Mini golf in France, region by region

• 916 mini golf courses in mainland France in our list, taken from OpenStreetMap on 1 October 2026.
• 3 regions hold almost half of them: Nouvelle-Aquitaine (163), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (138) and Occitanie (123).
• 41% are in the 25 départements on the coast.
• The best-supplied département is Charente-Maritime, with 33 mini golf courses.
• The equipment comes down to a putter and a ball, handed out at the entrance of leisure mini golf courses.

You play mini golf with a putter, on short lanes with borders and obstacles. No level is required.

In competition, the world federation (WMF) approves four types of lanes: concrete (12 m), Eternit, felt (7 to 18 m) and MOS. A lane that cannot be played in one stroke makes the course ineligible for approval.

Mini golf follows the holidays. The 25 départements on the coast have 374, 41% of the total. Le Barcarès (Pyrénées-Orientales) has 5, the record in our list. Argelès-sur-Mer, Vias and Les Mathes have 4.

The mountains come next: Haute-Savoie (30) and Savoie (29) rank behind Charente-Maritime (33).

At the other end, OpenStreetMap lists none in the Hauts-de-Seine, and only one in the Ardennes and in Seine-Saint-Denis. The database depends on its contributors: a place missing from it is not necessarily closed. The mini golf courses of each département are in the list.

The season matters too. Of the 81 mini golf courses whose opening hours OpenStreetMap gives, 22 change them by month or with the French school holidays, and 4 only open in July and August.

• Call before you go. Opening hours change with the season, and we show neither prices nor opening hours.
• Choose the course for your players. A fantasy course is all about the scenery. Concrete, Eternit and felt lanes follow standard layouts, designed for competition.
• Ask for a putter sized for each child. The French Minigolf Federation points out that the length of the club should suit the player's height.
• Bring a cap and water in summer. The federation recommends a cap in the sun, even for its competitive players.
• Agree on the rules before the first lane: maximum strokes, ball off the lane.
• Let a faster group through at busy times.

1. Each player starts from the tee area of the lane, in turn.
2. Each stroke counts as one point.
3. Six strokes at most per lane. If the ball is not in the hole after the sixth stroke, write down 7 and move on to the next lane. This is the competition rule, used by many leisure mini golf courses.
4. A ball that leaves the lane goes back near the point where it left, with a one-point penalty. The Green Minigolf in Saint-Aubin-des-Préaux, for example, puts it back 15 cm in.
5. The lowest total wins. A competition course has 18 lanes.

Details change from one mini golf to another. The rules posted at the entrance apply.

Mini golf does not teach you the swing. It does train the putting stroke: judging the strength, aiming, repeating the same movement from one stroke to the next. In golf, this stroke is played on the green, around the hole. It counts in the practical assessment of the carte verte, the French certificate for playing full-size courses.

If you enjoyed the putter, three steps lead to golf:

1. A taster session at a golf club: a golf professional coaches you and the equipment is lent to you.
2. A compact course, shorter, which you can usually play without the carte verte.
3. The carte verte, which full-size courses ask for.