Dorada Palace Hotel

6 readers found this review helpful

Had a very enjoyable stay at Dorada Palace. We went on the 8th September for one week. Hotel looked superb as we arrived, very classy. We were a bit disappointed at not being able to get in our room until 2.00 although we knew this was the set up. This rule was very much adhered to. There is a room downstairs that is attended, where you can leave your cases for 1.5 euros. We booked a twin room as there are just the two of us but we were given a one bedroom apartment which was great. We did have to pay the 100 euros deposit even though we were on half board. Good job we were prepared.
The maids do a wonderful job and the place is very clean. Food is good. A big choice. Only thing we missed was lack of fresh vegetables and a wider variety of the potato. Breakfast is the usual things. Bacon and cereals are pretty rubbish, but that is the same all over where we have stayed in 4* hotels. There is a chef over to the side of the restaurant who is cooking breakfast time and dinner time. At breakfast he will cook you lovely ommelettes, pancakes and in the evening he is usually cooking something special i.e. steaks, kebab and trimmings. It was a good idea that you paid for your drinks on the way out at the cashiers desk.
The main pool seemed a bit packed and cramped even though it was September. All the white plastic sun beds seemed to be on top of each other out in the sun with hardly any umbrellas and no shade. We much preferred to use the other pool at the back of the hotel. The sun didn't seem to get there till about midday, but it was much pleasanter. Not so crowded and the sun beds were the blue canvas type which are a lot more comfortable than the white plastic ones. We both agreed that we wouldn't like to be around in July/August as it must get so busy and much noisier.
Entertainment was pretty good. A few professional shows i.e. groups of singers, 70/80's night, Chinese acrobats plus a few nights with the entertainment team, karaoke (when we were there no-one would get up and sing, eventually 2-3 'good' singers got up and surprised everyone. Daytime entertainment was a bit lame. There was nothing much for adults (we are in our 50's). No quizzes, aerobics, water aerobics, dare I say bingo.
We found the staff to be very helpful and pleasant and they all speak very good English.
Out and about was very good. There are plenty of shops, bars and restaurants in all directions from the hotel, all in 10 minutes walk. Beach and premenade is only about 10 minutes walk away. Beach looked crowded, but we prefer to use the hotel pools. The promenade is great. One way takes you to some terrific fountains and another shopping area which looked quite classy. The other way took you to more shops and bars. There is certainly plenty of places to walk to in the evening and wear your dinner off.
Overall, we had a very pleasant stay at the Dorada Palace and would thoroughly recommend it.

2 readers found this review helpful

After reading others reviews of the hotel I was very newvous about going as it sounded like a hell hole however it was a brillient holiday and I don't know what some people are maoning about! You just can't please some people I guess! Myself and my boyfriend (20 & 23 yr olds) went for a week in September 2009, we went half board and the room was more than adaquete for what we needed it for! A bed and a shower! I mean you don't go on holiday to a hot country to spend all your time in your room do you!? Rooms were lovely and clean, maids were always busy cleaning rooms (they came in everyday to make the bed, clean and give us fresh towels), cleaning the bar, toilets, front of hotel, everything they could! The resturant was also lovely and clean and there was a great selection of food, Im a very fussy eater and I was well fed every night, usually going up for seconds! Food was lovely and we never saw or had anything that wasn't cooked properly (as some people have said!). The entertainment shows were also good, it was the usual cheesey holiday stuff but I think everyone is well aware of that before they go! The kids disco was brillient all the kids seem to have a brillient time and some of the kiddies songs at the disco were so catchy Im still humming them now! The beach is about a 10/15 minute walk away through the town and has LOTS of sunbeds, we never had a problem gettin g a sunbed on the beach or the hotel for that fact! The town is also lovely with lots of little sounvenir shops to buy presents etc! We also did a couple of trips with First Choice to the Aquapolis waterpark (highly recommend!) and a trip to Barcelona Football stadium and free time in the town (well worth the money but keep a close eye on your handbag as we saw somebody getting mugged). All in all well worth the money we paid!

1 reader found this review helpful

well...we stayed in the palace last year (2008) and loved it, the kids loved every momment of the holiday, salou town was brilliant. i really so recomend port aventurua only if your a big ride lover, my daughter (12) dont like hieghts and big rides so she didnt really bother. i recomend the water park aswell, loads of pools, lazy river's, slides, resaurants there. wave machines are very strong so if you have a child who is not a good swimmer please take care!! very busy in the park so stay with your childen all the time. hotel was spotless, clean, satff abit moody! entertainment was very good. the town was a 5 minute walk from the hotel. three lovely big pools and 2 little baby pools. food was excellant my daughters loved the choice (aged 12 and 11) the arcade was good, if you have childen like mine who like too chat on msn then there is internet acess downstairs, sweet machines are in reception. 6 lifts, 2 of them our always out of order!!! but i really do recomend this holiday, we hope you enjoy your holiday if you go :-)

