Skydive Empuriabrava

If you want to get the Skydive Dubai feeling in Europe, that's the place to go. You'll find a very high density of highly skilled people around here.

Weather is great most of the time and the sunset view onto the sea is undisputedly awesome. Very fast aircraft  (beech) and in the seldom case of unjumpable weather conditions you'll find a wind tunnel right around the corner.

Just be aware that it's a big place and it might be different than what you are used when you started skydiving at a small dropzone. In any case - fully recommandable, great experience.

Just Completed my AFF and A Licence at Skydive Empuriabrava, Its a professional setup with very good instructors.  I cant recommend Instuctor James STANCOMB enough as he clearly loves what he does. Went to spain deliberately from the UK hoping the consistant weather would assit in completing the course in the couple of weeks I had. All instructors appear to speak english as well as multiple other lanuages and the level of experience at the dropzone is impressive. There were teams from the UK and other countries attending and jumpng when I was there making the most of the good facilities and quick packing and flight turnarounds with the two aircraft running to keep everyone jumping. Staying in empuriabrava was a bit expensive and its about a 30 minute walk from the town but the view and sunset on the last jump of the day made it worth the trip alone. They appear to be investing heavily into the DZ facilities with some areas under construction and I anticipate the dropzone facilities will only improve further in the near future. Hoping to return next year if my bank account allows.        

Just returned from a family holiday in Empuriabrava. Our flat was within walking distance of the DZ. Reception was excellent and docs/kit check/DZ brief handled quickly and efficiently. We were in town for 4 days and had fantastic weather/low winds for all 4. They run a Beech, Twin Otter and Porter - all of which I managed to jump from during the course of my stay. Lifts are turned with little delay - many back to back.The packing area is indoors and spacious. The views when jumping are fantastic. Easily the most beautiful DZ I've jumped at. The restaurant area is still under construction (October 2017) so a prefab is used in the meantime. Plata da dia is excellent. All round friendly place, well run.

Great facilities even though it is only improvisation until the construction is done (looks like until end of 2016 it will be done). Great instructors and many coaches as they have all the different teams there. The aircraft fleet is a perfect combination as they have a porter in order to start flying with only a few jumpers but bring out the Otter or even the Beech 99 once there are a lot of jumpers and tandems.
The ocean view and the view over the nice town of Empuriabrava is THE best I have had so far and I have been to Sebastian and other nice places.
Once the winds pick up, you still have the tunnel right around the corner, a beach to kite surf or hang out or many bars and clubs to finish off the day.

One of the best places ever!

Got a week in over there and really enjoyed it. CCI and Marko done the doc/check and checked my old rig which raised a funny comment due to its age and I was quite rightly told there would be no FF whilst I was there. The cross section of skydivers were really good from all nations and they were very friendly and were happy to share with other guys in the lifts didn't see any evidence of fun jumpers being left out for tandems or AFF as per last comment. I missed out for a couple of days due to the jump limit being raised to 400. I would advise fun jumpers to have a good number of jumps under there belts as the limits of 50 and 100 gets put up at the manifest which is very responsible as there is a main road to the north and town to the south. I took advantage of doing a canopy course 101 there with Peter All um who was excellent and whilst I was there I saw zero cutaways and no one got hurt. I will be heading back in the new year.
Steve B licence from the Uk

I visited here as a fun jumper in May/June 2013 and completed about 40 fun jumps.

Empuriabrava has one of the biggest reputations in Europe but falls so short of the mark in my opinion. They have a brand new wind tunnel and some of the best aircraft I've ever seen. Their new Beech can get you and 19 mates to 13k in 7.5minutes !! amazing.

The major drawbacks for fun jumpers are the complete monopoly by teams and freefly coaching teams which prevent free load organising! Because teams can pre manifest and you cannot, some days we had to wait 2 hours between loads... no thank you.

The DZ has been bought by Skydive Dubai in recent months and there is allot of talk about future plans, however, right now this DZ is not a place I will return to and there a better DZs in Europe.

I did my AFF & A license at Empuriabrava in May 2011. Both the ground school and instructor jumps were top notch (thanks, Laurent & Fran!) Though we were winded out the first day, I got my first 29 jumps in 7 days. They had an Otter and a Porter going while I was there, and I hear they have a 3rd turbine during the peak summer months.

For a novice like me, it was quite a treat to be sharing planes with the French national 4-way teams (both male and female) as well as the Babylon Freefly team.

The view of the sea is amazing and they've got a professional photographer there (Mike) who takes some amazing shots. The cafe and bar are good fun and excellent place for watching students' AFF videos and drinking their beer!

