Food: Definitely 4* star and Very Good Indeed!

A wide variety of food in the half-board buffets for breakfast and dinner. It was of very good quality.

Meat cooked to order, and this was openly advertised in many languages, so all guests could take advantage of the service.

The food choices catered for the western European palette. (no complaints there, though some British people seemed put off by the local names, without venturing to try things. For example, the white fish was called perch and tasted like cod - so could have been enjoyed).

The only junk food there were chips (fantastic, becuase 'children's menus usually mean rubbish in breadcrumbs and chips in most places!).

Virtually all the choices looked restaurant cooked, not bought in. Another nice feature.

Salads well prepared and gave no adverse side-effects.

It's a one week menu, which was a little deja vu but meant, I could have my favourites of the first week again.

I didn't like being given a sitting for breakfast, very holiday camp, I thought, not 4* star hotel. However, you could ask to change (which I did after getting up at what was 6am bst on the second day, just to eat). It turned out the later sitting was full of Spaniards and Americans, even though there were a very good number of British people staying there. hmmm!

We ate a good breakfast everyday and didn;t get hungry until about 6.30 in the evening, despite energetic days in the heat.

I didn't like having to queue to get in to dine at either end of the day.

The Cafe on resort had a poor choice of snacks, that did not cater for a range of diets/dietary requirements. It was open all day and into the night, so should have a more varied menu.


Hotel Cleanliness:

I think the whole of the Costas is built on an anthill, but none in my second floor room, just in the lobby by the windows - which cut short a relaxing time with the papers the first time I spied a troop of them being busy near my chair.

Other than that, cutlery and crockery was clean (I'm really fussy about this), rooms are clean, though:
- the tiles did require regrouting to get rid of the mould spots,
- and the maids not to keen to sweep the floors everyday (However, the floors are tiled, so no dirty carpets to make you wonder what you are walking in), and
- the maids didn't remove the mugs from our late night hot chocolate we bought in the hotel the night before.

The Swimming pools and jacuzzi were clean, and the pools were constantly watched over by lifeguards on a rota.

The fridge in the room was clean. (yes, a fridge in a half board room, I was happy!)

The female changing room in the fitness centre was clean, as were the sauna and steam room.

The camp aventura building was well kept, inside and out.

Hotel Location:

I loved the location! Straight into the park, it made it so much easier to use the park up to midnight, and we were able to see most of the lightshow from a balcony in the hotel. The walk into Salou is pleasant and we had lovely open space and flora, which the apartments and hotels in the main area do not.

Buses ran from the end of the drive and the train to Barcelona has a mini station in the Caribe, sister hotel, opposite.

Hotel Staff:

Maids were really pleasant, receptionists warmed up to me, though, the British were short changed on service when checking in or at anytime they found themselves behind a Spanish person. The favouritism was so obvious, it was annoying, in the extreme. The receptionists would pull out any and every book, map, leaflet for a Spanish guest and just circle bits on the Port aventura map and point for British guests.

I would say, if you ever see reception quite, take time to go over and ask a question, be polite and smile, after that, you'll get much better service, even when there is a queue.

The waiter/waitresses were lovely at dinner, thought he maitre'ds at breakfast were a bit scary, if anyone turned up late for breakfast. I would have reminded them who was paying their wages, but most of the people who were told off (literally), just took it!

The entertainment in the evening started at 9pm, it was 'half-cocked' really, but my sone enjoyed the warm up disco - it wasn't a regimented atmosphere, the children danced on the stage without reprimand. With the theme park open until midnight, and unlimited access to it (hotel key used as fast pass after 9pm) on most of the days the hotel entertainment was superfluous. I couldn't hear it from my room, which was another plus.

We are going back to the Port Aventura next year. I'm going to try the other restaurants, both in the resort and over at the Caribe and El Paso. you can get vouchers to move around, from guest relations.

At first look I rated this hotel at 3*,and never relaly got on with the idea of the resort having a lunch break, which the shop, fitness centre, kids club did???? however, the kids club, that you don't have to book, the food, the lifeguards, the sauna and fitness facilities, the easy of using the theme park definitely make it 4*.

Finally, life would have become a little boring had I not gone on the excursions.....

Just back from a week at the PortAventura hotel. Travelled with my husband and 5 year old son and 22 month old daughter. Both of whom are scared of people dressed up which was not so good since characters such as Woody, Popeye, Pink Panther, Olive and Shrek regularly walk about. The fireworks show at 23:45 in the theme park was excellent and you must go to this a few times. A mistake we made was not using the beach club until one of our last days. When we got there we realised that it was fantastic and much quieter than the poolside. You don't even have to take towels as you can hire them out there. There is a regular bus/road train service from outside the hotel to this. You don't pay for it. The timetable is displayed at reception. The first bus is at 10am but that gets you there too early for the beach club opening at 10.30 but at that time of the morning it is a wee road train that takes you to the beach club and that was a cool way to travel through Salou.

