FAQs

Padel is a racquet sport that combines elements of tennis and squash, and it is typically played in doubles on an enclosed court. The game originated in Mexico in the 1960s and has gained popularity worldwide, especially in Europe and Latin America. Padel is often referred to as a social sport, as it is easy to learn and appeals to players of various skill levels and ages. Overall, padel is a dynamic and engaging sport that combines elements of strategy, skill, and teamwork. It has grown in popularity globally, attracting players from various backgrounds and skill levels.

Padel is the world’s fastest growing sport. There are many reasons, including:

• The ease with which both experienced racquet players and novices can pick it up, and rapidly improve;
• The relatively low cost when compared to playing tennis (no stringing, for example)
• A great cardio workout (which is more difficult to find in doubles tennis, which is the most popular format at club level players, although squash players will find padel a little less strenuous)
• Very social, because the sport is mostly doubles and often involves rotating pairs, and after-match socialisation
• Ease of transporting equipment (in many cases no need to buy sports equipment baggage on flights)Padel is taking off in the UK and Ireland. The number of players “hooked” by the sport is increasing daily, and many players want to play as much as possible. Currently, access is limited by the availability of courts and, in winter (which, let’s admit it, is much of the year), by the availability of covered courts.

The idea to travel abroad from the UK & Ireland, to play padel, was “born” (other nations including Scandinavian, Dutch, German, Italian and others are already doing this, but all those markets have a much longer history of padel than the UK and Ireland, and many more local facilities in their home countries).

www.padeltrips4u.com provides access to padel in destinations where, due to climate and suitable (usually covered) facilities, padel can be played comfortably, reliably and safely. Our first phase is focused on easy to access sunny destinations within a 3-hour flight of most UK and Ireland airports. We already have opportunities and preliminary offers to take our trips to more distant destinations, which we will add over time, as demand grows.

The idea is not just to run coaching clinics overseas, but to provide an opportunity for players to play padel in a hospitable, warm environment, to meet other players, experience different food and forge new acquaintances, while getting in many hours of padel, practically guaranteed (see our explanation below). Of course, some improvement in the form of coaching would be included, but even there, www.padeltrips4u.com is different: we will use local coaches on most trips and UK LTA qualified coaches where possible and appropriate. Each trip will provide learning opportunities but most will have as the main objective, playing padel. We will also provide coaching-intensive courses (see Specialist padel group (8 participants, run by coaches who in many instances have much more experience than those in the UK padel market.

How is play time guaranteed? Two things:

• We pick locations which are sunny, and even though we cannot guarantee that it will never rain (especially as rain is very much needed in the warmer southern regions where our trips take place), the probability of rain for their entire period of your trip is statistically nil, in the destinations initially selected;
• All our destination clubs offer indoor or a combination of indoor and outdoor padel courts (unless you choose our “I’ll risk the weather, it can’t be as bad as back home” packages – see T&C for more information)Regardless of the appetite for the game, planning limitations, and the sheer lack of local courts, especially covered courts, mean that guaranteeing quality, injury-free paying time is near the top of every improving, or advanced, player’s list of priorities. www.padeltrips4u.com hopes to provide an opportunity for players to this in a reliably pleasant environment.

At the moment, Iberia. The main objective is to provide easy access to participants, mainly from colder countries, and from markets served by direct flights or easy connections to the destinations. Our scheduled programs cover the regions/cities of the Algarve, Lisbon, Costa el Sol (Málaga), Costa Blanca (Alicante) and Valencia. In addition to our scheduled program, small group (up to 8 participants) trips can be organised on demand, and subject to destination club availability.

No. Because we aim to appeal to a broad audience, initially across the UK and Ireland, travelling from different airports, and because some people may want to extend their stay either before or after their padel trip with us, and with the range of carriers available, it makes sense to leave the booking of flights to each participant.

Like any sport, padel and tennis contain risk of injury. Although sunnier conditions and indoor courts tend to reduce this risk, they still remain. Pre-existing conditions and injuries, age, level of fitness, your padel/tennis experience and that of other players, and many other factors can play a role. Sometimes it can be something as simple as bad luck. 

