Port Aventura Hotel

Room was ok but bathroom needed a make over .....cracked tiles ...poor repair job using filler instead of replacing the tile. The wardrobes were also in need of repair or replacement. Reception always busy and some staff seemed to have a " no can do" attitude. Organisation of meal venues a bit chaotic and food was O.K. raher than good. Hotel needs to move into the 21st century and provide take/coffee making facilities in the room.Free Access to the theme parks was a bonus but one park was closed until later in the season and the rides at Ferrari Land were shut down because of a freak storm ( to be fair we were told before we entered but as it was our last day we went in anyway). There is no indoor pool at this hotel which was a problem for us as we visited just before Easter. We ended up paying £10 each to use the pool at the sister hotel and having to go at 7am to get access.

The Port Aventura is a great hotel for all the family...right next to the park and the waterpark,

2 WEEKS was unbearable, park location was great but if you wanted to escape it was impossible. Beach club good location many lifeguards but again pools never seem to be maintained for hygiene and the sand bottom pool looked filthy, good changing facilities though with hot showers and free towels. Food repetitive, fair choice on the salads etc but not on the hot meals chips or garlic potatoes to accompany everything. Rooms basic NOT 4 STAR plenty of hot water but poky and not able to sit on the balcony. Entertainment hit & miss all on top of each other in the square with kids running riot and the usual cheesy dances. Park average two days entertainment max all park prices massive for food drinks and gifts a woody woodpecker soft toy was 30 euros.

The Port Aventura Hotel in Salou is a superb hotel, and so are the staff. We really enjoyed every minute. Our 8 year old son thought the Theme Park was awesome. There was plenty to do, but pick your tours carefully and stay away from the Benavitsa market tour. Universal VIP upgrade is highly recommended. Only £10 each for the week, but free towels, bathrobe, extra toiletries, and a lovely breakfast location.

Direct Holidays, part of the My Travel group were a disaster; changing flight times a couple of weeks prior to travel, from morning to late afternoon, both outgoing and return flights were then delayed, and the aircraft was filthy. Go with a different company, but you will enjoy your stay here.

Salou and the surrounding area is dirty and tacky, but you can stay in the hotel and park complex, and take the Barcelona Fountain Tour, and you won't go wrong. July and August are the busy times, but the hotel never appeared under pressure. 7pm is a good time for tea, and 9am for breakfast. The Theme Parks DO get busy, so time your arrivals carefully. First thing in the morning 10.30am and 8.30pm in the evening were good for us. During these two months the park is open until midnight. If you are on half board, you will only be availing of snacks and drinks which are plentiful and priced the same as at home. Do not miss the Fiestaventura display every night at 11.45pm, and get a seat on the wall at the lake at 10.30pm as it is watched by hundreds each night. It is awesome, and kids will love it.

This is the first time we had been to Spain, and also the first time we had taken a hotel holiday as a family. I booked to stay at Port Aventura Hotel as it belonged to Universal so I expected it to meet a high standard, as it does in Florida. Also, from the brochure, the hotel looked so individual and stylish compared to all the other Spanish hotels I'd seen. I was not disappointed in the slightest - in fact the holiday surpassed our expectations!

The hotel was beautiful, built to look like a Mediterranean village, with no rooms higher than the second floor, and surrounding a small lake and two delightful pools. The hotel boasted a superb buffet restaurant where we ate all our meals and several restaurants and bars. There was a gym, which we didn't use, and a kids club, which were also superfluous to requirements, as we spent most days at the theme park. The hotel staff were friendly and polite, but it seemed that most only understood the odd word of English. Saying that, we felt it only polite to make an effort to speak their language, and by the end of the week, we were cheerily saying 'hola' (hi) to anyone we met and were able to order drinks and food without much difficulty. The room was cleaned every day and although we were disappointed at first to find that we only had one long pillow per bed, the chamber maid obviously noticed we had resorted to using cushions, and provided us with an extra pillow as a courtesy.

The room was spacious and tastefully decorated, and the bathroom had a bath with shower over, with a large sink, mirror and hairdryer. There was a TV in the room, and a fridge (though not very cold). The air conditioning was very effective, and although we didn't have a balcony, we were able to sit at the window seat and enjoy the view with the windows open.

We stayed at a quieter time of year, and found that the weekend got extremely busy with hundreds of coach-loads of teenagers turning up. We avoided the park then and stayed by the pool. As our room was literally a hop from the theme park entrance, we were able to dip in and out of the park for an hour or so before tea, or come back for a siesta! Even the water park, Costa Caribe was a very short walk from our room. This was a definite plus to have these attractions so close to hand.

The hotel provided a free bus service to the beach, but in May when we went, there were only 3 buses a day and they were in great demand! The resort of Salou was okay, but not what we went to Spain for.

The meals at the buffet were absolutely fantastic. Both the breakfasts and evening meals were varied and plentiful, with lots of local specialities to try as well as traditional British fare should you not want to be too adventurous. The kids had burgers, ham, fish, steak, pasta, bread, salad, fruits etc. They were able to try things they wouldn't have tried at home, as there was no pressure to eat something they didn't want, as it was already paid for. We ate our meals on the terrace by the lake in the evenings, and breakfasted in the main restaurant. The staff were attentive and polite. The restaurant could become a bit like Piccadilly Circus at times, however, with diners and waiters dodging each other with trays and plates as they went from buffet to table & back. Timing your meals for a quieter time was the trick.