I'd highly recommend this DZ to anyone who wants to do a ton of jumping, get licensed, do an RW or Canopy course, or even just chill and watch some insane swooping.

Just arrived back from 2nd trip to empuria with 4 mates. Unfortunatly we were winded out for a couple of days,however when the wind dropped the operation was quickly got under way.on the last day we were there the boss{peter}paid for me and 4 mates to jump coz he felt bad for us and to thank our patience.this simply doesn't happen elsewhere and I'm happy to go back there and fully recommend the DZ to friends.

To be honest, I got to Empuria and their staff had a very poor attitude, they were a little rude to say, I am tiny and jumping with a sabre 150, they were shouting, laughing and commenting like they new best than my instructors in Ocaña, (hey Xavi, this girl is jumping with 150 and she has 40 jumps, hahaha),well I don't think so!! That I found very arrogant and rude the way they treat people there.
The place was very nice, the planes, the cafeteria (little expensive)and the views were... the best... still I would not change my DZ in Ocaña..

I just got back from a short vacation in Empuriabrava, it sure was a journey to get there from Afghanistan but I made it very easily using public transportation and a short walk.
Go vartical was ongoing while I was there and the view from 16k is excellent. While the Beech99, Otter and Porter were flying everything was going well and I was able to average 10 jumps per day, however, one day the p orter didn't fly and the otter was only flying tandems and AFFs so the fun jumpers were limited to only manifesting on the Beech which meant 2 hour wait time between loads.
The bar had in my opinion the wost service I have ever seen, took forever to get serviced, although the food was pretty good and at night it was pretty good atmosphere.
Just like the previous review, the proshop was quite expensive and I couldn't find a shirt from the DZ to save my life.

Overall, I think this is a great DZ and I recommend it to anyone wanting to travel a bit and see something new. The people are very friendly and the office ladies are great, very accomodating and friendly. I would certainly return.

Went to empuria around easter and also participated the go vertical boogie.

ABOUT THE MANIFEST:
Plane capacity was good. Beech99, Super otter, Skyvan and the porter. But sometimes it felt it just wasent enough. During the busy times I had to wait more than 2 hours just to manifest my self solo on the next availeable load. But wait, thats not all.. The next guy (who obviously knows the manifest) goes and manifests him self and some friends on a 25 minute call right after me. Im like What the **** is this ? This was happening thru the whole day.

ABOUT RIGGIN LOFT:
After a few jumps on my new canopy I noticed I should lenghten my brakelines. I took my canopy to the riggin loft and explained the rigger what I needed. He asked me "what canopy is that" I said "Its a 120 vengeace" and He started shouting me "why the F**K do you have spectra lines on your vengeace!!!??" Where I couldn´t really say nothing else then "Im very sorry but PD installed them in the factory" (that is the way how the canopy is designed by PD) After that he grabbed my helmet and started wrapping a line from my canopy over my camerahelmet and telling me how this helmet is going to kill me... (its a normal bonehead optik) Eventually the next day I finally got him to lenghten my brakelines after having to listen his mumbo jumbo for 2 hours... So word of advice .. Have your rigging made at your home DZ before leaving to empuria.

WEATHER:
I think the location isnt exactly the optimal skydiving location in terms of weather. The wind is often very hard as also said in the other reviews. Still empuria manages to be the worlds second biggest DZ with a lot of days nonjumpable.

PILOT:
In empuria all the jumpruns are spotted by GPS and always flown from south to north. This is because of the city right to the south of the airstrip. The only place where you can land in the city are the canals, so you really dont want to end up over the city.

One of the days i was manifested on the skyvan for a few jumps and noticed that on the earlier loads the last ones out didnt make back to the DZ becouse the Skyvan pilot was dropping people so far away. When we went on the next load we asked the pilot if he could make 2 jumpruns where he immediedly said "NO !!" very stern. Earlier on that day there was one fatal incident from the skyvan. Lot of jumpers again couldnt make it back and one died to his injuries later due to a bad off landing..

Next day we were flying not two but THREE jumpruns.. But suprise suprise no one wanted to load on the skyvan anymore so the DZ made it tandem only for the rest of the day..

Other than this. I had fun in empuria. The city is close by. There are nice small towns to visit close by. The bunkhouses are nice. Mostly people were very professional.

