Hotel Review: Spoton Hostel & Sportsbar, Gothenburg, Sweden

For the past few years Shaun has wanted to visit a theme park in Gothenburg, Sweden called Liseberg so we decided to go over for a long weekend as a late birthday present.

We picked a hostel instead of a hotel for this trip simply because hotels in Sweden are SUPER expensive! We had heard about Spoton Hostel & Sportsbar through Theme Park Worldwide's vlogs as they stayed there when they visited Liseberg so we knew it was a good place.

The thing that surprised me most about it was that it was so quiet! You hear the word "hostel" and think of a bunch of noisy young travellers messing about but we heard absolutely nothing the entire time we were there! The room was spotlessly clean, we had a large bed (two singles pushed together), a set of bunk beds and our own private bathroom. 

Excuse the mess!

The girl on reception was lovely and extremely helpful, explaining how to use the trams and what the prices were etc.

The only thing we weren't overly impressed with was the breakfast.  You're given tokens upon check-in and you have to go to the restaurant next door but the food wasn't that great.  There was a hot buffet but it only had a few items such as a couple of types of sausages, little roast potatoes, bacon and crepes and it was all quite greasy.  The cold side had salad (?), bread rolls, meats and cheeses etc. I ended up making a ham and cheese sandwich two mornings and the third morning we didn't even bother going down, preferring to have a little longer in bed!

The location was brilliant for us, the bus from the airport stops just 5 minutes walk from the hostel and the gates to Liseberg are right across the road! There's a tram stop right outside as well and it's so easy to get about. 

I would rate it an 8/10. The breakfast was disappointing but we really enjoyed our stay and will definitely stay there again on our next trip to Liseberg!

Cambrils (Spain) September 2018

The absolute worst part of going on holiday is when you have a stupidly early flight, although it does mean you get to spend the rest of the day at your destination!  Our flight from Edinburgh to Barcelona El Prat Airport was at 6.30am which meant a 4am wake up for us! The flight was pretty non-eventful, but annoyingly, the luggage belt at the other end didn’t start for a good 30-40 mins after landing which made us worry because we only had a one hour window to collect our rental car.  As it happened that wasn’t a problem because when we got to the car rental desk there was a bit of a queue! I’d say only around 15 people in front of us but it took just under TWO HOURS to get our car, meaning we had to change our plans slightly and cut out the Sagrada de Familia from our schedule 😒 Last time we rented a car from Barcelona El Prat it took 5-10 minutes but this time they seemed to take on average 15 minutes per customer.  Seriously, how long does it take to say “can I see your licence and booking documents please? Ok here’s your car”???

Almost two hours later and with sore backs and feet from standing for so long, we FINALLY got our car and headed to Tibidabo which is an amusement park on the top of a mountain with an absolutely stunning view over Barcelona to the sea.  We first went to Tibidabo two years ago in 2016 and loved it so much we wanted to go back seeing as we were so close.  Tickets are reasonable at just under €30 each. The park sits on six levels and has a rollercoaster (with incredible views), a mine train coaster, a log flume, a 4D cinema and various other flat rides.  There are plenty of places to eat as well and a gorgeous church at the very top.  (Tip – if you’ve never tried Churros, there’s a stall on the same floor as the big wheel and they are to die for!)  

Churros!!!

We left Tibidabo and headed south to a town called Cambrils where our hotel was situated. The drive only took about an hour and a half which was fine because we were so tired! We stayed at Hotel Best Cambrils, (which you can read about here).

We were absolutely shattered when we arrived because it had been such a long day with being up since 4am, so we just headed to the restaurant as soon as we checked in, got something to eat and headed up to our room for some much needed Zzzs!