3 readers found this review helpful

We have just returned back from a fantastic holiday at the dorada palace hotel and for me,my wife and two children we had a great time.
The Hotel was always clean and tidy as was the rooms
Food was good always a variety of different foods
Good entertainment everynight
The kids entertainers where great
And the location was brilliant approx 400 mts from the beach
local supermarket just across the main road
And loads of shops within easy walking distance
This is a great hotel with plenty to do and see
The theme park is within walking distance or one stop on the local bus
Highly recommended

Hi i have just returned, from a 10 day holiday in the Darda palace hotel. Myself my husband and 2 grandchildren. We had a Great time The hotel was Of a good standard,Had to wait for the room which was 2 in the afternoon which was a pain.The Children loved it who are age 5 and 6.
their was plenty to do for them from the entertainment staff who were great. the children's club was great. even though the children only went the once as they were not to bothered about going their. we did not stay around the main pool as it was really busy and i thought quite funny that their was a queue of people in reception waiting to put towels on the sun beds. (very sad) we went 1 of the other pools and it was shaded until 11.30 which was great and the children loved it. found the restaurant nice something for everyone. even for my husband who is a fussy eater. the drinks were quite expensive in the restaurant 2euro 50 for a small orange or coke for the kids and the same for a bottle of beer. didn't like the beach because you could not see it for people it was quite frightening really i had never seen so many people on a beach.We went to the Aquopolis water park and the children and us loved it i must say that we got our tickets from the first choice rep and went straight to the front of the queue which was great and the same price. or the queue looked to be about 2 hours long in the baking heat with no shade. try the Titanic bar just down the road kids loved the entertainment at 8 then back the hotel for the disco which they are still singing the songs. watch out for the lifeguard who does remove towels if you are not their didn't happen to me but i did see them taken

5 readers found this review helpful

Overall
Overall the holiday was amazing! We went for two weeks, First week weather wasn't brilliant, more of the horrible clouds. Second week it was boiling! 30 celsius!
We hired a car for 11 days and went many different beaches with it, well, I say many different beaches but it was one big beach with different names!
Massive choice of food, kind helpful staff, lovely room, although I reccomend before you book you make sure you give your 3 suggestions to the holiday e.g top floor, swimming pool view.... that kind of stuff! Because when we arrived at the hotel they gave us a car park view which wasn't brilliant! they also had kids club, evening entertainment, every day from about 10am thay started playing music around the pool but luckily not too loud!!!!!!!
Would love to go again next year!
AQUAPOLIS - WATERPARK
Booked two tickets to aquapolois (Waterpark) Great fun but slightly unorganised. Booked with our Thomson reps which was quite a good deal because you pay the same price as when you got to the doors but you also get the second day free, not to find that when you got there they were giving the second day free to whoever came in!!!! Lockers was a practical rip off!!! Can't remember exactly the prize but it was something like £10 big locker £4 deposit.
Although it was a great day out, it was a shame to end it with someone stealing my flip flops when I went on a ride!!!!!!
Hotel Location
About a 10 minute walk to the beach thats if you go the correct way, unlike me and my dad!
Plenty of Spanish and English bars and lot's of shops open till late. - We usually found the English bars the buisiest!!!!!
Please note.... This was written by a 12 year old girl but don't be put off by the review... afterall, it's a true review!

1 reader found this review helpful

Wow what can I say... Myself, my daughter, my husband and his grand parents have just come back from Dorada Palace Hotel after two weeks of hell! The hotel was a shamballs, the food was disgusting, if it wasn't cold it was hard and if it wasn't hard, it wasn't cooked! The staff were the rudest people we have ever met and didn't help us with any of the issues we had, including the air conditioning not working in our room (we weren't alone on this!) The pool area wasn't big enough for all the guests and if you weren't in the queue for sun beds by 8.30am then you might as well forget it as you wouldn't get a bed, if you want a sun shade I would suggest that you start queuing in the middle of the night as there are only 20 umbrellas for some 300+ rooms!! Not very good for a family hotel, even if you do get a bed and decide to go swimming or for lunch at the pool bar, the chances are your towels will have been removed by the lifeguard when you return! This happened to us twice and it wasn't funny! The room was adequate but the bed lining had a number of holes in it! The bath is a death trap as well, there is no bath mat to stop you slipping which is what happened to my husbands grandad and the hotel didn't help at all, subsequently when we got back he got rushed to hospital and they found a blood clot on his brain caused by the fall.
The local area is ok, if you like the smell of rubbish, you have to walk past a number of open bins to get to the beach which were over flowing with rotting rubbish!
Salou beach is very big but again I would suggest you get there early as it gets packed, there is a nice beach Opposite Aquapolis but this will cost you around 20 euros return each day by taxi.
The only things that were good about the hotel were the kids club (run by the tour operator) and some of the evening entertainment as long as you can speak Spanish!
My husbands family have been coming here for the last 5 years and they have said that it has gone down hill even from last year and they will not be returning again for a 6th year!
Just to finish off, when we were waiting for the coach to pick us up, we had a number of comments from other guests saying they wished it was them going home!