I started skydiving in this center going via AFF route and carried on with jumps in this DZ. If you are planning an AFF you have two options. First one is to choose the DZ's own Instructors to take your level jumps. You may need to share your instructor and you may end up having different instructors for each of your levels. This should not put any one off as all of the instructors are highly skilled professionals as some are in Spanish international formation team and some are sponsored by companies like redbull .However if you prefer to have a more personalized instruction and have the same instructors for your jumps there are smaller schools managed by foreign instructors. All speak English and they all have extensive experience in skydiving.
They have two pilatus porters a blue and a white. Blue seems to be little faster than the white. Then the super otter is a big plane which takes up to 23 flyers and climbs to 13000ft around 10 mins. The Beech99 as manifest prefers to call it KINGAIR is not owned by the centre but the pilot and the owner of the plane JAN prefers to fly his superfast plane at this DZ pretty much every other time he doesnt attand to a go vertical boogie somewhere else. If you pack your own canopy fast enough and eager to get alot of jumps its possible to reach two digits in one day. mine is 9 in march where the jumping hours are shorter in summer you may get few more.
The ground control, manifest, office are all oparated by proffesional and friendly people. The master rigger is a very interesting personality and he talks through details to make sure you are learning he does this in a very professional manner regardless of your level. Sometimes you may find that everyone is telling you to do or not to do something but if dont have some thousand jumps its a good idea to listen to them because they usually have those jumps under their belts.
If you manage to get on the sunset load you will get a chance to be dropped at 15.000 or even 16.000ft and will have a chance to see the moon, the sun set and the amazing view.
The biggest problem is the wind sometimes when the tramontana picks up it may stop skydiving for days. And sometimes it comes from the south and it usually eases off in a days time.
The bunkhouse is 6 people in one room and they are not too big. Considering this DZ as one of the bussiest in Eurpoe it definetly needs better accomodation options. The cafe is quite good which turns into a bar later on drinks are a little expensive but comparing with uk still affordable.
Landing area is large green field and there are lots of off-field landing area in th north. The south is covered by the town but the DZ never takes the risk if there is chance to have off landings to the town side they will go on stand by. Safe is better!
If you stay here long and you are bored you can go and try kite surfing at the beach. The town has lots of restaurants and bars but mainly everyone can be found at Orange Kiwi where you can have amazing continental food, Captains cabin is a pub similar to the ones in the UK, surfinn is a clubbish-bar which operates till late. for single males there are more into the town than meets the eye but be prepared for surprises and high prices.
There are two shops at the DZ for clothing the matter factory shop is just at the back near the hangars and the sky rat shop. But if you are looking for gear the the only place is the skyrat shop where the prices may be high however there are lots of options for you in there if you are in a rush to replace your altimeter or get a new pair of goggles then it serves for the need.
At this dropzone you will meet BABYLON team, Bruno Brokken, Tim Porter and many more world best in their own branch od skydiving and as in many other things in life the best are modest, down to earth and holod passion for sharing their experience and knowledge with the newcomers.
I have tried to be objective in my observations hope these be usefull.

I went to Empuriabrava by myself three times in 2005 while living in the U.K. and had good times. Met people from all over the world that are up for some fun jumps, good food and bars.There's everthing you could want except a swoop pond and wind tunnel,Come on owners. It's just great to be able to turn up somewhere and know your going to have fun.

Hi Everyone!

Just arrived home after a fantastic holiday in Catalonia, Spain.

Skydive Empuirabrava was our destination. A nice DZ with friendly and accommodating staff. Great aircafts (1xsuper otter, 2xsuper pilatus porter, 1xbeech 99), and tremendous wies!

The city of Empuriabrava offered nice restaurants and great bars. The beach is also nice, but i think it come to it right later on in the summer .

Skydive Empuriabrava also offer you a "loadorganizer". One person in the staff that helps you with Formation Skydivning. He organzie groups after your own wishes and experience. You can be a rookie or talented 4-way jumper. everybody is welcome. He show you the Exit, helps you with your dirtdives and give you some tips and trix. If you want, he will even jump with you. And fix you a cameraman. all for free We met this guy Regan from UK. He did a great job and he contributed alot to this successful trip. We had some great laughter with him. Thx Regan!

I can warmly recommend Skydive Empuriabrava, both if you are going solo or if you travel in group. You will be taken good care of in Empuriabrava!
I will definitive go back to this charming place.

Blue skies

Very welcoming atmosphere. We were helped out by UK champ Regan with load organising and coaching - even got loads of the jumps on DVD. Super frequent lifts with Kingair, Pilatuses, Superotter. Super professional and super friendly.

In the air it was fantastic to see the snow covered Pyrenees on your one hand and the Costa Brava on the other. Great environment with all of Catalonia's small towns and Barna within driving distance.

A fantastic DZ and a fantastic experience. Will definitely go back and would recommend it to anyone, rookie as well as pro!

