Untitled - Concord Royal: Travel

CAIRO
KATAMEYA HEIGHTS
GOLF & TENNIS RESORT
18 HOLES
PAR 72
6,800 YARDS / 6,218 METRES
SSS 72
9 HOLES
PAR 35
2,985 YARDS / 2,729 METRES
ARCHITECT: YVES BUREAU
DATE OF OPENING: 1997
Who can play?
Members, daily fee golfers
(visitors are encouraged to
play Sunday-Thursday,
excluding holidays), tourist
groups.
Tuition &
practice facilities:
Golf academy, PGA instructors,
individual and group lessons,
double-ended driving range,
3 practice greens.
The clubhouse:
Bars, restaurants, lounges,
billiards room, cards room,
pro shop, locker rooms,
golf bag storage.
Services:
Caddies, trolleys, buggies,
club rental, 3 food and
beverages stations on the
course.
Other facilities:
Tennis centre with 10 clay
courts, 3 squash courts and
gym; 50-metre swimming pool;
supermarket; hair salon and
separate children’s centre
clubhouse with 2 heated pools,
supervised playground, 2
playrooms, nursery and clinic.
The Spa and
Health Club
Offers 3 Jacuzzis,
2 saunas, a steam room
and a massage room with
treatments available until
9 pm. The gym features
treadmills, weights, step
and bike machines.
To Ismailia
Cairo-Alexandria
Agricultural Road
Amarante Golf City
Cairo
Khan
To the Pyramids
el-Khalili
Zamalek
Bazaar
Centre
Heliopolis
Giza
Gezira
Sporting
Club Golf
Course
Egyptian
Museum
To Suez
Mirage City
Golf Course
The Citadel
Old Cairo
Coptic
To Saqqara
Museum
Nasr City
the long and difficult par-4 14th and leading into the hardest
Katameya Heights was the standard bearer for Egypt’s new
pars are rare.
17th and the challenge of the narrow, uphill 18th, on which
wave of golf development when it opened in 1997, 100 years
after the first courses appeared. Laid out on hilly terrain on
Katameya
Heights Golf
Course
State-of-the-art instruction
vation changes, it was also the first commercial development
Before your round, you can hone your skills with practice
combining golf and real estate in Egypt and immediately set
facilities including a 24-bay double-end driving range or get
the benchmark in terms of quality with its Yves Bureau-desi-
tuition from PGA professionals at the golf academy. It uses
gned course, elegant clubhouse, extensive leisure facilities
state-of-the-art video swing analysis, high-speed digital pho-
and well-appointed villas. The Championship Course chal-
tography and detailed, on-screen graphics together as part
lenges all abilities, while the Nine-Hole Course better suits
of a coaching concept aimed at improving scores and
higher handicap golfers – although tricky bunkers, water and
players’ enjoyment of golf. Then after your round, enjoy a
a 500-yard par-5 hole still provide a test.
drink or meal in the clubhouse and sample its many facilities.
For families, the dedicated children’s centre is a boon and
Golf on high
The undoubted star of the Championship Course is the
signature hole, the par-5 15th, which provides sweeping
views of Cairo. The landing area for tee shots is 40 metres
below, where the fairway doglegs around a lake for a riskladen approach to the bunker-protected green. The hole
forms part of a demanding finish to the course, coming after
12
of its par-3 holes, a lake and out of bounds to avoid on the
the south-eastern outskirts of Cairo with some dramatic ele-
To Ain Sukhna
and Hurghada
To Minya
The course that started
the modern boom
includes a nursery.
CAIRO
GEZIRA
SPORTING CLUB
18 HOLES (PLAYED ON 9 FAIRWAYS)
PAR 70
5,860 YARDS / 5,358 METRES
RATING 68
DATE OF OPENING: 1883
Who can play?
A green oasis in central Cairo
Set on an island in the middle of the Nile, Egypt’s oldest golf
Just a short walk
from a five-star hotel
course is a green oasis right in the heart of Cairo. The Gezira
Even as a nine-hole course, Gezira is short by today’s stan-
Sporting Club was established by the British 125 years ago
dards, in common with its other venerable siblings in Egypt.
on 150 acres of botanical gardens on Zamalek Island previously established for ruler Khedive Ismail. Originally the
golf course was an 18-hole layout inside a horse-racing track
alongside polo fields, and the Gezira Sporting Club was the
focal point for Cairo’s high society for 70 years. When land
was needed for other facilities in the 1960s, the course was
reduced to nine holes, but played as 18 holes with double
greens and tees.
