Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - August 2007
Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : Mark - Canterbury (45, 43, 14, 13, 13, 11, 9, 4)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
Just come back from taking our 6 children (aged from 4 years to 14 years) to PortAventura staying at the El Paso Hotel. Like to say everything was perfect for a family holiday. Resort, rooms, pools, theme park, water parks (where the children got to swim with sea lions) etc. And I don't say that as someone who rarely travels or is easily pleased. I take 5-6 holidays a year everywhere from the Seychelles to Florida and generally stay in 5 star resorts.
But for a great holiday which the children will love, apart from Florida this was about there best one. Not too many negatives at all. The hotel is right by the theme park. I read that someone says its a 10 minute walk, but honestly it can't be more than a 2 to 3 minute stroll. We never bothered catching the little train because its so close.
We also found all the staff at the hotel really friendly. The only slight negative would be the food at dinner as it could have been hotter. However, you can also dine in the other hotels and several resturants within the theme park instead (you're given tokens).
All in all though, as I said it was a really good holiday for the whole family. Just go and have fun.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: Airtours July 2007
Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : D McDonough-Glenrothes Fife (49,44,15,15 )
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
Having been to the el paso 3 three years ago,we couldnt wait to return.and arriving were pleasently surprised to be allocated the same room as before (sleeps 6).the hotel was very busy,but the staff were always very pleasant and always available to help.the room was huge with queen size bed,bunk beds and a large sofa bed.room was cleaned every day with a plentiful supply of clean towels.Now to the only bad point...The Merida buffet resturant..what a farce ! having visited this hotel 3 years ago,we hoped the Merida would have improved,but this wasnt to be.Huge queues most of the time,and the food was STILL LUKE WARM AT BEST.the beauty of this hotel is,you can use the dine around option,which we took full advantage of(dont understand why more people do this)19 euros per adult meant that we could eat at any of the resturants in the park or at the other port aventura hotels.iron horse hotel and la hacienda in the park were our favourites.
The park itself is fantastic(only a few minutes walk away),with rides to suit all(although maybe should be more for little ones).the 2 new rides,Furious Baco and Hurakan condor were superb.queues were quite long at times,but after 9pm,using your hotel room card meant that you could use the express facility(except on the new rides).
Spent part of a day at the caribe water park,but got a bit too busy for me.lovely place,well laid out.
All in all a great holiday,would recommend this hotel.
BUT PLEASE PORT AVENTURA...GET THE MEALS SORTED IN THE MERIDA.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: My Travel - June 2007
Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : Lorraine - Glasgow
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
This is the 4th time at the El Paso and was quite disappointed with the standard this year. The rooms were up to the usual standard and were cleaned every day. They are more spacious than the average holiday room especially when 2 adults and 2 children in the same room. We had contacted the Hotel prior to arriving and had requested 3 rooms in Block 4 which they did accommodate us with and all had pool views. However had to move 1 room in the party because it was infested with ants but the hotel dealt with it immediately.
Biggest complaints this year were the kids weren't allowed to jump in pool and weren't allowed any kind of inflatable even a small sponge ball which I think is taking it a bit far. There wasn't enough activities for the kids as in previous years. I also can't believe they haven't replaced the sand at the volleyball and football park because it cuts the kids feet if they play on it. The biggest complaint was the restaurant it was an absolute disgrace but my party soon got wise to it and just walked in and got our own table. The reason for the delay is the hotel has obviously cut back on staff because there was hardly any staff in the restaurant. The food was always luke warm and we did ask for chips at both end of the buffet to eliminate the queues but this only happened twice. The prices at the bar were very dear and the staff at the bar were quite ignorant. There was always queues to get a drink which was quite annoying. Our other complaint was the theme park - when we have travelled previously the theme park opened til 12 midnight from the 19th June onwards but this year it didn't open til midnight until the 1st July which definately made a difference to our holiday. I think this should be better advertised so that people are not disappointed.
The other thing which the hotel has changed is the dine around facility - you can still go to the other hotels in the group but you were in the past able to dine around at the fast food bars in the park. This was a great facility especially for families with young kids who as you know don't always want to eat when you want them to. The other thing which had changed was the free bus from the hotel which took you down to the centre of salou at McDonalds. This was a good facility but was obviously another casualty in their cost cutting exercise.
Even although there have been a few changes I would still go back to the El Paso and if I hadn't been previously I would probably have been very happy with what they offer. The staff at the Hotel are very good at speaking english and very helpful if you have any questions or complaints.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: Thomson Holidays
- May 2007
Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Alison - Bedfordshire (37,36, 11, 8)
Resort Rating: Good
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
Just returned from a week at the El Paso and although the hotel is good I would not agree it is 4 star. You cannot fault the cleanliness of the rooms, as the maids come round every morning. The main faults with the hotel are the queues for the breakfast and evening meals. You can queue for 20 minutes and when you finally get in, there are loads of spare tables. We also found the waiters quite rude and abrupt. The other main fault is how cold the pools are. This is the first hotel we have been to that have not had heated pools. Even the water park's pools were cold.
The best bit about staying at the El Paso is the portaventura theme park only being a 10 minute walk away (or if you are lazy like us you can catch the little train which is free and runs ever 15 minutes or so). We went to the theme park every day, mainly later on in the afternoon when it was less busy so there were hardly any queues to get on the rides.
There is evening entertainment at the hotel, but to be honest we only went one evening as we didn't fancy sitting on the stone steps scared that our drinks would be knocked over by the hundreds of kids running around.
All in all we had a great holiday, but we have had better!
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - May 2007
Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Debbie - Cumbria (41,36,5,3)
Resort Rating: Average
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
After reading all the bad reviews about this hotel I was getting worried but as soon as we arrived the hotel was better than expected. The rooms were clean and seemed to be newly decorated. We had a double bed and bunk beds which were very comfortable. Towels were changed every day.
The food was excellent with plenty of choice for everyone. The only gripe about the restaurant was the queue to get into the dining room, we went in low season and sometimes waiting up to 20 minutes to get in. You have to pay for drinks at the evening meal which were slightly pricey. The hotel seems to get busy at the weekends. The bar gets busy as well with long queues.
The hotel grounds are very clean and tidy, the pool excellent with plenty of lifeguards and staff are very friendly.
The theme park and water park are excellent.
The hotel is about 20 minutes walk to the centre of Salou where you can buy drinks and snacks a lot cheaper. After seeing the area I'm glad we were slightly out of it.
I would definately go back to this hotel when the children are older, we visited the Caribe and Portaventura and glad we picked the El Paso, it definately was the best of the three.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: Falcon - May 2007
Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : M Folan - Ireland (40, 33, 7, 4, 1)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
I found the reviews on this site helpful when trying to decide where to book so I think it is only fair that I add my own opinion now.
The Hotel El Paso was excellent. While it is not 4 star in the sense we are used to it is certainly an excellent hotel for families and of very high standards (I have experienced supposedly 4 star hotels in Rome and this place was of much higher quality). I found it to be clean and comfortable. Space was a bit tight for 2 adults, 2 children and a baby but we did not spend that much time in there so it was not really an issue. Wooden beds were creaky but this is not a big deal unless you are a light sleeper! Complex itself is lovely and well-laid out.
I thought the food was excellent. We were on half board and this usually means substandard food but not in this case. Huge variety on buffet both at breakfast and dinner. Lots of choice for children, my children ate much better than they do at home. Drinks were expensive but suppose this is to be expected.
The pool area is lovely and could not tear my four year old away from the pirate ship even to go to the theme parks! Having lifeguards on duty is brilliant as you do not have to constantly watch them when they are in the pool. Did not agree with poster who said they were only there to top up their tans! They were vigilant and stopped any horseplay. Also saw them regularly testing the quality of the water. Only niggle is that infants are not allowed to use floats. Mine was too young for armbands and had brought along a special float for a baby and they would not allow us to use this. Met other people in same situation. I agree with the policy of banning inflatables as there would be no place left in the pool due to amount of children there but think there should be an exception for babies with specifically designed floats for them.
The two themeparks are excellent but think my children were too young to appreciate them. Everywhere very child friendly with nappy changing facilities, high chairs etc. The hotel also had a childrens club which looked great but we did not have time to avail of it. Overall, I cannot recommend the place highly enough and would love to go back.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: Ryan Air and portaventura website -26 sept-2Oct 2006
Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Susan Smith (40,40, 9 and 5
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
We found the hotel and resort to be excellent.
Staff were very friendly and helpful. We found the hotel to be very clean and staff both in the hotel and parks were constantly sweeping and washing down areas to keep it so. The pool was very clean with 3 lifeguards in attendance and plenty of sun beds. The service in the poolside bar was excellent. There was a good variety of food in the buffet. My fussy eater children ate well. The food was just warm, which suited our family fine, as we usually have to wait for food to coll down a bit. If you like piping hot food you will be disappointed in this area, but the up side is that there are lots of salads and cold meats, cheese, fish etc and you can use the dine around facility. The entertainment at night is great with a kids show at 9.15pm and different professional acts such as acrobats, groups, dancers etc at 10pm and at weekend after this dancing in the bar. The hotel had a haunted house near the bar and it was the scariest experience. The hotel also has a block called hotel burn where people stay to be scared during the night. The windows were covered, but judging by the caracters entering it and jumping out at you, it would be very scarey all night.
The park is 5 minutes walk if you pop out through the el coyte resturant garden or you can catch the raod train at the front of the hotel to the park, just for the fun of the ride. The park is great, with beautiful landscapping. The shows are wonderful. With all shows, you learn not to sit at the front unlesss you want to be part of the show! Halloweeen is big in the hotel and parks and great scarey fun. We saw the train zombies band, the vampires had taken over the western saloon, devils took over the mexican canteen in a show and monsters paraded the street. From 9pm at weekends the polynesian jungle is sectioned off for you to go on a very scarey walk. Woody, Shrek, Popeye, Betty Boop all wander around the park and stop to let you take pictures. The parrot in the bird show can sit on your head for a photo. Rides are really good and only got crowded at weekends, during the week we never queued more than 5 minutes for any ride. Water park is fab too.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - SEPT 2006
Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Kerry - St Helens (49,43,14,7)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
We have just spent a wonderful week at Hotel El Paso, our only complaint was the squeaky beds !! The whole hotel was spotless, the staff very helpful and friendly, we are hard pushed to find anything negative. I really researched into the Port Aventura hotels before I booked and found the older reviews about the El Paso seemed more family friendly and so booked, I was quite alarmed when some of the reviews this year were so negative and just expected the worst for when we got there. What a pleasant surprise we got when we arrived, the hotel looks quite boring from the outside but inside is lovely, the rooms are ample for 4 people because the longest time you are in them is to sleep !! There is too much to do and see at the resort and the hotel.