On Sunday morning we headed down for breakfast and then caught the bus to the main part of Cambrils for a little walk before it got too hot.  Cambrils is famous for its seafood, although we didn’t partake in any this year after discovering last time that we really weren’t big seafood fans! But hey at least we tried something new, right?  We loved wandering round the streets and along by the marina, although it was really hot and we started to struggle (remember we’re from Scotland where 18 degrees is considered a decent summer!) so we found a bench in the shade in a park called Parc del Pescador and sat for a while watching a man make big bubbles for the kids using a piece of rope tied between two sticks and a basin of water and washing up liquid!  We then walked through the park and across the road to the famous Cambrils sign for some pictures and then got the bus back to our hotel for lunch.  It's only €2 each to go from Vilafortuny (the district of Cambrils we were staying in) to either the centre of Cambrils or Salou on the bus and they’re every ten minutes or so.

Because we had such a tiring day the day before, all we wanted to do for the rest of the day was lay by the pool, and that’s exactly what we did! 😊

On Monday we had a little walk to the castle (Castell de Vilafortuny) to get a couple of photos and then headed back to the hotel for another few hours at the pool, and then over to the beach which was directly across the road from our hotel. Believe me, the sea water was warmer than our pool!!

Tuesday was theme park day! We’d bought a couple of 2-day tickets for PortAventura and also a ticket each for Ferrari Land. We spent a couple of hours at Ferrari Land in the morning (because it’s such a small park you don’t need to spend long there at all) and the rest of the day at PortAventura which is one of our favourite theme parks.

They really go all out for the Halloween season, the decorations are fantastic and this year they even had live actors walking about which was really cool! One thing I like about "Port Av" as we call it, is that they know how to put on a show. We watched the Halloween Kingdom show which was absolutely fantastic, great music, dancing and acrobatics, and also the bird show which was amazing. The only slight disappointment about the bird show is that the host only spoke in Spanish so it was kind of difficult to understand the things he was saying about each bird, but even still it was a really good show and he was very funny. Before we knew it, it was closing time and we headed back to our hotel for some food, cocktails and entertainment.

Wednesday was our last full day in Spain and it was a half and half day – we spent the morning by the pool and then headed to PortAventura after lunch. The mosquitos must have been out in force because we were bitten around 15 times between us, mostly on our legs, and my goodness they itched like CRAZY! I did notice though that almost everybody at the park had bites on their legs (not that I actively go around looking at strangers' legs 😂)

It was much less busy than Tuesday thankfully so we managed to get a lot done.  And the most important moment of all?  This time (being my 4th visit), I finally plucked up the courage to go on Shambhala! 😎 Go me! Just before the park closed they had their Halloween Parade which was really good, and then we headed back to the hotel for dinner, cocktails and packing 😞 

The mighty Shambhala!

We managed to navigate back to the airport in plenty of time on Thursday morning, although there was a hairy moment when we missed the turning for the petrol station at the entrance to the airport and had to go through the barriers to the pickup zone. Thankfully you get 15 minutes free for pick ups (take note Edinburgh Airport with your £4 for 15 minutes!) so we didn’t have to pay! We drove out again and managed to get to the petrol station on our second attempt and dropped off our car before checking in.  

We weren’t heading home though, we were flying to Gothenburg in Sweden the next morning so we decided to stay in a hotel near Edinburgh Airport which you can read all about here! Before we left the house we'd packed a bag of warmer clothes to keep in the car and once we got to our hotel we just swapped our clothes over! It did mean a LOT of washing when we finally did get home though but it was totally worth it!

Hotel Review: Best Western Keavil House Hotel, Dunfermline, Scotland

Best Western Keavil House Hotel

Because we had to fly back to Scotland for one night between our Spain trip and Sweden trip, we decided that instead of going home we should book ourselves into a hotel near the airport so we didn't have to drive far in the morning. We picked the Best Western Keavil House Hotel which is in Crossford, Dunfermline.  We were looking for somewhere "nice" as opposed to the usual Travelodges or Premier Inns we usually stay in (which are fine if all you need is a bed and a shower), and the Keavil House did not disappoint.

Check In/Staff

Check in was easy and the lady on reception was lovely.  She checked us in quickly and explained where everything was in the hotel and booked us a table at the restaurant.  All the staff we encountered were extremely friendly and helpful.

