California Garden

I loved Hotel California gardens! I went from the 26th July - 9th August and it was just amazing. We were about 10 minute walk from PortAventura and 5 minute walk from the beach! We were close to most of the entertainment! But anywhere you go is just amazing! Anyway, anyone who is reading this and going to Spain, you will LOVE IT!
Im going again next year and going to the same place because i loved it soo much!

This is my 3rd overseas holiday with Direct Holidays.. my first visit to main land Spain..
HOTEL CALIFORNIA GARDENS Salou
I have read many review on this hotel and I feel that I must have my say..
We arrived at the hotel at 11.30 am , checking is 12 noon the recepion clerk said he would try to get are room sorted, after a short wait I was given my key..
I also got a safe key 19 euro for 8 days the safe was big held my camera bag cash and passports.
We enterd the room which was very clean and ready for us at 11.45 am, only one lift on this side of the hotel but never a problem..
We went out to look aroud Salou and get a 5 lt bottle of water to put into are 1/2 lt bottels , this is by far the best way to buy your water (75 cents for 5 ltrs ) .
We returned to the hotel for tea ( 6.30 to 9 30 pm ) a very good choice of hot and cold meals to suit most people..
Only problem at tea you have to buy your drinks at the bar..
We returned to are room for a cup of coffie ( good idea to take your own kettle )..
The rooms air con is operated by key and the doors have to be closed, room was cleaned daily, clean towles daily and beding changed every other day. Tv is a let down take a book or dvd player.
There is a shelf above the bed so I pulled the bed away from the wall and the keep my phone and bits on it, very handy.
The disco was not a problem with the doors closed you could not hear it.
Breakfast at 7.30 till 10 am, again a full cange of hot or cold plus toast fruit juice tea coffie Very good..
We took two trips with Tomas Cook ( Direct Holidays ) one to Barcalona on a coach, with a guide to tell us were to go and what to look out for,
the other on The Jeep-Safari its very dusty but good we had a well spoken driver giving a full talk about were we were and a lot of local history. a very good day out..
We walked daily to the beach 10 min and went out on the little train 2 euro for a 1hr ride a good way to see Salou..
Try it and enjoy -- its a first class hotel, GOOD staff , Clean and a good holiday base ......
Barrie and Margaret

1 reader found this review helpful

My girlfriend and i have just returned from a week in salou staying in california gardens hotel. Before we left for spain i read this site and a few others with growing concern. There seems to be quite a few people decribing this hotel as terrible, that the food is inedible, and that the rooms are dirty and the air con doesnt work.
All i can say to people reading this review before they depart is that they are lies.
There was nothing wrong with the reception staff
The pools were always clean
The rooms were always clean and everything worked
There was nothing wrong with the food at breakfast or in the evening.
When we arrived the man on reception dealt with us quickly and knew we were english so he did his best to give us the information the best he could.
We had a room on the second floor which was fine, it was clean when we arrived, and the only noise we heard at night was people outside, NO NOISE AT ALL from nightclubs etc.
Breakfast was really good, a great choice of food to eat, cooked food, cereals, toast, fruit etc etc
The pool was always clean, somewhat cold but it is an outdoor pool! and there are plenty of sunbeds available.
The evening meal was fine. Sometimes the meat was undercooked, but you just leave it!
If im going to say anything negative about the hotel then there wasnt a lot of choice for food, but thats a minor point.
The beach was only 5 mins walk away, clear warm sea, but dont get a sunbed cos they will charge you 4 euros.
PortAventura was really good, we went to the water park inside, it was very clean.
The entertainment was pretty cheesy, the parrot show is a must, very funny!
Overall it was a really good holiday we would both go back to california gardens again. To all those people moaning about the hotel, if you want british food and entertainment in english then go to blackpool or an english bar in salou and stop slating this hotel!!!
Food - 7/10
Poolside 8/10
Hotel Overall 7/10