As for the other reviews about the FREE kids club, I'm sure these people where at another hotel, the staff were so lovely, I felt at ease straight away about leaving my precious daughter there for an hour when we were lounging around the pool at the hottest time of the day. She used to beg to go into the kids club, she loved it so much, there are lots of craft activities, toys and a ball pool/ jungle area and the entertainment at night was just right, an hour of dancing for the kids and then an hour of entertainment geared towards adults and kids, always ending around 11pm. Our room overlooked the entertainment area but we were never disturbed after 11pm.
My 14 year old spent alot of time on the pc's keeping intouch with his friends back home and because they are near the bar, parents can sit nearby and relax.
The food was wonderful, there was a huge choice to suit and it was never allowed to run out, because it was served buffet style, the top layer of food could be cooler, so I always took from underneath.
Salou it self was fine to kill an hour or two, the beach looked very clean and yes the market area did have afew tacky stalls but you're not forced to look. I can recommend "Danny's Bar" for good food and a touch of Ireland with Brit drinks. The staff were excellent and super friendly.
The theme park was brilliant and had something for everyone of all ages. It was only open until 8pm while we were there though. We were there the last week of September and we got to see some of the Halloween festivities because the Halloween programme begins on the 1st October. The Spanish really get into it in a big way, all the staff dressed up in full costume and make-up, even the characters, it was all good fun and made the holiday extra special and alittle different.
All in all it was a great holiday and we'll definately go back to the El Paso next year, infact we can't wait.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Direct Holidays) Direct Holidays - sept 2006
Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Taylor - 70 ,70, 68, 42, 40, 38, 28, 15, 13, 10, 8, 6, 4, 4.
Resort Rating: Very Good
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
We have just got back from a week at the El-Paso and all in our Large group had a great time. Our holiday started on 11th sept and in my opinion this was a perfect time to go. I would not go high season as I would imagine the queing times at the theme park would be horrendous, also the bar and cafe staff are dreadfully slow, 20 mins wait for a drink in a near empty bar!
I had no complaints about the rooms, quite basic but clean and comfortable beds. There are no kettles which is a pain if ,like me, you like to grab a coffee first thing.
I enjoyed the meals, I wouldn't say they were piping hot but the vegetarian in the group could not find enough variety, even the majority of the salads have some meat mixed in. Also I have a prawn intolerance and I would have to check everything carefully as the food labelling was non too good. All in all they offer a good selection and even the fussiest kid will find something.
Pool was great and quite often we were the only ones there...fab! My little ones enjoyed the kids club but I would agree with somebody elses post about safety. The gates were not locked and I saw kids wandering out, which is straight out to the pool...so I only left them for an hour a day whilst I was sitting near the kids club exit, but they didn't wander out anyway. Plenty of lifeguards.
My biggest gripe about the hotel was the location, this wouldn't be a problem to a small family but was expensive for me to use the trains. A bottle of water was 2.50 euros which in my opinion is far too much and there are no shops nearby to buy bread etc to make a sandwich and the snack bar food was way over-priced.
Evening entertainment was quite good. The reception staff were friendly and helpful. The Aqua park was fantastic and you could go anytime you liked from the 16th sept, also use of the private beach club which was also worth a visit but that too far out from the centre. Be warned there is no escape from the 3 track mexican cd played fairly loudly everwhere!!!!!
I would recommend this hotel but only out of peak season but what I saw of Salou was not for me.....
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Portland Direct) Portland - Aug 2006
Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Nigel Robson - Diss (44,39,12,9)
Resort Rating: Good
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
After reading some of the reviews We were somewhat worried about what
we would find. On arrival we were allocated a room with only a double
and single bed, to be fair we were moved, within minutes of bringing
this to their attention we were moved to a double and bunk bed. On the
whole during the whole 2 week stay we found the hotel staff and Thomson Holidays
s
rep helpful and had little to complain about.The rooms are fairly basic
but cleaned every day. If you want the air conditioning to stay on when
you are out take an old store card to put in the slot in the room. There
was an unpleasant smell coming from air conditioning vents on a few days
not sure what it was.
Hopefully you may find this info about the hotel and resort in general useful.
Drink prices : Soft drinks (coke etc) 2.60 euro per 500 ml from the bar or 1.60 euro per can from the vending machines. Lager 2.95 to 3.15 per 500 ml (roughly a pint) or you could but cans 330 ml from vending machines for 2 euro. You could get the same cans of lager from the town for 65 cents but as there is no fridge in room its warm beer !! Bottled water was 1.50 for 500ml from vending machines
Food in Buffet : We were half board so used the buffet every day. There was a good variety of food each day although breakfast was not as hot as we would have liked. Evening meals were excellent and there was something different to try each day even with fussy kids.One tip if you like your food hot look first to see which food is being cooked fresh and wait if neccesary. The dessert choices are wonderful and there are many different ones to choose from the kids loved them and they have never eaten so much fresh fruit !! Complimentry fruit was also available in reception throuhout the day which we thought was a nice gesture. One disappointment was the fact that during the evening meal you had to pay for drinks at the bar prices we opted for a litre of water at 2.20 euro and 4 glasses.
The hotel was about 15 mins walk from Salou town and taxi fare was 5 euro we ate at Titanic bar a few times as the food was good and reasonable price. In general we were not impressed with the town of Salou.
The room key passes that can be used after 9.00 pm for Q jumping at the park were useful during our stay in August but if you stay out of peak season the park closes earlier so you cannot use them. Some people arriving late August were unaware of this.
The pool was very good but felt cold even in August but there were 5 lifeguards so no need to worry about the kids
The entertainment each night at the hotel was from 9:15pm fo 2 hours and consisted of a kids disco followed by a variety act in general not bad.
Trips : The trip to the football stadium and Barcelona zoo was a good day out but beware of rip off food and drink prices at Camp Nou stadium. The zoo was a bit of a dissapointment to us judging against british zoo's.
The House of illusions was a good night out and the kids loved it plenty of free drink and good close up magic.
Jeep adventure was a good day out but was not the best organised of
trips weve ever been on. If you book with Thomson Holidays
s you dont get an open
top jeep.
The theme park was excellent(we went most days) with plenty to do and many good shows especially chinese acrobats. favourite rides were Stampida roller coaster and the splash ride in polynesia.The water park was good but you pay 4 euros for each sunbed and 5 euros for each ring plus 3 euro deposit.
All in all a good holiday with plenty to do
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Cosmos Direct) Cosmos - August 2006
Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Roy - Oxford (36, 39, 7)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Average
My/Our Holiday Review:
Overall a good holiday but there are a few things that need to be addressed with the hotel.
The park complex is excellent but one notable point from parks in the US is that smoking is allowed and shop staff don't rush to serve you. Plenty to do and things to see - the China Town acrobatic show is a must - along with some good rides.
Salou as a town is a dump so if you are thinking of taking the cheaper option of staying in the town and visiting the parks - don't. It's line a 70's Bennidorm scene packed sand, grot sea and shabby hotels. The shops are tat as well.
The Hotel El Paso, we arrived after a long days travel just after the dining area had shut, no food there then! The room falls well below 4* standard, no fridge, no tea/coffee facility and beds that are the old steel frame style found in prisons. Overall though the room was ok to live in for a week but not luxurious by any means. The food, not 4* either, for a start unless you're first in it's cold, and I mean cold. How on earth you can have Universal Studios a 5 min walk away with some of the best technology around and basics going wrong in the dining area like cold food I don't know? A good move is to use the option to swap around and eat at other hotels using the in-house voucher system.
Visit the Beach Club only a short free bus ride from the hotel and much better than Solou beach.
The maid also left our room unlocked and the door open after cleaning - twice - which was alarming. It took a second complaint to a manager to resolve this. Luckily nothing was taken but this I found unacceptable. The pool was clean and well manned by lifeguards and we had no problems with sunbeds though the sand used to decorate around the pool is a little sharp on the soles of the feet.
All in the hotel is okay for a visit but don't expect too much. Next time we'll try the Port Aventura Hotel as it looks better and is right on the park.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Thomson Holidays
Direct) Thomson Holidays
- aug 2006
Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : darren tracy katy (38,37,7)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
we have just got back from the hotel el paso we had one week and it was excellent,
i cannot understand some of the reviews that have been said about this hotel,
the hotel is very clean the rooms are also very very clean the staff are very friendly and go out of their way to help you. try and say hello to the staff in spanish and thank you
it will go a long way
the food at the hotel was excellent and so was the entertainment 10 out of 10
the bar staff around the hotel are friendly and the service is very quick
we have stayed in many 4 star hotels around the world and this hotel is definitely a 4 star
the pool is very large and very clean and safe the pool was cleaned every night and hosed down, also the water was tested at 7am each day
looking back at some of the reviews for this hotel i start to think that some people may have gone to the wrong hotel
all the people that we met in the hotel said what a nice hotel it was and many said that they would book again
the kids club is very safe and a lot of fun i cannot understand why one review said that it was not very friendly
all the people that we met in the hotel said what a great place it was for the little ones
the park is only a slow 10 mins walk from the hotel,
we went to the parks most days and found the best time to go was around 8pm
the water park is one of the best we have been to in europe
now for the down side......sorry we could not find any down sides to this hotel
we liked the el paso so much we have booked to go back this year for another week
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - July 2006
Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Wayne Bovell - Essex (39, 41, 14, 5)
Resort Rating: Very Good
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
This a brief review after staying a week at El Paso hotel.
Accomodation - We were lucky to have two rooms at the front of the hotel so noise from the stage at night was never a problem, not that we went to bed that early anyway. The rooms are large enough for two adults but a family of four sharing would be a little cramped. The rooms were always spotlessly cleaned, air con worked fine as it was too hot to sit on the balcony as long as you made sure you kept the balcony doors properly shut!