Visiting golfers welcomed
The course makes for a peaceful, serene escape from the
However, it still manages to pack in three holes around or
just over the 500-yard mark, to give six par-5s in an 18-hole
round. The remaining holes consist of two par-4s and four
Cairo-Alexandria
Agricultural Road
Amarante Golf City
Cairo
To the Pyramids
Khan
el-Khalili
Zamalek
Bazaar
Centre
in such delightful settings and in such a central position, yet
just a few minutes’ walk from a five-star hotel, the equallyhistoric Cairo Marriott, formerly a royal palace.
Heliopolis
Giza
Gezira
Sporting
Club Golf
Course
Egyptian
Museum
To Suez
Mirage City
Golf Course
The Citadel
Old Cairo
Coptic
To Saqqara
Museum
par-3s. The course may not tax your golfing ability to the
limit, but few capital cities in the world can claim to offer golf
Members, daily fee golfers,
tourist groups welcome.
To Ismailia
Golf pro, golf lessons, floodlit
driving range.
Nasr City
Services:
Katameya
Heights Golf
Course
To Ain Sukhna
and Hurghada
To Minya
Tuition &
practice facilities:
Pro shop, caddies, trolleys,
club rental.
Other facilities:
The course is part of the
exclusive Gezira Sporting Club.
Facilities for members there
include restaurants, swimming
pool, a health club, floodlit
tennis, track and field
athletics, squash, polo, horse
riding, basketball, cycling,
hockey and gymnastics.
hustle and bustle of Cairo for those who want to play a quick
nine or 18 holes and it welcomes visiting golfers. The luxuriant
shrubs all around this part of the island are a testament to
its horticultural heritage. And while the mature trees on the
course provide a pleasant green frame for the city’s skyline –
dominated by the graceful, slender form of the 190m Cairo
Tower – they can also present you with some challenging
questions if you stray from the centre of the fairways.
13
CAIRO
SOLAIMANEYAH GOLF CITY
PYRAMIDS GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
27 HOLES
PAR 72 (18-HOLE CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE)
7,004 YARDS / 6,404 METRES
9-HOLE FLOODLIT COURSE
PAR 33
2,025 YARDS / 1,852 METRES
ARCHITECT: RONALD FREAM
DATE OF OPENING: 1998
Who can play?
Members, daily fee golfers,
tourist groups.
Tuition &
practice facilities:
Golf academy, PGA instructors,
individual and group lessons,
floodlit driving range, floodlit
practice course, short game
practice area.
The clubhouse:
Dining in restaurants and
terrace, lounge, pro shop,
locker rooms, swimming pool.
Services:
Caddies, trolleys, buggies, club
rental, halfway house food and
beverages stations on the
courses.
Other facilities:
The Solaimaneyah Family Club
offers three swimming pools
(one ladies-only and one for
children), tennis courts,
squash courts and a health
club and spa. Also in the
complex are a hotel and villas,
supermarket, post office, drug
store, clinic, bank, shops and a
hairdresser.
The Health Club
& Spa
includes a fully-equipped
gym with the latest
fitness equipment,
steam room, sauna room
and Jacuzzi.
A feast of golf amid 2,000 acres
The Nile Delta
To Cairo
Airport
To Alexandria
Cairo
Solaimaneyah
Golf City
Khan
el-Khalili
Bazaar
Gezira Sporting Club
Centre
Golf Course
Egyptian Museum
Mena House
Old Cairo
Coptic
Golf Course
Giza
Museum
Pyramids
of Giza
Dreamland
Pyramids
Golf Course
To El
of Aboussir
Minya
Saqqara
To El Fayoum
To Dahshour
One of the biggest golf resorts in the Middle East, the
Pyramids Golf & Country Club serves up a feast of golf in a
A floodlit, nine-hole executive course is ideal for beginners
2,000-acre landscape of lush fairways, trees, flowers and
or those wanting to sharpen their short game. The training
man-made lagoons 30 miles north of Cairo. Three nine-hole
and practice facilities are among the most comprehensive
loops form its South, West and East courses, giving 27 holes
you will find anywhere, and include Egypt’s biggest floodlit
of progressively more difficult golf.
driving range, accommodating up to 50 players at a time. A
short game area features two greens and practice bunkers,
Choose from South, West
or East courses
and the Pyramids Golf Academy uses the latest “A-Star”
The South Course offers a forgiving introduction with its
complex, offering a relaxing environment and panoramic
wide fairways, friendly lakes and broad, undulating greens.
views. Perfect for unwinding after an energetic round. And if
This is your best opportunity for getting pars or birdies on
you stay for a meal, you can choose from Asian, French,
your scorecard. The West and East nines comprise the
Italian or Lebanese cuisine at Solaimaneyah Golf City, which
Championship Course. For higher handicap players, the West
also includes a hotel.
