Dorada Palace Hotel

well what can i say we had a fantastic holiday,the hotel is lovely one of the best in salou,its very clean,the food is great with so much choice,the entertainment good to!the reps are lovely although reception staff a bit miserable.5 mins to town,10 mins to beach and of coarse 10min walk to portaventura wich is a must never had so much fun!!we had no problem getting sunbeds at the hotel like i have read in other reviews although we went end of september which we wouldnt do again because although its still hot then its end of season so alot of things are closing.we had 2 children with us and it is the perfect holiday for kids we will be definatley going back again!!!

Had a great holiday here and the safari is highly recommended (what a laugh that was!) The staff were friendly the restaurant was top class and the entertainment was one of the best loads to do. The kids really enjoyed this holiday as did mum dad nanny and grandad. The beach is not too far and is very clean. Was quite windy when we went in October but very warm. Can be a bit noisy in the evening but thats because everyone is having fun, not too bad. This is a great place to take the kids and they really cater for the British. Would definately go back.

The hotel was great. Very clean and the rooms were not as bad as some have wrote. The breakfast at 6 euro's (£4) was great available every day and well worth the money They helped in anything you wanted and spoke pretty good English. Pool was great, but there is a 9am rush for beds where people put towels on beds then disappear for the morning. If you are going to Salou, this was without doubt one of the best, if not the best hotel in Salou and the faults I have read in other reviews are not really noticeable and maybe just fell unlucky Going to Salou - Stay here

Read some negative reviews before we went but turned out to be no problem 2.pm check-in pay 1 euro to store your cases and go for a walk to get your bearings. 5 mins from lovely beach/shops. Dont take beach towels ask at reception no charge 10euro deposit. safe 17 euros per week plus 10 deposit. hotel spotless. Food great lots of choice theme nights in resturant. If staying self catering must pay 100euro deposit on arrival returned when checking out. 20mins walk to Port Adventura/waterpark go in the evening cooler and no crowds if going to waterpark walk past the sunloungers(4 euros a day)plenty of free deckchairs everywhere. Salou a bit tacky walk towards the old town along the sea front it gets much better beach great water warm and clear (TRAVELLED 30TH AUG.T0 6 SEPT.) Back to the hotel swimming pool opens at 9am a rush of idiots putting towels on every lounger in sight and then go to breakfast( best time for a swim)we always found some after about 3pm or use the smaller pool at the rear of hotel less crowded. Plenty of building work nearby but no noise. Request a pool view 1st floor good view of outside stage. Would return to this hotel any time.

great holiday for families, although, like other reviews, found the room to be a bit on the small side for four of us. Having said that we spent very little time there. Couldn't believe the queues in the morning to get a sunbed, especially as a lot of people put towels on them, went away on a trip for the day and returned at tea time to use the beds, very selfish we thought. The food is fantastic, loads of choice for breakfast and evening meal. Very impressed that the kids have their own buffet table which they enjoyed. All the staff were great with the kids, they provided alot of entertainment for them as well. Bar service in the evening was terrible. Loved the adults only pool on the 6th floor, a haven away from the noise for an hour or so. Brilliant area of Salou, the hotel is right in the middle of everything but no noise could be heard. Would definetly reccommend Durada Palace and salou for a holiday, thinking of booking there again in the near future.

We arrived and was rushed down to the resturant as it was about to close. My husband and baby got chicken pox while there, i went to speak to the reps and they were no use at all the hotel staff were very helpful. The resturant manager helped by setting up trays for me to take meals up to the room, and was helpful in storing our sons medication in the fridge. The food was good and had speciality evenings. We could not find much to do but the childrens club was good and held a variety of events. If you have a pushchair you should walk in the road as the paths are not widenth and if they are they have stuck a tree in the middle ( and locals dont move out your way ). Everywhere you go there are skips and large bins which smell alot. The beeches get over crowded and some have ditches in the shallow part so watch you small children. Each night the garbage truck would turn up at about 12-1 AM.

