The Riviera's Grand Hotels: Sanremo, Alassio, Rapallo

The Ligurian Riviera has hotels that existed long before its golf courses: in Alassio the Grand Hotel was, according to its own history, the hotel of the English holidaymakers who discovered the town in the nineteenth century, and in Sanremo the Royal opened in 1872. Today they are still there. Three grand hotels serve as bases for golf: the Royal in Sanremo, the Grand Hotel in Alassio and the Excelsior Palace in Rapallo, each with the courses it recommends. For those who prefer a more intimate address there is also a relais in Garlenda.

A caveat first: none of the three has a course of its own and none publishes golf packages, with the exception of the Royal. Golf is arranged with the club.

Sanremo: the Royal and the course among the olive trees

The Royal Hotel opened in 1872: it was built by Lorenzo Bertolini of Turin, to a design by Alessandro Cantù, in an olive grove near the seafront. Badly damaged by bombing, it reopened on 25 December 1946; since 2006 it has been run by Edoardo Varese, the fifth generation. Around it lies a subtropical park of 16,000 square metres and the seawater pool designed by Gio Ponti, heated to 27 °C and open from April to October.

The Circolo Golf degli Ulivi is an 18-hole par 69 of 5,203 metres, attributed to Peter Gannon, with eleven par 4s, five par 3s and only two par 5s. It is a short, technical course: the 16th, originally a par 4, is now a 228-metre par 3 with a slope on the right. The 2026 price list asks 65 euros on weekdays and 80 on public holidays and weekends; partner hotels get 55 and 65 euros, and every Thursday that is not a public holiday there is a promotion at 50 euros. The course, which grew out of a demonstration on 1 December 1931 and opened in 1932, is closed from 29 September to 9 October 2026 and reopens on 10 October.

The Royal's golf package includes at least three nights, two green fees per person and a dinner. The event of the year is the Royal Golf Challenge, on 24 and 25 October 2026: a 36-hole stableford, with the option of playing a single round. A word of warning about the winter months: the hotel closes for a few months and the dates are not published.

Alassio: the nineteenth-century palace and Garlenda

The Grand Hotel Alassio was built in the nineteenth century in the neoclassical style, modelled on the palaces of the Côte d'Azur, for the English holidaymakers who were then discovering Alassio. After some forty years of decline, its revival began in 2000: ten years of works and a reopening in 2010; the rooms were renovated again in 2025. Its distinctive feature is the Thalassio Medical Spa, 1,500 square metres in a glass pyramid building, fed with water from the Ligurian Sea and open from March to January.

For golf the hotel points to the Golf Club Garlenda, in the Lerrone Valley, which the concierge places about ten minutes away by car. It is a par 72 of 6,085 metres, designed by John Morrison and John Harris in 1964: the first nine holes pass between centuries-old olive trees and old farmhouses, the second nine between oaks and pines. The club has nicknamed the 11th hole “Amen Corner”. The price list the club publishes shows 2024 rates: from 80 to 100 euros on weekdays and from 100 to 120 on public holidays and weekends, and there is as yet no price list for the current year, so the rates need to be confirmed. The hotel reports a closure on non-holiday Mondays from November to March, while the club says it is open every day of the year: it is worth phoning.

Rapallo: the Excelsior Palace and the course in town

The Excelsior Palace began as a Kursaal, opened on 1 January 1901 with gaming tables. According to the hotel, in 1917 the Allied leaders met here to discuss the fate of the First World War. It describes itself as the only five-star luxury hotel on the Portofino Coast, six kilometres from Portofino. The Beach Club, open from June to September, has two freshwater infinity pools of about 14 by 10 metres; the spa is open all year.

The Circolo Golf e Tennis Rapallo is in the same town: the first nine holes date from 1929, the others from the late 1960s, on 45 hectares crossed by the Boate stream. It is a par 70 of about 5,540 metres, short but tight, with small greens and many bunkers. The 7th, a par 5 that the club considers its signature hole, has the Romanesque monastery of Valle Christi behind the green. The club is open all year, except on Tuesdays that are not public holidays, and takes bookings online. For FIG members the price list, undated and with rates that exclude August, shows 60 euros on weekdays and 95 on public holidays and weekends; the dress code is written down and bans jeans, tracksuits, T-shirts and flip-flops.

An intimate alternative: La Meridiana in Garlenda

Those who prefer a hotel with the course within walking distance can look at La Meridiana, with 26 Provençal-style rooms and a member of Relais & Châteaux since 1978. The Golf Club Garlenda can be reached on foot from the hotel, which does not own it; reception books tee times and lessons, and according to the hotel guests pay 60 euros on weekdays and 80 at weekends for 18 holes. On 17 and 18 October 2026 the hotel hosts the Trofeo Relais & Châteaux.

How to organise a golf stay on the Riviera

• Book the tee time directly with the club: the Excelsior and the Grand Hotel Alassio do not do it for you.
• Check the closures: Sanremo is closed until 9 October 2026; Rapallo on Tuesdays; for Garlenda, ask.
• Measure the distances to the airports: according to the hotels, Genoa airport is 32 km from Rapallo; the Royal counts 62 km from Nice; La Meridiana about an hour from Genoa and an hour and a half from Nice.
• Dress for the course: Rapallo's dress code is written down; at the others, ask.

Curiosities

• The golf born from a demonstration. On 1 December 1931 two English gentlemen and two professionals showed the game on the Ulivi hill; the club was inaugurated in 1932.
• A Ligurian Amen Corner. At Garlenda the 11th hole bears the name of the most feared stretch at Augusta.
• An empress in the suite. At the Royal the Exclusive Suite Sissi measures 82 square metres.
• A princess with 45 trunks. In July 2016 a Saudi princess arrived at the Grand Hotel Alassio with 30 servants and about 45 trunks, for three weeks.