El Paso. What a wonderful holiday we had . I went with just my son, 14 at the time. My son made loads of friends and quite happily went off to the park mainly in the evening as it was cooler.

The hotel was very clean and very relaxing , none of this children screaming business going on. Plenty of sunbeds at anytime however if you wanted the prime position ones, up early, you could be sitting on a sunbed in sand if not.

Food. I am quite fussy about food, but it was wonderful, and oh the prawns in their shell, never ending. There was steak, squid, chicken, veal, lamb joints of beef, everything and anything you can imangine to go with it.

Even cravettes in whiskey sauce. At no time were there any problems in getting food. Had a dine around ticket and no promlem buying food in the park, you could even buy a bottle of water on your pass key.

Entertainment. Not Brilliant, but why would they pay a fortune for top acts when majority of people go to park in the evening? where you can watch brilliant shows.
Bug Bear. No Fridge.

Yes water expensive in hotel but we went to Salou(what a dump) in the evening bought water and filled bottles up for the day.

Free bus to Salou every 30 mins.
Must see Barcelona, and Gaudi Buildings wonderful.My holiday was so wonderful we are returning for 2 weeks same dates as last year , I met another single mum there and her 2 sons, that was her 2nd visit she is coming and another friend of mine is coming too, so 9 of us altogeter.

We had room by pool last year, heavenly to open eyes in the morning and see the pool.No noise. Highly recommended. Will be tere again soon.

You've read the reports about the El Paso hotel and where it is so I won't go into that detail again. This report is based on my recent stay with my wife and daughter having previously read the reports on this website.

This was our first package holiday in over 10 years and I was expecting a cheap experience from it. This fear was gathering momentum as the coach from the airport dropped off people at their hotels (ours was the last one) and they were all pretty poor. However, I was very pleaseantly surprised when we pulled up outside El Paso as it was very grand, clean and looked spacious (in the middle of no-where and away from main roads).

Check in was fine and our request for a quiet room away from the stage area was met (thanks for the advice!). We were at the front of the hotel overlooking the fields and hills which was a godsend as you'll see later.

The hotel itself is clean and tidy and the staff were always helpful and friendly. The reception area is vast and well themed and often has characters walking around to be hugged and photographed.

The pool is huge, clean, not very deep and blimin cold. It's a freeform shape and runs alongside a cafe selling burgers etc and a pool bar on the other side. The latter was open and generally quiet. There were always 3 lifeguards on duty and the pool never got crowded. Infaltables are now allowed and there were a few floating around.

The food was good at first with a huge buffet of hot and cold food at Breakfast and Evening Dinner, but toward the end of the week it became a bit repetitive. This is a very minor gripe though and you have the opportunity to eat elsewhere if you wish. We used the Dine Around voucher once in the El Coyote cafe which sells more burgers and some mexican food. The food in there was tasty and fresh but the whole service thing was bit rushed and our main courses arrived as we were still finishing our starter. Value wise it was o.k. but that's all. Best to stick the the h/board option unless you're really board. NOTE: The Dine Around option is no longer available in the main park due to lack of use.

We wandered up the the main hotel in Porta Ventura and it's huge in comparison. There was no atmosphere to the place though and felt 'cold'. It had a long lake winding through the place which was green and unpleasant and the whole place just seemed a bit grubby and unkept. We were all glad we were staying in El Paso as it's a far nicer hotel. I suspect the food was the same but we didn't bother finding out. It was also adjoining the park and would have been very noisy during opening hours (up till midnight at weekends).

The final thing to note on food in El Paso is this: Get there early. We experienced both ends of service and it went from great to shambolic.

