The Next Algarve

Belek's courses are on a par with all the major courses on the Algarve, but far cheaper to play on and set alongside well-maintained beaches.

Last summer, when Hollywood A-listers flocked to the launch party of the Mardan Palace, one of the world's most expensive hotel resorts, it dramatically raised the profile of Southern Turkey's Antalya Coastline .

And now one of the area's resorts, Belek , is being touted as Europe's fastest-growing golf destination, home to 21 of Turkey's 27 courses, with six more planned.

The prospects of warmer winters than the Aegean , year-round flights from the UK and good rental returns from the international golfing fraternity, are also attracting more British buyers to the area.

As far as tourism is concerned the resorts on the East Mediterranean coast of Southern Turkey
are certainly on the fast track. The assets of the region as far as holidaymakers are concerned are obviously the weather, the attractive coastline and the abundance of history and culture. As the local authorities have slowly got themselves organised and now recognise the potential of tourism for the area, controlled developments are now planned all along the coast and golf resorts are part of those plans.

There are already some courses in the area and there are new hotel complexes that have courses in construction. The area of Belek to the east of Antalya has been recognised as a location for specific development in terms of tourism and new infrastructure, hotels, golf courses and other projects are planned. Other sports like diving, sailing, windsurfing, mountain biking and horse riding are already popular.

There are already at least 21 golf courses in the Belek area including the 27 hole championship course at the Cornelia Golf Club which was designed by Nick Faldo. Another British golfer, Colin Montgomerie, was involved in the design of the course at the Papillon Golf Club. Currently the only links course is at the Lykia Links Golf Club. Here there is a 18 hole Championship course and a 9 hole Academy course. Currently more than half of Turkey’s gold courses are in the Belek area, but the Turkish Golf Federation has announced that a further 100 courses are planned across the country.

The Gloria and Nobilis Courses, home to the European Seniors’ qualifying school and to the Turkish Seniors’ Open, are at one end of the resort and offer a superb day’s golf. At the other end of the resort, but only ten minutes away are National GC, the oldest Golf Club of Belek a David Feherty design, Tat Golf, 27 holes of glorious golf laid out along a strip between the Med and the Taurus Mountains, and the new Antalya Golf Club with two courses Pasha and Sultan. All courses are impressive with true greens and a host of hazards to test the golfer.

In planning the course, the architects took into special account the wishes and expectations of European golfers. The perfect sight of the golf courses present the wonderful panorama and landscape of the neighbourhood while providing the golf players with terrify golf pleasure and struggle. Some annex fields are being planned for the development of the golf facilities. All new golf facilities to be established will naturally undertake the protection of the forest and environment.

With constant sunshine, wonderful food and hospitality and some impressive sightseeing within an hour’s drive, you can understand why Belek is becoming so popular

Rapidly turning into Turkey's hottest new kid on the block in terms of tourism, Belek is a region on the coast of Southern Turkey which includes the town of Belek itself, the city of Antalya and the stunning Aspendos amphitheatre. Here the coastline is scattered with "blue flag" quality beaches, newly developed tourist centres and a variety of historic and cultural attractions.

Turkey was until recently a developing and undiscovered golf destination of Europe but during recent years that position has changed significantly. Scandinavian, German and Italian golfers have known about golfing in Southern Turkey for a while but with the help of better media coverage and new operators, the number of British deciding to play their holiday golf in Turkey has increased.

The tourism authorities in the region are keen on quoting numbers to illustrate their attractions, namely 32 top class hotels, over 500 varieties of plants, over 100 varieties of birds and more recently six international standard golf courses.

Golf, and its potential to attract visitors to the region, has certainly been taken to heart by the authorities here and they claim that a further 15 courses are planned to be built in the next 10 years. The previous golf hot spots of southern Spain and the Algarve coast in Portugal are now seeing serious competition from a place like Belek .