Course is better combined with its easier companion, the
South Course. More lakes step the degree of difficulty up a
notch or two and demand greater accuracy of shots. The
East Course presents the toughest challenge. Water comes
into play from the 1st hole, a testing dogleg, while the par-5
7th is crossed by water no less than three times. Add narrow
fairways to the mix, and it becomes a shot-maker’s delight.
14
Egypt’s biggest floodlit driving
range
video equipment for detailed swing analysis. The clubhouse
is surrounded by trees and sits on the highest point of the
CAIRO
DREAMLAND
GOLF & TENNIS RESORT
18 HOLES
PAR 72
7,205 YARDS / 6,588 METRES
RATING 74
9 HOLES
PAR 36
3,532 YARDS / 3,230 METRES
ARCHITECT: KARL LITTEN
DATE OF OPENING: 1997
Who can play?
Members, residents and
non-residents, tourist groups.
Tuition & practice
facilities:
Golf academy, PGA instructors,
individual and group lessons,
floodlit driving range, putting
and practice greens.
The clubhouse:
Restaurant, outside terrace,
waterfalls, bar with a natural
green which can be used for
pitching practice, pro shop,
locker rooms, golf bag storage.
Services:
Pharaonic touch
Caddies, trolleys, club rental,
2 food and beverage halfway
houses on the Championship
Course, mobile beverage cart.
overlooking the course. The longest, and arguably the most
scenic, hole is the 580-yard, par-5 6th, which doglegs left
From the pyramid-shaped tee markers to miniature obelisks
around an encroaching lake.
To Cairo
Airport
Cairo
Solaimaneyah
Golf City
bearing the yardage information and diagram for each hole,
there is no mistaking where you are playing when you tee off
The Nile Delta
To Alexandria
Indiana Jones-style clubhouse
at Dreamland, just 10 minutes from the Pyramids of Giza.
If you need any further reminder, the Pyramids are visible
One of the highlights of the Dreamland resort is its Indiana
from some holes of its newest addition, the nine-hole
Jones-style clubhouse, complete with waterfalls, rocks, brid-
Pharoah Course. There is even a pharaonic touch to the
ge with lashed-rope supports and a wooden terrace on stilts
names of holes on the new course, the opening hole natural-
as well as a lounge and restaurant. Teaching is available from
ly being called Ramses the First! Whichever course you choo-
PGA pros at the on-course academy and there is a floodlit
se, the golf is fit for kings and queens.
driving range for night use. Dreamland is a destination in its
own right, being part of a 2,000-acre development incorpo-
One of Egypt’s longest courses
rating the Dreampark amusement park and other leisure
The Championship Course is among the longest in Egypt at
with a swim-up bar, children’s club and spa. More hotels are
over 7,200 yards, and can be played from four sets of tees
being built alongside.
facilities plus shops and cinemas. The Hilton includes a pool
Khan
el-Khalili
Bazaar
Gezira Sporting Club
Centre
Golf Course
Egyptian Museum
Old Cairo
Coptic
Giza
Museum
Pyramids
of Giza
Dreamland
Pyramids
Golf Course
To El
of Aboussir
Minya
Saqqara
Mena House
Golf Course
To El Fayoum
To Dahshour
Other facilities:
Tennis academy, swimming
pool, croquet, shopping centre,
adjacent amusement park,
cinemas, business and
conference centre, hospital,
horse riding stables, spa and
wellness centre, beauty centre.
The Spa &
Wellness Centre
at the on-course Hilton
Pyramids Resort hotel
offers wellness
packages, facial and body
treatments, massage,
hydrotherapy, fitness
gym and classes, sauna,
pools and make-up.
not including the championship marks. Karl Litten’s design is
tighter than it appears at first glance. Stands of trees and
large waste sand areas planted with colourful shrubs separate the narrow fairways. More challenges are provided by
mounding and lakes, two of which provide grandstand
finishes to the 9th and 18th holes, directly in front of the
Hilton Pyramids hotel, which has rooms with balconies
15
CAIRO
MENA HOUSE
GOLF CLUB
18 HOLES (PLAYED ON 9 FAIRWAYS)
PAR 68
5,315 YARDS / 4,860 METRES
RATING 66
DATE OF OPENING: 1889
CLOSING DURING 2008 FOR MAJOR RENOVATIONS
Who can play?
Members, hotel residents and
non-residents, tourist groups.
