Guides
Your First Padel Holiday: A Complete Beginner's Guide
Padel is one of the easiest sports to fall for and one of the best to travel for — which is exactly why so many people's first proper trip abroad ends up being built around it. If you're new to the game and wondering whether a padel holiday is for you, the short answer is yes. Here's an honest guide to what to expect and how to plan your first one, without overthinking it.
You don't need to be good
Let's clear up the biggest worry first: you do not need to be good at padel to enjoy a padel holiday. Padel is deliberately easy to pick up. It's played in doubles on a small, enclosed court, the walls keep the ball in play, and most people can rally and have genuine fun within their first session. That low barrier to entry is the whole point — it's why the game spread so fast, and why a beginner padel holiday works for people who've barely touched a racket.
What actually improves a first trip isn't natural talent, it's a little structure. An hour or two of coaching at the start gives everyone the basics — the serve, the ready position, how to use the walls — and levels the group up together. After that, the games are simply more fun, because everyone can keep a rally going. For most first-timers, a coaching-led trip is the single best way to start.
What a first trip actually looks like
A typical beginner-friendly padel holiday is a short break — often three nights — built around a handful of games rather than a punishing training schedule. You'll usually play once or twice a day, with plenty of time left for the pool, the beach, food and everything else. It's a holiday first, with padel as the thing that gives it shape and gets the group together.
Expect the padel itself to be social and low-pressure. Games are short, teams get mixed so nobody is stuck, and beginners play beginners as much as possible. Between sessions you're on a normal holiday — the game is the anchor, not the entire itinerary. That balance is what makes it work for people who wouldn't call themselves sporty.
How to prepare (it's not much)
The good news is that preparation is minimal. You don't need to buy a racket — clubs rent them, so you can play first and decide later whether padel has hooked you. You don't need to be fit in any serious way, though a bit of light movement in the weeks before helps you enjoy it more and ache less afterwards. And you don't need any prior experience of racket sports at all.
What does help is going in with the right mindset: expect to be a bit clumsy for the first twenty minutes, expect to laugh at yourself, and expect it to click faster than you think. Pack light, comfortable sportswear and proper court shoes, and let the coach or club handle the rest. That's genuinely most of the preparation done.
Choosing where to go
For a first trip, keep the logistics easy. The southern coasts of Spain and Portugal are the natural starting point: short, cheap flights, reliable sun, English widely spoken at the clubs, and a huge number of courts so you're never fighting for a game. That combination takes the friction out of a first trip and lets you focus on the padel rather than the planning.
Beyond the country, think about the group. If everyone's a beginner, a coaching-led week pays for itself. If it's a mixed group where only some play, a relaxed resort where the non-players have a pool and a beach on the doorstep keeps everyone happy. The right answer is whichever setup means nobody sits out — and that's exactly what a beginner trip should be designed around.
The honest bottom line
Your first padel holiday doesn't need to be complicated, expensive or intimidating. Pick an easy destination, add a bit of coaching, keep the schedule light, and let the game do what it does — get a mixed group genuinely playing together and enjoying it. Tell us your dates, group and level and we'll build a first trip around exactly that.
Related pages
Read more: See beginner padel holidays