Make sure you take a plastic card to put in the slot to leave your room cool during the day. The reception was always busy due to a constant stream of people arriving or leaving the hotel but staff at the customers desk were always helpful and provided answers to any questions we had. The hotel could do with a mini-supermarket which sold bottled water so you didn't have to trek down to Salou
Pool - Contrary to another review the pool was always spotlessly clean and there was someone testing the water a few times a day. We didn't go to the pool first thing in the morning but there were always beds available in shaded and non-shaded areas. Sand was in the kids pool because there was a 'beach' effect around the pool but as kids were around you tended to feel it in their pool. Life guards were always in attendance and kept an eye out if children got too adventurous on the surrounding scenery.
Food - We found their was lots of choice, it wasn't piping hot but as it was buffet style it was to be expected considering how the food was being kept warm. The only downside was having to pay extra for drinks to go with your meal, even water! It was busy at peak times but that is to be expected, go early or late and there aren't that many people getting in your way.
Theme parks - As expected it was very busy and the downside there was not being able to use your express tickets until after 9pm but even so during the day the queues still moved quickly. There were lots of rides and entertainment for all ages and we still didn't do them all during our weeks stay. The water park was excellent, the downside there was not enough seating areas for food and the system for obtaining locker keys and inflatables.
Overall, the hotel was really nice and the theme parks were excellent. We only went into Salou once and didn't find it worth visiting. We also looked at the other hotels and thought ours was the best of the bunch. We did find drinks expensive at the hotel but other than that would recommend it for a weeks break
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - July 2006
Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Jane Girling (49, 15, 13)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
This was our first time in Salou. We chose the hotel because of the theme park. The park was so good that we went every day. The water park was good except you had to pay extra for sunbeds, lockers and rings. Hotel food was excellent and a wide choice. Staff lovely. We hope to visit again.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - July 2006
Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : L Johnston- N Ireland (36,40,6,4)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Poor
My/Our Holiday Review:
Just back on the 26th July for 1 week H/B. Well after seeing the comments that others have posted, we must have stayed at a completely different hotel! We have stayed at several 4* and 5* Hotels and I can tell you this doesn't even hit the 2* level!! I think they must have based the rating against every other hotel in Salou.! In saying that, out of the 3 Portaventura Hotels, I do think we got the best of a terrible bunch.
This review is based on the HOTEL - not the Theme Parks (which were brillant!). (PLEASE read - The safety & health of your children is paramount!)
General areas of Hotel - The cleanliness of general areas were poor - windows were dirty, floors, toilets. Outside was also the same, litter lying about, dirty fountain next to maze. We actually asked for someone to clean up some glass that had been broken in the main reception area of hotel - Reception said that they seen it and would attend to it (it took 15 minutes before a cleaner appeared!) Glasses and bottles lying around on walls/empty tables.The general hotel areas need a good lick of paint. Whilst the theme of the Hotel is Mexican, the music plays consistently - perhaps a little lower in volume would be better.
Porters - On arrival - no porters to take luggage, rooms can be a fair trek away - (with 2 suitcases, 2 buggies, 2 children and their bags, not much fun (told the porters were unavalable! - NOT 4* treatment). Not one off treatment either- same happened on leaving day - yet when we got to reception, plenty of Porters were standing about.
Bar - Went to bar to relieve the exhaustion of the trek to room - NOT served for 20 minutes (this wasn't a one off), we experienced this all throughout the holiday! Bar staff are unfriendly, do not speak to you and don't push themselves to get everyone served quickly. We ended up going into Salou each night just for a drink.
Cleaning - can't fault the room cleaners - they were always pleasant and did a good job.
Entertainers - excellent enterainers and the kids entertainers were good with them.
Kids Club - Well what can I say, we have a 6yr old and a 4 year old. Took them to kids club for 2 hours - filled out the forms - pointed out the children specifically (as they wouldn't have known one from another, neither did they care)- told them that I would be back at 3.00pm to pick up and that they were not to go out on their own, neither were they to be given to anyone. Back at 2.55pm to find my 4 year old wandering about the pool on her own. Met another lady I knew and she said that she had been wandering around from 2.30pm. First and Last time used/ RISK your childrens safety if you want!
Pool - well what can I say - it is a good kids pool, the level of water stays virtually the same all the way round, they have a ship to play on and it's big.
BAD SIDE, not clean, plasters, sand and SHXT, YES SHXT!. Never cleaned or hosed around at night, no samples ever taken. Result - BAD EAR Infection myself and also my kids. Never knew about the sewage situation until we were told by another couple on last day, that a little boy and girl had diarrhoea and their mum had left them in the pool(knowing this). The couple had told the pool attendants and reception. The pool was never closed down, NEVER cleaned. Just glad we were not there another week, as their little girl had suffered a bad sickness bug!
The other terrible side is everyone gets up early, leaves their towels down under the shaded areas, gets breakfast and disappears to the Theme parks for the day. The result is people and kids wanting to swim all day can't get a bed in the shaded areas. Complained to the Hotel Manager and she said that the Pool attendants should lift any towels not accompanied by people/bags, but this wasn't clearly done. She said that she would speak to staff concerned, but next day until end of holiday nothing changed!.
Rooms - whilst clean, they are small - no room for table and chairs on balcony. AIR Conditioning - the pits! - you would get a better breeze with someone blowing on you.
Reception Staff - not very helpful or thoughtful, neither do they go out of their way to be useful. As we had one little girl who had a tempertaure due to the ear infection and the AIR Conditioning didn't help, we asked if we could hire a fan. Not possible, they don't have any- neither will they help to get you one or suggest getting you one from a general area. Neither do they care whether a child is sick, needs a doctor or if they can help you.
Whilst we enjoyed the holiday (theme parks and Salou), this Hotel and the others under the Portaventura Umbrella, need to be considered carefully for the rating - these Hotels are not in the general Spanish criteria of 4* - it's more like Spanish Butlins with a few extras thrown in.
Laura Johnston, N Ireland. Room 5112 (This review is being sent to Hotel)!
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - July 2006
Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : Alan - Solihull (57, 50, 20,16)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
We visited the El Paso hotel for 7 days in the second week of July.
We also visited there last year, in June 2005, and I did a long review at that time so this is mainly an update.
Read my other review for more detals.
We obviously enjoyed it last year because we went back this year.
Most of the comments I made last year still apply and staying at Port Aventura is an excellent alternative to flying all the way to Florida, particularly for a weeks holiday.
Again we had free entrance to the theme park all day, every day, and we went there every day. It was open till midnight each night.
But they have changed the express ticket this year.
Last year you could "jump" the queue as often as you liked as long as you showed your hotel "key". This year (before 9pm) they have limited it to only one "queue
jump" per ride and they tick it off a list as you go on the ride.
After 9pm you can "queue jump" as often as you like.
Our stay at the hotel only gave us one FREE day in the water park, and this day was pre-booked for us (although I guess you could change it if you had another activity that day). You do get a discount to the water park if you want to go other days.
The theme park has changed little since last year, although there is evidence of one new large ride being built.
Having said that it is still a fantastic theme park and you could go in the park each day (as we did) and still not go on all the rides or shows.
The hotel food was still excellent and there were always plenty of sun beds round the hotel pool.
The Blue land trains I mentiond last year are a great way to get around Salou. They are 2.50 Euros per trip but give you a good tour of the area, and because they are circulor routes they always drop you back where you started.
For those that are interested, the Blue land trains that go round Salou cover three different routes, and are numbered L1, L2 and L3.
The L1 goes into Salou but then heads West along the coast road to the end of Salou where it turns round and comes back.
The L2 goes into Salou but then heads East and goes into the centre of Cap Salou, a small town to the East of Salou, then it turns round and comes back.
The L3 is similar to the L2 and heads East but skims past Cap Salou and goes to the edge of La Pinada, a town just outside Salou, and also turns round and comes back.
They are open carriages and the breeze on a hot day can be very pleasurable.
I have to say the First Choice reps were very poor. When I asked one rep about the blue trains and where they went she said "they just go where they like".
Overall though an enjoyable holiday with no complaints.
Some things to look out for.
Considering the hotel and theme park are used by many tourists there is very little information to help you on your way and you have to fend for yourself a lot.
For example the theme park express ticket the hotel gives you to "jump the queue" is also sold to the public and given away by some other hotels.
I do not think it is explained very well what exactly you are getting with your express pass. Many people thought it gave them the ability to queue jump all the time, or that the single ride limit was per day and not for the whole holiday.
A printed leaflet (in English, French, German etc) given out with the express pass explaining what you can do with the pass would save a lot of confusion.
The other area of confusion is the buses that stop outside the El Paso hotel.
As I mentioned in my review last year, there are green "land" trains that are free that take hotel guests up to the theme park and water park. There are also "blue" land train that are provided by Salou council that drive you round the town and cost 2.50 euros each. There is also a free "green" train provided by the
hotel that takes you down to Salou beach at various times.
None of this is explained anywhere and new arrivals stand outside the hotel waiting for a land train but have no idea what land trains go where, and which ones are free and which are not. Many people get on the wrong train only have to get off again. It can be chaos.
Again, a printed leaflet (in English, French, German etc) given out by the hotel explaining what buses go where would save a lot of confusion.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Thomson Holidays
Direct) Thomson Holidays
- July 2006
Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : Jo Casper 41, 19, 11, 2
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
we have been to Salou 5 times now but this is the first time we have stayed at the El Paso. I expected it to be much more expensive than other hotels but actually because they have 4 bedded rooms it worked out very similar in price. When you take into account the additional £150 for park entry I would have had to pay elsewhere, it is actually no more expensive than other hotels.
The hotel is excellent, clean, spacious and the staff on reception are great. The rooms were quite large, we had a huge double bed and bunkbeds - which although creaky - were fine. Safe only a refundable 10 euros and towels to rent for 15 euros which can be changed as many times as you like and money back at end of holiday.
Free entry to Port Aventura with an express pass which although can only be used once per ride per stay, after 9pm you can use your room pass and express on all the rides. Also it is quieter at night and park remains open til midnight.
Watch the Fiesta firework and fountains display it is worth staying up til 11.45pm to see. Even better than last year. 1 free entry to Costa Caribe water park also included in stay.
Food in restaurant was very varied and only complaint would be that the hot food was not very warm even when just brought out.
Character breakfasts fun for kids and entertainment on an evening was what you expect. Nothing fantastic but entertaining never the less. We did not use the kids clubs due to the ages of my children but they did look to be having fun when we saw them dancing around the pool one day.
The pool itself is fantastic, very safe for the kids and lifeguards there all the time. never had problem getting a sunbed although I did not like the sandy bits around the pool.