Tuition &
practice facilities:
Golf pro, individual and group
lessons, floodlit driving range.
The clubhouse:
Restaurant and bar, pro shop.
Services:
Caddies, trolleys, club rental.
The Nile Delta
To Cairo
Airport
To Alexandria
Cairo
Solaimaneyah
Golf City
Gezira Sporting Club
Centre
Golf Course
Egyptian Museum
Mena House
Old Cairo
Golf Course
Coptic
Giza
Museum
Pyramids
of Giza
Dreamland
Pyramids
Golf Course
To El
of Aboussir
Minya
Saqqara
To El Fayoum
Other facilities:
The historic, adjacent Mena
House hotel has a swimming
pool set in landscaped
gardens, tennis courts, jogging
track, fitness centre, 4
restaurants, 4 bars and
nightclubs, meeting facilities,
and horse and camel riding to
the nearby Pyramids.
Khan
el-Khalili
Bazaar
To Dahshour
Golf in the shadow
of the Pyramids
Cairo’s grand dame
Reach out and you almost feel as if you can touch the
ged little since its early days, soaking up the atmospheric
Pyramids as they tower above this, one of Egypt’s oldest
scenery as they putt or tee off in the shadow of the
courses. Nowhere else are you so close to the very fabric of
Pyramids. They can also dine in the course’s unassuming
the country’s ancient past than playing on the nine holes of
clubhouse restaurant while viewing one of the Seven Ancient
the Mena House course, which is part of the luxury Mena
Wonders of the World through the windows, the Great
House Oberoi hotel. First established over a century ago, the
Pyramid of Cheops. There are more amazing views of the
course can be played as 18 holes using the double tees and
Pyramids from the Mena House Oberoi hotel itself, which sits
double greens on each hole.
in 40 acres of exotic jasmine-scented gardens. Cairo’s grand
dame has played host to kings, emperors, presidents and
Renovation project
Major reconstruction work is expected to start during 2008 to
transform and update the Mena House layout, an institution
more than a golf course. The make-over, co-led by top golf
architect Robert Trent Jones Jr, will take 12-14 months and will
involve reshaping the course, removing some trees and exten-
16
In the meantime, golfers can continue to enjoy an icon chan-
ding two par-3 holes to par-4s, to take it to a par 70 from its present par 68. The new-look course will also feature three lakes,
floodlighting, mounding, a new covering of Paspalum grass and
automated irrigation. A new driving range and pool for hotel
guests’ use are part of the redevelopment project, too.
celebrities for almost 140 years, a glorious history reflected
in its antique furniture and rich, period décor.
CAIRO
JW MARRIOTT MIRAGE CITY
GOLF CLUB
27 HOLES
PAR 72
7,108 YARDS / 6,500 METRES
RATING 73
9 HOLES
PAR 32
2,070 YARDS / 1,893 METRES
ARCHITECT: PETER HARRADINE
DATE OF OPENING: 1999
Who can play?
Members, hotel residents and
non-residents, tourist groups.
Tuition &
practice facilities:
Golf academy, PGA instructors,
video and playing lessons,
floodlit driving range, putting
green.
The clubhouse:
Neo-classical Castle Clubhouse
has 3 restaurants and a bar,
terrace, billiards, library,
private meeting rooms, health
club, pro shop, locker rooms,
golf bag storage.
Services:
Caddies, trolleys, club rental,
food and beverage service on
the course.
Garden of Eden with a water park
the fiendish par-4 18th, its green perched imperiously on top
Lush fairways, exotic vegetation, serpentine lakes, waterfalls,
of this enchanting golf course by Swiss architect Peter
Palatial clubhouse
The course has four tee positions for regular play, making it
There is even a themed water park boasting Cairo’s only
eminently playable by all standards of golfer. Complementing
beach at the five-star JW Marriott Cairo, which overlooks the
the golf course is a palatial clubhouse complete with restau-
first hole.
rant and sports bar, function rooms and a large terrace, as
well as a golf academy with high-tech video training aids.
A sensory experience
Mirage City is just 10 minutes from Cairo’s international air-
Playing the 18-hole Championship Course, augmented since
Marriott to downtown Cairo and the capital’s largest shop-
its opening in 1999 by an executive course, is a sensory expe-
ping mall, the City Stars Mall.
rience. Not only does the course excite your sense of smell
with the different fragrances of its flowers and trees, but it
also harbours many visual delights. For their scenic glory,
Khan
To the Pyramids
el-Khalili
Zamalek
Bazaar
Centre
Heliopolis
Giza
Harradine, on the eastern outskirts of Cairo. If ever a course
could claim to be a Garden of Eden, this must surely be it.