we have just returned from a two week stay in the Dorada Palace - myself, my husband and two sons aged 15 and 11. This hotel is the worst we have ever stayed in. The place is clean and the food is reasonable but this does not make up for the total lack of interest in their guests. This hotel lacks any atmosphere, downbeat feel to the place, surly offputting staff and the location is probably the worst in Salou as its on the outskirts, long walk to the beach and a long walk for transport as well. Most of the guests had long faces and who could blame them. The less said about the entertainment the better. Salou itself is tacky and has an awful smell of sewege. Cap Salou however is lovely. Our friends were staying there in Sunclub Apartments and what a difference! Great holiday feel with friendly staff and much nicer beaches and restaurants, though it might be a little on the quiet side for some people. Great place for transport links as well. We spent most of our time there.. We had a great holiday though - the kids enjoyed Port Aventura and the water parks and the jeep safari is a must. We would never return to Salou but if we would recommend Cap Salou or La Penaida - much much nicer and easy access on public transport to anywhere you would want to go.

DORADA PALACE APRTMENTS 1) Even if your flight arrives early (ie 10.00am in our case) you can’t check in until 14.00pm! The queue starts forming in reception around 1.30pm! We recommend having a small bag with your beach/swimming stuff, store your suitcases in the basement (charge is e1) and make the most of the facilities! 2) Be aware there is a e100 deposit required on arrival to cover any potential breakages. This cash only! 3) Hotel beach towels can be hired for the week at reception for free. 4) There is a mad rush at 9.00am for sun beds and by 9.15am they are all gone! Either you wake up early or miss out! 5) Breakfast buffet for e6 is great and all you could possibly want (till lunchtime anyway!) 6) Dinner is a bit more formal (men to wear at least ¾ length trouser!) and costs e12. We found the Italian night the best. 7) Rooms are a bit small for 4 adults but you only sleep in them anyway, so who cares! SALOU RESTUARANTS/PUBS There are plenty of restaurants around and we would recommend: 1) The Spaghetti House – Good for pizzas, pasta but we enjoyed the desserts even more. Service is slow but the food is great and quick! 2) Uncle Sams – Good for burgers, nachos etc and a great all round menu with very down-to-earth (friendly) staff. Very good value for money. 3) Taj Mahal - Next to Uncle Sam's is a tasty Indian restaurant. Service is not great but the food hits the spot! 4) The Butler – next to the Spaghetti house is a good English pub with English TV is you’re a soap addict. 5) Shankleys – Opposite Uncle Sams is another English pub and a must for Liverpool fans. 6) The George & Dragon – Good for food and English TV. 7) The Old Brown Cow – Family business - great food and service. DAY TRIPS Do Barcelona first as your bus discount book gives you 2for1 tickets for Port Aventura! Do not visit Barcelona on a Monday as all the museums are closed! Do visit Barcelona on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday, as on these days there is an evening fountain show. 1. Barcelona Trip to Barca is a must! Forget the reps trip its massively overpriced e50! We got the train we no problems from Salou Station (7 euro from hotel in taxi). Buy return train tickets at e11 per adult and enjoy the 1 ½ hour train ride. Sit on the right is you want to see the best views/beaches. Get off at Sants (Barcelona) station its the first one in Barca. Step outside the station and look right for the open top bus stood at the bus top (called BusTuristic). If one is not there then one appears every ten minutes. Get on the bus and pay the guide/driver e17 per adult. There are three zones Red, Blue and Green, you can use them all and change at certain points, we started and finished on the Blue which took us back to the station to catch the train home. They will give a map and discount book. Remember you can hop on and off at all the main sights. Brilliant... don't miss the dancing fountains in the evening. Also well worth a good look are the Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera, the Olympic Stadium, Park Guell and best of all if you’re a footy fan the Nou Camp. Look out for the holographic photograph on the pitch at Nou Camp. Remember to use your discount book at most the sights. Tourist info is underground at Placa Catalunya and they are very helpful. Shopping in Barca fantastic also particularly around Las Ramblas! Only down side is that last train from Barcelona was at 9pm. NB Your return train ticket may not work in the automatic machine (ours didn’t), don’t panic, show the guard your ticket and he’ll let you through. 2. Port Aventura Port Aventura was also excellent. I suggest though that you bring enough to cover food expenses as the food snacky rather than filling. Limited choice for vegetarians. Even so there is something for everyone; the queues were not long, longest 20mins. The park was very clean and tidy but smoking appears to be a national obsession! It is much cooler and the queues are even shorter and the atmosphere is more relaxed. The firework and laser show at 11.30pm is not to be missed although the crowds start gathering around the lake from around 10.30pm so you need to be in that area early to get a good viewing point. 3. Sunday Market Bonavista has a Sunday Market for cloths, shoes, fruit & veg, gifts etc. Don’t spend e13 on the Rep’s trip as the local bus will take you there (and back) for around e5! NB All buses/coaches drop you about 5/10mins walk from the market! 4. Supermarkets The supermarkets are plentiful, the best being the Michaelangelo chain.

