My golf guide to visiting TorreMirona and Perelada in the Girona area of Spain.
It’s lashing rain at home, the clocks have gone back, it’s dark at five o’clock. We’re huddled around the fire feeling sorry for ourselves, the golf clubs are growing mould in the shed and things are so bleak that all we have to look forward to is the Rumba on Strictly Come Dancing of a Saturday night. You dream of a getaway with the crew for a few days of golf, in the Sun, with good food, a glass of wine, nice hotels, bit of culture and craic. Where do you go? The Girona region in Spain of course!!
The Costa Brava and the Girona area in the North East in particular (a couple of hours North of Barcelona) with lots of marquee courses is massively popular with Irish, UK and European golfers. The problem is the marketing juggernaut for those courses is so effective, that they’re jam packed all the time, while other brilliant courses hotels and towns down the road have lots of availability, and more to offer. They’re scratching their heads wondering what the hell do they have to do to get more golfers in to visit them?
And that’s where we come in, with the European Golf Travel Media Association. Our job is to get away from that "conveyor belt" golf to seek out amazing places and help them prosper. And we’ve found a hum dinger!
TorreMirona and Perlada are two resorts a half hour down the road from each other with more going for them than anywhere else in the region. Why? Because these two destinations, blend both golf and cultural attractions unlike anywhere else I've been.
TorreMirona Golf & Spa Resort
First head to the TorreMirona Golf & Spa Resort about 9km South of Figueres.
That smiling gentleman’s name with Jo is Kilian Archelaguet. He’s one of these people that you meet once, and decide he’s an absolute legend. He’s in charge of the resort, and the whole place assumes his vibe, super friendly, laid back and classy. El Presidente del EGTMA Jo Maes was playing his 365th golf course that day and got a TorreMirona flag to mark the occasion!
TorreMirona golf course, set against the backdrop of the Pyrenees is a solid test, you can make it as tough as you like off the back tees or enjoy it more off the front.
Hit the ball well and you might get a birdie, you wont get yourself into too much trouble if it goes a bit astray but there are a couple of lovely holes with water hazards to really test your nerve.
…..And the greens were so good they could host the world snooker championships!
TorreMirona Reels
Gr8 day at TorreMirona celebrating Jo’s 365th round of travelling golf with the European Golf & Travel Media Association. A wonderfully tight twisting test with billiard table greens. 🇪🇸
— ᴅᴏᴄ - GOLFCENTRALDAILY.com (@GolfCentralDoc) November 7, 2023
Thanks to Kilian and his staff for your wonderful hospitality. pic.twitter.com/GFIHOIyeC7
After the round head back up to the hotel and out onto the terrace that overlooks the course. We had a classy post-game meal and bottle of wine sitting out in there in the Sun and it just enhanced the whole experience.
The great thing about the golf at TorreMirona is that it’s perfectly paced, not packed, minus the stressed out golf you find elsewhere. Lots of golfers from France make the short trip through the Pyrenees to come and play; they do love a red pair of trousers for some reason!
There’s a small driving range to hit a few balls too and the resident pro Steve Scott is a master of fixing swings and I caught a glimpse of his very tidy indoor club-fitting room too.
Rooms in the hotel are great, the food was excellent, and there’s a small spa in the hotel. There’s also a piano in the foyer, which we fully employed late one night. Incredibly, one of our group was a professional musician, Dan Fallon from Australia. Even more incredibly he hadn’t a bloody note in his head and had hooves for hands on the piano, so we had to rescue him time and again smashing out note perfect Irish ballads and Billy Connolly choruses by grabbing the lyrics from our phones. Lieutenant Dan you've been demoted back to Captain!
The Theatre Museum of Salvador Dali
After the golf, take a 10 minute taxi trip into Figueres to visit the Theatre museum of Salvador Dali. From beginning to end it’s a mind bending, clock melting, trip through the incredible mind of the genius surrealist. Every sculpture, piece of art, trick of the light and big reveal designed by Dali himself.
Watch out for optical illusions with the likes of Mae West and Abraham Lincoln making guest appearances and a Cadillac you might be better off staying out of on a wet day!
I know for a fact I impressed the Tour guide greatly when she was showing us "The Persistence of Memory," by telling all who were listening that Dali got the idea for the melting clocks while he was watching cheddar cheese drip down the side of the toasted sandwich in his George Foreman lean mean fat grilling machine!!
So basically if you stay and play at TorreMirona you have to get into Figueres and visit Dali or I will be rolling up my moustache at you!!
Hotel Peralada Wine Spa & Golf
Next head up the road to Hotel Peralada Wine Spa & Golf and say hi to Petra Darmstädter . Now I have been travelling a long time and I can safely say I've NEVER met anyone like Petra. A force of nature is not doing justice to this lady. Petra is to organising things what Thor is to The Avengers.