Drinks and snacks a bit pricey but expected that.
Kids loved little washbags given free in rooms including woody flannel, toothbrush and comb and brushes. Nice little touch.
Hotel is about 10 mins walk into salou or use the train or buses which run regularly either way. Having been to salou lots of times we were not bothered going in every day and the proximity to Port aventura and costa caribe was ideal for us. But would not be suitable for everybody.
We had a fantastic holiday and I would definately go to this hotel again.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - July 2006
Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : Alexis- Glasgow (25,24,4)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
Having just returned from a week at this hotel. would just like to state my opinion
The hotel its self is lovely I just did not find it very clean. The cleaners where in the room everyday changing the towels etc. As for any cleaning I did't see any evidence. Its all tiled flooring and I dont think they cleaned the floors even once as soon as you walked on your bare feet you could see the dirt on them. I also have to totally agree that the walls are paper thin and the beds are not much better than a camp bed.
Also I found the service at any area of this hotel to be poor whether it be guest services, the bar reception it just takes them ages to serve you as well as constant misinformation.
Just one last negative point it is extremely expensive. I do not mean to moan this is just my honest opinion.
As for everything else the theme park and water park they where great just what we expected. The pool was also very nice at the hotel really good for children.
Overall we did have a good holiday it just could have been better. Unfortunately I would not recommend this hotel too expensive for what you get.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - June 2006
Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Holt Party (38,36,5,0,61,63)
Resort Rating: Good
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
We had a week here and the whole week was EXCELLENT. The hotel was very clean and we found the staff to be very friendly. The pool was great (although the sand around the pool area got into the pool and it was very gritty).
The food was fantastic with a wide choice. We were a little dissappointed that drinks were extra as I agree with others they were on the expensive side. If you timed it right the food came out hot. We really enjoyed filling up on a good cooked brekkie so we didn't often have to buy an awful lot at lunchtime.
We made two trips to Salou mainly to stock up on provisions like beer, water, crisps etc and we stored the drinks in the bath with water.
We stayed in a block the furthest point from the reception and stage which was good as we didn't hear a thing (other than the others coming home!) You need to request a quiet room when you book like we did (as we had a 5 month old).
The park and water park exceeded our expectations. Because entry was included you didn't feel like you had to rush around and go on everything in one day and you could pop up there anytime. I would say however try not to go w/c 16th June as the Spanish schools break up for summer - the park was packed and the queues horrendous.
All in all me, my husband, my 5 year old son, baby, mum and dad had a great holiday and would definitely go again.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - June 2006
Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : Amanda Gormley - Liverpool (38,37,60,59,6,2)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
We have just returned from our third visit to the El Paso and had a great time. One point I picked up on from other reviews was that the walls were really thin, but we have never been able to hear anything from the rooms next door. Others in our party had a room with an adjoining door, and they said they could hear a lot of noise from next door, so maybe ask for a room without adjoining doors.
As it was our third visit, we have obviously always enjoyed our stays at the El Paso. I think it is a fantastic holiday for families (although if we didnt have children, we probably wouldn't stay here)and the pool is really safe. We have always found the hotel and grounds to be really clean, from the rooms to the pool and have never had any cause to complain. I have never seen a single insect in the time we have spent there. The food may not be "piping" hot, but it has always been hot enough, and there is a lot of choice for every meal. Last year we had to pay extra for an English Breakfast, but this year it was included in the price so that was a nice surprise.
If you eat lunch at the hotel, the takeaway menu is different to the eat-in menu so have a look at both, and we actually preferred to order food by the pool and have it brought to us - that way the kids didn't have to stop having fun.
If you want to visit the water park you have to book before 5pm for the following day.
There was always a wait at the bar, but even when we were there, which was during the world cup, it was only really bad on one occasion. If you only want a beer, most of the vending machines sell them around the hotel, so that might be quicker. Also, we used to get chatting to the waiters and then we would get table service, rather than having to wait at the bar.
Hope this helps. I have a read a few negative comments (which are small in comparison to the positive ones) about the El Paso, but, having visited three times, I personally couldn't really fault it. I don't know if we were just lucky in our allocation of our rooms, but we have stayed all over the hotel in different parts of the building and the only problem we had was that this year, the aircon didnt seem as cold as past visits, but as soon as we told Reception, someone came along and fixed it back to its former iciness! As long as our children enjoy going there, we will continue to visit.
One tip - take some extra coat hangers.
Enjoy!
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: Fist Choice - June 2006
Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : The Harris'- South Wales (31,28,3,1)
Resort Rating: Very Good
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
Having just returned from a fantastic weeks break at the El Paso I really felt I should write a peace of mind review to all of you about to venture there on your hols. I have to be honest I was a little worried after reading some of the previous reviews before we left and yes I can sympathise with some of the negative points that have been made. For example, The walls are relatively thin and I would definately reccommend a room away from the main building, especially if you have small children like us
But in our opinion the hotel was alot better value for money than those offered in eurodisney and having visited the other two universal hotels in port aventura we felt that ours was just as nice and in many respects nicer.Ok so it's not Disney in Florida but it's definately on a par if not better that Eurodisney.
All in all we had a fab holiday! The hotel was imaculately clean, the pool was a lovely area for relaxing and for the kids to have a splash, the kids club was great for the little ones and very well organised, the restaurant had a wealth of food choice ( admittedly it was'nt always piping hot but it wasn't stone cold either- it was actually an ideal temperature for our two children), the theme park and water park were great fun and I was surprised at the amount of rides(far more than eurodisney), the evening entertainment did repeat itself on a weekly basis but my little girls loved it especially the cinderella show, we also found the staff very polite and helpful, on several occasions we felt that they went the extra mile to help us.
The only very small niggles I have are : The food and drink in both El Paso and the theme park is very expensive for the quality, there was always excessive queues at the bar especially during world cup( very unorganised system!), some days the restaurant would get a bit hectic and finally in our opinion the resort of Salou was a bit of a dump- watch your handbags ladies!!!- But really these are very small niggles that pale into insignificance when considering the holiday overall.
A few tips- 1)You can't check in till 3, if you are an early arrival you can give your luggage to a bell boy and he will lock them away in a secure locker and give you a receipt, 2) Get all your snacks and water from Salou- much cheaper 3) Try dinner and entertainment at one of the other universal hotels- it makes a nice change 4)A train to Barcelona is very resonable and the station is right outside hotel- Much cheaper than rip off excursions sold by reps 5) Take a bag to breakfast- we used to pop a few croissants, rolls, fruit etc in ours for the children as it made a more varied and heathy alternative to chips and burger for lunch every day.
All in all it was a wonderful holiday, in our opinion it was better
than our previous holidays in Eurodisney and Thomson Holidays
s Superfamily. It
had everything we look for in a holiday.
Marks of of 10...........10. we're going back next year!!!!!!!!
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Direct Holidays) Direct Holidays-June 2006
Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : Tracey-Newcastle upon Tyne 36,32,6,3
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
We returned from Salou and the El Paso yesterday and as an avid reader of this site wanted to add our opinions to help others.
Although I agree with the positive views of this hotel I also have my own personal negative comments. I paid around £500 more for a week at this hotel than my usual varied 3* accomodation in Salou. I am not entirely sure of why this hotel has been awarded its four stars it is nice yes but not any better than I have experienced in a much cheaper 3* hotel. Our beds were very rickety and I totally agree about the paper thin walls.
The soft drinks are very expensive working out at around £3.00 for half a lemonade for the children. The snack bar offers a poor choice of food at ridiculous prices it is actually cheaper to eat at Port Aventura itself. I was also not impressed with seating availability wooden seats in the bar, metal on the terrace and concrete steps for the evening entertainment! I am not one of those who will sit and drink and let my children run wild on an evening but I do like to sit in comfort. The edges to the evening seating area were also in my opinion very dangerous steep grassy verges leading to concrete steps and my heart was in my mouth everytime my children went near them so we did not stay in for any entertainment.
If you want to just do the park then this hotel is great but otherwise it is too far from Salou and the beach itself. The free bus does take you to a beach but it is not a nice one and its in the middle of no-where. You do not get a fast pass for Port Aventura rides anymore just a few individual tickets. As others have commented you also cannot upgrade to English Sat channels anymore and to hire a fridge for a week is roughly £50.00.
We were away from the maze/stage area and can recommend that you request a room away from here because it is very noisy.
Theres a good pub in Salou with a clown who entertains the children from 9.00pm its called Champions and is opposite the Oasis park hotel.
Like I say if you purely want the park then the El Paso is great if you want Salou aswell stay in the resort itself. The expense and rating seem to reflect entry to the park etc not the actual hotel itself.
I know that this sounds like a right moan which it honestly isn't I am just highlighting the negatives whilst also agreeing with the positives already listed by others.
I would not stay at El Paso again as I think thats its too expensive for what it is but I would certainly return to Salou.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - May 2006
Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : (35, 32, 9, 8)
Resort Rating: Very Good
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
My family and I (ages 35,32,9,8) have just returned from a 2 week break at the Port Aventura El Paso Hotel in Salou. There were many good points about this hotel and also many bad, which unfortunately niggled me so much that I would not consider staying there when we are planning to return to Port Aventura theme park in 2008 unless I read in some later reviews that the problems had been sorted out.
On the first 2 days of the holiday my daughter aged 8 was quite poorly and we didn't leave the hotel room much. I was appalled that there were about 30 TV channels which were all in Spanish, Russian and German and the only ones in English were CNN, MSNBC, some fashion channel and the Travel Channel which of course did not interest the kids or myself in the slightest. I had read on previous reviews that you could buy extra English channels for 5 Euros a day which when I asked reception about they didn't have a clue. I asked 3 different people just to be sure but to no avail. There were plenty of TV programmes on like My Family and Spongebob Squarepants but they were all dubbed, so we turned down the volume and tried to amuse the kids that way. To say that the majority of the customers at the El Paso were English and Irish I found this completely unacceptable.
As for the entertainment in the evening, pray that it doesn't rain as the stage area is outside and is not covered. On the 2 nights that we had rain we were squashed into the bar area which is not big enough on a normal night for the amount of queues that accumulate due to extremely slow and poor service. There were people trying to weave their way through kids trying to dance at the kids disco with hands full of glasses - how there wasn't an accident I don't know!
