Pickleball around the world: Pickleball Trips hosts one-of-a-kind international travel experiences
Last Edited
Jun 26 2025
Category
Community
Scott Moore and his family have had two core passions over the past decade: Pickleball and travel.
In the mid-2010s, Scott and his son Daniel were hoovering up national championships and winning pro tournaments across the country. They were Ben and Collin Johns before the Johns brothers had ever picked up a paddle.
As they were building a name for themselves at the pro level, pickleball was starting to really take off in places like Arizona, Utah and Florida. People wanted to learn from them, and they liked teaching the game, so eventually they began traveling the U.S. to host clinics as well as play in tournaments.
“People were just eating it up,” Scott said of the pickleball boom starting to take shape. “A lot of people hadn’t heard of pickleball yet, but the ones who had were really into it.”
After one particularly successful clinic trip, Daniel had an idea: Why don’t we take people on a trip to Japan and teach them pickleball while we’re there?
“It was an interesting idea,” Scott says now. “I raised the kids in Japan and my wife and I spent 16 years there, so we knew the language and the culture.”
So they went for it, and their first pickleball trip to Japan hosted 13 adventurous pickleballers. Using their extensive knowledge of the country and experience in the region, the Moores provided a behind-the-scenes, one-of-a-kind pickleball trip.
“We were riding the bullet train all over the country,” Scott said. “We showed them more of Japan in a week than most tourists see in two months.”
When they got back to the states, the travelers raved about their experience. All of a sudden, a business was born.
The Moore family pickleball experience
Today, that business is known as Pickleball Trips. The family operation includes Scott and his three sons – Jon, Daniel and Stephen – along with a small support staff. They offer guided, private group trips to various destinations around the world for enthusiasts who want to combine pickleball, travel and cultural immersion.
In the early years, Scott (who is now in the Pickleball Hall of Fame) and Daniel hosted larger groups. Their name ID in the sport meant they naturally drew a big crowd, but they also wanted to balance being able to spend enough time with those who were on the trips.
Eventually they transformed into more of a boutique company that hosts a maximum of 16 travelers.
“We don’t just teach pickleball,” Scott says. “We engage with locals, take our groups on authentic excursions and create a community that’s about more than just the game.”
Pickleball Trips now offers guided trips to 20 different countries, from Japan to Belize, Thailand and multiple European destinations.
Most of those trips cover multiple locations within a country, according to Stephen, the CEO and tour host. When they take a group to Thailand, they visit the coastal region of the country as well as the large cities of Chiang Mai and Bangkok, showcasing the culture and daily life there.
“They get a lot of variety within the trip and engagement with locals,” Scott says. “And it’s not where the normal tourists go.”
As for time on court, travelers can expect a minimum of 9 hours of instruction along with 5-10 hours of additional social play.
Other trips offer a more intensive pickleball experience. On a trip to Belize scheduled for January 2026, for example, travelers will spend a week at a luxurious beachfront home equipped with a private pickleball court and non-stop ocean views. The experience features 12 hours of instructional time along with recreational play in the evenings.
“In general, the more exotic the place we’re going, the less pickleball and more cultural immersion we’ll do,” Scott says. “We still do excursions on the trips where we’re staying in one place, but those are definitely more pickleball intensive.”
Experiencing the growth of pickleball internationally
When Pickleball Trips began, courts abroad were scarce.
“We used to drag nets along and play on temporary setups in gyms or creative locations,” Scott says. “But now, the majority of places have either painted lines on tennis courts or permanent pickleball courts.”
In Asia, almost every country has embraced the sport with permanent facilities, making the trips more seamless. And as pickleball has taken off in Asia and after visiting Japan more than 30 times in the past 10 years, Pickleball Trips has started hosting Japanese travelers in the United States, providing a sight-seeing experience in the U.S. coupled with pickleball lessons and social play.
Scott said they plan to expand their U.S. trips and clinics in the next 2-3 years as interest in pickleball increases throughout Europe and Asia.
With pickleball’s popularity constantly on the rise, Pickleball Trips continues to prioritize the small group setting and culturally immersive experiences for all types of travelers.
“Our dream is just to help as many people as possible see the world and grow in their pickleball game,” Scott said. “We want to be the premier pickleball experience, not the biggest. It’s just a reflection of who we are, and that’s what makes us different.”
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