PortAventura

What to do

This is the deliberate change of pace: the one day out from here that has nothing to do with trails, water or wine. It is down on the coast near Salou, well inside an hour, and it is one of the largest resorts of its kind in Europe. It is three separate places under one name, which matters when you are deciding what to buy. PortAventura Park is the original and the biggest, a little over a hundred hectares split into six themed worlds — Mediterranean, Polynesia, Mexico, China, the Wild West and the entrance area — with a full programme of shows running through the day alongside the rides. The two coasters people come for are Dragon Khan and Shambhala, both in the serious category rather than the family one. Ferrari Land is the second park, much smaller at around seven hectares, built entirely around the marque and its history, with a handful of high-intensity attractions. Caribe Aquatic Park is the third: an indoor-and-outdoor water park of about five hectares with slides and pools, and the sensible answer on a very hot day when the queues in the main park would be punishing. The practical advice matters more here than anywhere else on this page. Go on a weekday and be there at opening. Queue times on weekends and through the peak season are the real cost of a late start and not a minor inconvenience — arriving at eleven in August can halve what you actually get to do. Tickets are sold for single parks, and as two- and three-park multi-day passes, so it is worth deciding in advance whether this is one day or two. Pricing is deliberately not printed here. The resort runs date-based dynamic pricing with frequent promotions, so any figure on this page would be wrong within a fortnight; check the official site for the dates you want. A few things that make the difference between a good day and an expensive one. The park is large enough that walking it end to end repeatedly will cost you more energy than the queues do, so work one themed area at a time rather than criss-crossing for individual rides. The shows are part of the offer and not filler, and they are the sensible thing to do in the hottest part of the afternoon when the ride queues are longest. Eat early or late; the middle of the day is the worst of everything at once. If the group splits by appetite for adrenaline — and it usually does — the three-park structure is an advantage rather than an upsell. One half of a family can spend the day on Shambhala and Dragon Khan while the other half is in the water park, and everybody meets for dinner having had the day they actually wanted. Getting there is straightforward: it is signposted from the motorway and there is enormous paid parking. From the house allow about forty-five minutes each way, which means an opening-to-closing day is long but perfectly doable without staying over. Who it suits: families with children old enough for the big rides, and anyone in the group who would frankly rather have a day of roller coasters than another mountain. It is a long way from the character of the rest of this valley, which is precisely why it earns a place — a week of trails and cellars is better for having one day in it that is nothing like the others. One caution if you are bringing younger children: the headline coasters carry height restrictions, and a child who has been promised Shambhala all week and then measured at the gate is a bad start to an expensive day. Check the limits against the actual child before you build the day around a particular ride, and know that the themed areas have plenty for smaller ones regardless. Booking online in advance is worth doing for the dated entry alone, quite apart from any saving: the busiest summer days do sell out, and turning up at the gate on an August Saturday is the one version of this trip that can go wrong.