myself and my girlfriend have just returned from salou and we had a good holiday but only one problem the hotel california gardens it was the worst hotel i have ever been to
because of the staff and the food.
When we arrived just after midnight they was only one member of staff on with FORTY guets to deal with, by the time we got to the reception it was 1.10 in the morning, we had waited 55 minutes and the member of staff wasn't really botherd if people were tired or not.When we handed over the paperwork she through the keys at my partner which she just caught!
When we finally got to our room we just went to straight to sleep but nightclub kept us awake all night with the music so loud the pictures on our wall was shaking with the
noise, with the air conditioning on we tried to drown the music out.
The breakfast was okay on the continental side, but the hot food was really greasy eggs were dripping with oil, the bacon was slipping off your fork, the sausages was pink! to be honest i wouldn't feed it to my dog! the hotel itself was very nice, the evening meal was so awful some nights myself and my patner would eat out,
the gentleman on the door at nights was so rude on the second to last day of our holiday he looked at our meal card and said we wasn't allowed to eat because we was going home tomorrow and other guest should get a table who was staying longer than us!!!! i was laughing at first because i thought he was joking but he wasn't laughing and had us going up to reception to make sure we had a evening meal before we go home!!
what a joke, he showed us up in front of many people!

One morning a memeber of staff was cleaning a table which became free at breakfast and myself and my partner was waiting for the table when a german lady came bounding up to the table i quickly put my food down before her and she started shouting at me when the member of staff came over started having a go at me as well even though the staff was looking at me and my partner waiting for the table!!! the member of staff just carried on shouting in spanish to me, even though i can't speak spanish, i turned to my horror the german lady was sitting down having her breakfast smiling at me so me and my partner just left our breakfast and just walk out, and went for breakfast somewere else.
its very clear that they don't like british people!
what we enjoyed about the holiday was the beach,our trip to barcelona was fab the vist to the nou camp to see fc barcelona was brilliant i would recommed this to anybody.
the entertainment was awful it was all in spanish even the french and germans didn't know what was going on at times!!
just to think we paid all this money for staff to treated us as dogs, i felt like one at times with the hotel food.
please, please, please don't go to this hotel save your money and go to a different one in salou, overall the hotel staff are rude, the food is awful, the entertainment is terrible, as soon you step foot into the hotel your holiday is over that i guarentee!!!!!!
Salou itself is lovely me and my partner have some good memories of the place.
i would go back to salou but this time to a different hotel and people who show respect to another.
overall i give the hotel 1/10
salou itself 7/10
barcelona 9/10

The apartment complex is part of the California Gardens Hotel group and is located across a busy main road from the Hotel itself. The apartments are two star whilst the hotel is three star. The apartment building seems to be a good deal older than the hotel and looks a bit aged in comparision.
The apartment itself consisted of a living area, (approximately 13 sq mtrs, with a sofa with a pull-out section for a single bed, a round table and four chairs and a large shelf and drawer unit, ) a small (4 sq mtr) kitchen unit a, toilet with bath and shower , and a bedroom with a double bed and a good size built-in wardrobe. The living area has an air- conditioning unit which is key operated and requires all doors to be closed before it operates. A small balcony overlloks the street and square.
The apartment is cleaned each day and towels exchanged every two days or so.
The restaurant is buffet style and the food is adequate for a two star, if not exciting. The staff are reasonably friendly and hours are 8.00am to 10.00am nad 7.30 pm to 9.30pm.
The guests have use of the hotel swimming pool and this has a resident life-guard and is a pleasant and well used area.
The apartments are well located and the beach is only 200 metres away with the Portaventura theme park a fifteen minute walk or is well served by public buses.
Overall the apartments are well kept and give value for thier two star rating. The beach front in Salou is quite charming and should be visited at night. Portaventura Park is wekk worth a visit if you like theme parks and a three day ticket for two cost 120 euros.
The resort itself seems to be family oriented, attracting many spanish and french visitors.
The holiday was enjoyed by both reviewer and his 13 year old son.
Big negative; holiday reps gave no information about arrangements for collection for airport on final day and were not helpful.

