Sol Costa Daurada, Salou

...a great experience booking the Sol Pirámide Hotel earlier in the year via the hotel group's own website www.solmelia.com I decided to bypass all other websites and reserve a room for a 4 night stay in Salou - to celebrate my birthday and visit Port Aventura (again) - directly with them.

However, the prices had increased for the Sol Pirámide so I went with the sister hotel, the Sol Costa Daurada. This hotel has the advantage of being ...
...knew and went with the Sol Melia group. I had also signed up with their rewards programme where you get given 10 points for every Euro you spend with them. I still have to earn enough points to get free nights in hotels but you never know, maybe one day I have enough.

Again I took a cheap flight (this time from Luton) with Ryan Air to Reus Airport, only a few miles outside Salou. I couldn't be bothered to wait for the airport/hotel ... more

Because I had such a great experience booking the Sol Pirámide Hotel earlier in the year via the hotel group's own website www.solmelia.com I decided to bypass all other websites and reserve a room for a 4 night stay in Salou - to celebrate my birthday and visit Port Aventura (again) - directly with them.

However, the prices had increased for the Sol Pirámide so I went with the sister hotel, the Sol Costa Daurada. This hotel has the advantage of being situated at the foot of the hill on which the Port Aventura is built and you can cut the walking time into half compared to the other hotel. I managed to reserve a double room for the 'princely' sum of €29.00 half board, a bargain if there ever was one.

I still checked room rates for other hotels but I decided to go with what I thought I knew and went with the Sol Melia group. I had also signed up with their rewards programme where you get given 10 points for every Euro you spend with them. I still have to earn enough points to get free nights in hotels but you never know, maybe one day I have enough.

Again I took a cheap flight (this time from Luton) with Ryan Air to Reus Airport, only a few miles outside Salou. I couldn't be bothered to wait for the airport/hotel bus so together with another couple going to the same hotel I took a taxi. The ride cost us €28 (divided by three) and to show that we were not swindled the driver showed us a book with price list where all the popular Salou hotels were listed with price for the taxi.

While the Sol Pirámide hotel is situated in more residential area, the Sol Costa Daurada is on the far edge of a street of chain hotels on the one side and Port Aventura perimeter fence on the other.

The Sol Costa Daurada is split into two separate 5-storey buildings with the all glass reception building linking the two. The entrance hall appears much smaller than that of the sister hotel, the Sol Pirámide less than a mile away. It's not quite as well lit with darker wood panelling all through reception. I could see a large games/meeting/television room towards the right, and what appeared the restaurant to the other side.

Checking in, again, was not a problem. Again, I had pre-booked and my details were taken, passport checked and within minutes I had my room key card as well as a leaflet with all important phone numbers, opening hours for restaurant and times for breakfast and dinner. As before I had managed to secure my room half board by booking straight through the Sol Melia website. All the other websites offered either room only or breakfast - half board carried a hefty surcharge.

While the Sol Pirámide was frequented more by adult guests, the Sol Costa Daurada was most certainly a family hotel. The noise in the reception area alone was deafening. Children were running riot, screaming and shouting at the top of their voice apparently totally unsupervised. On the way to my room I shared the lift with a young family with two rather loud toddlers hitting and kicking their parents. I felt I had made a terrible mistake and should have coughed up the extra money and booked the Pirámide. But I was still hoping for the best. After all, once the door was closed behind me the chances were that I wouldn't need to hear the other guests in the hotel. Oh how wrong was I?!?!

The Sol Costa Daurada is built next to the main railway lines into Salou. Depending on what building they put you in, your room overlooks either the railway lines with hooting-tooting trains passing a few times an hour (you could still hear them from the far side of the hotel) or overlooking the swimming pool. The jury is still out which of the two options was the noisier one.

The Room:

I opened the door and found the room totally dark. The curtains had been drawn completely and I had no chance to see where I was stepping. But knowing the drill with the keycard in the slot I had switched on the bathroom light as well as one of the lamps in the bedroom. I was surprised to see it was a lot smaller than I had imagined and definitely small compared to the one I had at the sister hotel the Sol Pirámide. The Costa Daurada has the same star rating as the Pirámide, both have an impressive 4 stars but to be honest, I just couldn't see it here at this hotel. The room was dinky, the bathroom just as small as in the other hotel but what I noticed more than anything was a strange smell coming from somewhere. I never quite figured out where the smell came from but I did complain that some of the fixtures, including the actual toilet were a little on the wonky side. Somehow the whole place smelt mouldy and was in desperate need of some refurbishment.

The bed was basic, not as big as the sister hotel in town. There was a fridge for your drinks and a tiny TV set with a loose connection so watching television was a bit hit and miss and you had to wiggle the aerial cable around a lot to get any picture at all. They never sorted that out during my stay and I spent a lot more time in the room than I had anticipated as Salou experienced the first rain after one of the hottest summers on record. For two out of 4 days it seemed to rain solidly and all you could do was sit in the hotel and watch TV or read. If you dared to venture out you were likely to get absolutely soaked to the bone within minutes.

I opened the curtains and walked out onto the balcony only to find that my room overlooked the swimming pool area where a few times a day and in the evening music was blearing and in the evening a disco was taking place. And just to really spoil the view, other guests, who had obviously been at the hotel longer, attached washing lines to the balcony and railing to dry their underwear. Eugh, not the nicest of views first thing in the morning. Maybe the railway lines would have been the more attractive option.

The full-length mirrored doors to the wardrobe were a nice touch but there was hardly any room to stand between bed and wardrobe to look at yourself from all sides. I also noticed that the doors did not shut properly, maybe the hotel was not quite level as one of the doors kept sliding open. It's not something that should bother anyone but it was irritating when you had just shut it and from the corner of one eye you could see it creeping open again, not by much but enough to notice.