During our welcome meeting with our First Choice reps (who were fantastic and helped us no end) they told us the main menu was open to First Choice customers from 6.30 which meant you could beat the rush that starts from 7pm onwards. This extra half hour meant you have a quietish resteraunt, freshly cooked food and drinks served within minutes of being ordered, generally on the table by the time you came back with your meal. This made the meal time experience first class for a buffet type service. However, if you go in after 8pm (as we did twice) you have to queue to get in for 5-10 mins and get placed in any old free table that had yet to be cleaned. The cold buffet food has not been repleneshed in some cases and the hot food looked like it'd been there a while and just not very fresh. I threw one meal away as the hot food was nearly cold. Drink orders and subsequent delivery of them were also painfully slow and the whole experience was terrible. So take our advice. Get there early if you can.

The same goes for breakfast. Great to start with between 8.00 - 9.00 but after that it's all queues, unreplenished food and unpleasant. You have been warned!!

The entertainment on the central stage area was so bad it was quite funny end entertaining. It helps to have a few drinks and something to do while it's on though as you can't take it seriously. Cheesy magic acts, balancing ball acts, flamenco, the four tops and supremes were all there in spirit but not quality. The music from 9.00 to 11.00 was very loud. Great if your there and in the mood but if you want an early night or just want to be away from it all then you'll have to ask for a quiet room when booking. If you can imagine 8 nightclub type bose speakers blasting full wack you'll get the picture. The rooms surrounding the courtyard would have been unbearable if you wanted a quieter night. The poolside blocks are the places to be although some of these were facing the entrance road to the park which wouldn't have been that great a view.

In summary it's a great hotel with great staff and characters. It's clean, modern and well styled and I would certainly recommend it to anyone whether they like theme parks or not. Apart from a couple of dodgy dining experiences we couldn't fault it. Not sure what it would be like in peak season though...

The only real downside of the week was out of the hotels control. 15 or so british boys from 5-12? played football every evening around the stage area. The were running riot, trampling the plants and flowers, kicking their balls agains doors and windows and being a real pain in the rump. When they weren't kicking the ball they were running everywhere and always seemed to be in your face. The parents should be ashamed of themselves for letting them do this.

We booked with first choice and the two reps on site were great. Always full of top local info and advice and couldn't have been more helpful. If you get a chance to go on their Night of a 1000 Stars, you must go. Free drink all night in a nightclub in Reus while they preform comedy and dance acts on stage all in the name of fun. It's clean enought for kids too.

Your room card acts as a charge card to your room for all purchases in the park/hotel and as a gold express card in the park for beating the queues. This is excellent and worth it's weight in, er, gold! Essentially you walk up the exit aisle for any major ride in the park, flash your card and walk straight on to the next seat. Zero queing, much to the annoyance of those in the long queues and much to the delight of me and my daugher who would have lost several hours in the hot queues full of loud Spanish teenagers. Superb!

We booked our holiday via the internet and I am pleased to say that we had a fantastic holiday at a fraction of brochure prices. The El Paso staff were extremely helpful and accomodating.

The room was cleaned every day but as someone has already stated, toilet paper was clearly rationed. The rooms were spacious but not much of a balcony. When we go again we will ask for a room overlooking pool, as these seemed to have a nice big balcony.

The breakfast was lovely, fresh fruit, meats, breads and pastries. Again, 3 euros for a full english but we never felt we would need to have one. Even good quality cereals for my three year old. Evening meals were good in quality and variety, we were impressed.

We saw a couple of the evening shows and quite honestly, they were fine, not 'Vegas, but good fun.
The only drawback was getting a drink from the bar. One night it took at least 15 mins.