The hotel was much better than I expected and when we checked in at 11.15pm everything was ready for us. I wouldn't say everything was explained to us but it was enough to get us going. Our allocated day for the water park was given to us at this time and I heard other people being told that this could be changed at reception. The room we were in was 1233 and was on the 2nd floor overlooking one of the pools which was quite good although we didn't spend much time in the room. The balcony was quite small but one of the room chairs could sit on it easily. The queen size bed was enormous and we could all have slept in that but my son had a single bed and my daughter a travel cot which gave us ample room to walk about. The fridge was a blessing especially to store baby milk (which we got from the machine at breakfast along with a few other select items which could be used as snacks or lunch). The room was cleaned everyday and towels changed as long as you chucked them in the bath.

The theme park was excellent especially if you love thrill rides and the express passes do work as we used them for the river rapids and gave our passes away to a hotel resident on the last day so they could get the use of them. There are loads of shaded areas in the park but I do recommend going at night to the park as it is particularly warm during the day. The new ride could be viewed from one of the hotel pools so that was quite good to sit and watch and listen to the screams.

The water park was definately the highlight of our holiday but it was hard trying to get on rides especially with young children who are too young for them and don't like them and just want to play about in the childrens area. My husband and I took it in turns to go on stuff but that meant being ourselves on the rides but that wasn't so bad. The waves pool was horrendous and I badly scratched my hand and twisted my arm on it. We visited the park at 10am via the entrance inside the theme park and there were loads of loungers and beds but we put ourselves down beside the childrens pool. We hired out 2 big rings which we used to go on some of the rides. You can actually hire a doubler one so you can go on rides as a couple. A lot of people were doing this. Watch and keep applying sun cream at the water park as we realised when we left at 5pm we were burned to a crisp. Not so good seen as how we were flying home the following night. There are lockers inside the park so you can lock your valuables away.

The entertainment in the hotel was fine. The mini disco was at 9.15 and the kids all get up on the stage though not mine as they are a bit timid. There was a different show each night and we only saw 3. Cinderella and Pinnochio were in spanish but Mama Mia was excellent and in English. The games room and the internet cafe are close by to the stage so the older kids hung about there.

As we were flying home at 22.35 we were checked out by 10am that morning (think you get to 11 though). We should have booked a courtesy room for teatime earlier as we found out you could do this. I went to see Guest services at 3.30pm and got one booked but ended up being sent along to the gym and having to use the male changing rooms which was not the best. We realised then that the gym was quite good and there were 2 saunas and 2 large jacouzzis and tennis courts which you could use. Would definately use these if went for 2 weeks. We went to the beach club on the last day and there are showers, lockers and changing rooms there so you could always get ready down there but the buses back to the hotel get busier as the day goes on.

Would have like to have tried the themed buffets in the other 2 hotels. The hotels are about a 10 minute walk away. We felt our kids were a bit young for this holiday but we definately don't regret going. We made the most of the holiday and would go back in a few years. The big plus point about Hotel PortAventura is that you can easily walk into the theme park from the hotel through a security gate. This probably made us go into the park more often whereas if we had been at one of the other hotels it would have meant walking or getting the free bus.

Excellent holiday.

I stayed at this hotel with my two children.

We arrived and just left to our own devices by the holiday rep.

At the reception desk, the receptionist could hardly speak a word of English and eventually she gave us our room keys and number.

When we got to our room I was disgusted, it was little more than a broom cupboard, I wouldn't have been able to swing one of my cat around in it.

When we opened the curtains we had a great big bush blocking one half of the window and sunbeds right up against the other half with someone one them!!! Straight away I told my children to get our jackets and went to reception where I spoke to a lovely man called Angel, he was very helpful and immediatly allocated us with another room.

The room had a lovely view but was nothing like what the brochures print and we had to put up with a cot blocking our balcony throughout our stay.

We never saw our rep throughout the holiday and despite that, we had a lovely time.

The hotel was beautiful but I do feel that the British were not given the same treatment as the other nationalities.
The theme park and water park were amazing (especially the theme park) I can not fault those.

The only problem I had was that on four nights running, Woody Woodpecker deliberatly snubbed and turned his back on my 8 year old son. My son went up to him and Woody just turned his back on him and spoke to children who were obviously Spanish.

We never got to see the Beach Club as our rep was never around to give us the information and help to get there.

The evening entertainment was not what we expected and both my children were really bored by it.

We did have a lovely time and would go back at the drop of a hat, despite the bad bits.

This was our second visit to Port Aventura (Stayed at the El Paso in 2005) and we were not disappointed.

