Costa Navarino Dunes Course | Golf Trip & Resort Guide

The Global Golfer · Messinia · Greece · Golf Trip Guide

For the current course facts, Course Swing links and live planning path, use the The Dunes Course — Course Intelligence page. This legacy URL is retained as a supporting resort-and-trip guide.

The Dunes Course at a glance

Location: Navarino Dunes, Messinia, Greece
Designer: Bernhard Langer in association with European Golf Design
Opened: May 2010
Holes: 18
Par: 71
Back tees: 6,581 yards
Setting: Mediterranean resort course with sea, river, olive and citrus-grove landscapes
Last checked: 15 September 2026

The Dunes is most useful as part of the wider Costa Navarino trip: golfers can combine its mixed coastal and inland character with three other courses, resort accommodation and recovery without changing regional base.

Why play The Dunes?

The Dunes was the first signature-designed golf course in Greece and remains the original golf anchor at Costa Navarino. The opening stretch is influenced by the coast, while other holes move beside the Sellas river and through olive and fruit groves. It is not a copy of a British links: the appeal comes from the way Mediterranean terrain, resort-level conditioning and links-style features are mixed into a course designed to accommodate different standards of golfer through multiple teeing options.

Wide fairways and large, undulating greens make the course visually welcoming, but steep-faced pot bunkers and the movement of the putting surfaces stop it becoming a simple resort exercise. For a travelling golfer, that balance means The Dunes can work as the first round of a longer trip before the more elevated challenges at Navarino Hills.

Course character and strategy

Choose tees around the game you have brought with you rather than the yardage you normally play at home. The back tees stretch to 6,581 yards, but the course offers several tee sets. Wind can change the effective length of the coastal holes, while the inland sections reward sensible positioning into the larger greens.

The useful strategic theme is restraint. Generous landing areas can tempt the player to chase distance, yet approach position and avoiding the deeper bunkers can matter more than finding another few yards from the tee. On a multi-round holiday, playing to the correct side of fairways and leaving comfortable approach distances is likely to produce a more enjoyable opening round than treating every hole as a driving contest.

Facilities

Costa Navarino provides a golf academy, practice facilities and equipment hire, including clubs, shoes and buggies subject to current availability. The Dunes Clubhouse also gives the round a natural start and finish within Navarino Dunes rather than requiring golfers to leave the resort immediately after play.

Stay · Play · Recover

Stay

The two principal hotels at Navarino Dunes are The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort and The Westin Resort Costa Navarino. Staying here gives the simplest access to The Dunes and places golfers inside a much wider resort environment of restaurants, sport and leisure.

Play

The major advantage is depth. Costa Navarino currently has four signature 18-hole courses: The Dunes, The Bay, the International Olympic Academy Golf Course and The Hills. That turns a single course search into a credible four-round golf holiday.

Recover

Anazoe Spa at Navarino Dunes is a 4,000-square-metre spa and hydrotherapy centre. For golfers, the practical value is the ability to build recovery into the same base: pool and water-based recovery, treatment time and a lower-intensity afternoon can sit between rounds rather than becoming a separate excursion. At Navarino Bay, Mandarin Oriental also operates a substantial spa and wellness facility, giving a second recovery option for a longer stay.

Build the Costa Navarino Course Swing

Four courses · one destination. This is exactly the type of trip TGG’s Course Swing format is designed to solve.

Round 1 — The Dunes: settle into the destination on the original course.
Round 2 — The Bay: change the visual and strategic rhythm with a different coastal setting.
Recovery / Messinia day: spa, pool, mobility, beach or a cultural excursion rather than automatically scheduling four consecutive rounds.
Round 3 — International Olympic Academy: move to the elevated Navarino Hills landscape.
Round 4 — The Hills: complete the trip with the second José María Olazábal course.

Costa Navarino operates transport connections between golf areas; current shuttle schedules should be confirmed for the travel dates. The key planning advantage is that golfers can create variety without repeatedly packing bags and changing regional base.

Who it suits

Golf groups: four courses support a longer competitive trip.
Couples: where only one person plays, spa, beach, dining and other activities provide a parallel holiday.
Families: Navarino Dunes has extensive non-golf sports and children’s facilities.
Golf + recovery trips: the integrated golf and wellness infrastructure supports the TGG Stay · Play · Recover model.

Green fees and booking

Green fees, packages, course combinations and access conditions vary by date and stay arrangement. TGG will not present an old price as a permanent green fee. Check Costa Navarino’s current golf booking information for the travel dates, and compare multi-round or accommodation packages before buying rounds separately.

TGG planning note

If you found this page while researching The Dunes, do not stop at the first tee time. Decide first whether this is a one-round visit or a full Costa Navarino Course Swing. For international golfers, the destination’s four-course depth can be the reason to build a longer stay rather than a single round.

Course facts and resort facilities checked against current Costa Navarino official information on 15 September 2026. Hotel, spa, transport, access and pricing can change; verify live arrangements before booking.