light upon which the sun “more glad impressed his beams than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow, when God hath showered the earth”.

On drawing near to Paradise, “purer air meets his approach, and to the heart inspires vernal delight and joy, able to drive all sadness”. That is the sensation felt by many of the players who have had the privilege of playing golf on this course, unique in all the world.

You have surely already heard and read a great deal about Camiral Golf & Wellness. But in this article we are going to give you the definitive guide, so you know exactly what awaits you when you travel to Caldes de Malavella to play your favourite sport.

The origin of the legend

The idea of building a luxury resort for golfers with a golf course arose in the 1990s.

As it happened, the Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia (RACC) owned some land on which a Formula One circuit had been planned.

But the choice of Montmeló made the RACC change its mind about the fate of that natural setting. Instead of becoming the stage for thrilling motor races, the owners of the estate opted for a far more sustainable investment. To that end, they joined forces with the PGA, the European golfers’ association, to design one of the most spectacular golf courses in the world.

Professional players Neil Coles and Ángel Gallardo designed a top-level golf course on a 540-hectare forest estate, crossed by the Camí Ral (an old Roman road that runs between the sea and the mountains).

Since its opening in 1999, the course initially known as PGA Catalunya has established itself as one of the best golf courses in the world.

Today, this resort comprises two courses that delight enthusiasts:

• Stadium Course: the older of Camiral’s courses stands out for its undulating layout, set among lush pine forests and water hazards. Its 13th hole has been rated by the experts as one of the 100 best holes in Europe. Perhaps that is why it has hosted major tournaments such as the Spanish Open and the Sarazen World Open.
• Tour Course: the second 18-hole course was opened in 2005. If you fly over the resort by balloon, you will see from above that it is a friendlier, less demanding course than its older sibling, designed for long-stay golfers who want to enjoy a privileged setting without the technical difficulties of the Stadium Course.

Although the Ryder Cup was always on the designers’ minds, in 2022 all of its facilities were completely renovated to make the leap from a high-competition club to a premium resort of all-round wellness.

The reasons Camiral Golf & Wellness has been chosen to host the 2031 Ryder Cup

You may be wondering why this luxury resort is going to host the 2031 Ryder Cup.

Well, the first thing you should know is that, ever since PGA Catalunya was conceived almost 30 years ago, the underlying strategic goal was to attract a top-level event like the Ryder Cup.

That is why every hole on the Stadium Course was conceived with enough room to accommodate large crowds.

But what most catches the attention of experts and enthusiasts is that, unlike modern courses that rely on length alone, this layout demands millimetre precision on every shot.

Its fairways, all of them flanked by a dense mass of native trees — pines, olive trees, oaks and more — feature truly demanding doglegs, as well as numerous changes in elevation that distort the perception of distances.

That terrain, typical of the Mediterranean forest in which Camiral Golf & Wellness sits, adds extra difficulty to an already challenging course.

What is more, this paradise — very similar to the one imagined by John Milton — demands maximum technical precision to tackle holes such as the 13th (with an elevated green protected by imposing water hazards). Because of this, any mistake is punished severely. And in competition, that adds psychological pressure on the player.

The owners have also notably upgraded the irrigation systems to improve the course’s sustainability, as well as re-seeding a large part of the grass so that the greens have the quality demanded at the very highest level of tournaments.

Camiral Golf & Wellness also stands out for its efficient water management. In fact, you could say it has become the flagship of modern golf courses. The closed-loop biological recycling circuit that feeds the lakes and water hazards, as well as irrigating the entire playing area, complies with European regulations and has become an example of agronomic engineering for the international circuit.

But the decisive key to Camiral Golf & Wellness hosting the Ryder Cup is the design of the fairways, which takes advantage of the natural shape of the terrain. Thanks to this, the gentle slopes and hills along the sides of each hole give the Stadium Course natural amphitheatres at every point of the layout — areas where the crowds can position themselves and always enjoy the best possible viewing angle.

From a logistical point of view, this resort sits at an exceptional crossroads: with an aerodrome in Girona itself, very close to Barcelona’s international airport, with high-speed rail and an extensive motorway network.

If we add to all of this a first-class hotel infrastructure, together with the many non-golfing activities visitors can enjoy — such as wine tourism or hiking, among many others — the choice of Camiral as Ryder Cup venue was only logical, something taken for granted ever since it opened.

Shall we book your green fee at Camiral?

You are probably itching to play a few holes on either of Camiral’s two courses.

If you are planning your golf trip to Girona, at Girona Tours we are experts in arranging everything you might need to turn your holiday into an unforgettable experience.

We want to make your life easier by handling everything to do with your holiday for you: flights, accommodation, meals, active tourism activities, course bookings, cultural visits, gastronomic experiences and more.

Whatever you can think of, we will take care of it.

Get in touch and we will tell you how we organise your golf experience at Camiral