Fly or ship your golf clubs to Portugal and Spain?
Golf bag fees on Ryanair, Jet2, easyJet and TAP, Luggage Forward prices and transit times, Canaries customs, and club hire costs in Portugal and Spain.
The short answer: most golfers should fly with their clubs.
For a trip to Portugal or Spain, flying with your clubs is usually the cheaper option. From Britain, Faro, Lisbon, Málaga, Palma and Tenerife South are all short direct flights, and the low-cost airlines sell a golf bag as an add-on. Ryanair charges £40 or €40 per bag each way when you add it at booking, so a return trip costs £80 per golfer. Luggage Forward’s golf service starts at US$129 for a small bag, and it says international routes cost more. From the United States the numbers change again, because TAP lets sports equipment count towards the free checked allowance when it fits the limits. Shipping is worth it in three cases: you are moving between several bases, your fare has no checked bag and a tight connection, or you want to leave Faro arrivals without an oversized case. For a single Algarve or Costa del Sol week, compare the two airline fees with one shipping quote before you decide.
Ryanair, Jet2 and easyJet: what a golf bag costs from the UK.
Each of the three main low-cost airlines prices golf clubs separately from your suitcase. Ryanair’s fee table lists golf clubs at €/£40 per item for each one-way flight if you add them at booking, and €/£50 if you add them later or at the airport. The limit is 20 kg, and any extra weight is charged at €/£13 per kilo. Jet2holidays allows golf bags up to 22 kg. You add them online when you book, for an extra charge the baggage page does not price. Changes to an existing booking go through Pre-Travel Services on 0333 300 0737. Jet2holidays packages include a 22 kg hold bag per person, and the company warns that adding sports equipment can raise the price of your resort transfer. We could not open easyJet’s own sports equipment page. Simply Mallorca Golf, a golf operator, lists easyJet at £37 pre-booked and £47 at the airport for clubs up to 20 kg. Its table is undated, so check the price when you book.
Flying from the US: TAP and the free allowance.
If you fly to Lisbon with TAP, your golf bag can travel as part of the free hold allowance, as long as it stays within TAP’s limits. Your fare, destination and Miles&Go status decide how many free bags you get. TAP counts a golf bag as one piece whatever its size, and sets a maximum weight of 32 kg (70 lb) for sports equipment. If the bag is over your free allowance, TAP lists an extra sports equipment piece at €45, US$57 or 9,000 miles. The price varies with where and when you buy it, and with the route. TAP recommends calling its Contact Center or visiting an airport desk to confirm the equipment is registered, and it warns that some aircraft have limited space for it. Extra equipment can be booked up to 24 hours before departure. Watch for one trap: if you fly to Lisbon or Madrid on a long-haul ticket and then take a separate low-cost ticket to Faro, Palma or Tenerife, the free allowance stops at the hub. The second airline charges its own golf fee, and your bag must be collected and checked in again.
Luggage Forward to Portugal and Spain: price, timing, paperwork.
Luggage Forward prices golf bags from US$129 for a small bag (up to 18 kg, 127 × 30 × 25 cm) and US$149 for a large one (up to 22 kg, 132 × 38 × 30 cm). If the bag goes over its category, it is charged at the next category up. Standard international delivery takes 7 to 11 business days. London, for example, takes 7. A faster Preferred service costs more and saves two to three days. You get the lowest rates if you book at least seven days before pickup, and you can book up to 180 days ahead. The company completes the customs forms for each country and ships the bag as personal effects. Collection can be from a home, office, hotel or golf course, and the bag can be delivered straight to the course. Its Spain page does not mention Portugal, the Balearics or the Canaries by name. Run a quote for your exact address, or call +1 617-482-1100 before you rely on it.
Customs: why the Canaries are different.
Mainland Spain, Portugal and Mallorca are all inside the EU’s customs territory and its VAT area. The Canary Islands are not quite the same. The European Commission’s table of special territories puts the Canaries inside the EU and its customs territory, but outside EU VAT and excise rules. The Commission covers the islands’ own turnover taxes on a separate page. So for tax purposes, a shipment from Madrid to Tenerife leaves the EU VAT area. If you ship from Britain, the bag crosses a customs border on any of these routes. Luggage Forward ships the bag as personal effects, but its price does not include duties or import taxes, which the destination country bills separately where they apply. Two practical rules apply on every route. Leave the travel case unlocked, because customs may open it, and Luggage Forward says a locked international bag can be delayed and voids its on-time guarantee. Carry rangefinders and bag trackers in your hand luggage, since it lists lithium batteries, including those devices, as prohibited.
From the airport to the first tee.
Most of the best-known courses are close to their airport, which is another point in favour of flying with your clubs. Quinta do Lago is about 15 km from Faro, a 20-minute taxi ride. Monte Rei, in the eastern Algarve, is about 55 km away on the A22, which uses electronic tolls. Oitavos Dunes is about 35 km from Lisbon airport on the A5. You can also take the train from Cais do Sodré to Cascais in about 40 minutes and then a taxi, but that means carrying a golf case on and off a busy commuter train. Finca Cortesín is roughly an hour from Málaga on the AP-7. Valderrama is about 25 km from Gibraltar airport, or 115 km from Málaga. In Mallorca, Son Gual is 15 minutes from Palma airport, and Alcanada is about 50 minutes away. In Tenerife, Abama is around 30 minutes from Tenerife South. Ask for an estate car or minivan when you book the transfer, so four travel cases fit.
Hiring clubs instead.
For a short trip, hiring clubs can cost less than the airline fees. Several courses on this site publish their prices. Costa Adeje in Tenerife hires a standard set for €30 for 18 holes and a premium set for €45. Alcanada in Mallorca charges €38 for TaylorMade clubs for 18 holes. Son Gual charges €35 for Cobra or Vice sets, or €45 for Vice Premium. Pestana Vila Sol near Vilamoura hires TaylorMade sets for €45 for 18 holes. At Finca Cortesín, rental sets cost €60 for TaylorMade or €75 for Honma. Here is the sum. Two rounds with €38 sets at Alcanada cost €76, less than a Ryanair return for your own bag. Four rounds at €45 cost €180, more than double that fee. Book hire sets when you book the tee time, especially in the Algarve’s spring and autumn peaks. Ask whether the set includes a bag and balls, because the price lists above do not say.
A checklist before you book.
Check five things. First, will the whole journey be on one ticket, or does a separate low-cost flight to Faro, Palma or Tenerife add its own golf fee? Second, does the bag weigh less than the airline’s limit in its travel case? That is 20 kg on Ryanair, 22 kg on Jet2 and 32 kg on TAP. Third, have you added the golf bag at booking, when Ryanair charges €/£40, rather than later at €/£50? Fourth, if you are shipping, have you booked at least seven days before pickup and allowed 7 to 11 business days in transit, so the bag arrives a day or two before your first tee time? Fifth, if the trip includes the Canaries, have you allowed for the separate tax area there? Take rangefinders and trackers out of the shipped bag either way. Then count the rounds. If hire sets cost less than the two-way bag fee, leave the clubs at home.
Get a quote for your route.
Enter your home address and the Algarve, Costa del Sol, Mallorca or Canaries course or hotel, and Luggage Forward shows the price and the pickup dates for that route.
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