Also the entertainment is the same every week, so there are these 4 singers from South Africa who make an appearance twice a week, firstly they do an Il Divo tribute called Renaissance which also has Take That and Boyzone songs which is great if you like that type of music (not really our thing but the kids liked it) which is on Tuesday evening, then on the Thursday evening they are back called Reload with a Village People and 70's tribute and once you've seen the magic show, its a bit tedious the following week.
The staff on the bar were all really miserable except for one Irish girl who was great and seemed to be doing all of the work herself - the Spanish lot ignored me for more than 5 minutes at one point when I was the only customer needing serving (this was just after 6pm before the bar got busy) and I stood there with a 20 Euro note in my hand while they talked and wiped up the bar avoiding my hands with the money in it - this wound me up no end, they wouldn't get away with it over here and one bar person in the UK could have done the work of 5 of them easily. The reception staff were either really friendly or really rude, there was no happy medium. Don't get a room with an adjoinging door if you can help it as you hear everything - even spraying deodorant.
Anyway I think thats it for the bad stuff, the good side is that it is extremely child friendly, lots for the kids to do, organised events around the pool and the kids clubs (which was free) kept them quiet during the day and the characters walking the reception and the buffet kept them happy getting autographs. There was also 5 PC termnals which you could get onto the internet for 10 mins for 1 euro which is where most of the older kids congregated but it was very busy and sometimes they couldn't get on one.
The hotel was spotlessly clean and seemed quite safe we just let our two aged 8 and 9 have the freedom of the hotel as they are already at an age where they are sensible but it gave them some independence too and they were always either at the maze or the PC's. The other Port Aventura hotels were not as child friendly as this one.
The other good point was that the food in the buffet was fantastic and I'm fussy about food, there was plenty of selection including a fabulous salad bar and providing you avoided the busy times there was no hassle eating at all. You also have to pay for your drinks for the evening meals if you are on half board and we just ordered a 1 litre bottle of water at 2.20 Euros as this made a refreshing change to Cola and Beer with the meal. The other thing I wanted to say was that you are not allowed inflatables in any of the pools here or in Salou, rumours are that this was enforced throughout Spain due to an accident, but this was never confirmed so don't waste your baggage space.
The Pool was nice and there were lots of sun beds, easily 100+ which we only found to all be taken on one occasion when we turned up about 2pm, so we were a bit late anyway - all I would say is please try not to leave cigarette stubs in the sand and if you have unruly kids try and control them as it was a shame that some of the British kids were wrecking the place by throwing stones at the stage and kicking the heads off the flowers for fun. You could also hire beach towels to use at the beach or by the pool at the cost of a 15 euros deposit which was given back when you returned the towels so therefore it was free. The rides were good especially the Hurakan Condor which we had to do twice as the first time it didn't take a picture, but there were no fast passes on this ride as it was new for 2006 so the first time we had to queue for 1 and a half hours and next time 45 mins. Most of the rides only had a 5 - 10 minutes queue so it wasn't too bad at all - not like Alton Towers for instance.
All in all it was a good holiday - 2 weeks was too long, we should have taken the 10 day option like our friends and we loved the park and the Costa Caribe which we had unlimited entry to, (but I believe this changed in the peak seasons) but you did have to pay 4 Euros for a sun bed which I though was plain cheeky. I tried to speak some basic Spanish to the staff like 2 beers please and they just repeated what I had said to them in Spanish in English which made my efforts all pointless so by the end of the 1st week I have up all hope of trying to speak Spanish to them.
I do hope that they make some improvements as this is a lovely hotel with lots of potential and it is a shame that it was such little niggles that are so easily put right - 1. Get better bar staff to avoid 30 minute queues. 2. Get some English speaking childrens channels. 3. Tell the rude staff not to be so rude.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: First Choice - May 2006
Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : Cath Chapman - Sheffield (38,35,8,5)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
Well we have just returned from 10 days at the El Paso! I can recommend this holiday to those who dont just want to lie on the beach! The theme park was excellent with a good selection of rides and entry as many times as we wanted during our stay. The Caribe water park was brilliant too. Some of the rides were scary!!!
Back to the hotel. I had chosen this hotel over the other 2 due to the fact that it seemed the most family friendly, and it was. Life guards were around the pool from 10 am each morning, though they spent more time topping up their tans!
Disappointing for my son who couldn't take his inflatables in! It was a little cold for me to go in, but the kids loved it.
We stayed in the Armadillo block and was given a ground floor room, which unfortunately smelt damp, we asked to move that night and did so the next day to the floor above, facing the car park. But at least were werent near the entertainment. Room isnt a bad size but you could hear every noise next door and people coming down the corridors. The balcony is tiny and doesnt have a table or chairs to use. Also no fridge!!!
One recommendation I would make that the entertainment is focussed round a stage but just has a stone tiered seating area! Not very good for sitting down on and drinks would be knocked over with children running up and down the steps. They could easily do away with the maze or the fountain and provide some proper seating.
Couldnt fault the food, plenty of choices, drinks are very expensive and there is plenty of queueing for the bar!
Also there could be a supermarket close by instead of having to walk into Salou centre regularly!
I know this seems like a bit moany, but we really did have a good time and would consider going again.
Anyway I would say that its great for kids and looked better than the Caribe which I heard was a bit like an upmarket butlins!
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook - May 2006
Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : Lawrence family (39,37,8,5)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Average
My/Our Holiday Review:
Although we agree with most of the points on the May 2006 reviews having just returned there are a couple of things that were very poor.
The self service food a good amount of choice but mostly the same everyday and always lukewarm whether it was meant to be hot or cold.
The bar service so very slow there was always a long queue at the snack bar for warmish toasted sandwiches and chips and the evening bar for drinks.Only a few staff fully understand and speak English, surprising as there were so few Spanish and no Germans but mainly English there.
The parks were excellent the rides plenty and for all ages our 8 year old is 130cm so only couldn't ride hurrican condor(big drop) and dragon khan (8 loop coaster).There were still lots of young rides for a 5 year old and some bigger ones too. No queues in park but we went about 3pm stayed till 8pm then had dinner back at the hotel.Our dinner card 6.30pm and we couldn't change it, still no-one stopped going in after 8pm.
The water park does charge for sunbeds but the deckchairs are free and they do have rings to use so don't hire if it's not too busy. The lockers were a ripoff 8 euros with 3 euros refunded.
All the parks and hotels charge the same for soft drinks large coke 285cents, hotdog 315 cents and chips 210 cents, large beer 385cents.
Went to beach once on free shuttle and walked back through Hotel Caribe,looked a bit like Butlins, nice beach but very busy and full of usual beach/gift shops and English bars.
We had a good time and the weather was very good, being half term we were surprised by how quiet it was.We overheard that the other Port Aventura hotels had similar food/drink problems.It is a real shame as this could have been an excellent hotel.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Direct Holidays) Direct Holidays - May 2006
Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : Alison Marwick - Perth (34, 34, 4, 1)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
Hi - we're just back from a week at Port Avenutra's El Paso hotel in Salou and would go back in a minute!
The flight over was really good with MyTravel Airways and the coach transfer was only around 20 minutes (first drop off), which after being on a flight for just over 2 hours with a 4 year old and 1 year old was heaven!
We arrived around 2.30pm and got checked-in straight away by very friendly staff and they arranged for a porter to take our luggage to our room for us - great service!
Our first impressions were really good, the hotel was big and impressive, clean and very well laid out. We stayed in a 2-storey block called 'Armadilo', which was at the far end of the complex overlooking the pool. The room was a decent size and easily fitted the king size bed, single bed and travel cot for the little one. The bathroom was clean and modern with a good bath and shower over. We were on the first floor and had a little balcony, which overlooked the pool and gave great views into the distant Salou. My only thought on the room was it could have done with a little more storage, but it's probably more the fact I took far too many clothes with us!! The room had a TV, but not many english channels, although my little boy of 4 didn't seem to mind watching cartoons in Spanish! No kettle either - if you're like me and need a cup of coffee the minute your eyes open, take a travel kettle with you - we will the next time! The room had air con but we never used it, as the room seemed cool most of the time yet it was between 26-29 degrees throughout our stay during w/c 14 May (apparently this was unseasonally high for the time of year). The floor in the room was tiled and I think this also helped keep the room cool, nightmare for the lovely cleaning maid as my little darlings managed to get crumbs everywhere daily through munching biscuits and crips - bless her, we left her a tip! Safety deposit box in room also, which you pay a refundable deposit for at customer relations.
Another nice little touch was the 'goodie' bag for the kids in the bathroom full of 'Woody' things, like soap box and soap, retractable cup, brush, face cloth etc., and a 'goodie' back for the adults full of Port Aventura toiletries.
The hotel in general was great with a terrific pool (little boy loved it!). Around the pool area up by our hotel block was sand areas and a play area, which my son loved. The sand is a bit course and he did scrape his knee on it once, so be careful! There are life guards around the pool, which I thought was good, although they wouldn't allow our son to take his rubber ring into the pool saying no inflatables were allowed, good job we also packed his water wings!
The Merida restaurant was a typical all you can eat buffet sytle restaurant. The food was predictable and not very hot, but OK all the same with plenty of choice and lots of highchairs for the little ones. You can also use a 'voucher exchange' system within the Port Aventura hotels on site. You simply go to customer relations at the front desk before 6pm on the day you wish to book and they will give you vouchers towards a meal at the El Paso's al-a-carte restaurant (think it was 18 euros per adult and 8 euros for a child) or you can visit any restaurant within the Port Aventura Hotel and Caribe Hotel. We did it once and ate at the other restaurant at El Paso (El Coyote I think it was called) and it only cost us around 10 euros above the vouchers, which was great, as we were around 6-7 euros a night in the Merida buffet restaurant for drinks anyway!
Drinks are expensive in the hotel(s) and park. We went into Salou a few times in the evening to the little super markets (easily found and only a 20 minute walk away) to buy bottled water (5 litres were 89 cents). We also hired a fridge for our room for our little one's milk bottles plus water. You can book this at the customer relations desk when you arrive and it cost us 62 euros for the week - well worth it!
