Most of our travel-reports in the last years have been about leisure trips. A weekend in Prague or backpacking in Sri Lanka were all about enjoying the country and relaxation. This year we were looking for something more active and decided to go on a tennis trip in Malaga. In this post we will give you our tips and tricks to make your future trip more convenient.
Why do a tennis trip to malaga?
The main reason to visit Malaga to play tennis is the weather. Compared to Germany it does not rain as often and during the winter-months the temperatures are still around 15-20 degrees. This enables you to play outdoors between October and April, which is not possible in Germany. On top of that there are many different courts in Malaga and almost all of them allow you to play tennis without membership. It’s just a great way of spending your holiday to play tennis in the morning and enjoy a city like Malaga in the afternoon.
Our tips for a great tennis trip
To make sure your tennis trip to Malaga is going to be a success, we have listed some tips:
1. Book the tennis courts in advance
It would be a bummer if you arrive in Malaga and all courts are booked already. Therefore it makes sense to reach out the clubs and book the courts in advance. It does make sense to use a translator when emailing the clubs because not everyone speaks English.
2. Consider booking a trainer
During our tennis trip in Malaga we also booked a trainer. Alberto was actually a great tennis player and had different tips than German trainers. We played about 1 hour with a trainer and then did some fun training with each other afterwards. This way we had a nice mix of serious playing and improving our skills and also some entertainment.
3. Be prepared for different surfaces
Because there was a tournament at the club where we initially wanted to play, we had to move to a club with tartan-surface instead of clay. If you want to be able to spontaneously switch to a different surface, it makes sense to bring the right shoes for that. In my case it also meant bringing a knee-brace because the harder surface is a lot heavier on the knees.
4. Want variety? Try Padel Tennis too
Padel tennis is a popular sport in Spain and Malaga and therefore it’s easy to also give that a try. It will bring some variety to your weekend and often you can play tennis and padel at the same club. Below you can see a photo of a public padel-court on top of a hill, what a great spot!
What does a tennis trip to Malaga cost?
To help you get an impression of how much a tennis trip to Malaga will cost we listed a bunch of things below:
| Description | Price | Tips/Comment |
| Return Flight from Berlin to Malaga | 150€ | Money back with Airhelp |
| Tennis Courts per hour | 15-20€ | Depends on the club |
| Trainer per hour | 50-80€ | The cheaper trainer was better |
| Accommodation per night | 60€ | Little east of the city at the beach |
So for me personally, being in Malaga for 4 days and spending 3 hours a day on the court, the expenses were around 400€. Obviously you can decide yourself if you take a trainer and how much money you spend on food and drinks afterwards. A tip to make the trip a bit cheaper is that in case of a delayed flight, you should visit Airhelp and get some of your money back. Delays happen quite often on these short flights to Spain so make sure to make the carriers responsible for this.
Helpful questions & answers
The best time of the year to fly to Malaga to play tennis is in February and March. Here the weather in Berlin is not great and in Malaga it will be around 15-20 degrees which is awesome for playing tennis.
The courts at Centro deportivo Cortijo Alto were relatively cheap with only 15€ an hour. The surface here was Tartan which is less fun than clay in our opinion. We played on clay at Club de Tenis Malaga and there the courts were 30€ per hour but the club was very nice (see first photo).
Here the prices were also very different from club to club. On Tartan (Centro Deportivo Cortijo Alto) we paid 80€ per hour for a trainer and at Clay (club de tenis Malaga) we only paid 50€ per hour.
