Skydive Lillo, Madrid, Spain Swoop Pond

I had a great time the two days I went to the DZ. Marcus, Kathy, Keetie, Rory and Pablo give the DZ a warm and open feeling. They were quick to get me checked out, manifested and on the way to altitude.

Prices were very resonable.

The facilites are well kept and the profesionalism of the place has made it my choice to jump when in Spain.

Ich bin vor kurzem nach Madrid gezogen und habe Lillo zu meiner neuen Stamm-Dropzone erklaert, da ich dort alles finde, was ich als Springer brauche: Gute Absetzmaschinen (DO 28 und Porter), weites Landegelaende, gute Wetterverhaeltnisse, grosse Packhalle und sonstige Infrastruktur fuer Training, Relativkurse und Spasspruenge.

This is a very friendly and professional DZ. The staff were all very helpful and Marcus and Cathy made us feel welcome a soon as we arrived.

Thanks to Marcus for organising it for my 3 teenage daughters to tandem, and all on the same lift. Two went back for a 2nd go they were so relaxed with Marcus, Stefan and Pablo.

Few experienced jumpers there when I went but had some excellent jumps with less experienced skydivers.

Lillo itself is very small with little to do. Friendy though. We stayed in the converted convent which was lovely. others who stayed in the apartments owned by the Club spoke well of them.

We had an easy 3.5 hour drive from near Alicante, and when the new motorway to Toledo is finished shortly it will be even easier. Definitely worth a drive up from the coast.

Just returned from a weeks jumping in Lillo, and my fist impression was of a little DZ in a small town. How ever from the moment we arrived; we were made to feel very welcome by the staff, who got us breifed and documented within a matter of minutes, and 20 mins after arriving we were on our way to altittude!
The insructors were very professional and no problem was too trivial for them and they bent over backwards to accomodate us, seven of us walked away with FS1, in a matter of days!
As a personell thanks to Marcus,Steffan,Mike,Barry and the manifest team, who made it a memerable trip,and even more memerable big ways!

Skydive Lillo is the home of Freefall University (http://www.freefalluniversity.co.uk), a canopy piloting school and probably a few other training organisations, so at any one time there will be a large number of students around. This is nice, there's a lot of excitement end enthusiasm around and everyone is looking out for each other. It also means there are lots of team rooms with video facilities, and many ninja-like skydivers around with the attitude that they have something to pass on.

Since Lillo is a very small town, fun at night is generally had with the same people you train with during the day, and that's all good. I highly recommend the pigs' ears at Cafe Latino, with its odd assortment of Bulgarian staff and shockingly cold beer.

Aside from the students, the DZ has quite a few fun jumpers and longer-term residents training for competition and whatnot. None of these people gave me even the slightest hint of Elite Skydiver attitude, despite the fact that there were ironically some genuinely Elite Skydivers there. In the hangar, in the bar, in the plane, everybody was kind and fun and never too busy to give a student a pin check or just a slap on the head out the door. Max praise to the locals.

The bunkhouse is actually pretty good, despite looking like some sort of lunchbox. Plenty of space and nowhere near as hot as it looks, and hey - the price is right. I'd actually suggest taking a sleeping bag, because it somehow manages to get cold at night! Bring a pillow too.

The bar is really good. You will spend a lot of time there, so make sure you get along with the staff. They'll teach you Spanish at no charge, at least enough to cover the menu (food plentiful and tasty, BTW) :D

My one complaint? It's a small one: they really need to replace the shower head in the male shower.

Oh, yeah. Take a car. The town is less than a klick away but the sun is baking. I'm from Adelaide, I know that of which I speak. If you're not going to be jumping all day every day, you will want to take them up on their offer of car rental. Even if you just want to go to Lillo (not that there's much to do there). Didn't try the pool but there was happy splashing coming from it from time to time when it got really hot.

The baking sun is its own reward, though. It motivates you to get off the ground and into the cool air at 12k, and it means you will almost never find yourself on a weather hold (I was there a week and was on two wind holds, both just for AFF students). Oh yeah, and there are some cool thermals ;)

Despite first jumping out of a neato Caravan, I find I really miss that Porter and its denizens. I'll be back, sooner rather than later.

I went there to do my AFF and I'm going back there for sure!

I thought Lillo was a nice place with good instructors for all diciplines.

It has pretty good weather, and is cheap to get to from the UK.

Lillo does however lack organisation, has poor customer service and suffers from having a feel bad factor! EG, Xmas boogie!

