Modern holiday homes in Portugal: elite Algarve resorts building contemporary new homes for 21st-century golfers

Nearly fifty years after it opened, the elite golf resort of Quinta do Lago on Portugal’s Algarve coastline is being creatively upgraded for twenty-first century buyers with a new, contemporary design for its exceptional holiday homes.

Facilities include three golf courses, 16 restaurants and bars, cycling centre, tennis and padel courts and a wonderful wide sandy beach.

The Campus, a high-performance multi-sports training complex opened last summer with extensive gyms and studios as well as a €1 million ‘Desso’ hybrid grass pitch where national football and rugby teams from across Europe train.

Celebrities and sports stars love Quinta do Lago: Chris Evans, Frank Lampard and Holly Willoughby are all regulars with their young families.

The resort is also a favourite with CEOs, entrepreneurs and wealthy international buyers who appreciate the security and the convenient location just fifteen minutes from newly upgraded Faro airport.

The traditional Algarve villa with white exterior walls, red clay roof tiles and arched windows was the predominant architectural style but over the past few years Quinta do Lago has introduced a dramatic contemporary design.

Older houses are pulled down and in their place come angular, minimalist buildings with vast expanses of wood, stone and glass. Interiors are unfussy and open-plan with wide doors opening onto the gardens: ideal holiday home living.

San Lorenzo North is the last development opportunity at Quinta do Lago. Set in a peaceful, natural area surrounded by low pine trees, it has views over the golf course to the sea.

There are 25 plots priced from €2,800,000, ten now sold, and a newly unveiled show home, the Lorenzo Villa, designed by celebrated architect João Cabrita, for sale at €7,200,000.

“As a local architect I have seen the transformation of styles in Quinta do Lago over the years,” says Cabrita.

“I wanted to create a fusion of contemporary architecture combined with a classical and everyday family home and a layout that lends itself both to day-to-day lifestyle and entertaining. The design was inspired by the beautiful surrounding views while the interiors reflect a minimalist style.”

This is a hugely attractive and comfortable villa covering 7,502 square feet with a double-height atrium, a lift, five bedroom suites and leisure areas that include a gym, home spa, games room and cinema.

Outside, distinct living and dining areas surround a large heated pool.

Prices at Quinta do Lago start from €400,000 with Robinson’s average sale last year around €2,750,000. The most expensive villa currently on the market - €20,000,000 - is a new six-bedroom home with exceptional views and four separate swimming pools.

Along the coast on the eastern Algarve close to the Spanish border is Monte Rei, another golf resort offering contemporary design alongside traditional-style Portuguese architecture.

Currently a more under-the-radar choice among southern Portugal’s top golfing destinations, the resort has a build density of only eight per cent, giving home owners guaranteed peace, tranquillity and views.

Again the original villas here, as well as the clubhouse, are built in the traditional Algarve white walled, red roofed style but, alongside development opportunities for individually designed new homes, there are also 40 Clubhouse Residences launching this month.

Spread over four blocks built into the hillside and overlooking either the ocean or the 18^th hole of the Jack Nicklaus Signature course, ranked number one in Portugal, the 24 two-bedroom apartments and 16 penthouses are offered fully furnished with sleek contemporary interiors by an award-winning Lisbon firm.

The penthouses also have floor-to-ceiling windows and wraparound terraces in the master suites.

A major five-year investment in the resort will add a boutique hotel and spa, hotel village and a Beach Club to the existing three restaurants, shop, tennis courts, swimming pools and wellness centre.

Residents have access to all of these and the resort’s concierge services. A second Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, Monte Rei South, is also on the way.

Prices for two-bedroom apartments are from €825,000. Land plots and existing villas are also available for sale.

One of Quinta do Lago’s newest contemporary homes, the five-bedroom Golfe Leste villa, is available to rent from this summer, at a guide price of €10,000 a week.

It has two pools and a Jacuzzi, a cinema, gym and well-equipped games room with panoramic views of the golf course. Yet it is the striking architecture that is most notable.

Clean minimalist lines, blisteringly white but mixed with dark stone lead to a magnificently comfortable house with extensive spaces on patios, roof terraces and gardens for large groups to the socialise or individuals to hide away on a sun lounger.

Quinta do Lago Real Estate quintadolago.com; sanlorenzonorth.com