We would definately visit again, our children (3 and 10yrs) had a fantastic experience.

we stayed in the hotel el paso in june 2004. the hotel is spacious, clean and well set up. i have read other reviews where people said the entertainment at night was too loud but we were on the first floor overlooking the maze and stage and i didnt find the noise to be a problem. if your balcony door is closed you can hardly hear anything.

the food in the hotel was nice, a good variety of dishes from salads and cold meats to pizza, chips, chicken etc. they also had a lovely selection of cakes/sweets. anyone going should try the tiramisu.

our hotel room was not overly big, but was beautiful. the hotel is spotlessly clean and every outside bin has an ashtray attached to it so there arent any ciggarette ends lying around. the hotel is fine for anyone who cant get up stairs easily as for every set of stairs there is ramp access.

i liked the fact that the hotel is built around the swimming pool and stage because it makes the hotel feel like a resort in itself and it makes you feel very at home. the swimming pool is massive and the kids pool is great with the galleon in the middle, we couldnt get our 5 year old out of the pool.

all the characters such as woody woodpecker, betty boop, popeye, pink panther etc came to our hotel regularly so there were plenty of photo opportunities. my daughter also had a character breakfast and birthday cake which was great but a bit pricey at 30 euros for the cake and 50 euros for the character breakfast.

the theme park is excellent, there is always something to do or see even if you dont like the rides. there are lots of different shows on like the can-can girls, maku manu bird show and chinese magic show.

i would definetely go back to this hotel as its a lot nicer than the hotels in downtown salou, as all the hotels down there look like highrise flats. i would definetely recommend the hotel el paso.

This was our second time to the El Paso Hotel and we weren't disappointed. Hotel rooms are spacious enough but the only thing missing is a fridge. The food was better than your average food abroad but wasn't brilliant. Big selection at breakfast and evening meal and the buffet style set up suited our family because the kids could choose a bit of various things and got to try things which they wouldn't normally try.

The park was brilliant and had something for all ages, the children in our group were 4,8,10 and 15 and we managed to amuse them all. What I would say is they are very strict about height restrictions which caused quite a few tears amongst the ones who weren't quite tall enough. We done the dine around a few times and as long as you were quite happy with fast food it was fine, what we liked was we could eat when we liked. The park was extremely clean and well set out and we would recommend getting your photo taken dressed up in costume.

We have booked again and would definately recommend it.

we have just returned from the hotel el paso costa dorada. we can't fault the design or location of the hotel. the rooms were kept spotless, except for one annoying giant cobweb. the shower was a pain, it soaked the bathroom everytime we switched it on. the food was excellent, and the kids dined daily with the cartoon characters.
we asked about the dine around vouchers, but got blank looks from reception. we never managed to board the free bus to the beach at salou, 2 adults tried to board with 3 kids, and were told they were too many. two of us adults went into the port aventura hotel for a look around and exited into the theme park, using our el paso passes.the following day we took 2 of the kids for a look around the hotel, and the guy in charge of the turnstiles tried to stop us leaving via that exit, he said that we had to walk the whole perimeter of the port aventura hotel and back up the the theme park, a long trek. we pointed out that as guests of the el paso we were entitled to come and go as we wanted, and had used the exit the previous day, he finally relented, as we were not going to be put off.
i would recommed the resort and the el paso, it was worth the visit for the theme park and the costa caribe water park alone.
the beach at salou was clean, with lots of free playgrounds for small children.
dining and drinking out could be expensive. i would advise against using the "wally" train it cost 13 euros one way. we found it cheaper to use 2 taxis for the 7 of us at 4.38 per taxi.
we had pretty poor weather for early may, but that couldn't be helped.

we stayed on a half board basis.food was ok,but could have been a bit warmer.

the rooms were cleaned everyday thoroughly.

location was excellent for the theme park,and the beach was a 10 minute taxi ride away.

hotel staff were very pleasant and always helpful. entertainment was ok,but the seating arrangement could have been better.the first choice reps ian and jen were the best reps we have ever had on holiday,and the night of a thousand stars trip is a must.(reps making a fool of themselves).

the swimming pool is enormous,and always plenty of sunbeds.

the only downfall is the bar service at night.sometimes took 25mins to get a drink.the theme characters are excellent around the hotel for the kids.

i would certainly recommend this hotel.

I can't recommend this hotel enough for young families.

The hotel was very clean and the staff very polite.