Amarante Golf City
Cairo
and deposits them in a rock-lined stream at its base.
ponds and gurgling streams belie the barren desert origin
port at Heliopolis, and free shuttles operate from the JW
Other facilities:
To Ismailia
Cairo-Alexandria
Agricultural Road
of a steep slope which collects half-hearted approach shots
Gezira
Sporting
Club Golf
Course
Egyptian
Museum
To Suez
Mirage City
Golf Course
The Citadel
Old Cairo
Coptic
Museum
To Saqqara
Nasr City
Katameya
Heights Golf
Course
The 428-bedroom JW Marriott
hotel has 10 restaurants and
bars, 4 tennis courts and
tennis clinics, hotel golf shop,
jogging trail, volleyball, horse
riding nearby, spa, swimming
pools and Cairo’s only sandy
beach at The Beach Water
Park, which also has water
slides and a wave pool.
To Ain Sukhna
and Hurghada
To Minya
The Clubhouse
Health Club
offers cardiovascular
equipment and weights,
sauna, jacuzzi and steam
room, with further
fitness facilities at the
JW Marriott Hotel Health
Club including aerobics.
choose between the downhill, par-4 8th, with a spectacular
view from the back tee, or the exquisite par-3 12th, a beauty
with bite on which the green is edged on one side by a stone
wall dripping with plants and on the other by a lake, as the
signature hole for the course. But if it’s the challenge presented by a hole which merits the honour, look no further than
17
CAIRO
AMARANTE GOLF CITY
18 HOLES
PAR 72
7,200 YARDS / 6,584 METRES
ARCHITECT: YVES BUREAU
DATE OF OPENING: 2000
Who can play?
Members, daily fee golfers,
tourist groups.
Tuition &
practice facilities:
Golf academy, golf pros,
lessons and clinics, floodlit
driving range, putting and
chipping greens.
The clubhouse:
There are 2 restaurants,
2 bars, terrace, function
rooms, health club and
swimming pool, billiard room,
card room, pro shop, locker
rooms, golf bag storage.
Caddies, trolleys, buggies, club
rental.
Three floodlit tennis courts.
Amarante Golf City
Cairo
Khan
el-Khalili
Bazaar
Centre
To the Pyramids
Giza
Other facilities:
To Ismailia
Cairo-Alexandria
Agricultural Road
Services:
Zamalek
Gezira
Sporting
Club Golf
Course
Egyptian
Museum
offers a fully-equipped
gym, heated swimming
pool, sauna, heated
jacuzzi & Moroccan bath,
steam rooms, whirlpool
spa and a choice of
massage treatments.
To Suez
Mirage City
Golf Course
The Citadel
Old Cairo
Coptic
Museum
To Saqqara
The Clubhouse
Health Club
Heliopolis
Nasr City
Katameya
Heights Golf
Course
To Ain Sukhna
and Hurghada
To Minya
Manicured fairways and greens
are a delight to play
golf academy. Golf City also has three floodlit, clay surface
tennis courts and a tennis pro.
Not so much a city as a haven for golfers, the beautifullymanicured, undulating fairways and greens of French archi-
Colonnaded clubhouse
tect Yves Bureau’s design at Golf City, in the eastern suburbs
of Cairo, are a delight to play. The expansive fairways offer a
A grand, colonnaded clubhouse with a large terrace over-
more inviting prospect than other courses, yet still throw up
looks the 18th green, together with a swimming pool which is
plenty of challenges to test even the most accomplished
heated in colder months. Inside the clubhouse is a fully-
golfers.
equipped gym and health club together with function rooms
with a capacity of up to 600 people. An architectural featu-
Floodlit driving range
and tennis courts
re is its circular, first-floor gallery and domed ceiling. Casual
Well-placed hazards await the unwary or wayward golfer. The
phere upstairs. Just 10 minutes from Cairo International
course’s signature hole, the par-4 9th, features two lakes
Airport, Golf City is a tempting and convenient diversion for
with decorative fountains which need to be negotiated to
travellers who have a late flight.
safely reach the green. The course is peppered with bunkers
and there are swathes of desert waste areas with palm trees,
cacti and other vegetation. The course has recently been
lengthened by nearly 200 yards. New, deeper fairway bunkers with vertical faces have also been added, the par-5 6th
having seen some of the biggest changes. There are four tee
boxes, with the back tees now almost 7,200 yards. Facilities
18
include a driving range which is floodlit for night use and a
dining is available inside or on the terrace on the ground
floor, or you can opt for fine dining in a more elegant atmos-
Cairo
&