Last Sunday night I returned home from ten days in Salou with two of my best friends. They were some of the most hilarious, fun days I have ever had and definitely ten of the fastest. I had never been to Salou before and I didn’t really know what to expect, so I thought I would make a beginner’s guide to the city showing you some of our favourite spots, and also give myself an excuse to talk about Salou some more as I am sure everyone around me is sick of hearing about it.
Hotel
We stayed in the Hotel Regente Aragon (address: Levante 5, 43840) and I can’t recommend it enough. The hotel is four stars so I had rather good expectations and they exceeded them all. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful, the beds were very comfortable and the food was excellent. The hotel is equipped with a rooftop pool and lounging area that has a cover available incase of rain and is open until 9pm every night. 
Surrounded by many shops and cafes, the hotel is in a perfect location. Within five minutes from the hotel there was an array of great restaurants, with many other restaurants, bars and clubs only a ten to fifteen-minute walk away.
- The street a few minutes away from the hotel leading to many bars and restaurants.
There are seven beaches in Salou, Hotel Regente Aragon is a five-minute walk away from two of them, Ponent Beach and Llevant Beach. We visited Llevant Beach as it was lager and had many beach front bars that were open throughout the night. 
Port Aventura
The Port Aventura theme parks were the main reason we wanted to visit Salou. All three of us love theme parks and we were desperate to visit the three parks we had all heard such great things about. Before heading off to Salou we booked tickets for Port Aventura, Ferrari Land and Port Aventura Caribe Aquatic Park. Tickets for four days for the three parks was around £109 which I thought was a great price for four days.
Our first day we went to the water park.
We got a bus that stopped right outside the beach (at the street four pictures up) and the parks were only a ten-minute drive away. The park was busy, however, didn’t feel crowded and to our surprise there was hardly a queue at any of the slides. The waterpark was a lot of fun and there were many sun loungers which was great for sunbathing and drying off your bikini before getting the bus home.
Ferrari Land was next on our list. 
A considerably small theme park, there is only three adult rides. Throughout the park there is a Ferrari shop, a driving simulator, photoshoot opportunities and many restaurants. Reaching the very back of the theme park is when you arrive at the rides. The two Thrill Towers and the main event, Red Force. The Thrill Towers are alongside each other and are very similar. Both are large towers that shoot you up frighteningly high before dropping you to the ground again. One of the towers takes you straight up and down, where the other repeats the motion a few times. Both of the rides were fun; however, it goes without saying that the ride that everyone is there for is Red Force. 
Accelerating to 180 km/h in five seconds and shooting you up 112 metres high, Red Force is worth the hype. Going so fast that those riding in the front need goggles, this ride is not for the faint hearted. We managed to ride Red Force three times and each time was better than the last.
Our last two park days were shared over the main Port Aventura theme park. 
Port Aventura was noticeably busier than the other two parks, however, on our first day, the queues were surprisingly not that long. The park is absolutely huge so I definitely recommend researching before you come so you know what rides to target first. We made a beeline for Shambala and Dragon Khan, two of the biggest rides in the park and they were both incredible. 
- The crazy twisting tracks of Shambala (white) and Dragon Khan (red).
Close by was Hurakan Condor, which is without a doubt the largest tower drop I have ever seen. This also had the longest queue time, at 40 minutes, however, the fear of going on the ride was a big distraction. That fear was tripled when we got up to the ride and realized that there weren’t actually seats on the ride, just plastic in between your legs and the standard buckle. For some reason the fact that we were standing with nothing under us was terrifying, much to the humour of the small child beside us who has clearly never felt fear. The ride shot off incredibly fast and despite the speed it was going it took a long time to get to the top due to the gargantuan height of the ride. The fall of this tower is unlike any other I have felt before, feeling as if they literally just turn off the ride and you are free-falling until a second before you reach the ground. The ride was terrifying but I highly recommend it to anyone.
