Marinada Hotel

I had a very good stay at the Marinada Hotel in Salou. There is also the Marinada Apartments across the road although these are not supposed to be as good. The staff made everyone feel very welcome although they did put one guy in his place when he whistled for their attention across the bar but who can blame them. The rooms where well maintained & furnished and had air conditioning, everything worked and there were no wires hanging out of walls etc. Food was a bit repetative but I would say was of a standard you can expect in a 3* hotel, there was always something so you won't starve. Nice pool area with lots of shady trees which did have a slight disadvantage as you did sometimes find yourself chasing the sun but still they make it look really pleasant. The hotel has an indoor pool, sauna, solarium etc. The whole hotel was kept exceptionally clean, we had a storm one night and the trees shed loads of leaves on the terrace, I went on the balcony at 7am and there were about 20 maids sweeping it all up and pool attendents clearing the pools. At all times even when the pool was empty there was always a lifeguard on duty. Salou was enjoyable but extremely over commercialised and very busy, the bins overflow and rubbish is on the streets but having said this, there were always cleaners on the streets and the bins were emptied about 4 times a day so I don't think they can do much more. Unfortunately a lot of the area is spoilt by grafitti but on the plus side it has an excellent beach, the most beautiful promenade I've ever seen and the locals were friendly. Also if it rains you have other attractions to keep you occupied like Port Aventura, Barcelona about an hour and a quarter away and the roman city of Tarragona just 10 miles away. A very enjoyable holiday in a well maintained hotel in a resort with some very pleasant areas as well as some tatty parts. A may return in a few years.