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 aim to provide access to padel in destinations where, due to climate and suitable (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.