The park.....fantastic! It was only a 5 minutes walk away or you could get on one of the train trams which ran frequently from outside the hotel. We went every day and with it being only mid-May we got on everything almost straight away - great! Although avoid it on a Saturday if you can, it was manic and everyone just pushes their way through - no manners! There are height restrictions on most if not all rides, as our little boy is only 4 and just over 1m tall, he didn't get on everything he wanted, but what he did get on he loved. His favourites were the canoes, roller coaster across from the canoes and the Silver River log ride (which me and my husband also thouroghly enjoyed too!). I'd also recommend you take the boat from near the entrance which takes you into China, it was really nice, and the train which takes you around the park. In China we went to a photo studio which can superimpose you onto a good selection of backgrounds (Woody, King Kong, Jurassic Park etc), we opted for one of the Jurassic Park scenes, as our little boy is dino daft. It cost 12 euros (I think that's around £8.50)and was a great momento of our holiday and something you'd be hard pushed to get over here. In the park we tended to stay for lunch each day - food wasn't really good and very expensive for what it was - drinks also. We only visited the Aquapark once and it was good, but as our two are young we personally felt the El Paso pool was just as good and tended to go there.
The hotel staff were very friendly and fussed over the kids (the Spanish seem to love kids!). The evening entertainment was just what we wanted - each night there was a mini-disco from around 9pm until 10pm and entertainment straight after until around 11pm/mid-night. The best entertainment we saw was a magician and a double act called 'Extreme' - the kids were spellbound! On our last night (Saturday) the mini-disco and entertainment was held in the Park for all guests in the three hotels - it was really good and a lovely way to end the holiday with a laser and water show over the lake.
Although, am glad we were at the other end of the complex in the 'Armadilo', as we couldn't really hear much of the noise when we weren't there to watch it (kids didn't stay up late the first two nights), however, I guess if you were staying in one of the rooms which overlooked the main 'square' where the outdoor disco and entertainment took place you probably would hear everything. My only suggestion would be if you have very young children that would be woken up by this noise from 9pm, that you request a room away from it.
Well, I've gone on a bit, but we had a great time and would go back again to the same hotel and resort. If you go, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - May 2006
Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : Cazzie - Stoke (30,28,14,6)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
We've just returned from 2 weeks at the El Paso and we had a great time. The weather was gorgeous the only bit of rain we had was at night so it didn't bother us that much.
We had a really early flight and couldnt get into our room until 3 pm which was a bit of a downer but we coped.When we got into a room it was clean tidy and spacious with a queen size bed and bunkbeds plenty of storage with it being a family room.
The pool is great my 6 yr old loved it and would of been happy spending every day there. You're not aloud rubber rings or balls in any more though couldnt understand why as you were the year before.
You still get entrance to the theme park for every day but you no longer use your room key for express pass you now have a ticket 1 for each person which entitles you to 1 express pass for each of the the main rides so you can only use it once (didnt think this was right).If you go in the week though its really quiet and you get on everything with no queing.There is no fireworks any more instead they have aqua music all i can say is dont waste your time. We got there at 9pm we were told it started at 9-15 we waited 3hrs for a 5 minute water display that was rubbish .
The waterpark is amazing be carefull on the big indoor slides these are a bit scary.There is a charge for the sun loungers here of 4 euros each we got a way with it so didnt mind as we thought this was a ripoff.
The food was repetative but ok my little one was a bit fussy but still ate plenty. I dont agree with the fact drinks aren't included with your evening meal. When the entertainment is on in the evening it takes ages to get served at the bar we ended up buying our own from the supermarket to save time.
The childrens entertainer Jerome is excellent and always kept the kids entertained as well as us. We read on a reveiw that you could hire satelite tv this is not the case its on the list but not avaiable.
Overall our holiday was excellent and we've already booked to go back nxt yr this will be our third time.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) JMC may 2006
Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : geddes -elgin( 56 48 48 41 32 31 15 11 10 9 4)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
We have just came back from salou after staying in El paso hotel for a week which was fantastic well worth the money we paid for it.
The hotel it self was really nice and clean.The staff were real friendly .There was 11 of us that went and asked to be put in pool view rooms next to each other and in the quiet area and we got what we wanted ,we got lovely big balconys and the rooms were a good size for 3or 4 people sharing.The rooms were cleaned every day.We had access to the theme park and water park everyday from when it opened till closing at 8pm.The theme park was great plenty for all ages shows ,rides etc.
The town centre was only a 15 min walk down the road but if you didnt want to walk there was a free bus the hotel put on for you to take you there or take you to the beach.We have been to salou 6 times and i would honestly say that this has been one of the best hotels we have stayed in fine and peaceful and quiet.I would recommend this hotel to any family our kids didnt have a chance to say they were bored or fed up they loved it and cant wait to go back again.The food was great something to please everyone and a good selection of everything.The resturants was lovely.
We all had a great time and now looking for another good deal to go back again.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: Sky Tours - 2006
Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Andrea Morrison - Paisley (49, 44, 17, 7,7)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
This was our first family holiday abroad and I wanted it to be a biggie. I was completely stressed before we left for the holiday, with work problems and other grief, so couldn't wait to get there.
We arrived around 10am local time, and were told that the rooms would be ready at 3pm. The lady at reception gave us our room keys and said we could go to the PortAventura park until we got into our rooms. The porter put our luggage away for us in a safe room.
We had a fantastic time at the park, only saw a tiny bit that day, but it was marvellous. Came back at 3pm exactly and the rooms were ready. Luggage was taken up for us and we got settled in. The rooms were lovely, the view was stunning, We looked onto the courtyard and it was a sea of beautiful flowers and butterflies.
We were half board and the only drawback was the queue to get seated in the dining area. It doesn't take long. Your just confirm your room number(s) ( at breakfast it is just the number in your party) and a helpful staff member takes you to a suitable table. The food is lovely and plenitful. The buffet stays open until 10pm. Every night there was entertainment in the outside courtyard, first for the children with a mini-disco and then the act of the evening. The acts were great and the kids could run around to their hearts content, they especially loved the maze.
The pools were lovely and the kiddies pool had a sunken pirate ship for the children.
All in all I couldn't fault the hotel and within two days was completely relaxed. It was such a wonderful time. The park too was great. It took most of the holiday to really see it all. We also made good use of our right to go to the head of the queues, esp after 9pm. The park caters well for all ages and the shows are brilliant.
We also had a free day at the water park which the kids loved. And I might add that they have an extremely well equipped first aid room, as we found out when my daughter fell and scraped her leg.
We also walked to Salou one day and came back on the little train. And we took a day trip into Barcelona for my son's 18th birthday which was great.
All in all I would highly recommend this hotel. The staff were brilliant, the rooms were lovely, and I can't fault it. It was the ideal balance for a family with teenagers and small children. I plan to go back with the younger ones for Christmas 2007, and will no doubt visit again for summer, but I will go a couple of other places first so it doesn't get too boring.
However, for me it was just what the doctor ordered and I finally came home feeling like my batteries were fully recharged.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook35 35 13 8 - 2006
Opinion submitted in June 2006 by :
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
This is the second time we have stayed on this resort and I have no omplaints what so ever. The Hotel is spot on very clean loads of entertainment foodgreat. The only gripe I would say and this is more nit picking really is that if tou dont to get your evening meal at the right time you can be waiting for around 45 mins, best time we found was around 7. Also the pool closes at 6 but i think this is because we go at the end of may so maybe it would stay open longer if it was peak season.
The theme park is excellent and very clean and safe. The water park is great and you have unlimited access to these as a hotel guest.
A taxi to Salou only costs around 5 euros and I would advice people to go and stock up on your water and nacks as these are quite expensive in the hotel around 2 euros for a bottle of water as opposed to 60 cents in town. A really great holiday so much so that we have just come back from disneyworl florida (which is boss by the way) and we are looking for somewhere for nxt year but we cant find anything that cimes close to the amenities hat the Elpaso has to offer were everything is literally on your doorstep, you wont go wrog if you book this resort .
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - October 2005
Opinion submitted in Nov 2005 by : Steve forth - York (38,30,9)
Resort Rating: Good
Accommodation Rating: Below Average
My/Our Holiday Review:
If you ae considering staying at this hotel in October, please read the following review. After arriving in the rain (which was supposed to stay on the plane)we were greeted to spooky music which was piped the whole way around the hotel. Not so bad you may think as the hotel was gearing up to halloween, but the same music is played all the time upto around midnight and therefore gets on your nerves v. fast.
POSITIVES
* The Porta Aventura theme park. Fantastic, and surpasses anything that I've visited in the UK.The roller coasters are great, and the Hurrican Condor vertical drop ride v. scarey. Certainly the highlight of the holiday, with unlimited visits and queue jumping privilleges. However, no fireworks (must
only be a high season event).
* The in-hotel 'Hacienda Entrada' was v scarey. Worth a visit.
* Only 15 mins walk away from resort centre, but free shuttle buses run three times a day.
NEGATIVES
The Hotel does not deserve its 4**** rating due to:
* A TV is present in the room, but there are only BBC World, CNN & Eurosport that were English (no childrens channels, and surprisingly more German channels then Spanish).
* When it rained there was NO entertainment on-site (including on the evening). The hotel is not geared up for inclement weather.
* The food is not kid friendly, repetetive, luke warm (often cold as the Hotel could not provide a plate-warmer). Be warned, turning up early meant that you were often taken to the far side of the dining room which was without heat and pokey. Generally, poor quality food.
* Room very basic for 4***, with no balcony, squeeky beds, no fridges, and inadequate storage facilities.
* Take a can of fly spray, alternatively a good rolled up magazine. Ants were also a problem in the room.
* 1 bar open in the Hotel complex, with extortionate drink prices. You can easily spend your wad of Euros on drinks alone especially if it rains as there is nothing else to do.
* Reus airport resembles a cattle shed, v small. If you haven't already, I recommend you pre-book your seats for your return.
Overall theme park excellent, but Hotel seemed to be gearing down, which spoiled our holiday. I reccommend that you give this particular hotel a miss in October.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) JMC - September 2005
Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Gordon Griffiths - Hampshire (35,37,10,6)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
Just got back from an exhausting two week break at Hotel El Paso in Port Aventura.
This will be a bit of a lengthly review, but bear with it! Most of the tips have already been written in other reviews, any I give will be in capitals, so you can just skip to them.
Everything about the hotel is excellent, the staff really make a effort for all the family to enjoy their holiday. The characters are around the hotel every day, and attend vreakfast on a thursday and saturday morning, they are also available in the lobby to have pictures taken and give autographs from monday through to saturday. The food is excellent and was always hot and replaced frequently, TIP - YOU HAVE TO TRY THE SPANISH PASTRIES THEY ARE DELICIOUS! One couple had a child with a food allergy and they cooked him something special and different every night. Plenty to choose from each day, my eldest son is a very fussy eater and he ate like a horse for the two weeks.
