Hardelot Les Pins

Tom Simpson’s Les Pins course has been threading its way through the mature woodland at Hardelot since 1934, and its appeal lies in the measured balance of the routing. Golf des Pins asks for controlled placement from the tee and clear thinking into greens framed by trees, rather than a simple contest of length. Sandy ground beneath the fairways helps keep the course playable across the year, a useful advantage for a spring or autumn break on the Côte d’Opale. It is a course with a settled, natural feel, where each hole belongs to the woodland and the round builds quietly as you move through it.

There is plenty to occupy a group beyond an 18-hole round. The club’s second course, Les Dunes, is only around 0.9 miles away and provides a markedly different day, with lakes, dune mounds and wooded valleys shaping a more modern layout. A driving range, putting green, pitching green and practice bunker make it easy to loosen up before play or settle a match afterwards, while coaching is available with qualified instructors and use of the short-game areas. Club hire, trolleys and buggies are available, which can make travel from the UK or Ireland a little lighter.

Hardelot-Plage is a seaside resort on the Côte d’Opale, so the setting lends itself naturally to unhurried evenings away from the course, with two contrasting 18-hole layouts close at hand for a proper golf focused stay.