After that event I felt let down and bullshitted by the Dz over its bogus credentials published in the brit mag!

However Im happy to say Lillo has realised its mistakes and is trying to turn it around. This place is still in its infancy, but its growing up fast!

I've been there for two weeks to the X-Mas-Boogie in 2004/2005. The Porter was there and Jan's Beech99.
I was really annoyed by the fact, that they had promised much more than they could realize. No baloon-jumps, no heli-jumps, no bunkhouses, no parties,... too many "nos" to the things I was looking foreward to. Anyway it was fun to jump there, but the group needed a portion of cynicism to get over some facts.
Lillo, the small town near to the DZ is not a nice place to be. It's a poor town, not offering much to tourists. You have to take a closer look to find nice restaurants, bars and people.
I know the staff at Lillo tried to do a good job, and maybe they are doing so in the meantime. I hope so, 'cause there was a noticeable breeze of potential to be better than that. Some people there really tried their best and did a good job in cutting lillo's losses.

just got back off some days at Lillo and would like to give you my opinion....
great coaches (FF, RW andCanopy Control) very friendly and helpful, and the level of experience doesn't matter at all... everybody feels welcome and can jump till sunset (20:00 or even later :-)
Will for sure go back.. as sooner as better THX guys for the great time I had with you at Lillo

This was my second trip to Lillo, with the last one for AFF training. This dropzone has so much going in all disiplines its hard to choose which to do. Great planes in the Porter which was supplemented by a Twin Otter and Super Beech 99, 7 minutes to 13000ft what more do you need. The pilots are real characters who will drop you on a spot all day. World class coaching is available to anyone who wishes to improve their skill base. The locals are really friendly and easy going. the only thing I would say is hire a car, its about 1.5 hours drive from Madrid airport and quite rural. With a car you have the choice of visiting other towns and cities if you get winded out or just fancy a break. If you consider jumping in Spain check it out you won't be disappointed.

A dropzone where you can bring your team and have the best aircraft, coaching and weather that Europe has to offer. It is always nice to learn with the best.

Maybe the best dropzone in Spain

Once people start finding out about this place it will definitely compete for being as popular as Empuria Brava! I had soo much fun there! Can't wait to go back!

Longest swoop pond in Europe 430+ feet! Retaurant, pool, bunkhouse, cheap jump tickets, on site restarant. Most people speak English well there!

I don't doubt that they will start hosting major competitions there soon!

When I was there in May 2004, the were building an on site restaurant and another bunkhouse and outdoor bar.

Get on their website for thier own dropzone forum like dz.com!

an absolutely amazing DZ! the atmosphere is incredible, i've never felt more welcome :)

the facilities/ equipment is great. perfect for students- i would recommend the freefall university to anyone!

everyone should go right now!

We spend the first week in August there, and had a great time.

Cheap jump tickets and great place to party. Everyone is super friendly and very professional. I am definatley going back!!! Perfect for team training.

Beautiful weather, it is skydive heaven! And if you are the last one out the crazy pilot follows you down, this makes for some awesome footage, what an experience.

Just got back from 4 days at a very chilled DZ, great staff and an even better attitude - highly recommended!

They have it all..... swoop pond and excellent facilities.... plus the resident AFF school is by far the best in Europe... In the next few weeks the pool will be ready and it will be skydive swim skydive chill ... I cant wait !!!!

So listen in all you pond scum and freefliers... you gotta check Lillo out....make it the top destination to visit this year...

If you want to learn to skydive then check out the freefall university... and get to jump with the lovely lucy or Dave..

It is incredible, Skydive Lillo in Toledo, 45 minutes driving from Madrid Airport. Its a new drop zone open 365 days a year.

Skydive Lillo Offer the finnest in facilities and great staff. On top of being a great place to jump, Skydive Lillo has well-stablished facilities designed for maximum jumping and maximum fun.

Skydive Lillo offer hotels and hostals close to the DZ, free camping, free showers and lots of things more.

More information www.skydivelillo.com

Blue skies

Just getting there you'll probably be introduced to every skydiver there is.
Most of the DZ Workers have been in the sport for more than 30 years and that includes advices for every jump, Load organizers...
The plane is awesome, a pilatus that only takes an average time of 15 minutes to reach the 4000 meter altitude.
Sunset loads go higher, you get a 2x3 jumps if you manifest for the first load at 9 o'clock.
The pool will be ready for this summer, there are a bunch of places to stay like motels, a hotel...
I really recommend it.