The area around Alicante Airport has become one of Europe's leading golf destinations. In little more than an hour's drive, golfers can reach dozens of courses across both the Costa Blanca and the Region of Murcia, with sunshine almost all year round, excellent flight connections and a fairly varied choice of golf.
Although the Costa Blanca has been an international golf benchmark for decades, more and more golfers are extending their trip south to discover Murcia: fewer courses, more tranquillity and new projects that are changing what you can expect from this part of Spain.
1. The Costa Blanca: it has its limitations too
No golf destination is perfect, and the Costa Blanca is no exception. If you are planning a trip, knowing the weak points is as useful as knowing the strong ones.
Development has taken over many natural settings
The Costa Blanca's success has come at a price. Residential and tourist construction has gradually eaten into many courses that once had attractive natural surroundings and are now surrounded by housing developments. For anyone who values the landscape as part of the playing experience, that shows.
A very familiar market
The Costa Blanca is a mature market. The courses are well documented and, for those who have been coming back for years, they start to feel familiar. The feeling of discovering something new — one of the best things golf travel can give you — is increasingly hard to find here. Many regular golfers return to the same course more out of habit than choice.
Crowds in peak season
Winter is the busiest season on the Costa Blanca, and it shows. The most popular courses fill up from late November to March, and the concentration of visitors on a relatively small stretch of coast can make the experience feel more crowded than expected.
Uneven quality between courses
Having many courses is an advantage, but it also means quality varies considerably. Alongside excellent, well-maintained courses there are others that have gone years without the investment they need, where the playing experience does not live up to what the destination as a whole promises.
2. The Murcia option: 60 minutes from Alicante
The Region of Murcia begins where the Costa Blanca ends. They share a border, a climate and a Mediterranean coastline, but they have developed in very different ways, and that difference is precisely what makes Murcia interesting.
While the Costa Blanca has been shaped by decades of mass tourism, Murcia has taken a different path: less tourist infrastructure, more space, more character of its own. The result is a region that still feels truly Mediterranean, and that in golf offers something the Costa Blanca can no longer provide: the excitement of a destination still writing its story.
One of the most interesting projects in this respect is Corvera Hills Golf: an 18-hole course under development within the El Valle and Carrascoy Regional Park, 60 minutes from Alicante Airport and 10 minutes from Murcia International Airport.
Why the distance matters
With Corvera Hills just 60 minutes from Alicante Airport , Costa Blanca golfers have a real choice: the established courses they already know, or something different a little further south. The two options are not mutually exclusive. They complement each other.
For anyone organising a golf week, it is also a way to add variety: a few days based in Alicante or on the Costa Blanca and a trip to Corvera Hills that adds a completely different dimension to the holiday.
3. Golf property near Alicante: the Murcia advantage
For golfers thinking about more than a trip — a holiday home, a place to retire or an investment for personal use — the comparison between the Costa Blanca and Murcia changes considerably.
The Costa Blanca property market is solid and very liquid, but prices have reflected years of pent-up demand from European buyers. The days of finding good opportunities next to a golf course at early-stage prices are long gone.
Murcia, and specifically Corvera Hills Residences — the residential development directly linked to the course — offers something different. Prices in Murcia are noticeably lower than on the Costa Blanca for comparable quality. The project is still under development, which means buyers get in before the full value of the resort is reflected in the price. And what is on offer — a home next to an 18-hole course in a protected Mediterranean natural park, 10 minutes from one airport and 60 from another — is something the Costa Blanca can no longer offer at any price.
The Costa Blanca is a good starting point. Murcia could be the destination.
The Costa Blanca's golf offer is solid, well known and enjoyable, especially for first-time visitors or those returning to courses they already know and love. It has earned its reputation and will remain a benchmark destination for European golf for many years.
But if you have already played the Costa Blanca and wonder what else Spain can offer, or if you are planning your first big golf trip and want to look a little beyond the obvious, Murcia has a lot to say. More natural, calmer, better value. And with Corvera Hills Golf under development just 60 minutes from Alicante Airport, it is easier and easier to reach.
The best time to discover a golf destination is before everyone else does. For Murcia, and for Corvera Hills Golf, that time is now.
