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!
No comments:
Post a Comment