Salou - things to do

[Perthite]

Just booked to go to Salou for a week later this month. Never been before so looking for ideas for things to do for a family of 4 (girls 14 and 12).

Looks like there is a theme park and a water park nearby, Port Aventura, which looks like a must do for the kids.

Barcelona looks within reach for a day trip, is it easy to get to using public transport?

Any other suggestions?

[DFussy]

Trains to Barcelona from the train station which is up by portaventura. Last train back is too early for Barcelona magic fountains.The local bus company busplana also run excursions to Barcelona as well.

What kind of things do your girls like to do?

There are a few outdoor activities on aventuratoursalou that I’ve looked at. When I contacted them they said the canyoning is every day and they no longer do the via Ferrata. Also the usual tourist stuff like beach parasailing, karting, markets etc.

We are going in August and have been quite a few times before. Have a lovely holiday.

[YLL]

If you like good food, I'd recommend visiting Cambrils, it's literally 15 mins by taxi from Salou and it has excellent restaurants. In Salou the food is very "touristy" i.e. overpriced and not great quality (even more so on the sea front). One exception would be O'Mar, an excellent seafood restaurant - we went 3 times in 1 week last year!

Also from Cambrils, I'd recommend the catamaran tours. I did a 3 or 4-hour trip where you sail at sea, get to swim and jump from the boat, with bottomless drinks and bbq on board. That was great fun!

If you have time, a trip to Tarragona is also worth it (about 30 mins by bus), with an ancient Roman amphitheatre, ruins, and the beautiful medieval city.

[anna68]

Cambrils and tarragona 👍🏼👍🏼

[pennycrayon]

Portaventura is fantastic - you won’t be able to do the entire park in a day, and there is Ferrari land as well (probs half a day park). Would recommend getting 3 day tickets if you can

[DisneyDaffodil]

PortAventura is a really nice theme park so it’s definitely worth a visit with the ages of your girls.

Buses are so easy to use in the area, and very cheap, so you could catch buses to Cap Salou, La Pineda or Cambrils. Tarragona is really pretty and definitely worth visiting

[51-a- good year]

Tarragonna has several roman remains in the town inc the Amphitheatre near the shore but the highlight for me was the Aqueduct

which you can walk along the top of for free - its quite safe you walk in the dry water channel

Unfortunately you need a car to drive to it

[YLL]

Originally Posted by 51-a- good year

Tarragonna has several roman remains in the town inc the Amphitheatre near the shore but the highlight for me was the Aqueduct

which you can walk along the top of for free - its quite safe you walk in the dry water channel

Unfortunately you need a car to drive to it

See more...

You can go by bus from Tarragona. Yes, it's lovely and worth doing!

[steel1203]

Just back from a week in Salou & we had a lovely morning with Downhill Salou, bike riding downhill all the way. PortAventura is a fab theme park - red fury & shambhala are amazing rides!

[derenstar]

Agree with with all suggestions above and would also add a trip to Reus if you get a chance to. It’s a beautiful town with lots of charming shops as well housing the Gaudi Centre - we really enjoyed learning about Antoni Gaudi who built the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Unfortunately we went on a national holiday when most of the shops were shut but we still had a lovely time.

Don’t forget the beach in Salou though watch your belongings, lots of pick pockets and thieves about.

In Tarragona, do the land train tour around the island as it makes a stop at all the key places of interest. Make sure you grab some ice cream or frozen yoghurt whilst you enjoy the view from the Mediterranean balcony.

Salou is a great base with tons to do as you can see. Have fun!

Edited to add - for Barcelona, we did it via bus with Busplana the first time we visited. It took a couple of hours I think with stops along the way. We didn’t use the train but it seemed straight forward enough. We subsequently visited Barcelona again and spent more time there as a days tour was nowhere near enough.