The battle for sunloungers on the Costa del Sol is now so tortuous that tired Brits are being forced to lay on the floor as they queue for two hours or more from just after dawn, MailOnline can reveal today.
The sunbed wars in southern Spain are continuing unabated during the summer break with some families even deploying their fitter and faster children to beat older holidaymakers to the pool.
Exclusive pictures show how some waited for up to two hours for prime spots at the four-star Hotel Estival Torrequebrada, near Málaga, earlier this month.
One guest shared an image of the queue for the children’s pool, where one fatigued parent was seen lying on the floor using his backpack as a pillow. Others were also seen sitting on the ground with their inflatables.
In a very British scene at the same hotel, men and women were also pictured turning up long before the beach and swimming pools opened to ensure they get the best spot – and most brought a chair and a good book to pass the time.
But one witness said that once the gate opened each morning, ‘madness’ ensued, with ‘people literally running in’. Some parents shoved forward their children to tear past older guests.
One TikTok user at a different hotel in Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol laughed as he filmed the chaotic rush on Saturday after the pool opened at 10am – with sunseekers swarming and shoving to grab loungers. He then panned right to reveal the hotel’s rooftop terrace with ‘free bar’ remained completely deserted.
Another Twitter user showed the scene after ‘sunbed w***ers’, as he dubbed them, sprinted to dump towels on sunloungers to reserve them before leaving again en masse for the restaurant.
The two-hour queue for a children’s pool on the Costa del Sol with one man (bottom right) deciding to have a lie down
People queue for sun loungers at Hotel Estival Torrequebrada near Malaga – many brought chairs and a good book as they waited for almost two hours before the beach and pool opened
The sea of reserved sunbeds in southern Spain with everyone having breakfast
The mad scramble for sunloungers on the Costa del Sol
As the pool opened at 10am, holidaymakers swarmed for their spot so they could grab a sunlounger, put a towel on and leg it back into the hotel for breakfast
Amid the chaos by the pool, Brit John Yates scanned across to the deserted rood terrace
Charlotte Chartell told MailOnline that people were queueing up on chairs whilst reading ‘as they’ve been there so long’. But she also concluded ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’, following her initial shock that people were waiting in line to get a sunlounger each day.
Ms Chartell said: ‘There are two pools, but only one for children, so everyone wants to get as close as they can to the slides as well. There definitely aren’t enough sun loungers for the number of guests in the hotel.
‘But as soon as the lifeguard opens the gate, people literally run in, someone sent their children running ahead of the adults. It’s madness. I was there the week before the holidays started so God knows what it’s like now’.
Holidaymakers across the Costa Del Sol have been spotted racing each other to nab poolside sun loungers the moment sites open.
Footage from the weekend shows a huge queue of people in holiday attire standing in a line as they hope to get their hands on the best beds.
It comes after tourists in Tenerife were slammed as ‘sunbed warriors’ after they were spotted laying out loungers at 6.30am – three-and-a-half hours before the pool was due to open.
The footage from Benalmádena, Costa Del Sol, shows hundreds of vacationers waiting outside the pool area, only to start sprinting towards the sun beds as soon as they could.
One tourist at the resort, Laury Mackie, told MailOnline: ‘Gates open at 10am and off they go.
‘There’s a clear strategy… look at the determination in the directions they take. Watch the lifeguard and maintenance guy clearly taking the mick’.
Holidaymakers in Costa Del Sol have been spotted racing each other to nab poolside sun loungers the moment the doors open
The footage in Benalmádena, Costa Del Sol, shows hundreds of vacationers waiting outside the pool area, only to start sprinting towards the sun beds as soon as the doors open
Footage shows a huge queue of people in holiday attire standing in a line as they hope to get their hands on the best beds
One man even appears to run and grab two sun loungers from the corner of the area, put them on his back an carry them to his preferred spot.
‘Then there’s the world’s strongest dad hurl two sun loungers over his shoulder,’ said Ms Mackie.
‘Funnily enough most of the dads seem to run in one particular direction… towards the self service beer.’
She added: ‘It’s hilarious viewing as we all calmly wait to wander into the Adults only pool.
‘The kids pool reminded me of the parents race at sports day in school… absolutely hilarious! I’d say there were 100 plus there each morning, god knows when they set up camp.’
People at the front of the line appear more desperate to bag their space, sprinting ahead of the crowd, while those at the back seem more defeated.
In a similar fashion Spanish locals were seen out before dawn to lay down their towels in a prime spot on a Costa Blanca beach last week.
The early-risers in Torrevieja proudly planted their flags in the sand even before the sun rose.
They began setting up at 5.30am just after council cleaners finished their night shift – as similar scenes also played out just over an hour’s drive away in the popular holiday spot of Benidorm.
One local dug his sun umbrella – the red and yellow of the Spanish national flag – into the sand and plonked his deckchair beside it before disappearing.
Another even planted a mini-Spanish flag into the top of his parasol – and stood next to it with his arms crossed in front of him as if he were defending his territory against foreign marauders.