The only downside of the hotel is the lack of english speaking channels on the tv. TIP - SPEAK TO GUEST SERVICES AND ASK FOR A LIST OF ITEMS THAT CAN BE HIRED THESE INCLUDE ENGLISH SATELLITE TV FOR ABOUT 5EUROS A DAY. This was not advertised anywhere and we found out the day before leaving! Theme park is amazing and would say that it far outweighs America for value for money and cleanliness.
The shows are brilliant and you can pick up the lingo pretty easliy if you make the effort. TIP - YOU MUST SEE THE ALOHA THAITI SHOW - BRILLIANT. The rides are excellent and the queue times are minimal, longest queue time with our express passes was about 10 minutes. We had the first 5 days of the halloween season, TIP - BE WARNED HALLOWEEN IN SPAIN SI NOT KIDDYFIED LIKE IN THE USA OR HERE, IT'S MORE SADISTIC! The horror characters mingled with the crowds is the park and jumped out on unsuspecting visitors. Freddy Kruger reduced both my boys to tears! The whole ambience of the season was very scary, but fun. In the hotel they create a haunted house walk through called Hacenda Encantada - I won't spoil it for you as it will scare the pants off you, lets put it this way, my wife nearly cried and almost wet herself with fear! needless to say, I would not allow my children in!! TIP - CHECK THE TIMES OF THE SHOWS IN THE THEME PARK AND OPENING TIMES OF AREAS ON ARRIVAL AS SOME AREAS TOWARDS THE END OF THE HOLIDAY DID NOT OPEN UNTIL 1PM. For us the best areas were Polynesia, Mexico and the Far West TIP - GO TO THE SALOON IN FAR WEST TO WATCH A SHOW AND HAVE SOMETHING TO EAT THE FOOD IN THERE IS DELICIOUS BUT MAKE SURE YOU ARE THERE AT LEAST 15 MINUTES EARLY AS IT GETS BUSY.
There are plenty of rides for all ages to enjoy. My 6 year old was not tall enough to go on some and he still had a whale of a time. Favourites for us were.... SEA ODDESEY, TUKUTI SPLASH ( YOU WILL GET SOAKED!) DRAGON KHAN, STAMPEDIA (HILLAROUS!!) TOMMAHAWK, SILVER RIVER FLUME (ALTHOUGH THIS WAS DRAINED IN OUR 2ND WEEK AND NOT SURE WHY) EL DIABLO TREN DE LA MINA, TEMPLE DEL FUEGO. Did do Hurakan Condor... once was enough!! You can get you purchases delivered back to your hotel, but you cannot charge anything to your room unless yo upgrade to universal express pass plus which will cost you at guest services (about 18EUROS I think).
The firework and laser show is worth staying for. We used our dine around option on that night and dined in the Port Aventura Hotel, have to say that the standard here was not as good as the El Paso, won't go into how to use this option as they explain it when you get there, but it is free, will say that you need to notify reception before 6pm so your table can be booked. TIP - MY SON IS 6 AND WE STILL HIRED A BUGGY FOR HIM FOR THAT EVENING 4EUROS AS IT IS BUSY AND WE COULD KEEP AN EYE ON HIM, IT ALSO HELPED WHEN HE WAS TIRED, NODDED OFF AND WOK UP REFRESHED TO WATCH THE DISPLAY, WORTH THE MONEY. Be warned the Spainish veture in for the day to watch the show so it WILL BE BUSY, and the normally polite and freindly people turn into people possessed on that night and don't think of barging past and pushing you out of the way in crowds!
We ventured into Salou despite people saying it was a hole. In all honesty... it wasn't, the beach is lovely and it is clean there are play areas situated all along the beach/promenade for the kids to play in and the hotel offers a free bus to drop you off and pick you up so it's worth a go. Oh there is a Mcdonalds just in case the little ones are feeling a bit homesick!! Taxi's back to the hotel cost 5EUROS and are always available at the taxi rank on the beach front. On the whole the Spanish people are very polite and cannot do enough to help you, providing you show them a little respect. We ventured on a bus one sunday to visit a market called BONAVISTA. UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT GO HERE! THEY WHOLE PLACE IS CRAWLING WITH GYPSIES WHO CUT THE STRAPS FROM YOU WIVES HANDBAGS AND DISAPPEARED INTO THE CROWD. THERE WERE ROW UPON ROW OF ANIMALS IN CAGES FOR SELL AND THE RABBITS LOOKED ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED WITH CHILDREN POKING THEM. WE SAW ONE KID OF ABOUT 6 ON THE ROADSIDE WITH A LITTLE DUCKLING HE HAD JUST BOUGHT. THIS WAS REALLY DISTURBING. NO ONE COULD TELL US WHERE TO GET THE BUS BACK TO SALOU AND WE ENDED UP PAYING 15EUROS FOR A TAXI TO GET US BACK AS THE KIDS WERE FRIGHTENED. HORRIBLE.
All in all this holiday was excellent and far outweighed our expetations and we have decided that we will book to go back. My wife and I plan to also return for a weeked over halloween next year without the kids, as it was really good fun. All the other tips of this hotel on this site are correct so rather that go over old ground read some of the longer ones, they'll help you. I hope that you find this review helpful, you really must try this location it was fantastic flight time was only 1hour 40 minutes so not that long in the air for younger ones.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: aug 2005
Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : brian sellek 45,44,12
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
clean tidy great staff, hot food luke warm but you can book into on site restaurants from reception and get 18 euros per adult 9 per child towards bill we only had to add 5 to 10 euros with drinks for all three of us which worked out cheaper than the buffet drinks.
theme park great free entry all two weeks at you busy times you can use your door key at express near most big rides to get a time for ride to save queuing can be up to an hour, at quiet times when normal queues are up to an hour you nearly always go straight on, after
first few days we went up to park about nine
and did'nt need to get off some water rides.
you can use all three hotels on site both 5 min walk from el paso free mini train all day between hotels four free bus's to beach a day
plenty of normal bus's from park or 25 min walk to beach
ball games allowed in pool, we went at very busy time (spanish bank holiday)lots of young groups over weekends but they come for the park and are so tired after being at the park all day until mid night there was no noise at all when we were there
lots of small rides for young children height restrictions on bigger rides 1.20m 1.40m 1.6m
i will go again but one week will be enough for a second for me
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: eclipse - july 2005
Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : sue harris - west sussex(46,43,17,14,14,67)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
have just returned from hotel el paso and we all agree we would go back tomorrow.
we stayed for two weeks and the kids just loved it which meant we did too.
the hotel was so clean and the staff very friendly.
kids joined in with all the pool games , etc and had a great time.
food was great so much choice at both breakfast & dinner. also breakfast included full english if u so desired. plenty of fresh fruit at both breakfast & dinner.
as for the park it was so safe & so clean.we used to just wander up whenever and never more than a 30 min wait. the firework show at 11.30pm was brill. the polynesian show was great and the bird show was great and so different to your normal parrot show.
will deff be going back 1 day hope you have as good a time as we did
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Direct Holidays) Direct Holidays- July 2005
Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Sandra King- Ayrshire (40,40,14)
Resort Rating: Very Good
Accommodation Rating: Very Good
My/Our Holiday Review:
Good, large clean hotel. Not a lot of storage space in rooms and only 3 hangars. Disappointingly, NO balcony, only a French door with railings, but not for sitting out at night.
Maid service excellent.
Food- plenty of choice but luke warm and 'hot' breakfast is cold
Pool entertainers excellent and enthusiastic. Lots of beds and putting out towels is banned, they are lifted and taken away.Pool bar (the one IN the pool) serves only WATER as due to a few drunken horrors they have had to ban the serving of alcohol.
DO NOT USE the laundry service- extortionate !! 2 euros per ITEM of underwear !
Although room key is park entry ticket, it is refused as fastpass on ALL rides until 9pm.
Coste Caribe- don't hire rings as you get them on the rides and they get nicked anyway at YOUR expense. T shirts are not allowed on the rides so plaster with cream cos you will fry !
Hotel staff pleasant but absolute horrors in the park. The phrase 'ZERO ENGLISH' is used very readily as is 'NO COMPRENDE' if you attempt some Spanish. Sharpen elbows as queuing is an alien concept to our Euorpean counterparts.
Salou not pleasant, enough said.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - June 2005
Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Chris Delves - Stoke on Trent ( 38,35,7)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
This was a great holiday, everything was well catered for.
the unlimited access to the theme park & water park were well worth it. We went to the theme park virtually every night after reading on this site to sya around the hotel during the day and take advantage of the late opening at the theme park. This late opening does not start until mid June which fell luckily for us as our first night coinsided will the first late firework show.
If the weather is dull and you want to get photographs of the themed characters in the park this is an ideal time to do so as the park was not as busy.
Costa Caribe water park you do not need to purchase rings at the entrance because various slides have yellow rings for free but they are not allowed to be taken from that area however if you go on a Saturday or Bank Holiday the park is quite busy so it advisable to hire a ring ( you need to leave a deposit which has a number that matches the ring so make sure you keep the right ring or no refund. Local Children will try to get hired rings if they are left lying around)
Top Tip - take a store card to leave in the air con to allow it to stay on all the time ( all room elecs etc are operated by a card )
If you fancy a trip to Salou but dont feel like walking the Blue Train that operates from the theme park goes all around the resort for 2.50 euro adult & 1.30 child
If driver is not watching you may get a free ride this happened often
The only thing that I felt the hotel could have benifitted from is extra shaded areas for the children to play & a slightly larger play area outside.
themed breakfasts were great. best breakfast time 8.00-8.30. evening meal we went at 8.30pm and never had to que once.
would not hesitate to go again in the future.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - June 2005
Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Alan - Solihull (56, 49, 19,15)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
We visited the El Paso hotel for 7 days in the last week of June.
Before getting into a detailed review I have to say that if you and your family like theme parks, and water parks, and you wish to stay in a well run, quality hotel, then you could do no better than staying in the El Paso.
It is only a 2 hour flight from the UK midlands, and is an excellent alternative to going to Florida.
This is a long review, but it answers many of the questions I had before we went. I hope you find it useful.
The hotel is part of a complex called Port Aventura that is made up of three hotels, a theme park and a water park.