Reception was lovely

The lounge had a tv and a computer that was free for guests to use

Room

Our room was warm, beautiful and spacious with a lovely bathroom with complimentary toiletries and free WiFi.  The bed was super comfy too!

There was lovely artwork all through the hotel

The rooms are bright and spacious

Lovely complimentary toiletries

Facilities

The Keavil House has its own leisure club right next door with a swimming pool, sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi, gym, bistro and treatment rooms.  We made use of the pool and Jacuzzi almost as soon as we got there!  Thankfully, with it being a Thursday afternoon the pool wasn't busy but I'd imagine it would get quite busy at weekends because anybody who has a membership can use the leisure club facilities, it isn't limited to guests.

Dining

We had dinner and breakfast in the restaurant (called the Botanist) which was beautiful, and the food was amazing.  For dinner I had the macaroni and although I couldn't finish it, it tasted delicious! Shaun had a massive burger and also struggled to finish! The breakfast was a buffet with cooked foods such as bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages etc, as well as fruits, yoghurt and cereals.  There was also a menu that stated that you could request food cooked to order from the kitchen such as porridge, smoked salmon or fried/poached eggs.

Verdict

Absolutely 10/10 on all counts, we would definitely stay there again and highly recommend it to others.  The price was reasonable, the staff were brilliant and the hotel itself is beautiful.

Hotel Review: Best Cambrils, Spain

Hotel Best Cambrils

Location

Hotel Best Cambrils is located on the Costa Daurada in Spain, about an hour and a half south of Barcelona and a 10 minute bus ride from Salou.

Getting There

You can fly into Barcelona El Prat Airport or Reus Airport (recommended if possible as it’s much closer).  We have flown into both, it’s only a 15 minute taxi journey from Reus or if you’re flying into Barcelona El Prat you can hire a car, book a transfer or get a coach from outside Terminal 1.  The only reason we hired a car is because we were going to be exploring Barcelona and going to Port Aventura and Ferrari Land, if we were just staying in the Cambrils area we’d have likely used public transport.  You can read more about how to get from Barcelona to Cambrils here.

Car Parking

The hotel offers a car park at the back that you can access with your room key once you've checked in and they charged €9 per night.

The Rooms

Our room was lovely, very clean with two big double beds pushed together and a large balcony out the front that looked over the pool and over to the beach.  I’ve read some reviews from other people though that said if your room faces the back of the hotel you’re facing the train tracks and it can be quite noisy but thankfully both times we’ve stayed there we’ve had a pool view room.  There’s a safe in the wardrobe but you need to pay a deposit at reception for the key, (which they should really tell you when you check in so you can pay it there and then) but we decided not to bother with it seeing as we were only there for 5 days.  The bathroom is a decent size with a bath/shower, complimentary toiletries, toilet, sink and bidet (does anyone actually use those??).  

The Staff

We didn’t really have much interaction with the staff but the majority were pleasant.  We liked the lady on the desk as you entered the restaurant (I think her name was Teresa), she always made a fuss when we told her our room number in Spanish!  One thing we weren’t impressed with though were the cleaning staff.  The room was absolutely spotless so no complaints in that area, however our first morning there they were knocking on our door wanting to clean it at 8.40am!  Needless to say after our busy day travelling the day before and visiting Tibidabo, we weren’t even out of bed yet!  I know they have a job to do but 8.40am is way too early for cleaning rooms!  That night we decided to put the “do not disturb” sign on the door to stop it from happening again but the next morning I was in the shower (I’d say between 9.00am and 9.30am) and I heard Shaun speaking to someone and the next minute he popped his head round the door to say that the maid had just walked in when he was still lying in bed!  She did apologise and leave but seriously what’s the point in the “do not disturb” signs if nobody’s going to pay attention to them??

