Albarella is a sandy island in the Po delta, purpose built for family holidays and accessible by car via a short causeway over the lagoon, about 50 miles south of Venice. The whole area is a nature reserve and the island teems with deer and a profusion of bird life throughout the year, and with children in July and August. As well as a big beach and an impressive range of sports facilities for the active family, Albarella has a thriving golf club with an excellent 18 hole course that has hosted many important championships and is well worth a visit in its own right. Accommodation is in villas, apartments or the clubhouse, which has comfortable bedrooms and a good restaurant.

Created more than thirty years ago by the British architect John Harris, the course is a not a true links but a sandy parkland layout with typical Mediterranean coastal trees and bushes (tamarisks, mainly) separating the holes and screening the course from the beach on one side, and holiday villas on the other. Right handed golfers with a natural draw will have the course boundary to contend with, while those who favour the slice will be more worried about the two lakes that come into play for a run of holes in the middle of each nine. Only the most accurate or lucky will not at some point fall foul of the many big, shallow, hard-sand bunkers. The course is flat and a pleasure to walk and play, with well-kept fairways and true greens, and plenty of space for big hitters to let rip. The short holes are all quite different, and present an interesting variety of challenge, from an accurate short pitch over water at 5, to a brave strike with a wood at 16, which may need a driver on a windy day.

Whether you choose Albarella for a family holiday with a golfing component or an out of season short break, you can look forward to thoroughly enjoyable golf in relaxing natural surroundings, against the background hum of the sea and noisy water birds in the hazard. Fallow deer enjoy the course too, browsing quietly in the rough or sunbathing in mid-fairway on the safe assumption that this is where they are least likely to be hit.

Location: Albarella Island
Golf: Albarella 0km