YES - I have just been on holiday! (Costa Dorada)

Member Name: sue.51

Product:	Costa Dorada
Date:	15/07/01 (203 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hot, Port Aventura

Disadvantages: Road Tolls

Salour was recommended to us because of the presence of Port Aventura, the only Universal studios theme park in Europe.

There are 3 main resorts here including:
SALOU
A compact and rapidly developing area of high rise hotels, tacky gift shops, English and German bars and a variety of eateries from all corners of the globe, many of which are not open during the day. We travelled in July and it was very busy, not really my idea of a pleasant holiday.

I would however recommend the Champions bar to anyone British visiting, particularly if you like general knowledge quizzes, raucous entertainment and karaoke. Champions is situated at the tail end of the main street in Salou near a childrens entertainment area.

The DJ is a real headcase and the bar-staff are very friendly, our only regret is we didn't discover it earlier in the holiday.

This town NEVER sleeps and I am assured you can drink and party the clock round if this is your want (tried but wasn't easy with two bored 12 years olds in tow). If you like your sleep, look for a hotel out of the town centre as people we met up with assured us it was very rowdy there.

The hotel swimming pools are typically very small due to space being at a premium (hence the high rise buildings).

LA PINEDA
This resort has 3 large hotels and appears to contain primarily spanish residents, it is much quieter and more upmarket than neighbouring Salou. It has a number of shops, restaurants and a nice long promenade for an evening stroll (if you can cope with the constant heat). We didn't take advantage of eating out as we were on a half board basis.

We stayed in the Donaire Park Hotel on the edge of La Pineda (separate op). Public buses run 24 hours a day in High Season from La Pineda into Salou at a cost of 680pta (c£3.50) for 2 adults & 2 kids; a taxi costs(usually air-conditioned) 1300ptas (c£5.50) for the return journey if you can't cop
e with the long queues and sweaty bodies on the local bus service.

La Pineda also sports Aquopolis a fabulous water park hosting a range of fun rides and swimming pools, including a wave machine, crazy golf, childrens play area, numerous eateries at affordable prices and long queues and also unusually for these places lots of shade (very important to a skin cancer sufferer).

OPENING HOURS
10am - 7pm daily in Summer
Cost - Full day:
2,150 pesetas - adults
1,750 pesetas - children
Under 3's free.
NB: IF YOU HAVE AN AA CARD SHOW IT - YOU GET A DISCOUNT of 350 PESETAS EACH. (The holiday reps fail to mention this when trying to sell you tickets)

Cost -
half day (entry after 3pm):
1750 pesetas for adults and 1300 for kids (not sure if discount applies to these charges).

Ladies - Make sure you wear a one-piece costume for this visit, or as our rep kindly put it, after trying out the Kamikaze, you will end up wearing
"....a thong and ear muffs...".

Being a coward I avoided this ride, and tried out the misleadingly gentle looking 6 lane blue slide and despite my best efforts en-route ended up lying on my stomach with the front of my bather round my waist as I hit the water - don't say you haven't been warned.

Aquopolis has a large car and coach park and is in easy walking distance of all the hotels in La Pineda.

CAMBRILS
Apparently a little fishing village although we never actually got around to visiting, sorry.

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Costa Dorada is undergoing massive development at the present time and therefore there is a LOT of building work around.

THE REAL REASONS FOR VISITING
PORT AVENTURA
(the only Universal Studios theme park in Europe), full of 'wet and wild' rides many not for the faint-hearted (will cover this under a separate op).

The park is open 10am to Midnight d
aily in high season, but only Thursday to Sunday the rest of the year (hours unknown).

Anyone who enjoys theme parks will enjoy Port Aventura providing you don't mind queuing, a lot of exposure to sunlight (pack lots of high factor sun-protection), and getting a little (No I jest a lot) wet on some of the absolutely brilliant water rides - although you will dry off quickly, a clean T-Shirt might be an option as you can get to look very dirty very quickly.

BARCELONA
Situated on the Costa Brava, this beautiful city is only about 100km's from Salou and well worth a visit, sadly we only had time to spend a day there (hopefully the other half will take me there without the kids),

If you only have limited time there and are a footie fan then a visit to 'Nou Camp', Barcelona football stadium is a must.

'Nou Camp' is currently the 2nd largest football stadium in the world (125,000 seater), and will soon be the largest if planning permission for an additional 33,000 seats is granted. 'Nou Camp' also has a museum of the history of the club, including all the silverware, and a club-shop containing souvenieurs of the club you couldn't even begin to imagine, prices are in the main very reasonable, and you will pay less for a genuine FCB shirt here than I can get one for my local 3rd division team.

Cost for a wander around specified areas of the site and access to the ground and museum is about £4pp, £8 if you opt for the official tour as well.

La Ramblas
A long avenue surrounded by shops (including M&S at the moment), hotels and market stalls, human statues with lots of side walks with stores and cafes and prominent reminders of how the town used to be.

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GETTING TO BARCELONA
If driving to Barcelona from Costa Dorada and use the motorways, you will incur hefty tolls at several passing points which hike up your costs by around £25 for a
return journey. Also, if driving, you would be well advised to park your car around the outskirts of the town (driving & parking in Barcelona is not fun) at one of the many metro stations, which gives free parking, and cost of travel on the metro is 33p per journey within a single zone (this stretches from Moli Nou on one side of the town to the football stadium on the other).

The automated system is slightly complicated, but for example, you can buy a ticket for 10 journeys, and say there are four of you, you run the ticket through the machine 4 times, with one member of the group entering the turnstiles with each processing (lucky my other half speaks spanish or we would have been stuffed as spoken english on the outskirts is not brilliant). In reality you need more than a day to 'do Barcelona justice' (I am currently working on this one).

SCENERY
Being an avid lover of my experiences in Spain, I was very disappointed at the lack of picteresque scenery as I naively did not realise that the area was so highly industrialised and nowhere near as quaint as its Balearic counterparts.

The view from out hotel was not dissimilar to that from looking out from Mumbles head across to the industry in Port Talbot and beyond.

The beaches were narrow, long and very very busy with both locals and holidays makers, although I am assured by the family they are very clean and lovely for swimming.

ARRIVING IN COSTA DORADA
Flights (Charter and Scheduled) run weekly (or more frequently) from national and regional airports, although REUS is quite a shock to the system, you walk off the plane onto the tarmac and into arrivals, departures is even smaller with a small, but well stocked duty free shop and small canteen area, again boarding is done by walking directly to your plane over the tarmac (more reminiscent of my local airport than even the relatively small ones like Cardiff) - but also evidence of what can be acheiv
ed with little resources if absolutely necessary. You even get your picture taken when disembarking and on your return journey can but the picture for £5 (why I am not sure)

SUMMARY
There is no doubt that both Salou and the Costa Dorada are undergoing a revival in terms of new roads and accommodation, which I am sure will soon necessitate the need for a bigger airport and better facilities.

I wouldn't hurry back there in the near future, but may try again in a few years to see what changes have taken place. If you don't like crowds visit in early season, AVOID JULY AND AUGUST.

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