The hotel was clean and tidy and the rooms were large enough for an base for a family holiday. We were in a ground floor room that opened out onto the smaller of the 2 swimming pools. The rooms were cleaned daily and the sheets were changed a couple of times during our weeks stay.

The food is buffet style and is of good quality with excellent choice. Lots of fish and meat which is cooked infront of you to your own requirements but also plenty to interest the children. The fresh fruit is out of this world. The breakfast buffet includes cooked items as well as cold meats, cereal, lots of fruit and the childrens favourite pancakes. We didn't have any problems with the temperature of the food or with excessive queueing but we did tend to eat early.

The entertainment consisted of a childrens disco followed by something. One night a singer another acrobats etc. The entertainment was as expected on holiday, the biggest downfall was the lack of space and seats. The stage is tucked into a corner with very limited space in front of it.

One of the biggest advantage of this hotel is the use of the Beach club. This was amazing with beautiful swimming pools and direct access onto the beach. The hotel train ran non stop too and from the beach club so there was very little waiting around to get there.

Altogether a fantastic Hotel. We will definatly be back.

We booked a Family Suite with First Choice which is one of the Club Woody & Friends rooms and the kids loved it! The corridor is painted like a tree house, with the same decor inside the room. Attention to detail was superb, with luminous stars on the ceilings that made it seem like you were sleeping under the stars when you switched the lights out.

We were all in one room, but the room was very spacious - the double bed was more than king size (but the mattress was very firm!) and the kids had bunk beds which was ideal as we have a boy and a girl. We had bath robes and slippers for all the family, character breakfast with daily English newspaper, wristbands giving us unlimited direct access to all of the rides with the express option in the park, separate check-in, tea party with the characters (including free gifts for the kids), complimentary photos at the party & dressed in western gear in the park, minibar (only 1st stock was free), daily woody chocolates for the kids etc. Well worth the extra! The room was clean and by European standards was excellent.

The food was varied and hot, and was suitable for both adults and children. Drinks with the meals were not overly priced. Night time entertainment was great and the kids loved it. Mini disco started at 21:15 which was a bit late we reckoned for kids to wait, but it was worth it when it started. At 22:00 the main entertainment started, which was always suitable for the kids to watch and included cut down versions of the musicals Mamma Mia & We Will Rock You. All of the kids ran round in the "entertainment area" and you felt they were safe. No drunken yobs or people from outside, just very family orientated. As such, when the entertainment ended around 23:00, most people went to their rooms, with just a few groups staying behind for a quiet drink.

The hotel pools weren't heated and neither were the ones in the water park which seems pretty standard for Europe, but our kids only spent short periods of time in them due to this. The indoor pool in the water park was heated, so they went in there. Shame as the water park has some really cool areas that many kids were having loads of fun in!

With direct access to the theme park, everything was so easy and it literally took minutes to get from our room to the park. We would often have a walk in after dinner before the entertainment started. The beach club was nothing special, and definitely is not finished. The pools again were cold, and the kids got bored here. However, just a 2 minute walk out of the beach club and you're on the beach in a lovely bay that isn't overcrowded like Salou beach. Worth the free train ride to go to this beach! We didn't bother with the restaurant at the Beach Club, but just had hot dogs from a food place on the beach which were much cheaper and just right for a light meal on the beach - followed by the obligatory ice cream of course!

One of the few downsides was that some of the hotel staff don't speak English very well and sometimes we had difficulty ordering things. We booked a courtesy room to freshen up in before our return home but ended up in changing rooms at the gym - only then because I refused to move until I was given what I had confirmation of! One day it was very windy, and many glasses blew off tables in the entertainment area, which were not swept up properly, leaving broken glass on the floor.

My son is very picky about holiday destinations, but loved the hotel and wants to know when we can go back already. Fantastic holiday and would definitely recommend for families. Great for anybody liking a firm mattress!

Ideal hotel for families. We travelled with son's family, which includes our 2 grandchildren aged 8 and 6.

On arrival, found a mix-up with our room allocation which was quickly and efficiently resolved by reception staff.

Hotel covers a very large area which meant that our room was quite a way from reception, but the up side was that our room was only 20 paces from the Portaventura Park Entrance.

Discovered that the air conditioning in our room was not working, so back to reception I trudged. Very friendly receptionist took details and said an engineer would be along shortly.
One day later still not working so back to reception. This time used "Guest Services" rather than the Check In desk. Person I spoke to was very embarrassed and apologetic that my problem had not been fixed. She disappeared for a couple minutes and on her retuurn informed me my request had been moved to the top of the manitenance team's list. Air conditioning fixed later that evening.

The room was clean and spacious, and supplied with all the basics like shower gel / shampoo etc.
Both hotel pools are unheated, but very refreshing. Also had no issues getting sunbeds when required, although to be honest only used those areas when recuperating after a long trek around the Theme Park.


