bkluvsNola

My family (wife, toddler who will be 2.5 at time of trip in the summer, and I) are planning to stay in the Barcelona area as part of our summer vacation. We plan to stay 3-4 days touring Barcelona and then 3-4 days relaxing at the beach in Salou.

I had two important questions. First, would a 2.5 year old toddler boy enjoy Port Aventura? I was wondering if the rides are roller coaster type rides, which he wouldn't be able to do, or are there any rides for kids?

Second, it appears that none of the hotels in Salou itself are *directly* on the beach. They all appear to be 400 meters or so from the beach (across the street or several streets up) from the beach. For instance, the best hotel per tripadvisor is Hotel Golden Port Salou, but when I click on the map, I see that it is several blocks from the sea.

The hotels in Cape Salou do appear to be directly on the beach, but in their own cove so that means we're pretty much confined to that strip of beach. For instance, Cala Font Hotel appears to be directly on the beach in its own cove.

Also, I hear that Cape Salou is pretty isolated from the rest of the town which is unappealing to us. What we'd really like would be a hotel on the main beach in Salou.

Thanks for any help or advice in this regard. Thanks!

kybourbon

The hotels in Salou are across the street from the beach. The beach is very wide and nice.

In Cap Salou there are a few hotels on tiny beaches, sometimes private for that hotels guests only. Many hotels in Cap Salou don't even have access to a beach. We got a deal at the H10 Mediterranea in Cap Salou. They have a large pool and access to a small beach across the road. They also have hot tubs on the roof. Cap Salou is a bit more isolated and if you want a nicer beach you will need to take the bus to Salou. There aren't many restaurants in the area.
http://www.h10hotels.com/eng/detalle...p?idhoteles=38

We didn't go to Port Aventura, but you can take a look at their website to see which rides are available.
http://www.portaventura.es/home.asp?pIdi=uk

kenderina

At Port Aventura there are rides for kids but I really don't know if they allow toddlers...look at the website

Directly on the beach it's a strange thing for a hotel in Spain in general because in most places is forbidden to build anything there. There are very few. The first ones are across the streets and go from there.
Salou has a very nice beach but I won't call it "relaxing" in summer , it's too crowded

bkluvsNola

Thanks for the insightful advice. I will definitely plan to stay at the beach in Salou. It seems closer to the action and the beach sounds much nicer.

I have a couple more questions. We want to take the train from Barcelona to Salou. Do we need to book tickets for that now or can we wait until we're in Barcelona and book a few days before? I read that 55 trains or more go that route per day so I doubt that all the trains would fill up, but I thought I better check.

Also, where is the station in Barcelona (I can't seem to find Estacio' Central de Barcelona on my map) and where is the station in Salou in relation to the beach?

Many thanks

kybourbon

My response disappeared so sorry if it happens to repeat.

I trained from Barcelona Sants to Salou and bought tickets a few hours before travel. I don't think there were that many trains per day as it seems we had to wait until the next train. Cost was about 10E one way (May 2005). You can reach Sants by metro.

The train station in Salou is very small and we taxied from there to Cap Salou. I'm not sure you could walk to your hotel from there, but take a look at www.mappy.com to locate the station. If you want to plot a walking route, use Mappy's pedestrian feature.

bkluvsNola

Thanks, we've decided to stay in Barcelona for 3 nights and then stay in Salou for 4 nights. In Barcelona, we plan to go to Montserrat, Cosmocaixa, Poble Espanyol, Tibidabo, and Parc Zoologic. Are these attractions worth it, keeping in mind a 2.5 year old will be with us?

In Salou, most of our time will be on the beach swimming, sunbathing, and soaking it all up, but we do also plan to go to Port Aventura.

I'll post again about the hotels when I get that booked.

Alec

Too far to walk from station to Cap Salou - it's about 2 miles, and Cap Salou is on a small headland and rather a steep path to the small cove-beach, and a steep walk down to the resort centre, but there are buses.
Salou is very busy in the summer (July/August), popular with package tourists from UK, Scandinavia and Holland, plus Spanish locals, many of whom own property there. It has a reputation for a loud and lager-filled nightlife, esp on the bit between Cap Salou and the centre with wall-to-wall pubs, bars and discos with loud music until early hours. Most hotel bars have entertainment too until small hours and noise can be a problem. The main town beach is big and clean, but gets very crowded and the sand, as in most of the coastline, is rough and shingle. But it's very safe for children as it shelves very gently - 50 yards out and the water is only about 2 feet deep.
Port Aventura will be great for toddlers, as it has many rides for little ones, as well as train and boat. Head to Polynesia for water rides. It also has a separate water park, Costa Caribe, popular with families.

Carolina

Salou is a good choice with a young child. It is very clean, plenty to do and has a lovely wide beach. I would choose somewhere central rather than bang on the beach as this is better for shopping, eating out, evenings etc.

Carolena