It is on the very edge of the town of Salou on the Costa Dorada.
Search for Port Aventura. The official web site is here:www portaventura es
The complex used to be called Universal Mediterranea, and was part-owned by Universal Studios, but I believe Universal have now sold their interest and the whole complex is being rebranded as Port Aventura.
The three hotels are Hotel Port Aventura, Hotel El Paso, and Hotel Caribe Resort. Hotel Port Aventura is the most expensive, and right next to the theme park and the water park. Hotel Caribe Resort is the least expensive, and furthest from the parks. The one we stayed in, the El Paso, is middle priced, and middle distance from the parks.
You should read the reviews for all three hotels on this web site to get a full picture of the hotels, the two parks, and the town of Salou.
The Hotel El Paso is only about 2 years old and is a lovely group of buildings, probably the most attractive hotel in
Salou. Even though it is the mid-priced of the three it is still 4 star and very high quality.
The hotel has a Mexican theme (it was called the Hotel Mexico when it first opened) and has been beautifully themed throughout with white buildings, balconies, and lots of terracotta pots with plants everywhere.
The hotel has a main building (5 stories high), with a large reception, and a small shop. There are some smaller buildings round the pool, only 2 stories high, where we stayed. The pool area is large, with plenty of sun beds, a bar and cafe, and with lifeguards.
Our room was fine, with french windows over looking the pool, air conditioning, a good bath and shower, and was cleaned every day.
There is a secure safe in the room (for which you pay extra) and it was good to know our passports, tickets, money, camera, phone etc were locked away when we were out.
We were half board, and the food at breakfast and dinner was of very high quality with few queues. It was buffet style, with lots of choice and variation. Plenty of fresh fruit at breakfast and dinner, with huge chunks of melon and pineapple. If they want them, pasta, chips, burgers and ice cream are available for the kids,
The theme park and water park are next to each other, and a five minute walk from the El Paso hotel. From the Caribe Resort hotel it is a 10 minute walk. It is slightly uphill from both hotels, but only slightly. A free 'green' land train travels regularly from both hotels to the parks.
The Port Aventura hotel is right next to the theme park and water park and so almost no walking is involved.
Our hotel 'key' (like a credit card) gave us free entrance to the water park and theme park each day. The 'key' also allows you to book a set time to go on the ride (at busy times) or even bypass the queue completely at quiet times.
The water park has all the usual features such as lazy river, wave machines, shutes, and so on. There is also an excellent water play area for young children.
Plenty of sun beds (but you have to pay for them) and loads of places to buy food and drink. You can also hire tubes to use on the various rides, although some yellow free ones are already supplied on the lazy river. Tidy, well maintained, and enjoyable, you could easily spend a whole day (or two) in the water park. The theme park is also excellent. I went to Universal's Islands of Adventure in Florida five years ago, and have to say this is almost as good.
There are five lands in the park: Mediterrania, Polynesia, Far West, Mexico and China, and they are all beautifully
themed with their rides, styles of buildings, and even the plants and trees.
Land 1, Mediterrania, is a large area at the entrance, and is themed like St Tropez in southern France. It has a large lake (where they have the fireworks at midnight), and many shops and restaurants. There are no rides in this area.
Land 2, Far West, is like the American wild west, with an old US steam locomotive, a graveyard, and an amazing high street from a western town. Lots of rides and shows in this area, with a large 'double' wooden roller coaster.
Land 3, Mexico, is themed like a mexican town, and also has some large rides and shows, including Hurakan Conder, a huge tower that drops you hundreds of feet in seconds.
Land 4, China, has its own great wall of China, as well as a huge roller coaster, Dragon Kahn, and many other rides and shows.
Land 5, Polynesia, also has many rides and shows, including a great water ride, as well as an area with rides for smaller children.
We went into the theme park every day, and to be honest we still did not see every show or go on every ride. We did find it both crowded and hot during the day so mostly went between about 8pm and 12pm in the evening.
In the evening most of the queues for the rides dropped to a few minutes (as opposed to 30 minutes to an hour during the day). Even Dragon Khan was no more than 10 minutes in the evening, and you could bypass that with your room 'key'.
If you are not into rides each land also has a couple of shows including a 'wild west' show, and a Tahiti show, although they are mostly in Spanish, which can be a little problem. There is a printed park map which gives the times of shows, plus notice boards round the park giving the times, but these did not always agree. We once rushed dinner and rushed to the furthest theatre in the park (in Mexico) for a show to find it was not on. The printed map says it was on, the notice boards said it wasn't on.
My only criticism is that because it is a large park you do a lot of walking, and it does tend to go uphill towards the
remote lands, Mexico and China. You always have to walk through Mediterrania to get in or out of the park (no avoiding it) which could be a bit annoying if you just wanted to get to one of the lands.
The other four lands are then laid out in a circle, and you either go clockwise and go through Far West, Mexico, China, then Polynesia, or anti-clockwise and do them the other way. It would be helpful to be able to cut through from China to Far West, or Mexico to Polynesia, but you cannot do it. But overall the theme park is great.
I would suggest it is NOT suitable for children under 5, or older people who may have difficult walking.
Pushing a push chair round the park can be tiring (and hot) and I saw quite a few young kids upset and crying. If you do take a push chair take some sort of sun shade to keep the sun off them. Also do not consider taking your 80-year old parents as I think they will find the park too large and tiring to fully
enjoy.
Apart from the water park and theme park the other local option is to go to Salou. The hotel will provide you with a map of Salou, or there are information centres in the town.
You can walk to Salou, it is only about 20 minutes, but you have to walk though the town to get the beach and sea front, and in the heat of the day it is not much fun.
There are some 'blue' land trains that run regularly round Salou (they look like trains but run on tyres on roads) and
they pass by all three hotels, as well as going to the entrance to the water park and theme park. The train has open carriages, and riding on it can be very pleasant, with the breeze cooling you down as you go round
Salou. Note this train is 2 euros 50 cents per person for a journey, no matter how long you stay on it. If you get off in Salou, then get on again to come back that is another 2.50 each. We noticed that there are in fact two routes the blue land trains take (maybe three), although this is not made clear anywhere near the hotel. One goes into Salou and then heads east almost into La Pineda and back again, the other goes into Salou and then heads West along the coast, to the edge of Salou and back again. When we first arrived we caught one of the blue trains and did the complete circular tour, back to the hotel, which took about 30 minutes. It only cost us 10 Euros (4 of us) and gave us an excellent first look around Salou.
We only went to Salou once, for about 3 hours. The East of the town is a bit tatty (lots of tourist shops and not much else), the west of the town (the old town) near the station is a bit nicer, with a few upmarket shops.
To be honest you could easily spend a week in the hotel, water park and theme park, and there is no need to go to
Salou.
When booking your holiday ensure that you know what is included as things change depending on the season. For example:
Our weeks stay gave us unlimited access to the water park, but this stops after July 1st. From that date you only get 1 'free' entrance to water park per week.
While we were there the theme park stayed open till midnight, at some other times it closes at 6pm. Try to go when it is open till midnight as the park is quieter and cooler.
While we were there the firework display was on every night (in fact it is more than just fireworks) but at other times it is only on a Saturday night. It is the same show every night, but it is very good.
I have heard that Halloween is a good time to go as the park puts on lots of extra spooky shows. Cannot verify this
as I have not been there, but it is an option.
There are other facilities in the area, but we did not take advantage of them. Many people visit Barcelona, and there is another (larger) water park near Salou, plus a go kart centre and so on.
The reps did try the 'hard sell' on the various trips and excursions (I assume they get commission) and they include
boat trips, evening shows and so on.
The local area seems fairly safe and we were happy to let our 15 year old son go up to the theme park on his own when we wanted to sit by the pool.
Consider the heat before you book. We went the last week of June, and it was around 30 degrees (give or take a degree) each day. This makes walking anywhere during the day very hard work and soon you are hot and sweaty and dying for a drink. I assume it gets even hotter in July and August so check the temperature of when you plan to book.
To sum up, the hotel was excellent, the water park was excellent, and the theme park was excellent.
You will not regret booking a holiday here.
Overall I would recommend it if you do not want a long-haul flight to Florida, certainly for a weeks holiday. There is
enough in the hotel, the two parks, and Salou, to fill a week.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours -June 2005
Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Gillespie-Manchester (44,34,8,6)
Resort Rating: Good
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
Fantastic holiday second time to El Paso cant fault this hotel,polite staff,very clean,fantastic pool,good choice in food,most probably the best hotel in salou from what we saw can not find any fault with this hotel.
Port Aventura brilliant theme park will keep kids and adults amused for a few days each time you go there is something different to see dont miss the shows.
Costa Caribe not large but could spend a good day there plenty of rides, you do have to pay for sun loungers and lockers ,both of these parks are a 5min walk from your hotel and with your pass you can come and go as many times as you like.
Salou didnt like this area, not much to see alot of naff shops,seen better beaches but you dont need to venture in because there is enought to do at the hotel and theme parks to keep you busy.
Overall a fantastic place to go.
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Hotel El Paso - Costa Dorada
Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - June 2005
Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : Williams family - Swansea (54, 53, 6)
Resort Rating: Excellent
Accommodation Rating: Excellent
My/Our Holiday Review:
Just returned from the El Paso just outside Salou. Hotel excellent, swimming pool best we have been in, very safe as there are lifeguards on duty till 7pm when the pool closes. Kiddes pool great has a ship with water guns, our grandson spent loads of time playing with the water guns. Plenty of sunbeds, lilo`s etc are allowed in the pool.
Food - plenty of choice but if you sit outside by the time you get back with your food it is lukewarm, chips cold.
Rooms - large bathroom with hairdryer, someone said on another review to take your own I did but did not take it out of the case. Small wardrobe only 5 coat hangers for 3 of us! luckily I always take my own. We stayed in Jaguar block pool side. Large bed big enough for 3 plus 1 single bed.
Theme park great but did not stay open till midnight until the 18th June we were there from the 13th closed at 6.
Caribe water park is a must even if you are only staying in Salou, lifeguards everywhere. Our grandson spent loads of time in Woody`s Lagune best water play area for kids we have seen. Both parks are very clean.
We went to Barcelona by train a bit long winded as we then had to catch a tube to Nou Camp then a tube to the Ramblas then a tube back to catch a train, return from platform 5 but make sure your train says Salou. Cheaper than the reps trip,train e27 return for 3,