Sheesh - seems like ages since I've been here. So many changes, business up and running - bred my f...
Sheesh - seems like ages since I've been here. So many changes, business up and running - bred my first litter of labs - moved house - guess I had better work on catching up now!
Member since:20.03.2001
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Friends of ours suggested Salou for this years vacation primarily because of the presence of Port Aventura, the only Universal studios site in Europe.
Resorts include: SALOU, a tight knit and rapidly growing area of high rise hotels, cheap tacky gift shops, bars and restaurants, very busy and not my idea of a pleasant holiday, although I would recommend Champions bar to anyone visiting, particularly if they like quizzes and raucous entertainment and karaoke, situated at the tail end of the main street near a childrens entertainment area. The DJ and bar-staff are superb and 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. Swimming pools in most hotels appear very small due to space being at a premium (hence the high rise buildings).
LA PINEDA Home to 3 large hotels, this resort seems to contain primarily spanish residents and 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). Sadly 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 (no heading for an op I'm afraid - but wasn't overly impressed). Buses run 24 hours in High Season from La Pineda into Salou at a cost of 680pta (c£3.50) for 2 adults, 2 kids into Salou, a taxi (usually air-conditioned) 1300ptas (c£5.50) for the return journey if you can't cope with the long queues and sweaty bodies on the local bus service.
La Pineda is also home to Aquopolis a fabulous water park hosting a range of fun rides and swimming pools including wave machine, crazy golf, childrens play area, numerous eateries at reasonable prices but with long queues and lots of shade (very important to a skin cancer sufferer).
Opening Hours - 10am - 7pm daily during the summer Cost - full day: 2,150 pesetas for adults - children 3-10 1,750 pesetas, under 3's free. NB: IF YOU HAVE AN AA CARD SHOW IT - YOU GET A DISCOUNT - COST 1,800 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 as we made the most of full days for the same price).
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...". I avoided this, but tried out the gentle looking 6 lane slide and despite my best efforts ended up 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.
The park has full car parking and coach facilities and is in easy walking distance of all the hotels in La Pineda.
CAMBRILS Apparently a little fishingvillage although we never actually got around to visiting, sorry.
The Costa Dorada is undergoing massive development at the present time and therefore there is a LOT of building work going on.
THE REAL REASONS FOR VISITING PORT AVENTURA (the only Universal Studiostheme park in Europe), full of rides many not for the faint-hearted (will cover this under a separate op). The park is open 10am to Midnight daily in high season, but only open Thursday to Sunday the rest of the year (hours unknown). You will enjoy providing you don't mind queuing, a lot of exposure to sunlight (pack lots of high factorsun-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 Actually situated on the Costa Brava, this beautiful city is 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), but if you only have limited time there, a visit for footie fans to 'Nou Camp', Barcelonafootball stadium, currently the 2nd largest in the world (125,000 seater), soon to be the largest if they get planning permission for an additional 33,000 seats, it 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 would for my local team.
Cost for a wander and access to the ground and museum is about £4 and £8 if you opt for the official tour.
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.
If driving to Barcelona from Costa Dorada, you will incur hefty tolls on the motorway at several passing points which will hike up your costs by around £25 for the return journey. If you are 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 also gives you 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 system is slightly complicated, but you 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 of Spain to date, I was disappointed at the scenery as I naively did not realise that the area is 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 Port Talbot. The beaches were narrow 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 acheived 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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We booked to go to salou today so this was interesting to read. Love Louise
angela.muscat 26.01.2002 22:20
I've booked today to go to Salou. Thanks for all the really useful info. Angie
tange 09.10.2001 10:48
A well written and interesting op....i've been to Salou 4 times and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure I would stay in La Pineda, or any of the smaller places, but Salou is a very good place to base your holiday.
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Jul 14th, 2001
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