I've recently arrived back from a two week break in this hotel, and I have mixed feelings about this place, as a point of reference I stayed in the jaime 1 last year at the same time of year so I have something to compare the olympic to.
First of all this holiday cost about £300 pp all inclusive via ferris.com, my partner hates flying so the coach is one of the only options.
A few notes on ferris - we thought they were great, lots of leg room on the coaches, got there in a reasonable amount of time with enough stops on the way and I think for this price you can't go far wrong.
The Bad Points:
The hotel is somewhat stuck in the past, apart from the reception area everything else seemed outdated, the rooms were quite small, the decor was old and tired and everything about the hotel seemed quite cheap. Compared to the jamie 1 it wasn't that good in this respect. 2nd big point would be that the pools didn't have any supervision. 3rd point - the bars whilst being free due to the all inclusive offer were short staffed, I guess this was to stop people having too much, also the bar would only serve 2 drinks per person per card, and everything was served in about 1/2 pint plastic glasses. The all inclusive offer we went for was only for local drinks so for example a bottle of becks would not be included. It might be worth noting this as a few customers didn't know this and ended up paying a supplement for none local drinks. Now apart from a pretty poor snack bar (cold chips, and dodgy hot dogs) there wasn't much wrong with anything else.
Even though this didn't affect me, I heard one lady say that the family rooms were very small and that each of their kids had to top and tail in the beds.
The Good Points:
The rooms had a/c, tv, and everything else that you would expect for this price. The food was buffet style and I'll say once again that if you go away to spain expecting english food then you will be disappointed, the food served was meant to suit all of the people at the hotel,(there were Spanish and German people staying at the hotel as well as British) I didn't think any of the food was bad, and most of it was better than average, some of it was really good. Compared to the jamie 1 the buffet style menu was far better in terms of choice, and the meal times felt organized, rather than being feeding time at the zoo. The bar was well stocked and all inclusive offers I felt were very good, they did offer an upgrade if you wanted none local drinks. Most of the bar staff were pleasant enough, and as long as you acted pleasant to them everything was ok. All the pools were clean and the areas around them had plenty of sun loungers and plenty of seats. The night entertainment was ok, and there seemed plenty for the kids to do in the day.
The resort:
I much preferred Calella to Salou, it just had more to offer, more places to go in the day such as cafes/shops/bars and at night there were plenty of resturants/bars/clubs. There was also a good mix of spanish style bars (where drinks could be as cheap as 1 euro for a pint) and then english bars with sky tv (where drinks were more like 3 to 4 euros a pint) The only downsides for Calella would be the beach which is very grainy and hard to walk on. If you stayed near the beach front there is a train which goes past every hour or so. Apart from this I think Calella had something for everyone.
The weather:
We went to Salou the same time last year and it was very hot, but when we picked up people from Calella that year they had a stormy couple of nights and mixed weather. This year in Calella we had mixed weather. We spoke to a local who suggested that after about the 15th august Calella is prone to more adverse weather.. Might be worth bearing in mind...Hearing other people talk about Calella suggested that its pretty nice all year round even in May or early in the season.
Summary:
So for a cheap sun get-away I highly recommend it, especially for couples without children due to the pool and 'family rooms'.For this price you can't expect the best hotel in the world, but it offers all the basics you need as well as some good food and a well stocked bar. I would highly recommend ferris if you need to go on a coach as well.







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