As a condition of booking, you are required to take out adequate travel insurance for yourself and all members of the tour party/group. Such travel insurance should cover you and all members of your tour party/group against the cost of cancellation by you/them, the cost of assistance, including repatriation, in the event of accident or illness or death, loss of or damage to baggage/equipment, loss of money and other expenses. It must also include cover for all activities you have booked including cover for sports injuries or fatalities for sports participants. It is a condition of us accepting your booking that you have made adequate insurance provision to cover all members of your tour party/group. Travel Insurance should be in place from the date of travel. If you travel without adequate travel insurance cover, we will not be liable to you for any losses howsoever arising where cover would otherwise have been available.

Residents of an EU country can also apply for an EU health card that can be shown in the public health system and hospitals of other European destinations.

It is important you read these conditions together with the information we send out in connection with your tour (including your booking confirmation and other key information on our site), which collectively form our contract with you (the “Booking Terms and Conditions”). These Booking Terms and Conditions set out our obligations to our customers.

Padeltrips4u T&C

For your maximum enjoyment and benefit (and that of other participants and local players with whom we may organise games), it is absolutely critical that players declare or have our team review their level prior to booking. It will also allow you to feel comfortable and not intimidated or bored. It is possible to cater for multiple levels, our team simply needs to know so as to plan appropriately.

We ask two things: please take a look at the British Padel Ranking system document attached and rank yourself fairly (Playtomic ratings are not reliable nor accepted), and

Submit a short video of yourself playing (a couple of points including a serve and a selection of shots, such as bandejas, bajadas and recovery shots off the glass, chiquitas, forehand and backhand return of serve (depending on which side of the court you play, if appropriate), and some volleys, would be great. We are not expecting to see massive víboras or out of court smashes! 😂

Once you have selected your preferred destination and dates, you can register your interest by contacting us. We will provide an indicative price. Once you are ready to book your place, we will ask for a reservation deposit of €150 or £125. This is fully refundable until the trip is confirmed (see below).

Once we reach the required number of participants, the trip will be confirmed via e-mail.

At that stage, we will request payment of the remaining amount in full. If we do not receive payment or a request for a refund, then the reservation deposit will be lost.

We ask you to please obtain insurance if unexpected circumstances require you to cancel after the payment is made.

We are the only outbound padel tour operator currently in the UK focused on providing the types of programs on offer. There are a few clubs across Iberia that offer programs but those are marketed to a variety of destination markets and participants speaking different languages etc. We therefore guarantee that the majority, if not all, participants, will be English-speaking. This helps participants get to know each other, socialise and importantly communicate effectively on the padel court. Secondly, we prioritise time on court. Our inaugural program delivered an average of 16 hours of court time per player over 3 days, plus 3 hours of beach tennis. This excluded additional hours of play booked by participants during their free time. This means that participants can take their learning on the court and provide feedback to each other while  playing, as each player will have seen how others are implementing what they have learnt during the coaching session. Thirdly, we have specifically targeted destinations that are easy access from the UK or Ireland (and indeed any location in Northern Europe)

If you declare your level correctly when you sign up, yes. If you inflate your playing level, the coaches will pick this up quickly but it will require replanning. Please remember that in both Spain and Portugal coaches and players have a decade or more of head start and so overstating ability is quickly found out, and can be embarrassing. We suggest being realistic, or in case of doubt, conservative about your playing level. Playtomic rankings are notoriously unreliable and prone to manipulation, and are thus not a good measure. Please read our British padel ranking system document, and where possible, please upload a video of between 1-2 minutes of game play. This will help match your level and communicate the same to local club partners and coaches.

Generally, you will be playing and/or coached with players of similar level. Many players want to play with better players, saying that it is the way to get better. While that is of course possible during any free time, many stronger players want exactly the same thing. To avoid tension, both our coaches and those of our destination partner clubs, use their expertise to group players as best as possible. This is done to ensure maximum efficiency in the delivery of training and competitive matches. In each group there will be a weakest and strongest player but all will have learning and playing opportunities. Please do not ask to be bumped up to a different group as this will disrupt planning. Where sensible opportunities for level changes exist, coaches will seek out these opportunities and implement them.