How I got hooked on Portugal’s padel craze

“Our philosophy is friendship,” declares leading coach Labisa Palmera as he hands me a weird-looking solid racket with perforated holes for my first foray into padel, reportedly the biggest growing sport in the UK, and also expanding in key holiday resorts.

While youngsters are picking up tennis rackets to play on public courts in the wake of the Wimbledon fortnight, more savvy sporting wannabes – young and old – are planning to spend at least some of their summer break on the padel courts in their chosen holiday destination, and maybe make a few new friends in the process.

Spain is king in this upcoming game, a cross between tennis and squash invented in Mexico, but nearby Portugal is also recognising padel’s popularity, so I’ve come to Pine Cliffs Luxury Collection Resort, an immense 72-hectare cliffside family-friendly enclave in the Algarve, awash with Moorish touches and Portuguese tiles and an architectural gem of an inner courtyard in the main hotel.

It offers everything from the prestigious Annabel Croft Tennis & Padel Academy, to a nine-hole golf course, state-of-the-art gym, award-winning spa, yoga, Pilates and, more importantly, a recently expanded padel facility.

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This year, due to demand, one of the tennis courts has been adapted into three padel courts to bring its total to four, complete with glass back wall and metal fencing enclosures, perfect for trying this sport out with my Gen-Z daughter, Grace, to see how inter-generational it is.

Palmera, co-founder of the first padel club in Albufeira, recalls: “It’s been a huge phenomenon in Spain and 12 years ago it went crazy in Lisbon. Now, so many people, aged eight to 80, are playing padel and you don’t need many lessons.”

Not only is it good exercise, but padel is known for its sociability, given that so many generations play together. Ideal, then, for a family holiday.

Reported to be the fastest-growing racket sport in the world with more than 25 million active players in 110 countries, the Lawn Tennis Association recently revealed that participation on home turf more than trebled last year, with more than 400,000 players in Great Britain alone.

Former Wimbledon champion Andre Agassi was seen last year playing padel with David Beckham, while sporting superstars Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and singer Shakira have all reportedly caught the bug.

The premise is simple – you only play doubles, it is scored like tennis, you serve underarm and receivers can return the ball either as they would in tennis or off the wall after it has bounced.

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“The thing is about padel is that it’s great for the whole family,” says Palmera. “People need fewer lessons than tennis to know how to play. At the end of an hour they have learned how to play doubles.

“We have found that 40-55-year-olds who have done no sport in life found that they could do padel. The difference is that it’s a really sociable game, not too competitive, easy to learn and the whole family can do it,” he enthuses.

Well, he might not think it’s competitive, but that rather depends who you play. Yes, a family game can be just a bit of fun but we also see more experienced players who are slamming that ball as if their life depended on it. There are weekly tournaments and the academy can pair up solo players with others of similar abilities and organise fun clinics for all levels.

Certainly, padel requires less court coverage than tennis, being a third of the size of a tennis court, and beginners can quickly pick up the techniques – the all-important lob, the volley, the ‘chiquita’ (placing the ball at the opponent’s feet) and the position and timing needed to hit a ball off the glass wall.

I hadn’t played tennis or squash for years and by a certain age I felt I was done with these high-intensity sports, so I’d taken up pickleball, an easier padel relative, with a group of like-minded mid-lifers. But I was keen to enter a new multi-generational pastime which might engage my grown-up children.

On a holiday where I didn’t want to spend my time pounding the treadmill in a sweaty gym alongside my much fitter daughter and wanted to enjoy exercise on holiday without it feeling arduous, padel seemed a good choice.

Playing as partners, Grace was told she had a great volley. I, as the more experienced racket-sport enthusiast, was informed my backhand was a killer. So far so good.

On the second session, Palmera teamed us up with Irish sisters Isabella, 14, and Molly, 12, who he said were good at tennis and would make suitable opponents.

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Indeed, despite our age difference, the games went to deuce and we had a fun-filled match, as lobs were practised and volleys smashed.

Finding a sport you love doesn’t make exercise a chore on holiday, and the same goes for healthy eating, as we discovered in many of Pine Cliff’s 15 restaurants, each of which has a unique setting which makes you feel you’re in a different resort.

We dine under the trees in a beautiful lemon grove, enjoy freshly-caught sea bream and other catches of the day looking out on to the Atlantic Ocean at the resort and feast on ‘art on a plate’ sushi and other Japanese delicacies at Yakuza, a restaurant in partnership with Olivier da Costa, one of Portugal’s most recognised chefs.

Tangy ginger breakfast shots devoid of alcohol, acai bowls and other delicious, nutritious fare with nuts, organic honey and lashings of fresh fruit will set you up for a day of sport, or leisure, even if you just want to lounge in the grassy area under the shade of the pine trees – there are between 4,000 and 5,000 around the resort – which provide a more natural and cooler alternative to huddling around the multiple swimming pools.

We’re here in peak season but the park-like green space makes the whole development seem roomier, less busy.

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I prefer to swim in the sea and a lift takes us down to a wooden walkway between the cliffs which leads to Falesia Beach, known for its long stretch of golden sand and the distinctive burnt orange cliffs that frame it, named the “world’s best beach” by Tripadvisor users in the 2024 Travellers’ Choice Awards.

Here, thrill-seekers can pound the waves on jet skis or try their hand at paddleboarding, while families have fun with bodyboards riding the surf of the refreshing Atlantic.

We try other sports during the week – tennis with head coach Brunno Cappelletti Rocha, whose patience with us is admirable; golf, where we hit (and miss) a few balls on the driving range, and yoga of the gentler kind, thanks to our teacher,  stretching my many unused muscles. It can be done in a studio or on the beach.

A sports massage at the sumptuous Serenity – The Art of Well Being spa, housing 13 treatment rooms, hydrotherapy pool, various sauna and steam rooms and other wellbeing delights, irons out my aching limbs and prepares me for the next sporting challenge.

But for me padel is the star. Back in the UK, we’re looking for a court nearby where we can practise our volleys, perfect our timing when the ball bounces off the glass wall, and nail that chiquita.

Travel facts

Two adults can stay in Pine Cliffs Hotel Deluxe Room with Resort View from £326 per night (based on September 2025 stay).

Adult tennis or padel weekly coaching courses at Pine Cliffs start from £300 in off-peak season (Nov-March) and £326 in peak season (April-Oct). Junior tennis and padel camps start from £265 off-peak season and £291 peak season.

For more information and to book, visit pinecliffs.com or call +351 289 500 100. Serenity – The Art of Wellbeing spa also offers a range of treatments and wellness offerings.