Petra is to marketing what Rolex is to timing. Petra is the kind of woman who could negotiate peace in the Middle East on her lunch break. Yes she's that good!! Everybody needs a Petra, and Perelada have her!!
I'm probably still not going to do this place justice but Perelada has a stunning hotel, golf course, a Castle, a museum with everything from state of the art electric cars to a library with a dildo (yes you read correctly!)...... AND WAIT FOR IT a Michelin Star restaurant and a Casino.
Perelada Golf Course
Dont let the short first hole fool you, you're about to embark on a Valderrama type test!! I loved the Perelada Golf course, really cleverly designed, pinch points where your drive ends up and loads of landscape changes.
Tony Judge from ClubstoHire who was with me is a great manager of a ball around a golf course and he treated us to an exhibition round of one over. Tony is like a young Soren Kjeldsen, without the height or the looks!
Four great birdies offset by bogeys where Perelada will bite you. It giveth and it taketh away, I love that in a golf course. It's one of those courses you just want to play straight away again....and next time don't fall into the traps!! Well done Tony, that was a lovely round!!
Video on X (Twitter)
Everything about Perelada is top top drawer. Today we got to play the golf course. Tight and tricky, with super greens, not unlike Valderrama. And our man Tony Judge was on 🔥 . Huge thanks from all of our European Golf & Travel Media Association gang to Petra and all the staff. pic.twitter.com/CnmmZCfGKa
— ᴅᴏᴄ - GOLFCENTRALDAILY.com (@GolfCentralDoc) November 9, 2023
Steady on now!! You're talking 5-Star hotel stuff here.....very few of the top hotels in Ireland would make it past the fifth round in the ring against Perelada. This is not an exhaustive list but standy out facilities were the rooms, the dining rooms (plural), the pool, the spa, the about 40 bay covered driving range at ground level, then another on the upper deck and then there was the gym....oh my God the gym...with its mind blowing wooden Nohrd equipment blended with top of the line treadmills and bikes it's phenomenal!!
If you're a foodie Perelada is the place for you. It is famous for its Michelin Star restaurant at Perelada Castle but let me tell you as one of the World's top ultra basic meat and two veg eating critics, the food in the Hotel Restaurant L’Olivera by Paco Pérez was every bit as good. Maybe even better! Shhhh!
Perelada Winery
Just down the road from the Hotel is the big Peralada Castle complex, which includes the new Perelada Winery and visitor experience. Make sure to do that. It is architecture meets winemaking. You'll learn about the grape varieties cultivated in the region, whilst walking through and peering into a working winery kept in "pristine" condition.
We were met by Vanessa Petit who is Director of Communications at Group Perelada who treated us to lunch at the Restaurant El Celler 1923 on site.
Vanessa has the patience of a Saint! We accidentally poured a half bottle of wine down on top of her jacket at the meal, and she smiled and laughed her way through it all!
Vanessa had a big drive home that evening (smelling of wine) so she passed us over to her colleague Gloria who brought us on an amazing Tour of the winery.
We ended our Tour with a Wine Tasting Session! Now I wouldn't have the first clue about wine but that red I tasted which retails for about €200 definitely had tones of wooden golf tees with notes of diamond encrusted belt buckles!
Perelada Winery Reel
Michelin Star Dining at Castell Perelada
Later in the evening we headed back down the road to the 14th Century Castle to experience Michelin Star dining at Castell Peralada Restaurant. There we met Miriam Pascual Gomes from the Communications department of Group Perelada. Miriam must've thought we were all either crazy or half mad, but it wasn't long until she was laughing along with our banter and having fun! I think!!
I'm not even going to try describe this place, I'm not qualified, except to say...... you hear about these incredibly technical food creations, you see them on TV, but this was my first time doing Michelin Star dining and it was mind blowing.
I'm a non fish eater, but that wasn't a problem to these artists in the kitchen as time and again they rose to the challenge producing incredible little tasting dishes, just for me.
Don't be dismayed by the trundling sound coming towards you after the dinner. That's the trolley of cheeses presented by front-of-house manager, sommelier and winner of the first ever Michelin Star for Service Toni Gerez. If you love your cheese boards, this will be the some of the best in the World with over 50 different varieties.
Finish off the perfect evening with a little look into the Casino on the other side of the Castle. You will need your passport (just the law) to get in. Gamble a few euro at Blackjack or Texas Hold 'em, or not, there's no pressure. It's actually a lovely place to have a beer too!
AND.......Before you leave the area, pop in to some of the villages in the region. We did a little tour of a place called Besalu and it was just gorgeous!! Thanks to our Tour guides for the lovely visit.
On behalf of our travelling party of Jo, Anne, Geraldine, Natasha, Bo, Tony, Dan and I thanks so much to everyone we met on your trip for your hospitality.
Whether it be golf, wine, food, relaxing, spa, sport, culture, casino, museums or stunning villages it's all there around you in TorreMirona and Perelada in Sunny Spain.
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