I stayed here with my husband, daughter and 10year old grandson, we all found it to be an excellent base, central for the beach, theme park and public transport, good selection and variety of bars, restaurants and cafes close by and some excellent shops. Having read some other reviews after booking this I was a bit worried but can honestly say I cannot fault the place. The staff were wonderful, nothing too much trouble, rooms cleaned daily to a avery high standard. Reading one review brought a chuckle, the staff, apparently, are all foreign, der, it is in Spain..........
All in all a good holiday, so much so that we are all going back next year.

I went to California Gardens in May, and i did not like it at all. The food was horrible, the rooms were very small and i did not feel safe at all. would not go back there.

this hotel the california garden in salou had to be the worst hotel iv ever been in,the staff were rude the food was terrible and the pool area was not cleaned .no umbrellas by the pool so no shade from the sun.the prices from the bar were too high.iv stayed in salou before at the club dorado palace hotes which was exelent but this hotel was beyond belife.no childerns club my daughter had a young baby and was charged 80 euros for a frige to keep baby food and milk in you only got one cup of tea in the morning .no tea at dinner we were charged 2 euros for bottled water.and on top of that my daughter was mugged and had her purse stolen with all her id in bank cards and money.and no one wanted to help so all in all a very bad place to go on holiday.july and august are the worst times for pickpockets so if your going on holiday to spain be where you dont get robbed.i would not recomend hotel calafornia garden to my worst enemy.

we are just back from a week in this hotel, the room was a bit small but you are only in it at night time, the food was just excellent and the variety was amazing it catered for all nationalities,the pool area gets very conjested and no shelter from the sun as there are no umbrellas at the pool side,there is a big lounge and pool tables and a gym with showers. the staff are very friendly and bed linen and towels changed every day. we would recommend this hotel and will definitely return next year as its very central to all the shops bars and beach.

I read the other reviews before travelling and was a bit worried to say the least! Thankfully, they were unfounded.
Overall, this was a fantastic holiday because of the resort itself. Pay a visit to the water parks and Port Adventura. They are fantastic places for kids and adults alike! We managed to get a fantastic deal for Port Adventura- 7 days for the price of 3.We booked this at our local travel agent before going and saved a tidy sum in doing so!
The apartments are a "bit tired" decor-wise, and all I can say about the the food was that it was edible. I have found this to be the case at a lot of 3 star hotels. If you want better food- pay a bit more- that's what I will be doing in the future- 4 star or above. The variety of food on the buffet did not change much and the breakfasts were the same every day. Watch out if you eat the sausages- they appear to be cooked in the hot-plate and we found most of them to be under-cooked to say the least!
The rooms were dated, but clean, and the sound proofing was non-existant, but you have to expect a bit of noise at the height of the season.
We found the staff to be very friendly- if you are nice to them-they will be nice to you!
A word of warning- keep a close watch on your belongings when out and about in Salou. My wife had her bag stolen whilst out on the main front- it was a classic case of one person diverting your attention whilst the other takes your belongings- this kind of crime is rife in Salou. There was 4 other couples reporting the same thing at the police station when we reported the crime.
Our rep was more than helpful- we forgot about this one set-back quite quickly, as we were too busy having fun in Port Adventura. Our rep sorted things for us at reception as our safety deposit key was stolen with my wifes bag.
When at Port Adventura try the Dragon Khan roller coaster whilst there- the biggest in Europe and it's fantastic! There are loads of rides for young kids too and they put on shows throughout the day.
To sum up- If you want a clean, cheap, hotel apartment, and are not too fussy about food- this place will do you fine. After all- you only spend a short time in your rooms there and you can find loads of cheap places to eat elsewhere.
As for the people who gave this 1 star- go to a five star hotel in future- you'll save yourselves a lot of grief!