The Food

We were full board so we had breakfast, lunch and dinner in the restaurant.  We did consider upgrading to all inclusive but we decided it probably wouldn’t have been worth our while.  The restaurant is fairly big, with a self service buffet.  The food was just “fine” I’d say, it was a bit of a novelty the first couple of days knowing we could eat whatever we wanted and as much as we wanted but the novelty did wear off pretty quickly.  There were a couple of nights where I couldn’t find anything I liked at the normal buffet (and I’m not a fussy eater), but there was always a pizza station to fall back on as well as breads, cheeses, meats and fruit.  The desserts weren’t a problem, there was always something there I liked!

My breakfast the first morning

Breakfast-dessert?

The Entertainment

There were activities on throughout the day such as archery, rifle shooting, French bowls and aqua aerobics.  There was also a kids club, playground and a games room with pool tables and gaming machines.

The evening entertainment wasn’t fantastic, my favourite part was watching the kids’ mini disco before the actual entertainment started!  Sunday night we had Spanish dancers which we couldn’t really see because of the position of our table - there were two pillars blocking our view and all the other tables were taken.  Monday night it was a magic show that was advertised on the board but I’m not sure what happened because it ended up just being two female singers, and in our opinions they weren’t very professional.  They kept chatting to each other in the breaks between verses etc and I just got the impression that they really didn’t want to be there.  Tuesday night was bingo and Wednesday was a music quiz but that was our last night so we went upstairs early and missed the end of it.  I remember going to these kinds of hotels as a young teenager with my parents and the entertainment used to be brilliant, tribute acts, dance shows, parrot shows, magic shows etc. I wonder what’s happened over the years or do you still get good hotel entertainment in some places?

The bar put on a discounted "cocktail of the day" so we took advantage of that, however we were a tad confused one night when it appeared that one of the cocktails, (the San Francisco, which we'd never heard of before) didn't actually have any alcohol in it! We thought that was a bit cheeky because it wasn't advertised on the board!

We discovered we quite liked Mojitos!

The non-alcoholic San Francisco!

Margaritas - not our favourites!

"Best" cocktail and Pina Colada!

Pool

The hotel has a large pool terrace with plenty of loungers, an adult pool and a baby pool, along with a gym, sauna and Jacuzzi (which we didn’t go near, imagine going into a sauna or Jacuzzi in 30 degree heat!!).  I must warn you though, the pool is absolutely FREEZING!  I was only in it once and Shaun wasn’t in it at all, the sea was actually warmer!

Freezing cold pool!

Things to Do

There are plenty of things to do in the area, our favourite being PortAventura, the theme park in Salou.  There’s also Ferrari Land just next door from PortAventura but that's definitely not a full-day park.  There’s only one major coaster (Red Force), a small coaster, some kid’s rides and a couple of simulations so I’d reckon half a day at the most.

The mighty Red Force at Ferrari Land

Shambhala at PortAventura

Furious Baco at PortAventura

Furious Baco at PortAventura

Cambrils itself is really nice to explore, it’s got lovely little streets and a couple of really nice parks, as well as boutique shops, bars and restaurants.  It’s famous for its seafood so there are a lot of seafood restaurants on the front, but if seafood isn’t your thing there’s also a McDonalds 😉  They offer boat trips from the marina up to Salou and back from one of the ticket booths on the front. You can choose to get off the boat in Salou or stay on the boat and come back.  You can get into Cambrils centre from the hotel by walking along the beach, or if you’re lazy like us (it was hot!!) it’s €2 on the bus and it stops right outside the hotel!

You can get the bus to Salou from the bus stop across the road from the hotel which also costs €2 if you want somewhere that's a bit busier and a bit livelier.  We'd really recommend the all inclusive magic show at House of Illusion, we went the last time we stayed at Best Cambrils and had a fantastic time!

Verdict

I would rate it 7/10. We do like Best Cambrils and we probably would go back again but maybe not for a little while seeing as we've been twice in the space of three years - there are plenty more countries out there to explore!  I’ll always have a soft spot for it though because it’s where we spent our first proper holiday abroad a year after we started dating! 

Have you stayed here before? Let me know in the comments!