"21st June, I am back in the UK after 7 nights and 6 days in in EL Paso Hotel, Port Adventura, Salou, Spain.
I saw markscaff ‘s post 5 June this month and many others in May & June 2026 and I share and agree with their poor assessment of the El Paso hotel. I thought El Paso and Port Aventura in general appeared to be in trouble, they are sweating the assets, getting what they can, whilst they can, from who they can.
I suppose if you understand that this is not a wine tasting trip in Tuscany, it is like 1,000’s of teenagers being let loose on Alton Towers or Thorpe Park, no parents, no security, nobody says anything, hotel staff or park staff seem to be oblivious to their effect on the other guests, they have more patience perhaps. I did feel as if we should not have come, it is the teenager’s hotel and park and we are in their way.
I have been coming to Port Aventura for nearly 20 years, my youngest is now 21. We started to stay in the hotels, with our best experience being in Hotel Port Aventura. It is a shame as on paper, this group should be a premium set up with premium hotels, premium attractions and a great holiday offering. If that is what think when you look at the brochure and read the adverts, then don't. There should be a warning. Whatever can be saved is being saved or not done, every year it gets worse and this year was our last. For example is says there is WiFi, don’t believe it. I struggled for food at every meal, which seems to be a pattern across Spain in the last few years.
My main areas of concern are, but not limited to,
1 Rooms,
2 WiFi,
3 Food,
4 All Inclusive drinks and eating at other restaurants,
5 Security and the manners of the Spanish guests, particularly the teenagers.
I have not included entertainment as there wasn’t any, the park closed at 7, there was no hotel entertainment, and no WiFi, nothing to do but dinner and a hot room for the night.
1 Rooms. We asked to be moved rooms but we ended up in a worse room, so we stopped asking. They said that our room would not be surround by kids. We watched as 100+ kids were marched into our block. They would stay up late, shouting, knocking doors, jumping about, what kids do I suppose, but there were 1,000’s of them. I mean really a lot, many schools, not just one, no parents, few teachers, no staff intervention, just letting them do what they want, throwing water out the windows at you as you walk past, anything goes.
The air con didn’t seem to work on any setting but it was switched off at night and seemed to come on in the morning, but it was always very weak.
The rooms are solid tile floors with metal feet furniture, perfect for making the maximum noise possible, above, below, to the side, it didn’t matter.
2 WiFi. The so-called free WiFi lasts 3 minutes and you have sign in again and again and again. My fault, I have to attend a webinar on Wednesday, but the WiFi resets every 5 mins, (3 to 5 minutes), over 8 hours that would be 160 sign-in requests, and somebody in the meeting may have to let me in 160 times.
3 The food is the worst I have ever experienced, I did actually go home lighter, which is not what you expect on an all-inclusive, 4-star holiday. I did have a weight in at the start and end as I’m on medication.
Finding the open food hall was the first problem. The app and the poster we were given on arrival, says we can eat in restaurants in the park, just show your room card and your all-inclusive band, but then we were turned away after queuing at Canton by Khan in China and after an hour queueing in the heat at the Regge Bar in the Caribe waterpark, both saying that was not correct. There is another system, not mentioned on those pages, where you need to have QR codes to use a further check, which you can do if you can on the app of course, good luck with that.
The app also said that lunch was in the buffet restaurant, but when we went there, it's closed. The hotel is a long way across, 1/3-1/2 KM, in the heat, you don’t need the miss-direction. We are older, I don't like apps, it's a cost saving for Port Aventura and in my opinion, it never works as demonstrated on day 2. I fear asking for things that should be included, there usually some reason why I have got it wrong, or the card doesn't work, or the card reader doesn't work, or the staff don't know, or you find a member of staff to take your order. It smells like all-inclusive is being restricted to the point it is useless, so don't ask.
You have to book time slots for the breakfast. We spent the first morning (Sunday), in McDonnalds down the road, unable book breakfast through the app as no times lots were available, the app does not work, the QR code link did not work, I did not know the booking reference they had given me, it was not on my paperwork. Finaly at 1am Sunday I had booked for Monday to Friday. They want you at breakfast at 8am with that timeslot being made available for you to pick.
Then you are sharing the buffet hall with the 100’s of teenagers at a time, forget queues, forget politeness, they just push in, elbows in your food so they can get some chips, sod you if you are in the way.
4 All-inclusive drinks and meals. We were all inclusive but good luck finding a waiter at dinner to serve you, there is no point having all inclusive. When you go to the bar, it takes 30+ minutes to get served. Nobody seems to know what is inclusive...it's a battle every time we order, with a mini conference between the staff checking your card. The bar by the pool did do a great Pina Colada, but we didn’t find it until the day before we came home. I think we could have saved money by not having all inclusive and paying for what we actually had.
5 Security and the manners of the Spanish guests, particularly the teenagers.
Security in the main park has been reduced to unsafe levels with 100+ incidents today on the Khan ride queue that could have turned unsafe let's say. I did see a sign about queue jumping on entry, but none in the queue areas. There do not appear to any cameras watching the queue and if anything was spotted are there any staff to respond. The single security member seemed to have other tasks as well and was not able top prevent 100’s of kids pushing in. There were also thefts from bags during the queue. It was a general free for all for the Spanish teenagers.
When we started the queue, it said 50 minutes. Then the teenagers would start, 1 would go to the front, either by jumping the fence or going down the fast-pass route, then jumping the rope at the front. Then his 20-30 mates would join him. After 100 plus incidents like this, it took us 120 minutes to get to the front, with many kids taking 20 minutes in the queue. That was our last ride and our last visit to Port Aventura after 20 years.
I doubt anything will change and any real notice will be taken. The hotel will we will take note and do something, but the problem is deeper. You should not advertise that you are offering all inclusive, buffet food, WiFi or 4-star rooms, in the UK that would be considered false advertising, I guess the Spanish advertising rules are different. If I knew in advance what I was getting myself inside, I would be better prepared. It is a shame as we will not return after 20 years. Just know what you are getting in to and be prepared.
Positives, the reception staff did seem to try, but who would want their job...what a place to work, good luck."