The hotel food was nice if a little samey by the end of the week but there was always a good choice. The evening entertainment if somewhat noisy was good fun, our four your old son thoroughly enjoying the childrens disco and dance lessons every evening. My one tip would be that if you don't want to get involved in the entertainment every evening or have small babies then ask for a room not overlooking the stage as we found even when we tried to put our son to bed earlier than 11pm he would be up at the window looking out as the entertainment was right outside out room. The hotel bar was pleasent with a cybercafe inside so that the children can connect to their favourite websites to give the parents a few minutes break to unwind. The childrens pool was excellent, unfortunately it was too cold in may to check out the big pool.

The port aventura theme park was excellent, although probably not quite as magical as disney there were always characters like woody woodpecker or the pink panther walking around. The costa caribe water park was the best we had been to.

Salou itself was about twenty minutes walk and although not at all picturesque (all high rise buildings and apartments) the beach was one of the best we had seen, with lovely sand and pleanty of adventure play areas for the kids.

All in all we had a fantastic time. It was our first beach holiday abroad as a family with a young son and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hotel to other faimiles with small children.

We went to the El Paso in May 04 and unfortunately for us the weather was terrible, which meant we didnt get to make use of the lovely pool which is fab, 5 yr old loved it even though he was blue.

Hotel is spotless inside and out, room was a decent size for 2 adults and 2 kids and that was with one in a cot.

The breakfast was ok, but we felt that maybe because it was early in the season when we went and the hotel wasn't very busy that not much effort was put into dinner and I had to over feed my children in the park as they refused to eat in the restaurant(aged 5 and 1 and not usually fussy eaters).

Location is perfect for the park but be warned if you are going to be in and out of salou a lot(you will have to buy water in salou, none in the hotel)it actually works out cheaper to get a taxi than to take the park/salou train especially if there are a few of you getting on the train.

Hotel staff are fab, and are all very good with the children and seem very genuine, my 5yr old is normally shy but he loved the kids club which has its own building near the kids pool.

Entertainment was fair, as I'm sure you have heard but it didn't really apply to us as its all held outside and the weather was bad.

All in all a lovely hotel decorated to a high standard that I would consider visiting again.

We stayed here for a week from the 12th to 19th August, and would highly recommend this Hotel. Based on a Mexican theme the rooms are set out in blocks around the grounds, which include a large pool with a smaller childrens pool with a pirate galleon to keep the little ones amused. There are always plenty of lifeguards on duty when the pool is open between 9.00 am and 8.00 pm, and nobody abused this and went in the pool out of hours. The area around the pool is cleaned on a regular basis and hosed down regularly, with plenty of sunbeds for use by hotel guest.
We stayed half board and meals were served in the "Merida" restaurant on a buffet style (I am myself a cook and very fussy about the cleanliness of a place- we have been know to walk out of restaurants because they don't meet my high standards) which we could not fault, the meals were well cooked and a great selection of both main courses and desserts. Breakfast was mostly a continental style with a cooked breakfast available for 3 euros ( which I Thompson rep. said would be refunded to us if we kept the receipts), we did not use this as the croissants, muffins and other breakfast pastries, youghurt and fresh fruit suited us. Evening meal was of great variety with a large salad bar and plenty of options for you to choose from.

The room was clean and plenty big enough, ours had 2 double beds ( for 2 adults and 2 children) some had bunk beds but for some reason these are not recommended for children over 12 so we opted for the 2 doubles as our 11 year old is very tall (over 5' 7" and we wanted to be sure of his comfort- even though it did mean that the 2 boys had to share). There are safes in the rooms which are charged at 2.10 euros a day and a 6 euro deposit. Other facitilities in the room included satelite TV, pay to view, and the usual freebies in the bathroom, also a washing line (extendable over the bath) for the drying of towels etc.

This is the first package holiday we have taken for over 10 years, normally preferring to make all the arrangements oursleves, but we were pleasantly surprised, the Thompsons rep. was very helpful, and available at various times, there are the usual excursions but we found no hard sell on these.