I was really lookin forward to jumping Empuriabrava.We plained the visit so that it would be over two days in case of bad weather. Well it was raining both days. The folsk at manifest and in the Pro Shop were nice enough. I had a VERY good DZ orientation by one of the instructors. I mean it was very good and detailed. Well maybe next time I'll get to jump.

I have just returned from a trip to Empuria and I cannot recomend it enough. I went out there to get some coaching with a view to getting a half decent sitfly position and left with FF1; Babylon are that good! The staff at Babylon are extremely helpful and friendly, they won't just take your money and get the coach jumps out of the way in a couple of days, but rather they are genuinley interested in seeing you progress.

I was warned about the landing area and the winds but I never experienced a problem. If you are not happy with the jump limitations they put up just ask at manifest for the wind speed. The landing area is dead easy to land on so long as you don't try and land right next to the crossing point on the runway. There are no jumpmasters but normally someone takes on the role, if in doubt just ask, there were nearly always instuctors/coaches on my loads and they are more than happy to help.

Overall I would highly recomend this DZ to everyone of all experience levels. I have already planned my next trip there.

Well, This is the only DZ I've been to, as I did my AFF there. What can I say? Everyone was amazingly friendly, made me welcome (thats the instructors, manifest staff, other jumpers, the DZ staff and the bar staff, Cedric over in the Matter shop and indeed anyone that was hanging around!)and the manifest, in my extremely limted experience, seemed to be super organised: Loads were constantly going up (2 porters and 1 twin otter), as soon as the sun poked its nose out, the manifest staff were mic's at the ready... :) That and they had a King Air there for easter. What a great plane.

The bunkhouse is great, although the matresses could do with being a bit comfy-er, and was 12 Euro's/night over easter. I believe it goes up to 15 Euro's in the summer. Still well worth it.

I had a great time, thanks to all there :)

Nice and professional DZ with great vibes. 3 turbine powered planes, 2 Porter, 1 Otter, well organised and managed! Great view with mountains and the sea.

I went to Empuria in Janurary to finish my AFF training was struck by the professional attitude and excelent level of organisation. Having only been there as a student I can't really comment on the DZ in detail, but I came away feeling that the UK would be a much better place if our DZs followed Empuria's example.

If you havent visited empuria then try and fit it in your diary for a visit
I learnt to skydive there just over 31/2 years ago and have beeen there over 30 times since I have jumped at over 20 different dropzones and Empuria rates in the top
The levels of experience in all skydive disciplines means everybody has the chance whether a beginner or experienced to gain something from a visit to Europes busiest dropzone
The night life is good too and there are some really good restaurants not least Bruno and Gabys OASIS restaurant
Get on the net and book your trip you wont regret it

Of the 11 DZs I have jumped at in the U.K and abroad, I must say this is one of the best. The DZ itself is a pleasant place, they have 2 Porters and a Super Twin Otter running, shaded indoor packing, bar/cafe, pool and now a shop run by a very pleasant British guy who gives lots of helpful advice!

The views are stunning! The mediteranean coast with the marina town and the snow covered mountains to the North. The nightlife is good - loads of bars. I recommend Dolcevita - the restaurant on the beach as a nice place to get s meal out at a reasonable cost (Good Pizzas).

The landing area isn't as small as people make out, if you're worried just practise your accuracy before you go but anyone with 20+ jumps should be able to land there easily! As a British jumper I must say that I'm used to every load having a jump master to coordinate exit order and that is missed in Spain. As long as you take responsibility for yourself AND others and TALK to other jumpers on the load an exit order and a SAFE skydive can be established. Most people can speak in English there.

Overall I had a fantastic experience there. Load turn arounds were quick, often when asking I was told I could get on a 10 minute call, but as other people have already commmented, the winds do pick up in the afternoon. Whilst they don't check your experience when there is a wind limit - take warning - they get strong. It went from no limit to a 400 jump limit between getting on the plane and deployment on one lift, and landing was very turbulent. Know your own limits. Highly recommend this DZ.

Just read the reviews, interesting that common sense seems to have left the building and given way to complaining. some people have to find the negative in everything.

"Long narrow landing area", what do you need to land on, if you cant land on that you need to practice your canopy skills if you can no make the landing area, what are you going to do if you have a malfunction? look for the nearest airport to land on.. sorry thats not going to work.

"Bit of a zoo" so can ant drop zone that is busy, empuriabrava is the busiest DZ in europe not some tiny little dirt track with a crop duster running off it, you get jumpers from all over the world with different experience levels, If you dont like wahat happens in the air then you are not thinking enough and are taking things for granted. It is your responsibility if something is not right with seperation or what people are doing is to help the situation by taking positive action in the air and on the ground.