The Bathroom:

Just like the Sol Pirámide, the Costa Daurada's bathroom was just about big enough for one person. But unlike the sister hotel, I found a couple of freebies, a small box of tissues and shower cap, but still no soap or shampoo. The bathroom was clean but it still smelt mouldy. I got the impression there was something lurking behind or underneath the tiles. The bathtub with shower was standard. At least the water pressure in the toilet was decent and you didn't need to try more than once to flush.

The Restaurant:

The restaurant looked like it was split into section, but it was mainly due to the fact that 'divider' walls obscured the view of the whole room. The room could comfortably sit a few hundred guests at the same time but I found the table and chair arrangement a little stiff and too many tables were placed in the room with not enough room for the chairs. You were very likely to knock the chair of the person sitting behind you at the next table when you pushed your back a little to get up and go to the buffet.

Breakfast was served from 7am onwards and just as you did at the Sol Pirámide, you had to tell the person at the door your room number so they could log you in. Then came the task of finding an empty table. It wasn't always easy to make out where there were places as the staff weren't really that quick clearing the dirty dishes and table cloths and replenishing with fresh glasses and cutlery.

I usually got my breakfast or dinner from the buffet first and then picked a table. Once I had at least the basics I could concentrate on finding the coffee and orange juice machine.

The buffet was arranged in two long serving areas. If you wanted something cooked specially you had to go to the other side of the restaurant where you could order food. I have no idea what they had up there but I reckon it was the 'English Breakfast' with sausages and beans as that was one of the few things I did not see with the other items. I noticed that a lot of the time, be it breakfast or dinner, the was so few restaurant staff that the buffet didn't get filled up again for a while and you had to stare at empty serving plates, not pleasant if all you are left with is stuff you don't really want to eat. There never seemed to be enough of what people wanted and plenty of dishes (mainly fish) that didn't get touched. Compared to the Sol Pirámide, the buffet here left a lot to be desired. While at the other hotel I always found more than enough I liked to eat, here I sometimes cruised around the buffet a couple of time before I half-heartedly picked a couple of thing just to get something into my stomach.

Things to do at the hotel:

As mentioned before, the hotel is equipped with an outside swimming pool that stays open until 10pm in summer as well as a small children's pool. Sunbeds were free and every night stacked up in huge piles.

If the weather is not good there is also an indoor pool as well as gym. If you are not the sporty kind you can always take the weight of your feet in the hotel lobby's coffee shop or a few steps further in, the bar and coffee shop in the television and games room. The large flatscreen TV was always showing some sort of movie, there was an internet corner but I didn't find out how much the access would cost - if anything. I spent a couple of hours in here killing time before departure.

The hotel offers a booking service for most of the local attractions including Port Aventura. They also offer information on how best to go to places like Tarragona - only a short bus ride away. I only used their service once. The hotels provides their own transport to the airport and must be booked at least 24 hours in advance. It cost me €20 but was still cheaper than a taxi or waiting for the airport bus that might or might not turn up on time. Some people took taxis and I spoke to them at the airport where they told me they felt overcharged as the taxi had to take detours due to the rain and flooding. They had not even been aware of the hotel own mini-bus. It would have been cheaper for all of us had we known each other and booked as a group of three, then the price per person is lowered quite considerably. However, I was not impressed when I asked at reception where my ride was and they told me they didn't have my booking. It turned out that they had put my booking in the week after - no good as that was 7 days too late. They found the driver and the mini bus turned up only about 15 minutes later than expected.

While it was easy for me to walk everywhere from the hotel, it was a little away from most of the hustle and bustle of the centre of town. According to the hotel own website, the beach is 900 metres away, that's about ¾ mile but I'm not so sure. It felt a lot further in particular when walking the long way round because you don't want to lose your way in the backstreets and residential roads.

However walking to Port Aventura, the main reason I booked the hotel was easy. There were two ways to get there, one was towards the maingate, walking to your right out of the hotel. The other, and I think, much shorter one was to cross over to the other side and walk towards the railway station. For a while you see nothing but the buildings that form the Caribe Hotel complex - not very impressive in my opinion, motel style set up - and then just turn right and walk up the hill past the El Paso complex toward the main entrance.

The hotel is certainly value for money. I paid €29 per night plus local tax and meals were included. The hotel was clean - although it could do with a big refurbishment programme and it did smell a bit.

Normally you don't spend a lot of time in the hotel itself and wouldn't really notice. But maybe it had more to do with bad weather (walking ankle deep through rain water at times) they were experiencing and the drains and sewers were overflowing all over the area, not just the hotel.

Now for the important bit, would I actually recommend the hotel? Well, yes and no. If you are a family who need a very nice and child friendly place with kiddie discos and entertainers then yes, by all means, go and book. If you are a group of young people who don't mind where they are staying then yes, it's for you, too. People without children however should think twice. The hotel is loud. There is children's entertainment all through the day and discos in the evenings. The reason I booked was because it was so close to the entrance to Port Aventura. I felt a little bothered by the noise but then again, that's just me. I will know better next time and book somewhere else.

In conclusion, this hotel is ideal for families with children and younger people. If you are an individual traveller or older without children and don't like noise stay well away. However, if you don't mind all and want to be close to Port Aventura then it's a great base for your stay. Just don't expect too much despite the four star rating.

For more information on the hotel and current prices check out the hotel's website

Avda. Paisos Catalans
43840 Salou
SPAIN
Tel: (34) 977 011400

www.solmelia.com
 

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