At the very end of our first day we went on Furious Baco, one of the first rides you see as you enter the park. This ride is incredibly fast and catapults you around the park at 135 km/h. This ride was one of my favourites and I highly recommend it.
The second day we went was a Friday and even though the park seemed equally as busy as the day before, the queues were far longer. After deliberating whilst waiting in our first queue of the day and noticing how long it was, we decided to get express passes. We got the $33 express passes which allowed us to use the express queue for most of the main rides once, which was definitely enough due to the massive size of the park. We went on all the same rides again and this time visited the Far West, a section we had completely missed out the day before. One ride I really recommend from the Far West is Stampida. With two separate trains, the carriages race each other along the tracks and are incredibly fast. The ride is great fun, a little sore at parts, but a great ride and is a lot more fun than scary.
Dining
Hotel Regente Aragon has the award-winning restaurant Cook and Travel within the building and though it has quite a fancy menu, the food was excellent. I opted for the Miami burger (very fancy, I know) which was a cheese burger with a fried egg on top of the cheese. I had never heard of this combination before, and was slightly sceptical, however, it tasted delicious and it is something I would definitely order again. I forced myself to have dessert despite being fit to burst and I ordered the chocolate brownie which was extremely rich and chocolatey. This restaurant is reasonably priced for what you get. 
A five-minute walk from our hotel was Portofino (Address: Passeig de Jaume I, 14, 43840). The restaurant was constantly buzzing and had a lovely atmosphere. To make it even better it had a gorgeous setting, just across the road from the beach. Despite ordering a burger that came with no bun (I was rather puzzled myself), the food was lovely and I definitely recommend it. 
Sitting right on the beach front, d’Albert (Address: Edificio Miramar Puerto, Paseo del Puerto, s/n, 43840) is another great restaurant just five-minutes away from our hotel and was our best meal of the holiday. We ordered steak with a mushroom cream – very similar to Diane sauce – and it was gorgeous. I ordered my steak medium and it was cooked to perfection, it was so succulent and full of flavour. I highly recommend this restaurant, all the food looked great, and the steak was excellent. 
Nightlife
If you like Hard Rock Cafes then you will love the Rock n Grill (Address: Santillana, Carrer de Colón, 11, 43840). Across the road from the beach, the bar and restaurant has mostly outdoor seating, with white leather booths and white plastic couches that light up and change colour. We sadly didn’t get around to eating at the Rock n Grill, but we did have a cocktail there every night. The cocktails were delicious and I cannot recommend the Cosmopolitan enough – it was easily the best Cosmopolitan I have ever tried. The fun lighting in the bar also made for some great picture opportunities. 
Beyond the Rock n Grill there are numerous Spanish bars that offer a wide variety of great cocktails. The standard price per cocktail is 10 euro, with some PR’s offering a deal of 6 euro. Shisha also seems to be very popular, with the majority of the bars offering it, and most customers smoking whilst they drank.
The third night in we discovered which is the perfect destination for tourists looking for cheap drink and a good time. On one side there is three great bars, Flower of Scotland, which is a karaoke bar, Bus Stop which is a bar and club, and my personal favourite, Danny Boy, which is an Irish pub. Just down from these three bars is another Irish pub, the Temple Bar. All four bars are very cheap, with many different deals on offer. Danny Boy and The Temple Bar both have live music throughout the night who play great music and interact really well with the crowd. All of these bars have really friendly staff who are up for a laugh and they make the time spent their even more enjoyable.
We had heard good things about a nightclub called Kiss (Address: 14, Carrer de Carles Buïgas, 43840) and it was conveniently around the corner from all the bars. Kiss is a small nightclub, but it was buzzing and had a great atmosphere. They played a mix of pop, dance and rap, playing a variety of throwback songs to the latest hits. I highly recommend this club and compared to the other clubs nearby, it is definitely the best and the most popular.
I hope this helps anyone going to Salou this year and I hope you have an amazing time! If you know of any other great places to visit in Salou let me know as I am already planning to return next year.
Lindsay xo
Lindsay Catherine Duncan 