OK thats enough, i jump there and love it and yes i have jumped at other drop zones, to all those people out there complaining take your complaining somewhere else and before judging other people have a look at what you are doing. europe has over 200 drop zones so you have plenty to choose from, if you dont like it why do you come back time after time.

I have been here twice - just got back from the 2nd trip yesterday - i don't know whats happened to Christophe and the Base bar, but its now under different management and most people seem to just have a beer at the little Skybar cafe at the end of the day - lost a bit of its character as a result! Anyway its still a great place to jump, the earlier the better - winds and cloud generally will pick up around 1 or 2ish, and can stay up for the rest of the day, although that's not to say you won't get a string of perfect days, just as you can get a string of not so good days - the most important thing is to know your limitations - if they put up a 100 jumps limit, think of it as atleast twice that - that's what the locals and some dz packers/staff have told me. If you don't see coaches/Babylon going up, there is a reason for that!

Be aware of turbulence from trees when in a north holding area landing approach. It can make the last 20ft quite choppy. Make sure people are aware of how long to leave for adequate separation - it's amazing as well how many of the instructors there just say to watch for a 45 degree separation angle between the previous group and your exit.
Anyway - watch people and make sure you have good horizontal separation - be careful in the Porter not to get handles yanked - it's a bit of a squeeze in there, but generally fine. Make sure you keep 90 degrees to the beach for 5-8 seconds, after opening before turning back to the dz (as the guy before me forgot to do - tracking to separate and then seeing a canopy open below you and turn right straight towards you is never a good sight) - if you feel worried, make sure you tell people in a nice way, so that they know the deal - i think too many people get on the plane without knowing what other groups are doing, not bothering themselves with the right exit order, and not leaving enough separation between groups and after opening. Also, don't forget to check that you aren't out over the sea or "a burning field" as Ippo told me - i thought he was joking, but as he rightly pointed out the pilots can make mistakes as the spot is done with GPS, so just have a quick check down to make sure you are in the right place - check before run in especially if there are clouds high up - you WILL be getting out without being able to see through the bottom if cloud is thick so it helps to know you are in roughly the right place for peace of mind when getting out in thick cloud.

Keep your head on a swivel after opening especially if going out the Otter - there will be up to about 22 other people up there with you all working their way back to what is not the biggest landing area. Work out where you want to land out before you are at 500 ft looking for somewhere - there are quite a few hazards about (powerlines, canals etc) so know where they are and have a plan b before you get too low.

What else? Um, yeah the nightlife in Empuria is decent - most head to the Surf Inn which normally gets going from like 12 or 1am. Passa Rella the bike club on the beach is crazy - i went there on my last night which was pretty quiet, but have heard there is some craziness that goes on there, especially on the weekends in the summer, so that would be worth checking out. The Orange Kiwi is a good place to go to grab some food, and Bruno Brokken's restaurant the Oasis, on the beach front is good too.

Anyway yeah, in summing up, its a great dz - cranking out 10-12 jumps a day is doable, and the view is amazing - sunset loads can leave you lost for words to describe the scene to someone who hasn't experienced them. Just remember to stay heads up, know your limitations, and be safe and you'll have a great time!

Ive been to many DZ's around the world but in my mind Empuria is the best. The views are stunning, to the south east you can see the Med and the beach to the north the Pyrenese mountains (often with snow on them)and beneath you the canal system of Empuria. The staff are friendly and effecient. I'm amazed at how many languages evryone speaks. The facilities are second to none, swimming pool, tennis courts, go kart track, bar and restaraunt, massage etc.
But what makes Empuria really different to most DZ's is that when you leave the DZ you are not in the middle of nowhere. Instead you are in a lovely holiday resort, the biggest residential marina in the world. So once you have finished jumping you can simply walk out the DZ to the bars, resteraunts, hotels, clubs, the beach etc. Its really nice to go on holiday and not have to spend 24 hrs a day at the drop zone. The last holiday we took we would jump then chill out by the pool, do some local sightseeing , jump again , go out all night etc etc. Where else is all this within walking distance of the drop zone?
On the downside the winds are often strong in the afternoon, the landing area is a long narrow strip, not pleasant when the wind is not blowing either north or south and the altitude is rarely more than 13,000 ft. Also the Cd playerin the plane at Space Centre makes a major difference that perhaps gives a bit of an edge that Empuria doesn't have. But these are minor problems. Overall Empuria makes not only a great DZ, but also a great holiday destinantion even for Whuffos, just ask the rich Germans who have their villas beneath you.