Disc Golf in Spain
Costa del Sol
January. It’s freezing cold outside. The chains sound somewhat strange. You hardly get the right grip in this weather . Luckily discgolf is also played on the south, in Spain for example. Kryštof and his girlfriend went there for a weekend and now bring a summary of everything they find important!
Málaga, 6 million city at Spanish Costa del Sol, or Coast of the sun. A city that in addition to the nearby discgolf course can offer excellent cuisine, beaches, monuments and important art scene. Pablo Picasso was born there. And the average temperature during winter months is 18 °C.
Thanks to everything mentioned above, affordable prices of accommodation and food and the fact that low-cost airline Ryanair started to fly regularly from Prague to Málaga, makes this place an ideal place for a central european discgolfer to visit during winter time. Maybe just for a weekend.
How to get there
Because of speed, price and comfort we definitely recommend airplane. On the website kiwi.com you can find return plane tickets starting at around 2 000 CZK. Getting to Prague’s airport is easy.
The course itself is in between two towns Málaga and Fuengirola. Both towns are connected by a “metrotrain”, the journey from Málaga takes roughly 45 minutes (from the Málaga Centro stop to Torreblance stop). The price for one adult person is 2€ per one trip (52 CZK).
Kde se ubytovat
S přítelkyní jsme bydleli přímo v centru Málagy, v Hostalu Vidamia. Ubytování pro oba na víkend (2 noci) vyšlo na 100€ (2600 CZK). Pokoj byl skromný, ale pěkný. Ubytování se dá určitě najít i levnější, ale také dražší. Vyhledávat doporučujeme na airbnb.com, ve Španělsku to dost frčí a dá se dostat na úplně jiné ceny, než v hotelech a hostelech.
Where to stay
We stayed right in the center og Málaga with my girlfriend, in Hostal Vidamia. The accommodation for both of us costed about 100€ (2600 Kč) for whole weekend. The room was a bit small, but nice. You can definitely find cheaper accommodation but also much more expensive. We recommend looking at airbnb.com, it’s pretty popular in Spain and you can get much better prices than regular hotels and hostels.
What to do besides discgolf
Eat. Málaga (and the whole Andalusian region) is known for the so called tapas, small portions of different meals, which you typically eat with wine or beer. It’s also worth trying various types of sea food but it is not the only thing that Spainish chefs can cook. Everyone can find his favorite tapas. The prices are from 2-6€ per one plate of tapas. Depending on the restaurant and type of food. 2 plates are enough for an adult and extra hungry person should be ok with 3 plates.
The specific businesses that we can recommend are the following :
– KGB – tapas bar with michelin star, it is wise to come right after the opening, or to make a reservation, a gastronomical experience to remember.
– Astrid Taperia Organica – tapas bar focused on bio and healthy food, they offer a morning buffet at 4€ per person during season!
– Noviembre – excelent, stylish and helthy tapas restaurant, where you can have a nice breakfast, nice lunch and a nice dinner. We recommend avocado.
– El Último Mono – these guys specialize in all kinds of shakes and smoothies, which they prepare to a perfection! We visited them 3 times in 3 days!
What to do besides discgolf and eating
Málaga is Spain’s 6th biggest city and offers a lot of historical and cultural sites to see. The main one is definitely fortress Gibralfaro from 14th century, from which you have a beautiful view over Mediterranean sea and sometimes all the way to Afrika. Ideal for the sunset. Cathedral de la Encarnación is the biggest local cathedral built gradually in Gotickém, Renaissance and Baroque style. It offers beautiful views of the city. There’s a lot of churches in Málaga, all that we visited were beautiful.
There’s also a lot of museums, the most noticeable are Museum of Pablo Picasso (they have two of them) and museum of cars and fashion, where men and women find their own favorites.
So what about the discgolf?
DiscGolfPark Mijas is (at this moment) the only DiscGolfPark in Spain. It is a 18 holes pay-to play course, situated 30minutes of walk from Torreblance stop. The fact that the dicsgolf course is there is not a coincidence as there’s a Finish primary school full of Fins nearby. And as you know already, Fins love discgolf.
One of them (let’s call him Ville) moved there with his whole family and built the course at their own expense. Since then he runs the course, organizes a single round Doubles tournament on Wednesdays and every Sunday a one-round sometimes even two-round weekly tournament. But once in a while a real PDGA whole weekend tournament.
All day entry is 10€, there is a refreshment stand and a pro-shop at the course. Every visitor gets a printed map of the course. Mr. Ville even makes a records of visitors from different countries, he already has more than 16 countries. Czech record is held by me 57 (-6), after beating František Trenz.
The course is situated in a hilly area right on the mountain slope. It is typical Spanish terrain, reminds me of Croatia. Discgolfers have this property all for themselves and we didn’t meet or endangered any muggles there. Holes are well designed with typical Finish style. Driver is definitely necessary, for me on 15 out of 18 holes.
It is recommended to play Mijas more than once, because some of the holes are very treacherous. It’a worth visiting and if I ever go there again I am going to spend a whole day there.