Breakfast and dinner service appeared to be a bit chaotic at times, it pays to get there early. Food quality was good, with a huge selection to choose from. Grandchildren had no problems finding something they liked.

The hotel's proximity to the Theme Park is the real bonus. You access the park through turnstiles located just past the waterfall at the end of the lagoon using your room access card.
Also used the Beach Club a couple times, taking advantage of the free land train that leaves from in front of Reception. Beach Club has several pools and access to the beach itself. Nice just for a couple hours of peace and quiet. Never used the Lumine restaurant, but you can get baguettes etc. from small outlets on site.

A frequent land train service is available to get into Salou. These leave from outside the entrance of the Theme Park. Cost is 3 euros per ride.

Back to the hotel............

The only criticism I have is with the attitude of the staff, especially in the dining room. Not rude but certainly not over friendly. In fact a friendly staff member stands out like a sore thumb. During the stay we were "Surveyed" many times. being asked a variety of questions about our impressions of the hotel etc.. Each time I mentioned the staff attitude my comments were acknowledged with a "knowing" smile.

Entertainment was reasonable and varied, although the stage is located in one corner of the Plaza. Seating is limited so again it pays to eat early. Grandchildren enjoyed the Children's disco, which starts at 21:15. We felt this was a bit late for younger ones, but perhaps it's just we English aren't used to the Spanish regime of siesta style living.
Main entertainment starts at 22:00 for about an hour.
Woody Woodpecker, Shrek and all their friends appear all over the hotel complex throughout the day, and are more than happy to oblige for photos, autographs or maybe just a hug.

To sum up - great hotel for a family intent on spending a fair while in the Theme / Water Parks. Felt very secure due to the access control exercised on all exits / entrances.
Had the impression that the staff attitude issue has been reported many times and is being addressed.

We visited Portaventura over the Easter holidays and consequently the hotel and theme park were very busy but this didn't have any negative impact on the serbvice provided

The hotel was very clean and our room was cleaned thoroughly every day with the sheets changed and the option to have towels changed every day if we wanted.

All the staff were professional and spoke english well.

The hotel is in a superb location being right next to the theme park with its own entrance, making it easy to get to the rides and with the express passes you receive as a hotel guest you are very quickly enjoying the white knuckle rides (avoiding all the queues).

The food on offer for breakfast and dinner was both plentiful and varied and cooked to a high standard. The hotel caters for European tastes so don't expect chicken nuggets and pizza slices for the kids but for us this was great opportunity for them to try soemthing different.

If you want a holiday to a theme park but don't want to go to Florida then this hotel and theme park is worth considering. We had a great time even though the weather was not its best.

The Mrs wanted our first family holiday to be in 'Euro Disney' but having priced this up I quickly realised my budget would only stretch to 3 nights.

I started to look elsewhere and came across Port Aventura and having been to 'Universal Studios' in Florida, my mind was made up.

Thomas Cook quoted me

We stayed at the hotel after it was recommended by family. We have two children 6 and 11 so we needed somewhere with plenty to do.

We were placed in a room which was slightly small for a family but very nice and clean, however after no sleep (noisy family next door!)2 days later we moved rooms to find we were in a room double the size and it was still classed as a standard room!

We ate breakfast every morning and I was more than pleased with choice and the quality of the food. The park was great and there was something for everyone, the kids loved all the rides were you got wet and I loved the 8 loooped rollercoaster a must!

We only spent one day in the water park which was really good and the rest of the time round the pool, which is spacious and very pretty.

We found prices generally what we expected 3 euros for a beer and 1.50 euros for a small water. Although a bottle of wine was only 8 euros this was a great find while watchin the entertainment at night.

The hotel staff and kids club staff were fab, the entertainment on an evening was good for the kids and overall a really good holiday.

One last thing we stocked up on water the first day from Salou to put in the fridge in the room. Other than that please do not expect anything from Salou, it was blackpool in the sun.

Not the hotel of our choice as we had booked for the Caribe resort but due to a conference at this hotel we got a VIP upgrade to hotel Port Aventura.

On arrival at the hotel we were directed to the VIP reception with helpful English speaking staff and were very quickly checked into our room.

The rooms are a fine size but could do with a few more chairs (we had one between the three of us). The room was immaculate and was kept that way all week by the housekeeping staff. A lot of nice extras were included like bathrobes, slippers and a special welcome pack for the kids. The food both at breakfast and dinner were a buffet with a good choice for all tastes (including the kids).

The only thing I could criticise this hotel for was the evening entertainment, which I could only describe as dreadful.

This is the third time we have been to Salou but the first time we have stayed at a hotel on the theme park and after this experience I don