Reading some of these mixed reviews I was a bit unsure of what to expect when i arrived at the Dorada Palace, however I found my stay to be very enjoyable. I can not understand how some people think the staff at this hotel are rude! I always found them to be very pleasant and helpfull, both on reception and around the hotel. Even when I asked them to warm a bottle for my baby at 3.30am, nothing was too much. The hotel is very clean and the maids clean the rooms every day as you would expect. There are also maids around the hotel every morning cleaning the windows, doors, floors, toilets etc and i never had any issues with the cleanliness.
The entertainment at the hotel is very typical - the odd rep show,singers, karaoke but there are a few good shows in there. I particularly enjoyed the show from the Bejing Acrobats. There is also a good variety of daytime activities, especially for the kids. Although i never personally used them i heard very good comments about the kids clubs and the kids I saw always seemed to enjoy playing with the reps and dancing in the kids mini disco every night. It is true that the hotel is more suitable for families with younger children and the pool does get quite busy at peak times, but you would get that at any hotel in high season. There are facilities for adults to use a seperate pool on the roof though, and there is also a gym and spa where you can get quite reasonably priced treatments. The hotel also has a basement where you can have use of the laundry facilities, using the iron and also having internet access, but these do have a slight charge.
The only down side to the hotel in my opinion is the food. Although there is quite a good variety is can be quite repetative. They have themed nights such as mexican, continental, spanish etc but the basis of the food is still the same - nice if you likechips and salad every night! They have fresh food cooking on the grill which is nice but at times the meat is very fatty. Breakfast is the same every morning but caters well for different nationalities, although the english breakfast is a bit poor. The bacon is just pure fat and the scrambled eggs still look raw!!
The only other reason i marked the hotel down was the price of the soft drinks! A glass of coke costs only 30 euros less than a pint of beer!
Overall I found my stay here very enjoyable and would definately return to stay here again, only on a self catering basis. There are loads of good places to eat around the resort all at reasonable prices - the harp, lindas bar, robin hood bar, the lazy wave are just a few i would recommend.

We have just got home from a 2 week holiday in salou. We stayed at the dorada palace hotel, the hotel was very nice,very clean, they kept our room clean and tidy every day,the food there was lovely,we were half board a lot of the same food,i.e salad,chips etc but always a a lot of different food too, great veriety of food for the kids,we have a 4 year old and a 5 year old. The kids club was really great,there was always things going on in the day,both for the adults and for the kids,water polo, archary,pool comps for adults,dancing,face painting games making things all for the kids. the shows that they put on at night are great,really good entertainment all round,mini disco for the kids first then a sow after for you all,kids and adults. 2 great water parks,1 ten mins walk away,1 ten mins ride on bus,with a dolphin show,that was great,loads to do for the kids of every age. The beach is ten mins walk away,lovely beach,swimming with little fish.Every thing is all very near,if you go self catering there is loads of places to eat and drink. We really loved our holiday and are even looking at going back next year for definate. Great place all round,we all loved it.

Hotel:
Excellent, yes the rooms are a little on the small side, but even with a baby in a cot taking up more space it was sufficient. With plenty of storage space.The staff were very helpful and friendly, and the hotel was spotlessly clean. There is an excellent selection of pools, to meet all requirements. The food itself wasn't the greatest, but I couldn't think of a better way of catering for so many greedy souls. There was always something excellent on the menu, and I would always recommend getting something fresh from the grill. Note the drinks aren;t cheap, but stick to the local stuff and it's fine.
First Choice:
Excellent and helpful reps. The Twinkle Stars Creche was fantastic and you couldn't hope for nicer staff. My daughter practically pulled our arms off to go there everyday. Do take advantage of the evening Creche, it gives you the change to have a peaceful meal!
Resort:
Salou is in my opinion the worst resort I have ever been to. Very typical Brits abroad Resort with row after row of Robin Hood's or Brown Cow's serving up lashings of Full English or Something with Chips, I don't think I so much as smelt a Paella. The beach also was not the cleanest. It is however great for PortAventura, it is walking distance from the hotel, but you could get the Little Train or Bus from near to the hotel if the excercise puts you off. We bought a 7 day pass for the park before we went out there directly from the PortAventura website and saved heaps of money. We went there almost every day and saw all the shows and rode all the rides. Excellent!
Travelling With a Toddler Tips:
Take a kettle! Take a small pram! Pre-book the Creche Sessions!You will be sleeping in the same room as your baby so be prepared for that too.