The theme park was fantastic, set out into 4 different world zones, which merged seamlessly as you left one and entered another. The vegetation, and landscaping as well as the music created the right atmosphere for you to convince yourself you had just stepped into China or Mexico. In the Far West, they'd even fixed a sheriff's badge, complete with bullet hole to the ground, to make it look as though it had fallen there in a shoot-out. The Far West was all grand Canyon, and wooden buildings, with fast food points serving burgers and steaks. Even the shops themed their souvenirs to suit the environment. The Far West then had an air of Spaghetti Western about it as you approached Mexico. In Mexico there were temples and Mexican dancers, waterfalls and cacti. This then led to China which was my favourite. It was so tranquil and beautiful. There was even a recreation of the Great Wall of China which you could watch the 'Dragon Khan' roller coaster ride from. Finally, you enter Polynesia, which is very lush with vegetation and waterfalls. It would be hard to describe all the rides to you, and would spoil the surprise if I did so, but suffice it to say, we went on practically everything! Also, a big plus was that the Port Aventura guests had a card which allowed them to use the Express entrance to a lot of the biggest rides, making queuing time negligible. We felt a bit guilty walking past people who had queued for half an hour only to get straight on the ride, but after the first couple of times, we realised how lucky we were to have this facility, and we used it as often as possible!

The fast food stalls were very reasonably priced, and plentiful. The food was themed to the country it was in, and of good quality. They also provided plenty of shaded seating areas where you could eat.

The souvenir shops were well stocked and not as expensive as expected, and we even managed to bring back some bargain T-Shirts!

Costa Caribe was a breath-taking sight, giving you the impression that you were in the Caribbean with blue waters and sunny, ice-cream colours all around. There was a huge wave pool, as well as a lazy river, children's water playground and water slides.

Finally, I have to say that our holiday was so good that we are already planning another trip. We were truly delighted with everything and any niggles were very small ones (see below).

booked with holiday hypermarket a two week holiday with jmc staying at the Vancover Apartments in Cap Salou. Firstly we only came to Salou for the purpose of Port Aventura and what a waste of time that was!! We have 10, 5 and 3 yr old children and basically the only child able to go on some rides was the 10 year old. I feel that it should be mandatory for travel agencies to let you know of the height restrictions on all the rides as we booked out amusements tkts with them. Its no good not having to pay for a child under the age of three,then paying for a child of 5 who can't go on much anyway! My eldest queued for 1 1/2 hours to go on Dragon Khan and when he got to the front was told that he wasn't tall enough!!! I mean have a bit of sense and do the measurements at the START of the queue. Also what was noted was that there were Spanish children smaller able to get on these rides...My Husband did in fact mention this to the person who refused our son but was told "no understandy". Case of wrong nationality in my opinion. This was my first visit to Spain and I do have to say that I won't be returning. I found Salou dirty, busy and much like a british seaside resort. I found the Spanish very rude and obviously not liking of the british or the tourism which we bring. On most occasions whilst waiting for a bus we had Spaniards pushing in front of us, i don't mind about myself as such but I do take exception when its done to my children. They were in general rude and had a job to serve us. All of the other British people we spoke to felt exactly the same and said that they couldn't wait to get home. True, Brits abroad don't have very good press but if they are treated in this way that may be the reason the feel the need to behave so badly. You cannot tar a race of people with one brush.

We stayed at the Port Aventura hotel for 1 week at the beginning of July and we had a brilliant time. Having been to Salou twice before, we already had been to the theme park before it was taken over by universal studios. The hotel itself is truly beautiful as instead of there being just one building there are many small buildings set out like a village. There are 5 restaurants which all serve a variety of cuisines aswell as 2 pools, a bar and a sports centre. Also you get direct access to Port Aventura through a gate in the hotel. After 9pm in the evening, you get to go to the front of all of the queues for the main rides as you are a hotel guest. The park closes at midight with a fantastic display of fireworks aswell as the excellent show Fiestaventura. The evening entertainment at the hotel is also fantastic as there is something different every night. There is also a cybercafe and a port aventura shop within the hotel courtyard. We had a fantastic holiday with very few complaints except for the fact that not many of the workers there speak english, so don't forget your dictionary!

We are a family of 4 and we stayed at this Universal hotel in June 2002 for 2 weeks. Basically we expected more from a company like Universal having been to Orlando the previous year.

The rooms were modern and spacious and had two double beds to sleep four rather than little camp beds or sofa beds.

We found the complex to be clean and the staff very friendly and were trying their best to please all the moaning British holiday makers. The hotel had only been open a couple of months when we went, so we expected a few teething problems.

We liked the idea of the 'dine-around' facility so we could eat elsewhere rather than the hotel's main restaurant but this is of little use if the park restaurants don't open in the evenings until later in the summer.

The private beach was a real disappointment. it wasn't private at all and had to be reached by scrabbling over a graffiti-strewn ex-campsite.

Salou itself is a dump! On the wet day that we had there is nothing to do so we would have been better going in August!

We enjoyed our 2 weeks here but the restaurant battle every breakfast and dinner became very tiring! I would like to think they'd have it sussed out by now though.

We were considering a future visit to stay at the El Paso but not after reading the review on this site!

Reus airport! What a hovel! Dirty, smoky, boring and just plain yuk!

We only paid £1800 for 4 of us half-board so we don't feel robbed really, but we could have got better for our euro elsewhere, I think!