i've never done salou as the high rise look and the main road always put me off, but the beach looks good and the choice of nightlife may be better than calella.
i like calella as the old part of the town has a good number of restaurants/bars and plenty of shops.there is also the train station so you can get round the other resorts or to barca easily.
there is no real promenade as such.
the newer part of the town is where most of the hotels are, and there are plenty of bars/restaurants around the area.
there is noddy train to get you round the resort, and it goes to the market, which is where calella joins pineda.

Jim - were staying in the Amaika (again) where are we situated ie old or new part?

hi.glynis....you are in the newer part........
regards.j.d.......

hi.dstorr.........the is a nice long promanade just walk on to the beach and then you can walk all the way to santa susanna and behond.a 5 mile plus walk .....its a really pleasant walk as well.
regards..........j.d......anymore info require please just ask.......

I have visited both resorts, Salou is an extremely large town bustling with nightlife, the main beach tends to get overcrowded but there are two alternative smaller beaches close to the main hotels.Calella is smaller with a long promenade and the nightlife, although on a smaller scale is busy .

The beach is shale in Calella and once in the sea there is a treacherous steep drop, Salou has the more normal sticky sand and the entrance to the sea is gradual. I had a good time at both resorts and has a family we enjoyed the English entertainment at Hotel International 11 next to Sinatra's in Salou, and were frequent visitors to the Alcatraz bar and Beach Boys in Calella. The main attraction to the Costa Doroda resort was the water park in La Pineda, I forget the name but it is the best one we have visited and there is the obvious appeal of Porta Ventura.

Given the choice of the two my vote would be for Calella for it's homeliness and conveninet access to the other resorts.

From a personal point of view, as a parent of 2 under 9's, I'd go for Salou. As Pancho says, it's bigger and busier than Calella. For me, the beach at Salou is better and much safer for kids and wasn't too busy in July last year. The nearby water park is called Aquopolis and is ok for bigger kids/teenagers, but there's also the water park at PortAventura which is excellent for all sizes. PortAventura itself is a must, especially if you have kids over 1.2m tall. Both resorts have good links to Barcelona, and there are 2 water parks near Lloret, 30+ mins or so from Calella by coach. Both resorts also have good local transport for getting around town. There's plenty of nightlife in both and each has a MaccyD if that's important!!

If transfers are an issue, Salou is less than 20 mins from Reus airport whereas Calella is maybe an hour from Girona.

It all depends what you're after, but for families, Salou gets my vote.

HB

PS Salou also has a wonderful wide promenade with dancing fountains which light up at night.

Salou gets my vote! Much less of a 'has been' resort.

Lively, freindly. Its got its faults but I think Salou is better, more investment, lovely beach, beautiful seafront.

Calella has better shops though if thats your bag

Salou is a very easy place to enjoy IMO.

Previos post mentions getting put off by high rise but in reality Salou isn't actually a particularly high resort, mostly six floors which compared with some other resorts isn't to bad.

Sure your have a good hol where ever you choose.

Mark

we have been to callale 3 times and going back in april staying at the amaika hotel which is 100 yards from beach just down road there is shopping streets. its a pleasent walk down the beach.short journey to barcelona train runs up coast. then there are the sea taxis which pull up to the beach and visit other resorts. and dont forget to visit papas bar.mad.somthing for everyone stoppin at the amaika is costing for the two of us for 8 days less than £400 half board and that includes flights and transfers. only one thing i would reccomend is get a taxi transfer dearer but its direct when we used shuttle last year it took 2 and a half hours nightmare hope this helps

I have read a few reviews regarding Calella and one of the most popular venues for a night out appears to be Papas bar. I have visited this establishment on a few occasions at different times and there is never anyone present. Does the entertainment start after 11.00 p.m.

there is something for everyone in Calella. We used to visit Papa's bar nearly every night when the children were younger and always had a good time in there even though it was rather repetitive, but if the kids are happy then thats what its all about . We gave it a miss for roughly 6 years, this year hubby and myself thoyught why not give it a try and see if it was how we remembered it ........... sadly no, hardly anybody in there, the atmosphere was lacking , we also tried Beach boys and that was even worse, baring in mind this was the middle of August

I'd go for Salou. I'v stayed at both resorts and Salou is more upmarket. Callela is busy and bustling but I found it a bit grotty in places. Night life is ace in Callela, promanade and evening strolling better in Salou.

ftao pancho,
papas bar used to be the place where the ferris rep for calella held their welcome meeting for those on SC basis-and so was the first real port of call for all the english(or welsh) holidaymakers.they did capitalise on this with their food and so started to build their reputation.
the nighttime entertainment consisted of a game of spanish bingo ran by the one who looked like bernie winters.that was it!
the rest of the entertainment consisted of the bar staff generally behaving like prats,acting up to whatever songs the dj was playing. there was always a rendition of the song "living next door to alice" which because it involved swearing usually was received very well.
some nights -if the bar staff were on good form -it could be a great nights entertainment, but other nights it was a bit of a bore.
the increase in AI in the surrounding hotels has had a great effect on the local bars like papas, the white horse and beach boys so the only trade they get early are those on SC or HB. those on AI tend to go out much later, usually after midnight when the AI stops.

I visited Beach Boys in August and on the karaoke nights,Sunday, Monday, Friday and Wednesday it was busting at the seams from 9.00 p.m. onwards, our two thirteen year olds, son and nephew enjoyed it so much they want to go again this year, however on the non karaoke nights it was deserted,we were in an A/I hotel but soon got fed up with the entertainment.

Hubby and myself obviously went where there wasn't karaoke as it was really quiet just 2 people upstairs playing pool, we also went in a bar called Molly Malones i think it was and we were the only ones there so had the 1 drink and left . I am definately going to miss Calella this year , but as we have no children to take on holiday its time to move on .

my wife and i have started going on short breaks up to 4 days so we go to different places but always return for a few days in callela this time were staying in the 4 star amaika cost £291 including flights and transfer by taxi for 4 days we just chill out for 4 days nice break and we can smoke inside pubs.?