We were looking forward to a relaxing holiday in the sun, but ended up with more stress than at home. The hotel was very noisy and sleeping without ear plugs was virtually impossible. We were plagued by kids running up and down the corridors and shouting and screaming throughout the day and continuing late into the night. We could hear virtually every word next door said, and upstairs seemed to spend the whole week just dragging the furniture about. The noise from the building work next door was inconsequential in comparison. The noise all started again early in the morning with guest getting ready to stake their claim to a sunbed. By 08:30 there was a queue for the pool. At 09:00 the doors were opened and we watched in disbelief as guests ran to get their spot. 5 minutes later the pool was disserted apart from towels as the early birds went to get dressed and have breakfast. It wasn’t until 2 hours later that the reserved beds seemed to actually get used. The food in the hotel was ok, but nothing special. The evening main course was changed every day with a choice of 3 meal combinations - but always something beef, pork or fish. The rest of the food available including all the sweets were identical every night. This hotel may be ok if you have noisy kids yourself although the rooms would be very small for a family of four. The main beach is about 10 minutes walk away, but that was packed as well. To get somewhere decent to sit and relax was a 30 minute walk away. Don’t go if you’re looking for a quite time!

we have just returned from our holiday at the club dorada palace.this hotel is excellent.rooms cleaned every day and fresh towels everyday.hotel is spotlessly clean.the only complaint i had was we arrived at the hotel at 11.00am but could not check into our rooms until 2pm which i think is disgusting,if you arrive on a friday like we did there are about 3 flights arrive this day one from stanstead arrives at 9.00am mancheaster arrives at 11.00am and another one arrives at around 12.00midday so my advice to you is hang around reception and strart queing at around 1.30 because otherwise you will be queing for around an hour,also make sure you pack a towel and swimming costumes in the hand luggage then at least you can go round the pool.The doors to the pool do not open until 9am and believe me at this time you will find a mad rush to get sunbeds so do what we did and start queing at around 8.30am.this hotel has everything we stayed half board and we were able to hire a fridge which is already in the room all you have to pay is 12 euros deposit for the key which you get back at the end of your holiday.has it's own laundry,iron and ironing board in the basement 3 euros for the washing machines.computers in the basement.excellent entertainment in the evenings especially for the kids.we used the creche facilities while we were there,the girls are fantastic who run this,i would definately reccomend booking early for the creche as they are only allowed 6 kids at any one time.food is excellent plenty of choice even for the fussy eaters like me!!! it was my daughters 2nd birthday while we were there and i ordered a cake from the restaurant ,it was lovely and all the staff came to sing happy birthday.you can hire beach towels from reception.this hotel is very good for familes!!!