How to organise a padel weekend abroad for eight to sixteen people

Fix the dates before anything else

Put two options in the group chat with a deadline and go with the majority. Do not take a third option and do not wait for the one person who has not answered. Every trip that dies, dies here, usually because somebody was being polite. For Mallorca, aim for a Friday-to-Monday in May, June, September or October, when the weather is right for three sessions a day and the island is not full.

Once the dates are fixed, the trip is real, and real trips get booked. The rest of this guide assumes you have done the hard part.

Flights: book the same day, not the same flight

Direct flights to Palma leave from London Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Luton, and from Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Newcastle and Belfast. From London it is around two and a quarter hours. A group of twelve rarely fits on one flight from one airport, and it does not need to. Agree an arrival window on the Friday, say midday to six, and let everyone book from wherever suits them.

Two people arriving late is fine if the courts are booked for the evening and the transfer is sorted. Two people arriving late with nobody to meet them is how the first night falls apart.

Stay together, near the courts

For eight or more, one house beats four hotel rooms every time. Breakfast together, the evenings on the terrace, one minibus, one WhatsApp message to get everyone out of the door. A private finca with a pool and a chef is the version that people talk about for years; a hotel block near the courts is the version that is easiest to book.

Whichever you choose, keep it within ten minutes of the courts you will use most. An hour a day spent herding people into cars is an hour of padel you did not play.

Book the courts before the flights land

Good clubs fill their evening slots with locals who play the same slot every week. Block your courts for the whole weekend in advance, in ninety-minute or two-hour sessions, and get balls and hire rackets sorted at the same time. A group of twelve needs three courts; a group of sixteen needs four, plus one spare slot for the pair who wants to keep playing.

If you only do one thing on this list, do this one. It is the difference between a padel weekend and a weekend with some padel in it.

Pick a format that keeps everyone playing

An Americano is the answer for most groups: short matches, rotating partners, a running score, and nobody sits out for long. For sixteen or more, split into two boxes by level and bring the winners together for a final. For a group with a real range of ability, box leagues by level on Saturday and a mixed Americano on Sunday keep both the competitive players and the sociable ones happy.

The upgrade is a one-day tournament against local pairs at your level, with a draw, an organiser and prizes at the bar. It is the thing people talk about afterwards, and it is exactly what The Local Open is for.

Plan the non-players' day too

Someone always comes who does not play, and someone who plays will pull a calf on Saturday morning. Give them a plan: a boat, a beach club, a spa morning, the old town in Palma. Then give everyone a fixed time and place to meet for lunch. Happy non-players make for a happy weekend; abandoned ones make for a quiet drive to the airport.

Money: collect once, early

Work out the per-person cost before you book anything, add ten per cent for the things nobody thought of, and collect it in one go with a deadline. Do not float the deposit yourself. Do not run a spreadsheet that updates as people drop out. One payment, one number, one date, and the group is committed.

The reason groups like paying us one fee is not the fee. It is that nobody in the group has to chase eleven friends for money for a court booking in a foreign currency.

The WhatsApp group

Create it the day the dates are fixed, pin a message with the plan, and use it for logistics only. Flight times, the address of the house, the court schedule, where lunch is. The banter can live somewhere else. On the trip, one message the night before with the next day's plan saves an hour of questions the next morning.

Transfers and the last night

A minibus with a driver for the whole weekend costs less than the taxis, the arguments and the one person who cannot drive after dinner. Book the airport transfers in waves that match the arrival window and the departures. And plan the last night as a proper dinner rather than a big night out. Everyone flies the next morning, and the group that ends on a long table under a vine remembers the trip more fondly than the one that ends in a queue.

The checklist

Dates fixed with a deadline. Flights booked within an arrival window. One base within ten minutes of the courts. Courts blocked for every session, balls and rackets sorted. A format for each day. A plan for the non-players. Money collected once. A WhatsApp group with the plan pinned. Transfers booked in waves. A last dinner, not a last club.

Or hand it to us

Everything above is what we do, for one fee, with someone on the island while you are there. Tell us the dates and the group size on WhatsApp, or tick what you fancy in the escape builder, and we will come back with a plan. If the group is a stag, a hen or a fortieth, padel weekends for groups and celebrations is the shape we start from.