Travel Essentials: Go beyond sand castes with beach game equipment

Play time! You can't just lie there reading forever. Go to the beach prepared to make like the glamorous French, the Italians and the Brazilians.

Sevylor Sirocco KCC 335 kayak. Courtesy Decathlon SA

Frescobol

On South American beaches, everyone plays Frescobol, and Brazil's best bats are these. Hand-carved from five pieces of off-cut local wood glued together into a rough rectangle, the bats are machine-finished so they taper, sandpapered for perfect smoothness and finally varnished for resistance to the sea, sand and sun.

£110 (Dh660) for two bats and balls from One&Only The Palm, Dubai, or from FBCollection (www.fbcollection.com; 00 44 207 736 2866).

Firebox Bladefish Seajet

Powerful but lightweight, this hand-held underwater scooter will, admittedly, take up rather a lot of space in your case. When you're speeding along in the water and laughing hysterically, however, you're unlikely to regret that you've been unable to pack anything else. Hours of fun guaranteed.

£399 (Dh2,340) from Gift Library (www.gift-library.com; 00 44 203 080 0530).

Sevylor Sirocco KCC 335 kayak

Once you've spent an hour or two messing around in a kayak, you'll wonder what on earth you did before when you went to the beach. Lightweight and inflatable, this is strictly one for staying close to shore, though.

£299.95 (Dh1,802) from Decathlon (www.decathlon.com) at Mirdif City Centre, Dubai.