Padel Frankfurt: four floodlit courts in the city's biggest park

Four floodlit outdoor courts on the grounds of the Tenniszentrum Niddapark, a few minutes from the centre and hemmed in by the largest park in Frankfurt. Booking is Playtomic and online only — there is no phone reservation — at €28 an hour in prime time and €24 on weekdays before 17:00. Rackets cost €5 at the gate or €2 if you remember to add them in the app, which is the sort of detail worth passing on to a group of beginners.

What separates this venue from the other outdoor sites is that it already runs the thing an organiser is trying to run. Padel Frankfurt operates its own Americano leagues on Playtomic, split into a beginner-and-intermediate and an intermediate-and-advanced bracket, at around €17 an entry, plus level-graded group training and women's sessions with a Spanish-speaking coaching team. If your group is four people who want a fixture rather than a booking, that already exists here.

Four courts is sixteen players on court and a ceiling of twenty-one. Sixteen players need fifteen rounds for a full Americano, and an hour gives eight at 16 points — so book two hours if you want the rotation to finish, or run a Mexicano inside the hour with the target fixed up front.

The price step is at 17:00 on weekdays and it is only €4 a court, so four courts cost €96 in the afternoon against €112 in the evening. Worth taking if your group is flexible, not worth rearranging the week for.

One weather note that follows from being outdoors and online-only: there is no indoor fallback here and no phone to call. If the group is paying up front, say out loud who carries the risk before you collect the money.