Port Aventura Hotel and Theme Park
by Take the Family
22 April 2008
“Everything your family wants from a holiday in a box” that was what I was told, but I found it difficult to believe that it would really be suitable for my young family. Theme parks for me conjure up loud music, flashing lights and teenagers.
I really couldn’t have been more wrong - it was a perfect family break. We had so much fun not only did we wish we’d booked a few extra nights but we also have vowed to return! (Both kids cried when we had to leave). We travelled in April, out of peak season, and stayed for 2 nights at the Port Aventura Hotel, (unfortunately this was before the water park – 'The Caribe Aquatic' opened (usually mid May), but at least it meant we missed the crowds!)
We flew into Reus just outside Barcelona, with a 15 minute transfer to the hotel and park. The hotel, situated right on the edge of the park with it’s very own convenient entrance, was pretty large and arranged around huge swimming pools and squares. The bedroom itself was not huge but perfectly adequate (especially as we spent so little time there) with 2 double beds and a balcony. The kids enjoyed the character breakfast, albeit they had no idea who the Universal Studio’s key characters were, Popeye, Olive Oil and Woody Woodpecker, but they soon came to love them and we regularly bumped into them around the hotel complex, plus we managed by chance to catch a couple of the shows in the hotel piazza which they featured in and which were surprisingly good. (I can now most certainly imagine some Universal studio dvds on someone's birthday list this year!) All the staff we met during our stay were incredibly friendly and accommodating. In fact they put our Ryan Air check in girl to shame!
The park itself was beautifully designed and landscaped, so it was pleasant just walking around admiring all the views. There turned out to be lots of things for the younger children from a mini roller coaster to bumper cars and even the 'Canoes' – a smaller version of the log flume. We had a slight problem with height restrictions which varied between 1m and 1.2m for the tamer rides, although for my daughter (who is probably 1.08m) whether she got on to the ride seemed to depend upon the heel on her shoes and the size of her smile! The park is divided up into geographic areas Mediterranean, Polynesia, Far West, Mexico and China, with each area completely themed right down to the shows and the vegetation. We had a fantastic lunch at 'Emma’s House' in the Far West, which involved a very large 3 course meal and an entertaining show by Woody and his friends. We were also lucky to catch the ‘Aloha Tahiti’ show in Polynesia which had the children entranced by the fantastic dancing, and us reminiscing of our Hawaiian honeymoon.
We were fortunate to hook up with another family with kids the same age which seemed to make it a lot easier. The dads were both, (somewhat predictably), keen on the rather more exhilarating rides (such as Dragon Khan – a roller coaster with 8 loops, Hurakan Conder – a 100m drop and Furius Baco – 0-135kmph in 3 seconds) and the fact that we had priority wrist bands meant that we only had a very short wait for them, in fact often not enough time to buy an ice cream!
As well as the park and the aqua park there is also a Beach Club at Salou, approximately a 10 minute taxi ride away. Due to our short stay we only had time to visit the fabulous Restaurante Lumine which is situated at the top of the Beach Club, where we enjoyed a 5 star dinner, but the beach and the infinity pools looked fantastic and well worth a visit.
For us a weekend was definitely not long enough to enjoy all Port Aventura had to offer and I felt we experienced a small taster. It would be very easy to do a week with 3 or 4 days at the park, a day at the Aqua park, a day at the Beach Club, followed by a day in Barcelona.
7 nights B&B at the Port Aventura Hotel for 2 adults and 2 children with flights from Birmingham or London ranges from £1,000 to £2,000 (the latter being for school holidays.)
Have you been to Port Aventura what was your experience? We'd love to here your thoughts in our forum on this family destination .
by Lucy Ace (& family)
See Take the Family's destination guide to Barcelona.
Find out more about the Port Aventura Park and all the options here.
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